How much does e-signature software cost for a small business?

Why is e-signature pricing so hard to compare?

There is no standard unit of measure across e-signature platforms. Some charge per user. Some charge per document sent. Some sell envelope bundles. One charges a flat account fee for unlimited users. A price that looks cheap on one measure can be expensive on another, and the cheapest headline rate is not always the cheapest option at the volume you actually need.

• Per user, with an envelope cap: DocuSign charges per user and limits the total number of documents you can send each year. The cap is shared across all users. Exceed it and you pay overage charges, which are not listed on DocuSign's published pricing page.
• Per user, unlimited: Zoho Sign, Legalesign, Dropbox Sign and BoldSign charge per user with no document limit. The per-user rate is the only variable.
• Per user, unlimited: PandaDoc charges per user with no document sending limit. The Starter plan is $19 per user per month on annual billing.
• Per sender: SignWell charges for people who send documents, not people who sign them. There is a base fee covering the first sender, then a flat rate per additional sender.
• Flat account fee: Signable charges a flat monthly account fee covering unlimited users. The Essentials plan includes 300 envelopes per month (3,600 per year). The fee covers the whole account regardless of how many users are on it.

The cost comparison: Five users, annual billing

Note: Dropbox Sign Standard requires a sales conversation at five or more users. The Essentials plan (£10.50/user/month) is used instead. BoldSign Business is priced at $15/user/month on annual billing (40% reduction from the $25/month monthly rate). Signable Essentials covers unlimited users under a flat account fee. The $610 figure is the full annual account cost, not a per-user calculation. (Conversion rate: £1 = $1.27, November 2026. Prices verified directly from vendor pricing pages.)

What do the numbers show?

Signable is the lowest published cost and covers unlimited users. At $610 per year, Signable Essentials is the lowest published price in this comparison and covers unlimited users under a single account fee. The plan allows 300 envelopes per month (3,600 per year), which covers all three volume scenarios in this comparison. Teams sending more than 3,600 documents per year would need to upgrade to the Business plan.

SignWell is the cheapest unlimited option. At $648 per year with no sending cap, SignWell undercuts every unlimited plan. BoldSign Business follows at $900 per year and is also unlimited.

DocuSign is the most expensive, and still has a cap. At $1,524 per year, DocuSign Standard costs more than twice as much as SignWell and still limits five users to 500 signature requests annually. Overage charges are not listed on DocuSign's published pricing page.

At high volume, one platform is unsuitable on published pricing. Above 500 requests per year, DocuSign Standard has exceeded its published allowance. Legalesign's Team plan cap of 6,000 per year provides headroom at 5,000 requests but is not unlimited. All other platforms in this comparison have no published sending cap.

Why does the pricing model matter more than the headline rate?

E-signature platforms are not competing on the same terms. A platform charging $10 per user per month for 20 documents is a different product from one charging $15 per user per month for unlimited documents. But both advertise a low per-user rate.

Buyers comparing platforms on price per user will reach wrong conclusions unless they also check the sending allowance, the overage terms, and what happens when the team grows.

The platforms with the most complex pricing, offering tiered caps, undisclosed overage, 'contact us' thresholds, for example, are not necessarily the most capable. They are simply the hardest to compare.

Editorial Note:

This comparison covers published pricing only. It does not include enterprise or negotiated rates, which are available from most platforms at five users or above. It does not cover free-tier plans, which exist for DocuSign, SignWell, PandaDoc and Zoho Sign but impose stricter limits than those shown here. It does not assess features, compliance certifications, or integration capability.

SignNow (airSlate) was excluded because its pricing model (a flat account fee with a shared annual invite pool) is not directly comparable to per-user plans. Adobe Acrobat Sign was excluded because no published team e-sign pricing was available at the time of research. Foxit eSign was also excluded. Its Business plan requires a minimum of five licences at £253.58/user/year, giving an annual cost of £1,268 ($1,610) — the highest of all platforms reviewed.