Docusign alternatives for signing one document
Prices and features checked 20 September 2026
Docusign is priced for businesses that send envelopes, not for someone who needs to sign one form. There is no free plan, and Personal caps you at five envelopes a month.
If nobody else has to counter-sign and you do not need an audit trail, these are simpler.
Feature comparison
| Feature | PDFpad | Sejda | Preview (macOS) | DocHub | Microsoft Edge PDF reader | Adobe Acrobat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type on a flat (non-form) PDF | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| Fill existing form fields | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Typed signature | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Drawn signature (touch/mouse) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Upload signature image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Save and reuse signature | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Date and tick fields | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Flatten so fills can't be moved | Yes | Yes | No | Partly | No | Paid only |
| Save as PDF | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Save as Word (DOCX) | Paid only | Paid only | No | Partly | No | Paid only |
| Reorder / delete / merge pages | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Paid only |
| Works on a phone browser | Yes | Partly | No | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| File never uploaded | Yes | Partly | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| No watermark on free tier | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| No account needed to start | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Pricing
| Tool | Free tier | Paid | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDFpadChecked 20 Sept 2026 | Unlimited filling and signing; 3 PDF exports per 30 days, each with a small footer line | £6 a month, £39 a year, or £2 to unlock one document for 24 hours | Monthly or annualOne click from the account page, any time |
| SejdaChecked 20 Sept 2026 | "No signup required. Limited usage and features" — with "Page and hourly limits", "Limited file uploads" and tool-specific caps | Web Week Pass "£5 per user for 7 days"; Desktop+Web Annual "£63 per user per year"; a monthly web plan is also listed | Monthly or annual |
| Preview (macOS)Checked 20 Sept 2026 | Free — built into macOS | — | — |
| DocHubChecked 20 Sept 2026 | €0/month, with all core features sharing a limit of "3 uses/mo" | Basic €8/month and Pro €12/month, with "Billed Yearly Save 25%" | Monthly or annualDocHub states you can cancel during the 30-day Pro trial "without any obligations" |
| Microsoft Edge PDF readerChecked 20 Sept 2026 | Free — built into Windows | — | — |
| Adobe AcrobatChecked 20 Sept 2026 | Free online tools — Adobe says you can "convert documents to and from PDF, edit PDFs, and sign them — all for free" | Acrobat Standard £14.99/mo incl. VAT and Acrobat Pro £19.97/mo incl. VAT on an annual plan billed monthly; £178.85/yr and £238.75/yr prepaid; £24.98/mo and £29.96/mo with no commitment | Monthly or annual |
What each vendor says
Sejda
- Sejda is the only paid tool here that sells a one-week pass — £5 for seven days — which suits a single urgent document. [source]
- The desktop application processes files on your own machine; the web version uploads them. The annual plan covers both. [source]
- The monthly web price is rendered in a way we could not read reliably on the last check, so it is not quoted here. [source]
Preview (macOS)
- Apple documents the workaround for flat forms: "If a PDF won't allow you to type directly into the form, you can add a text box instead." [source]
- Signatures can be captured with the trackpad, the camera or an iPhone, and sync across Macs through iCloud Drive — the best signature experience of any built-in tool. [source]
- Preview is Mac-only, so the same document on a phone or a Windows machine needs something else. [source]
DocHub
Microsoft Edge PDF reader
- Microsoft describes the inking tools as letting you "take notes, fill out and sign PDF forms" — the signature is whatever you can draw with a mouse or trackpad, and there is no way to save it for next time. [source]
- Microsoft's own documentation is explicit about the limit: "You can view and print the PDF in the reader, but you can't edit its contents." [source]
- Ink and text notes are saved as annotations, so a recipient with a PDF editor can select and delete them. [source]
Adobe Acrobat
- Acrobat is the most capable tool on this list: it edits the existing text in a PDF, which PDFpad deliberately does not do. [source]
- The annual plan is the advertised price; paying month to month costs £24.98 (Standard) or £29.96 (Pro) including VAT. [source]
- The free online tools require an Adobe account and upload the file to Adobe. [source]
Questions
- Is there a free alternative to Docusign eSignature?
- Yes — the tools built into your computer cost nothing, and several web tools have real free tiers. The trade-offs are in the table above: metered usage, uploads, or missing features rather than money.
Try it on your PDF
Open your document, fill it in, sign it and save. Nothing is uploaded, and you don’t need an account to start.
or drop a file here · nothing is uploaded
Related
Competitor names are used descriptively to identify their products. Every price and feature above was read from the vendor's own page on the date shown and is re-checked quarterly. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it.