Which e-signature platforms include Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES), and at what tier?

What is a Qualified Electronic Signature, in brief?

QES is the highest of three signature levels defined under the EU's eIDAS Regulation (EU No 910/2014), alongside Simple Electronic Signatures (SES) and Advanced Electronic Signatures (AES). It requires a qualified certificate issued by an accredited Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP), created using a Qualified Signature Creation Device, and is the only tier treated as legally equivalent to a handwritten signature across the EU and UK. [See our What is a Qualified Electronic Signature? explainer for more information]

Is a QES from these platforms UK-qualified or EU-qualified?

Almost always EU-qualified. Platforms do not issue a qualified signature, a Qualified Trust Service Provider does, and the platform integrates with one. Every provider named by the six platforms compared here is supervised in an EU member state, so the signature produced is qualified under EU eIDAS.

That works in the UK. Under Article 24A of UK eIDAS, UK law continues to recognise qualified trust services from providers established in the EU. A British business signing a British contract with an EU-qualified signature is on solid ground.

However, it does not work in reverse. No reciprocal arrangement exists, so a UK-qualified provider is not automatically recognised in EU member states. A UK business signing into an EU regulator or public body should use an EU-qualified provider rather than a UK one.

When a platform advertises QES to a UK customer, it is usually offering an EU-qualified signature. So, when comparing platforms it is therefore important to distinguish which qualified provider sits behind it and where that provider is supervised. Adobe publishes the cloud signature providers it works with. Zoho Sign names InfoCert and eID Easy, and also supports signing with EU national eID schemes. If a counterparty or regulator asks a business to evidence the chain behind a signature, the answer names the provider, not the platform.

Which platforms include QES, and how do you get it?

Source: pricing and feature comparisons confirmed directly from each platform's own pricing and compliance pages, checked 14 August 2026.

Why do Dropbox Sign and Adobe Acrobat Sign work differently from the other four?

Because they don't gate QES by subscription tier at all. Zoho Sign, PandaDoc, SignNow, and (on one of its two routes) Docusign all restrict QES to a specific named plan, upgrade to that plan and QES becomes available. Dropbox Sign and Adobe Acrobat Sign instead treat QES as a separate paid service that sits on top of whichever plan a business already has: a Qualified Trust Service Provider is connected to the account, billed separately, regardless of subscription tier. In practice, this means a business on Dropbox Sign's cheapest plan or Adobe's Standard for teams could technically access QES without upgrading their base subscription at all, provided they're willing to pay for and configure the separate QTSP integration.

Why does Docusign have two different answers?

Because its UK and enterprise pricing describe genuinely different products. Docusign's UK pricing page lists QES as a straightforward £9-per-recipient add-on available on Personal, Standard, and Business Pro, no upgrade required beyond paying per use. Separately, Docusign's Enhanced plan, still a current product name, also includes QES as part of a broader compliance package. Docusign has also launched a newer, separate product line called IAM (Intelligent Agreement Management), aimed at larger enterprise agreement automation, but whether IAM independently includes QES, or whether it's only available through Enhanced, hasn't been confirmed by Docusign directly.