Four alternatives to DocuSign are compared here, including Adobe Sign, SignNow, PandaDoc and Dropbox Sign. Entry-level pricing ranges from around £8 to £40 a month per user, with legal validity under UK law, rather than price alone, the more important factor for any electronic signature used on a contract or formal agreement.
TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 21 July 2026
- UK electronic signatures are legally recognised under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and the UK's retained eIDAS framework, and this applies across every provider compared here.
- SignNow is generally the lowest-priced alternative, from around £8 a month, with unlimited sending on its core plans.
- PandaDoc combines document creation and proposal tools with e-signing, useful for sales teams rather than pure signature-only use cases.
- Adobe Sign integrates directly with Adobe Acrobat, allowing PDFs to be edited, redacted and restructured before sending for signature.
- Dropbox Sign offers a functional free tier for occasional use, a genuine free plan rather than a time-limited trial as DocuSign offers.
- Qualified Electronic Signatures, the highest tier of legal assurance under eIDAS, are supported by some but not all of these alternatives, so checking this matters for high-stakes documents.
DocuSign alternatives compared by entry price and core strength
| SignNow | From ~£8/month per user | Unlimited sending on core plans, strong mobile support |
| PandaDoc | From ~£19/month per user | Document creation, proposals and signing combined |
| Adobe Sign | Tied to Adobe ecosystem pricing | Native PDF editing, redaction and restructuring |
| Dropbox Sign | Free tier available, paid from ~£15/month | Genuine free plan for occasional use |
| DocuSign | Envelope caps apply on standard tiers | Widest brand recognition, established QES partnerships |
KEY FACTS
- SignNow: from around £8 a month per user, among the lowest-priced alternatives with unlimited sending
- PandaDoc: from around £19 a month per user, combining proposal and document tools with e-signing
- Adobe Sign: pricing tied to Adobe's ecosystem, with native PDF editing and redaction before sending
- Dropbox Sign: genuine free plan for a small number of documents monthly, paid plans from around £15 a month
- UK electronic signatures are recognised under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and the UK's retained eIDAS regulation
Are electronic signatures from these alternatives legally valid in the UK
Yes. Electronic signatures are recognised under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and the UK's retained eIDAS framework, meaning a signature cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic, and this recognition applies across DocuSign and every alternative compared here.
Legal validity is the moat that matters most when comparing e-signature tools, since a contract signed electronically needs to hold up in the same way a handwritten signature would if a dispute arose. The Electronic Communications Act 2000 established the legal foundation for electronic signatures in the UK, and the UK's retained version of the EU's eIDAS regulation, following its departure from the EU, sets out a tiered framework distinguishing a Simple Electronic Signature from an Advanced Electronic Signature and, at the highest tier, a Qualified Electronic Signature backed by a certificate from a recognised trust service provider. All of the alternatives compared here produce signatures that meet at least the simple and advanced tiers, sufficient for the great majority of everyday business contracts, non-disclosure agreements and supplier terms. Qualified Electronic Signatures, needed for a smaller category of higher-stakes documents, are supported by fewer providers and often require an additional configuration step, so checking this specifically matters for anything genuinely court-adversarial or regulatory in nature. Businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions should also check how a specific signature type is recognised outside the UK, since legal frameworks in other countries may apply different tiers of assurance, particularly for contracts intended to be enforceable in more than one legal system simultaneously.
Is SignNow a good lower-cost alternative to DocuSign
SignNow is generally the lowest-priced alternative compared here, from around £8 a month per user, with unlimited sending on its core plans and strong mobile signing support for teams sending a high volume of straightforward documents.
SignNow's positioning is built around affordability without stripping out the core features most businesses actually use: unlimited document sending is included even on its lower-cost plans, which removes the envelope caps that apply on some of DocuSign's own standard tiers. The mobile signing experience is a particular strength, useful for a business whose customers or staff frequently sign documents away from a desktop. Where SignNow trails some of the more expensive alternatives is in advanced document workflow features, such as complex conditional routing or deep integration with a wider content management system, which matter more for large enterprises than for small and medium-sized UK businesses signing routine contracts, quotes and agreements. For a business whose main requirement is unlimited, straightforward, legally valid e-signing at the lowest possible per-user cost, SignNow is generally the strongest match among the options compared here. SignNow also supports bulk sending, letting the same document template be sent to a large number of recipients at once, which suits businesses issuing standard agreements, such as employment contracts or supplier terms, to many people on a repeated and predictable basis throughout the year.
How does PandaDoc compare for sales-focused document workflows
PandaDoc combines document creation, proposal building and e-signature collection in one platform, from around £19 a month per user, making it a stronger fit for sales teams building quotes and proposals than for businesses needing pure signature-only functionality.
