DocuSeal vs Legalesign (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, DocuSeal and Legalesign share a 2.4 GPA, and only DocuSeal has a free plan.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
DocuSeal
Open-source document signing, in the cloud or on your servers
Legalesign
UK e-signature platform with forms, witnessing and an API
Which one is for you
Pick DocuSeal if
- Fits if you have a developer and want to embed signing in your own product
- Works for teams willing to host their own signing server to keep documents in-house
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay on the free cloud plan: 10 request emails a month and 20 SMS
- Pricey if you need reminders, your own logo or SSO, as those are Pro at $20 a seat
- Watch out: embedding and the signing API are billed at $0.20 per completion
- Watch out: collecting payments while signing carries a 4% fee on Basic
- Skip it if you want no servers to look after, as the free open-source route needs your own hosting
Pick Legalesign if
- Fits if you need witnessed or qualified signatures and work with UK or European paperwork
- Works for a single user who wants to pay per document with no subscription
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you want witnessing or qualified signatures, which need Solo Pro at £25 a month
- Skip it if you want dollar prices: the page shows pounds ex VAT and we couldn't read the dollar amounts
- Watch out: Solo plans have a fair-use limit of 20 or 100 documents a month
- Watch out: the page doesn't say whether the monthly price is billed monthly or yearly
- Not for you if you want a free plan, as the entry is a 14-day trial
How we grade them
| 2.4GPADocuSealFair | 2.4GPALegalesignFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $20 a user a month, between the category's middle of $15 and its dearer quarter at $29. The free open-source version needs your own server, so it counts as C, not A. | C£10 a month ex VAT for Solo Basic with 20 documents, £25 for Solo Pro, £15 a user for Team and £1.50 a document pay-as-you-go. Mid-range for the category, and the useful extras are on Solo Pro. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free cloud plan allows 10 signature request emails a month and 20 SMS requests. That's a cap you'll hit once you send regularly. | CA 14-day trial with no card, and no free plan. |
| Features | BTemplates, 10 field types, multiple signers, API and embedding, payments during signing and verification add-ons. Reminders, a logo, SSO and bulk send beyond 50 a month are Pro, which are limits rather than missing basics. | BAdvanced electronic signatures, forms, witnessing, bulk send, self-service links, API and workflow automation. The gaps are on dearer plans rather than missing basics. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. The cloud plan is a web app where you build templates, and the open-source route means running it on your own servers. | CNo store rating on record. A web app where you build templates, forms and workflows. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Zapier, Make, n8n and GitHub connections and a signing API. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb only, with Salesforce, Microsoft Power Automate and a handful of industry systems, plus an API. |
| Best for | open-source e-signatures you can host yourself | UK-style e-signatures with witnessing |
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: DocuSeal and Legalesign. How we grade
Price against what you get
DocuSeal starts at $20 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Legalesign starts at about $13.40 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Legalesign starts $6.60 a month lower. Of the other e-signature and proposal tools on the chart, 4 score higher than DocuSeal for less, and 4 score higher than Legalesign 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
- DocuSeal is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Legalesign also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| DocuSeal | Legalesign | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $20 per user / month | £10 per month (ex VAT), billing period not shown |
| Free plan | Basic cloud plan: legally binding signatures, multiple signers, 10 field types and 10 signature request emails a month. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial, no credit card required. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | DocuSeal | Legalesign Limited |
| Price read from | docuseal.com | legalesign.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
DocuSeal
- The free cloud plan allows 10 signature request emails a month and 20 SMS requests.
- Automated reminders, logo, own email address, SSO and bulk send beyond 50 a month need Pro at $20 per user a month.
- Embedding and the signing API are billed at $0.20 per completion, per the page's usage list.
- Collecting payments during signing carries a 4% processing fee on the Basic plan, and none on Pro.
Legalesign
- Prices are shown in pounds ex VAT; a USD option exists on the page but its amounts could not be read.
- Solo plans carry a fair-use document limit, and the page does not say whether the monthly price is billed monthly or yearly.
- Qualified signatures, witnessing, SMS verification, branding and bulk send need Solo Pro or higher; Pay As You Go and Solo Basic exclude witnessing.
- No free plan is listed; the entry is a 14-day trial.
Key features
DocuSeal
- Open-source core
- The code is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0, so the same signing tool can be deployed on your own servers.
- Templates and field types
- Documents are turned into templates with 10 field types. Pro adds auto-detected, conditional and formula fields and an import from DocuSign.
- Signing options
- Shared links, in-person signing, witnesses, attachments and multiple signers are listed, with an audit log and bulk send from a spreadsheet.
- API and embedding
- A signing API, embedded signing and a React component let developers add signing to a product, with webhooks and a test sandbox.
- Payments during signing
- Pro can collect payments when a document is signed. The cloud charges a 4% processing fee on the Basic plan and 0% on Pro.
- Verification add-ons
- ID card verification and knowledge-based authentication cost $2 each, and EU qualified signatures $2 to $4 each.
Legalesign
- Electronic signatures
- Documents are prepared, sent, signed and tracked in a web app. Every plan lists advanced electronic signatures, and qualified signatures start on Solo Pro.
- Forms and data collection
- Forms collect the details a workflow needs, with text tags and PDF field import for building templates.
- Online witnessing
- Agreements can be witnessed remotely. The pricing table lists witnessing from Solo Pro upward.
- Bulk send and self-service links
- Personalised agreements can go to many recipients at once, or recipients can start a signing themselves from a link.
- API and components
- A REST and GraphQL API, webhooks and embeddable components add signing to your own software. API access is on every plan.
- Workflow automation
- Batch documents and saved workflows chain several signing steps together, with integrations to Salesforce and Microsoft Power Automate.
Plans
DocuSeal
Basic$0
Cloud plan with indefinite retention, user management and 10 request emails a month. Email support.
Pro$20
per user / month ($200 per year if billed yearly)
Cloud plan with unlimited requests, logo, own email address, reminders, payments, SSO, SMS verification and API.
Open Source$0
Free to deploy on your own servers, with your own SMTP, 10 field types and community support through GitHub.
On-premises Pro$20
per user / month, license for self-hosting
Self-hosted license that adds white-label logo, full control of data, roles and teams, SSO, payments and an account manager.
Legalesign
Pay As You Go£1.50
per sent document (ex VAT), no subscription
For occasional use: 1 user, 5 templates, advanced electronic signature, forms and API.
Solo Basic£10
per month (ex VAT), billing period not shown
Single user, fair use of 20 documents a month, 10 templates, advanced electronic signature, forms and API.
Solo Pro£25
per month (ex VAT), billing period not shown
Single user, fair use of 100 documents a month, unlimited templates, qualified signatures, witnessing, SMS verification, branding and bulk send.
Team£15
per user / month (ex VAT), for 2 to 5 users
Fair use of 100 documents per user a month, with the Solo Pro features plus users and permissions.
5+ users & EnterpriseCustom
Per-document or per-user pricing for larger teams, with SSO, multiple teams, an SLA and implementation management.
Ways to pay less
DocuSeal
- Annual discount
Pro is $200 a year when billed yearly
The pricing page offers Pro for $20 a month or $200 a year.
Legalesign
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, DocuSeal or Legalesign?
As of Nov 12, 2026, DocuSeal starts at $20 per user / month, and Legalesign starts at £10 per month (ex VAT), billing period not shown. One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, DocuSeal or Legalesign?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only DocuSeal has a free plan. Legalesign does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.