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E-signature

How to choose e-signature software: caps, templates and billing traps

By the HonestReviews editorial team · updated Oct 10, 2026

Quick answer

Start with how many documents you send a month and how many people send them. Entry plans run from $8 to $19 a month billed yearly, but several cap sends (DocuSign and Signeasy at 5 a month, SignNow at 100 a year per account) or leave out templates or reminders. Check the cap, the templates, the reminders, the billing terms and the support channel.

E-signature tools look alike on their home pages. The differences are in the entry plan: how many documents it lets you send, how many people can send, and what's left for the next plan up. Here is what our e-signature ranking weighs, what the 9 tools charge, and the traps we found on their own pages, read on Sep 27, 2026.

What we weigh, and why

We score each tool on its cheapest paid plan, because that is the plan most small businesses start on. The full formulas are in how we score e-signature tools.

  • Price per sender, 35%. The monthly price for one sender at the regular price, counting annual prepay. It carries the most weight because it's what you pay every month.
  • Documents a month, 20%. A cheap plan that runs out after 5 sends isn't cheap if you send 30.
  • What the entry plan includes, 20%. Five things: reusable templates, automatic reminders, an audit trail, signing on a phone or tablet, and cloud storage integrations.
  • Free plan, 10%. A free plan lets you keep a low-volume account at no cost; a trial only lets you test.
  • Support, 15%. Phone and chat, or 24/7 chat, score highest; email or a help centre alone scores 3 out of 10.

The price range

Billed yearly, the entry plans cost $8 to $19 a month for one sender. SignNow Business is $8 a month for the whole account. SignWell Light, DocuSign Personal, Zoho Sign Standard and Signeasy Personal are $10. Foxit eSign Essentials is $120 a year. Adobe Acrobat Standard is US$14.99, Dropbox Sign Essentials $15 and PandaDoc Starter $19 per user. Month to month, the same plans run from $12 (SignWell, Zoho Sign) to $35 (PandaDoc).

The traps we found

Send caps. Three tools don't cap documents on the entry plan: SignWell, PandaDoc and Dropbox Sign. Five others do. DocuSign Personal allows 5 envelopes a month, and Signeasy Personal lets you "Send 5 contracts for signature monthly". SignNow's annual plans "include up to 100 signature invites per account per year", shared by every user, then move to pay-as-you-go at a price the page doesn't give. Zoho Sign Standard allows 25 envelopes per user a month. Foxit's Essentials card says 250 envelopes a year while its FAQ says it doesn't use per-envelope pricing; we use the 250. Adobe's pages don't state a limit for Acrobat Standard.

One sender, or many? DocuSign Personal, Dropbox Sign Essentials, Signeasy Personal and Foxit Essentials are for one user. SignWell prices by sender (Light is one, Business three). SignNow allows unlimited users on every plan. PandaDoc and Zoho Sign charge per user.

Templates. Zoho Sign's templates article says templates are "available only in Professional and Enterprise Editions", and Signeasy Personal shows a dash for templates. SignWell (per sender), PandaDoc and Dropbox Sign allow 5 on the entry plan; Foxit allows 10.

Reminders. PandaDoc's auto reminders are "Business and Enterprise plans" only, and Signeasy Personal has no reminders. Everyone else includes them.

Billing terms. DocuSign's default option is "an annual commitment of $132" paid monthly: after 30 days the rest of the year is owed. Adobe's annual plan billed monthly charges up to half the remaining commitment if you cancel after 14 days. Foxit sells yearly only.

Add-ons. Foxit's cloud storage connectors are a paid add-on with no price shown. Zoho Sign uses paid credits for envelopes sent through the API or third-party apps. DocuSign's SMS delivery and ID verification are paid extras on Standard and Business Pro only.

Support. Dropbox Sign's pricing table lists "Email" for support, though a tooltip mentions chat; we use email. Signeasy Personal is email only. SignWell, Zoho Sign, Foxit and Adobe list phone support on the entry plan; PandaDoc and SignNow offer 24/7 chat without phone.

HIPAA. If you handle patient information, only SignWell says it signs a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement on its entry plan. The others offer one through sales, on request, on a higher plan or as an add-on, and Signeasy's pages mention no BAA. With only one tool meeting our healthcare rule, we don't publish a healthcare list for e-signature.

A checklist before you buy

  1. Count the documents you send in a busy month, and how many people send them.
  2. Find the send cap on the plan you'd buy. Is it per user, per account, a month or a year? What happens past it?
  3. Check that templates and automatic reminders are on that plan, not the next one.
  4. Compare the yearly and monthly prices, and read the cancellation terms before choosing annual billing.
  5. List the add-ons you'd need: cloud storage, SMS delivery, signer ID checks, API sends.
  6. Check the support channels on your plan, not the top plan.
  7. If you need a BAA, a payment at signing or web forms, confirm the plan that includes it.

Where to go next

The e-signature ranking scores all 9 tools on these criteria, and our method shows how each score is worked out.

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