PandaDoc's distinguishing feature against a pure e-signature tool is that it covers the document creation stage as well as the signing stage, letting a sales team build a proposal or quote from a template, track when a prospect opens and reviews it, and collect a legally valid signature within the same workflow. This suits businesses where the document being signed is itself part of the sales process, such as a client proposal or service agreement with variable pricing, rather than a fixed contract simply being routed for signature. Analytics on document engagement, including how long a recipient spent reviewing each section, are a further feature that pure signature tools generally do not offer. For a business whose e-signing need is limited to routing existing, finished documents for signature without needing document creation tools built in, a lower-cost option such as SignNow or Dropbox Sign is likely to cover the same core need at a lower per-user cost. PandaDoc's payment collection feature, letting a signed proposal also trigger an immediate payment request, is a further point of difference from a pure signature tool, useful specifically for service businesses that want to combine contract signing and invoicing within a single customer-facing step.
What does Adobe Sign offer that pure signature tools do not
Adobe Sign integrates directly with Adobe Acrobat, allowing a PDF to be edited, redacted or restructured before it is sent for signature, a workflow advantage for businesses that regularly need to modify documents rather than simply route a finished PDF for signing.
Adobe Sign's core advantage is native integration with Adobe's wider PDF editing tools, which means a document can be edited, have sections redacted, or have its structure changed within the same ecosystem before it goes out for signature, rather than needing a separate PDF editor and then uploading a finished file to a standalone signing tool. This particularly benefits legal, HR and creative sector businesses that frequently need to adjust a document's content shortly before sending it out, rather than always working from a completed, unchanging template. Pricing for Adobe Sign is tied closely to Adobe's wider subscription structure, which can feel restrictive for a business not otherwise using Adobe's Creative Cloud products, and setup has been described as more involved than some of the simpler standalone tools compared here. For an organisation already paying for Adobe products, Adobe Sign can be close to a natural extension of existing licensing rather than an additional cost. Adobe Sign is also commonly bundled within certain Adobe Acrobat subscription tiers rather than sold purely as a standalone product, so a business already paying for Acrobat for general PDF editing may find e-signature functionality included at little or no additional marginal cost beyond its existing subscription.
Is Dropbox Sign's free plan good enough for occasional use
Dropbox Sign offers a genuine free plan covering a small number of documents a month, rather than a time-limited trial as DocuSign offers, which makes it a reasonable choice for individuals or very small businesses that only need to sign documents occasionally.
For anyone who only needs to send a handful of documents for signature each month, rather than running e-signing as a core part of daily business operations, Dropbox Sign's free tier is a meaningful point of difference against DocuSign, which offers only a trial period rather than an ongoing functional free plan. The free tier covers a limited number of signature requests a month, sufficient for a freelancer, sole trader or very small business signing occasional client agreements or supplier terms. Paid plans, from around £15 a month, remove the monthly document cap and add features including templates and team management for businesses that outgrow the free tier's limits. Integration with the wider Dropbox storage platform is a further advantage for anyone already using Dropbox to store business documents, since signed documents can be filed directly alongside existing files without a separate upload step. Dropbox Sign's template feature, available on its paid tiers, lets a frequently used document be saved and reused without rebuilding the signing fields each time, which reduces repetitive setup work for a business sending the same type of agreement to different recipients on a regular basis.
RELATED GUIDES
DISCLAIMER
This article is editorial information, not financial advice. Kael Tripton Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Figures were correct at the last review date shown above; verify current rates and rules with the primary sources listed below before acting.
Frequently asked questions
Can you sign a UK contract legally using an app instead of DocuSign
Yes. Electronic signatures produced by SignNow, PandaDoc, Adobe Sign, Dropbox Sign and DocuSign are all recognised under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and the UK's retained eIDAS framework, so the same underlying legal recognition applies regardless of which of these providers is used.
Do you need a Qualified Electronic Signature for a normal business contract
Generally not. A Simple or Advanced Electronic Signature, supported by all of the alternatives compared here, is sufficient for the great majority of everyday business contracts, and Qualified Electronic Signatures are typically only needed for a smaller category of higher-stakes or regulatory documents.
Is SignNow cheaper than DocuSign
Generally, yes. SignNow's entry pricing, from around £8 a month per user, sits below DocuSign's comparable tiers, and SignNow includes unlimited sending on its core plans rather than the envelope caps that apply to some DocuSign standard tiers.
Can you edit a PDF before sending it for signature
Adobe Sign is the strongest option among these alternatives for this specific need, since it integrates directly with Adobe Acrobat's PDF editing tools, allowing a document to be edited, redacted or restructured before being sent out for signature within the same platform.
Does Dropbox Sign have a genuine free plan
Yes. Dropbox Sign offers a functional free tier covering a limited number of signature requests a month, rather than a time-limited trial, which makes it a reasonable option for individuals or very small businesses signing documents only occasionally.
SOURCES
- Electronic Communications Act 2000 – accessed 21 July 2026
- UK guidance on electronic signatures – accessed 21 July 2026
- DocuSign official pricing – accessed 21 July 2026
