Adobe Acrobat Sign vs Docusign
We give Adobe Acrobat Sign a 1.6 GPA and Docusign a 2.6, out of 4.0. Adobe Acrobat Sign grades higher on value for money. Docusign grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Adobe Acrobat Sign
Adobe's e-signatures, sold inside Acrobat plans or on their own
Docusign
E-signature service for sending, signing and tracking agreements
How we grade them
| 1.6GPAAdobe Acrobat SignWeak | 2.6GPADocusignGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CAbout $51 a month for three on Acrobat Standard for teams, at $16.99 a licence on the annual plan billed monthly. That's the dearer end of this category, but it includes a full PDF editor and uncapped e-signatures. Bulk send and branding need Pro at $23.99. | D$75 a month for three on Standard, paying the year upfront ($25 a head, or $30 on the annual plan billed monthly). That's this category's dearest tenth, for 100 envelopes each a year, so your 240 fit with a little to spare. Web forms, payments and bulk send need Business Pro at $40. |
| Free plan and trial | DNo free plan. There's a 14-day trial of Pro or Studio for teams, but it runs on into a yearly commitment: cancel more than 14 days after it ends and you pay half of what's left. | CNo free plan, but a 30-day free trial, and the listing doesn't say it needs a card. After that even Personal is one user and 5 envelopes a month. |
| Features | CSend from Acrobat, several signers at once, tracking, audit trails, web forms and branding, plus the PDF tools. But Adobe itself says the signing in Acrobat Standard and Pro doesn't reach the compliance level of Acrobat Sign Solutions, which is sold through sales. | BTemplates, signing order, an audit trail, reminders and AI summaries for signers, then web forms, payment collection and bulk send on Business Pro. It covers the whole job. SSO, HIPAA and Salesforce wait for the custom Enhanced plans, which a small team won't miss. |
| Ease of use | F2.2 from about 650 App Store ratings for the Acrobat Sign app, by far the lowest in this category. You can send from Acrobat on a computer instead, but on a phone this is the app. | A4.9 from about 830,000 App Store ratings, the biggest following in this category by miles. Signers don't need an account either, which saves your clients a step. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, desktop Acrobat and iPhone, with Word, Teams, Salesforce, Workday, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. No Android app is listed, so it misses an A. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox and Box on every plan, and 1,000+ integrations plus the API from Business Pro. There's no desktop app, so it stops at a B. |
| Best for | teams that need Acrobat's PDF tools anyway | signing with the name every client knows |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Adobe Acrobat Sign and Docusign. How we grade
Price against what you get
Adobe Acrobat Sign starts at $16.99 a month for each person and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Docusign starts at $11 a month and scores 3.3.
Docusign scores higher and starts $5.99 a month lower. Of the other e-signature and proposal tools on the chart, 10 score higher than Adobe Acrobat Sign for less, and none scores higher than Docusign for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Adobe Acrobat Sign starts at $16.99 per license / month, annual plan billed monthly. Docusign starts at $11 per month, annual plan billed monthly.
- Only Docusign lists an Android app.
- Docusign also covers templates.
At a glance
| Adobe Acrobat Sign | Docusign | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $16.99 per license / month, annual plan billed monthly | $11 per month, annual plan billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Studio for teams, for up to 10 licenses | 30-day free trial |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Adobe | Docusign, Inc. |
| Price read from | adobe.com | ecom.docusign.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Adobe Acrobat Sign
- Teams that already need Acrobat for PDF editing and want e-signatures included
- Businesses that send a high volume of agreements, since team plans have no e-signature cap
- Large companies that need Adobe's enterprise e-signature compliance, via sales
Docusign
- Companies whose customers or partners already expect a Docusign envelope
- Sales and operations teams sending a steady volume of standard agreements
- Larger organizations that need SSO, compliance options and Salesforce links
Worth knowing
Adobe Acrobat Sign
- Small teams cannot buy Acrobat Sign on its own: it comes inside an Acrobat for teams plan, and the standalone Acrobat Sign Solutions is sold only through sales.
- Plans are annual commitments paid monthly; cancelling more than 14 days after the trial ends costs half the remaining commitment.
