The Best E-Signature Software That Fits Your Budget

Do you remember the days when people wrote all signatures on paper? Let's just say getting a contract signed was way harder back then. However, digital signature technology has grown enormously worldwide, and you don’t have to spend hours getting all parties to sign contracts (the joys). E-signature software is efficient, safe, and cost-effective for companies of all sizes and industries!

Some people believe an E-Signature is modern-day technology. But did you know digital signature software dates back various decades? Let’s take a look!

A timeline of the history of E-signature software

But first, a brief history lesson:

• 1976: Martin Hellman and Whitfield Diffie created the idea of a digital signature scheme.
• 1977: Ronald Rivest, Len Adleman, and Adi Shamir invented the RSA algorithm, which was the beginning of the digital E-Signature
• 1988: Lotus Notes 1.0 become the first software package selling the digital E-Signature
• 1999: The ability to use digital E-Signature on PDF started, which was a huge turning point
• 2000: The ESIGN Act made digital E-Signatures legally binding
• 2002: SIGNiX became the most popular cloud-based digital signature software
• 2003: Docusign is created. This company currently holds a %57.9 market share in the e-signature space at the time of writing this article.
• 2006: Adobe releases its first version of e-signature software called Echo Sign.

Today, entrepreneurs, businesses, and freelancers widely use digital E-Signature. Moreover, unlike decades ago, it’s now effortless to use digital signature technology with any computer and a standard internet connection.

Statistics on the E-signature software market

• The E-Signature market will be worth $9,073.1 million by 2023
• Global E-signature software transactions have increased from 89 million to 754 million in five years
• Companies save 80 percent on shipping when they go paperless
• U.S companies waste $8 billion every year on managing paper alone

The Main Benefits of Using E-Signature Software

1 - Efficiency and speed

An enormous benefit of using a digital E-Signature is the speed and efficiency. Indeed, during a sales process, you’ll likely need signatures from many different parties. Therefore, you don’t want to wait for hours to get documents signed when you have to push through an important deal. However, digital E-signature software is fast, effective, and will prevent tonnes of red tape from stopping your deal.

2 - Legal compliance

One of the essential things when signing a deal is making sure you stick to legal compliance. Digital signature technology embodies clear regulations. For example, digital signature software in the European Union uses eIDAS. Digital signature software also requires authentication through ID check or possibly two factors authentication.

3 - Security

Digital signature software security has grown over the last four decades. It’s now tough to break the encryption, which ensures that nobody can modify the document after someone has signed it. What’s more, there’s no way of someone removing a page from the agreement or starting a new page because the documents are so secure. The two factors authentication also stops anyone trying to copy or falsify your signature.

4 - Lower transaction costs

The automation of digital signature software can mitigate the costs of human error, including document loss and spelling mistakes. However, these issues can waste time and increase transaction costs over time. Digital signature software is also superb for keeping everything together, such as paper, copy, post, scans, packages, and much more.

5 - User experience

Companies must keep their sales process as straightforward as possible, and digital signature software creates a simple user experience that achieves that. The process of signing, printing, and scanning documents back to the same document is as easy as opening a signing email request. Users can also customize the user experience through branding colors and logos, enabling you to tailor your client’s experience.

The Top 5 E-signature Software Tools

1 - DocuSign

Because of its speed, sustainability, and compliance, DocuSign is one of the world’s most popular digital E-signature software packages. DocuSign has over 1 million customers worldwide and users in over 180 nations.

DocuSign offers users the following features:

• Audit trail
• Agent role
• Advance correct
• Email to signature
• Designed for mobile
• Biometric phone authentication
• PowerForms
• Dynamic forms
• ESIGN compliant

Strengths:

• DocuSign offers a highly user-friendly experience
• They offer instant signature speed, allowing you to complete contracts in real-time from any location
• DocuSign prides itself on offering zero carbon footprint, zero paper waste, and zero emissions.
• DocuSign offers encrypted and secure digital storage of contacts, which all parties can access in real-time.

Weaknesses:

• The biggest weakness of DocuSign is the process requires recipients authentication, and that’s not the case on other digital signature software
• The software is more expensive than many other products on the market
• You have to pay for all the community-based support, and chat, email, and phone support costs extra

Docusign pricing:

• DocuSign offers a free trial to all users
• Personal: $10 per month/per user
• Standard: $25 per month/per user
• Business Pro: $40 per month/per user
• Advanced solutions: Customers have to contact the vendor

2 - PandaDoc

PandaDoc started in 2012 when two Belarrussain founders began the company in Minsk, Belarus. In 2014, the company moved to Silicon Valley, and today it’s one of the best contract software SaaS products on the market.

