Documenso vs Docusign
We give Documenso a 2.2 GPA and Docusign a 2.6, out of 4.0. Documenso grades higher on value for money. Docusign grades higher on features and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Documenso
Open-source document signing, hosted or on your own servers
Docusign
E-signature service for sending, signing and tracking agreements
How we grade them
| 2.2GPADocumensoFair | 2.6GPADocusignGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$40 a month for three on Teams, billed yearly, about $13 a head, for up to 5 users and unlimited documents. That's the middle of this category. The free Community Edition only costs nothing if you run your own server, so it doesn't lift the grade. | 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 | CThe hosted free plan is 5 documents a month with up to 10 recipients each, and no card. Fine for casual signing, not 20 a month. The self-hosted Community Edition has no limits, but it's meant for testing. | 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 | CTemplates, direct links anyone can sign from, a team space, an API, webhooks and embedded signing. The basics are there, but the listing shows nothing on bulk send, signer ID checks or payments, and unlimited documents come under a fair-use policy. | 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 | CNo store rating on record. The hosted version is a normal web app with templates to set up. Running it yourself means looking after servers, which is real work. | 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 only, with an API, webhooks, Zapier and embedded signing for your own site or app. No phone or desktop app. | 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 | open-source signing you can host yourself | 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: Documenso and Docusign. How we grade
Price against what you get
Documenso starts at $25 a month and scores 2.3 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 $14 a month lower. Of the other e-signature and proposal tools on the chart, 6 score higher than Documenso 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
- Documenso starts at $25 per month, billed yearly ($300 a year). Docusign starts at $11 per month, annual plan billed monthly.
- Documenso has a free plan. Docusign does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Docusign lists iOS and Android apps.
- Documenso is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Docusign also covers forms.
At a glance
| Documenso | Docusign | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $25 per month, billed yearly ($300 a year) | $11 per month, annual plan billed monthly |
| Free plan | Hosted Free plan: 5 documents a month with up to 10 recipients each, no credit card required. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Documenso, Inc. | Docusign, Inc. |
| Price read from | documenso.com | ecom.docusign.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Documenso
- Developers and companies that want an open-source signing tool they can host
- Products that need signing embedded inside their own app
- Casual signers who need fewer than 5 documents a month
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
Documenso
- Unlimited documents on paid plans are subject to a fair-use policy.
- The free Community Edition is aimed at testing and internal trials, with community support only; production support needs a paid license.
- Self-hosting means running and maintaining the servers yourself; Business Edition license prices are not published.
- The pricing page shows yearly prices only; paying monthly costs more, as each plan lists a yearly saving.
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
Documenso
- Open source
- The code is public, so it can be inspected, changed and run on your own infrastructure with no per-signature fees.
- Templates and direct links
- Save reusable templates and switch on a direct link for any of them, so recipients can fill and sign without logging in.
- Teams
- The Teams plan gives a shared team space with 5 users included and more added for $8 a month each.
- API, webhooks and Zapier
- Every paid plan includes API access, with webhooks and a Zapier integration for automating sends and follow-ups.
- Embedded signing
- Teams can embed signing in their own site or app, and the Platform plan removes Documenso's branding for white-label use.
- Compliance documentation
- Documenso publishes compliance pages on the ESIGN Act, UETA, 21 CFR Part 11, SOC 2 and HIPAA, and the Enterprise license adds compliance features.
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
Documenso
Free$0
Hosted by Documenso: 5 documents a month, up to 10 recipients per document.
Individual$25
per month, billed yearly ($300 a year)
Unlimited documents for one person, API access for personal use, email support and a premium profile name.
Teams$40
per month for up to 5 users, billed yearly ($480 a year)
Unlimited documents, one team, API access for automation and embedded signing; extra users $8 a month each.
Platform$250
per month, billed yearly ($3,000 a year)
Unlimited documents, users and API access, white-label embedded signing and integration support over Slack.
Community Edition$0
Self-hosted: you run it on your own servers with no usage limits and community-only support; meant for testing and evaluation.
Business and EnterpriseCustom
Self-hosted or cloud licenses sold through sales, with the enterprise feature set, priority support and AATL certificates.
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
Documenso
- Annual discount
Save with yearly billing
Documenso's pricing page lists a yearly saving on each plan: $60 on Individual, $120 on Teams and $600 on Platform.
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).