- Adobe says the e-signature features in Acrobat Standard and Pro do not offer the compliance level of Acrobat Sign Solutions.
- The Acrobat AI Assistant is a paid add-on on Standard and Pro and is included only in Acrobat Studio.
Docusign
- Standard and Business Pro include 100 envelopes per user a year on annual plans, or 10 a month on monthly plans; envelopes past the allowance are billed one by one.
- Annual plans paid monthly are a one-year commitment: cancelling after the first 30 days means paying the rest of the year.
- SMS delivery costs from $0.36 a message and ID verification from $2.40 an attempt, after five of each included once on Standard and Business Pro.
- SSO, Salesforce and NetSuite integrations, HIPAA support and data residency are sold only with the custom Enhanced plans.
Key features
Adobe Acrobat Sign
- Send from Acrobat
- Request e-signatures directly from Acrobat on desktop, web or mobile, with no usage cap on e-signatures in Acrobat for teams plans.
- Several signers at once
- Send one document to multiple signers, each of whom gets a personal copy; Acrobat Pro adds bulk sending.
- Tracking and audit trails
- Real-time status and notifications for documents out for signature, with audit trails kept for completed ones.
- Web forms and branding
- Turn PDFs or Word files into fillable forms, post signable web forms on a website and add your logo to agreements.
- PDF tools in the same plan
- The Acrobat plans also edit, convert, combine, password-protect and, in Pro, compare and redact PDFs.
- Cloud storage and app links
- Store signed files in Box, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive, and send from Microsoft Word, Teams, Salesforce or Workday.
Docusign
- Send and sign
- Upload a document, drag on signature and form fields, set a signing order and send it. Signers do not need a Docusign account.
- Templates
- Reusable templates on every plan; Standard adds templates shared across the team, and Business Pro adds locked templates.
- Audit trail and reminders
- Each envelope keeps a real-time audit trail and shows whether it was sent, delivered or completed, with automatic reminders to signers.
- Web forms and payments
- Business Pro adds mobile-friendly web forms that feed a signing flow, payment collection at signing and bulk sending to many recipients.
- AI help for signers
- AI-generated summaries and a question-and-answer panel explain an agreement to signers, and AI can suggest where fields should go.
- Integrations and API
- Cloud storage and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace links on every plan; the API and over 1,000 partner integrations start at Business Pro.
Plans
Adobe Acrobat Sign
Acrobat Standard for teams$16.99
per license / month, annual plan billed monthly
Acrobat plan with PDF editing and conversion that can request e-signatures and track them; the AI Assistant is an add-on.
Acrobat Pro for teams$23.99
per license / month, annual plan billed monthly
Adds bulk send, brand customization, PDF comparison and redaction, plus 24x7 support; the AI Assistant is an add-on.
Acrobat Studio for teams$29.99
per license / month, annual plan billed monthly
Everything in Acrobat Pro plus PDF Spaces, the Acrobat AI Assistant and Adobe Express Premium.
Acrobat Sign SolutionsCustom
The standalone e-signature product, sold through sales, with unlimited seats, deeper integrations and compliance features.
Docusign
Personal$11
per month, annual plan billed monthly ($132 a year)
One user and 5 envelopes a month, with reusable templates, an audit trail and AI summaries for signers.
Standard$30
per user / month, annual plan billed monthly ($360 a year)
Up to 50 users and 100 envelopes per user a year, with shared templates, comments, custom branding and delegated signing.
Business Pro$45
per user / month, annual plan billed monthly ($540 a year)
Adds web forms, payment collection, bulk sending, conditional fields, locked templates and API access, still 100 envelopes per user a year.
EnhancedCustom
Sold through sales for more than 50 users: custom envelope limits, SSO, organization management and Salesforce document generation.
Ways to pay less
Adobe Acrobat Sign
No public discounts listed.
Docusign
- Annual discount
Save up to 33% on an annual plan
Docusign's pricing page says the annual plan billed monthly saves up to 33% against month-to-month billing, which has a lower envelope allowance.
- Annual discount
Lower price for paying the year upfront
Docusign's eSignature page lists Personal at $10, Standard at $25 and Business Pro at $40 per user a month when billed annually ($120, $300 and $480 a year).