PandaDoc offers users the following features:

• The ability to create, track, and execute all documents
• Team management
• Content management
• Workflow insights
• Productivity insights

Strengths:

• PandaDoc offers industry-grade security
• The software has workflow automation
• PandaDoc has excellent CPQ functionality
• Panda also provides superb document tracking, which is great if you’re signing many documents

Weaknesses:

• Document editing can be a little tricky at first
• The software doesn’t have a drawing tool
• There aren’t lots of customization options
• The software doesn’t have a version controller

PandaDoc pricing:

• PandaDoc offers a free version
• Essentials: $19 per month/per user
• Business: $49 per month/per user
• Enterprise: customers have to contact the vendor

3 - AdobeSign

AdobeSign started in January 2006 and is now part of the Adobe Document Cloud suite of services. The product is available in 34 different languages and offers integrations with Box, Microsoft OneDrive, Workday, and Dropbox.

AbobeSign offers customers the following features:

• Microsoft 365 integration
• Automatic record-keeping
• Tracking and management
• Mobile power
• Mega sign for bulk sending

Strengths:

• A robust security encryption
• It enables users to sign documents from any location worldwide in real-time
• The software integrates with existing enterprise systems
• Is highly user-friendly and very fast to use

Weaknesses:

• AdobeSign can be challenging to set up if you have a large organization
• It can be challenging to get online support because you need to submit a ticket, which takes time
• However, it is expensive compared to many other E-signature software products
• Creating new templates can be tricky for new users

AdobeSign pricing:

• Acrobat Pro DC with e-sign for teams: $16.99 per month/per license
• Acrobat Pro DC with advanced e-sign for teams: $29.99 per month/per license
• Adobe Sign for business: Customers have to contact the vendor

4 - Juro Contract Automation

Juro Contract Automation enables business teams and legal teams to streamline contract workflow with ease. The software package includes self-serve contracts, E-Signature, and a data-rich repository to help you close those sales contracts faster.

Juro Contract Automation offers costumes the following features:

• Completion tracking
• Contract lifecycle management
• No-code workflow builder
• Third-party integrations
• Version control

Strengths:

• The software is incredibly easy-to-use
• Contract lifecycle management is an excellent feature
• The software allows you to create contracts in under 30 minutes
• The platform can integrate with slack, which provides excellent communication benefits
• The mass contract-creation options make heavy workloads easy

Weaknesses:

• The software doesn’t offer the ability to reply to comments on agreements
• Changes regarding the mass sending of contracts and tracking changes are still a work in progress
• It can be hard to make multiple changes at once because the software caters more to individual contracts at a time
• Nonetheless, it can be expensive to use

Juro Contract Automation Pricing:

• Juro Contract Automation offers a free plan
• Lite: $399 per year/per user
• Team: $799 per year/per user
• Business: Customers have to contact the vendor

5 - OnTask

OnTask prides itself on creating mobile-responsive digital forms for organizations of any size. The company is one of the newer SaaS companies providing digital signature software, but the company is growing worldwide.

OnTask offers all customers the following features:

• Task management
• Mobile access
• Document management
• Compliance management
• Real-time data
• Customizable reports

Strengths:

• The software provides excellent automated workflows.
• OnTask also offers reduced bottlenecks, ensuring you maintain productivity.
• OnTask has industry-leading security standards under the ESIGN act.
• You can integrate OnTask with various other platforms.
• OnTask is excellent at streamlining documentation, such as documentation, invoices, contracts, offer letters, and much more.

Weaknesses:

• Some users suggest the software is complicated to use at first.
• The software doesn’t offer a decline detail function, making it hard to provide a reason for declining contracts.
• The digital signature doesn’t have authentication or document analysis.

OnTask pricing:

• Starter: $25 per month/unlimited users
• Business: $99 per month
• Enterprise: $275 per month
• Health Tracking: $275 per month

The best free E-signature software to get you started

Suppose you’re looking to budget and try the digital signature software out? Some software products offer a free trial, enabling you to sample the software without committing yourself. For example, the following E-signature software companies provide a free trial:

• PandaDoc
• Juro Contract Automation
• AdobeSign
• Signable
• DigiSigner

In conclusion

Is there anything worse than finalizing contracts? Perhaps you’ve just made an incredible deal, or you’ve lost a deal because it’s taken too long to sign all the relevant documents? Either way, digital E-signature software allows companies to streamline their sales process and get the all-important sales over the line! You only need to put the contract in their face and show them where to sign. How easy is that?

Learn about other tools:

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