Every Free E-Signature Plan Compared (2026)

The full comparison table

Limits as published by each company, or by the sources noted, as of November 2026. "About" means the company doesn't publish an exact number and we relied on a dated secondary source.

Three kinds of "free"

• Free to sign. Every tool lets the signer sign for free. If someone sends you a DocuSign or Adobe document, you never pay. This is not the same as being able to send.
• Free trial. DocuSign (30 days), PandaDoc paid plans (14 days) and signNow (about 7 days) let you try paid features for a limited time. When it ends, sending stops.
• Free forever plan. A permanent plan with a monthly cap. This is what most small businesses actually want, and the cap is what to compare.

Tool by tool

MultiDocs. 15 signature requests a month, up to 20 signers each, at the same time or in order. Send by email, text message, WhatsApp or link; signers never need an account. Bulk send to 20 people counts as one request. Self-signing is unlimited and private: if only you sign, the file never leaves your device. No API, integrations or native app.

Jotform Sign. 10 signed documents a month on Jotform's free Starter plan, which also limits you to 5 active forms and 100 submissions. A good choice if you already build forms in Jotform.

PandaDoc. 5 documents a month, shared across the web app, API and automations. Built for proposals and quotes; see our PandaDoc alternative page.

Dropbox Sign. 3 requests a month that renew every 30 days from your sign-up date, plus unlimited self-signing. Clean interface and strong integrations; see Dropbox Sign alternative.

SignWell. 3 documents a month, 1 template and 1 sender, plus 25 free API documents a month for developers. Paid plans are reasonably priced and include unlimited documents.

DocHub. A PDF editor with signing built in. Sources agree on about 3 sign requests a month on the free plan; DocHub doesn't publish its pricing page in a way we could check, so treat the number as approximate.

Adobe Acrobat Sign. Free Acrobat Reader lets you sign your own PDFs. Sending from a free Adobe account is capped at about 2 transactions in 30 days, per Adobe community staff. See Adobe Sign alternative.

Smallpdf. Its pricing page lists signing and requesting signatures as "Limited" on the free tier without a number; independent reviews describe a cap of about 2 tasks a day across its PDF tools.

DocuSign. No free sending plan. Signing is free; sending needs a paid plan after a 30-day trial. Details in Is DocuSign free?

How to choose a free plan

1. Count your monthly volume. If you send more than 3 documents a month, most free plans won't last.
2. Check how your signers will open it. Clients who live on their phones sign faster from a text message or WhatsApp than from email.
3. Look at bulk sending. Permission slips, policy acknowledgments or waivers for a group need a "copy for each person" feature; most free plans don't include it.
4. Check the audit trail. Make sure the signed file includes a certificate with date, time, IP address and how the signer was reached.
5. Think about the next step. If you'll grow into a team, compare per-user prices with flat prices.

Is a free e-signature legally binding?

Yes, for most documents. The federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. § 7001) and the UETA adopted by nearly every state don't care what the tool costs: an electronic signature has legal effect when there is intent to sign, consent to sign electronically and a record that can be kept. A few documents, like wills and some court and family-law papers, can't be e-signed with any tool; see documents that can't be e-signed.