Updated September 2026 · Prices checked September 24, 2026
A Documenso alternative with a lower monthly price
Documenso offers 5 free documents a month and eSignSimple 3. For unlimited documents, Documenso Individual is $25/month billed yearly ($300/year) and eSignSimple Silver is $9.99/month (or $89.99 a year). Documenso is open source, can be self-hosted and offers embedded signing on its Teams plan; eSignSimple offers none of those.
Documenso calls itself the open-source DocuSign alternative. You can use its hosted service or self-host it, and it offers an API, embedded signing (Teams and above) and a Platform plan for products that white-label signing.
eSignSimple is a hosted, closed-source tool focused on a simple sending flow for freelancers and small businesses: Word or PDF upload, drag-and-drop fields, templates, web forms, bulk send and a certificate of completion on every document.
How does eSignSimple compare with Documenso?
| Feature | eSignSimple | Documenso |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, 3 documents/month | 5 documents/month, up to 10 recipients per document |
| Unlimited documents, 1 user | Silver: $9.99/month or $89.99/year | Individual: $25/month billed yearly ($300/year) |
| Teams | Gold ($19.99/month): up to 5 senders with shared templates; no SSO or admin console | Teams: $40/month billed yearly, 5 users included, $8 per extra user |
| Open source / self-hosting | No | Yes |
| API | REST API v1 and webhooks (Silver and up) | Yes (personal use on Individual; automation on Teams) |
| Embedded signing | No | Teams and above; white-label on Platform |
| Templates | Yes, on every plan | Yes |
| Bulk send | Yes, up to 200 people per send (Silver and up) | Check Documenso's plan details |
| Web forms | Yes, Silver and up (public link, single-signer templates) | Check Documenso's plan details |
| Word upload | Yes (Word converted to PDF) | Check Documenso's docs |
| Audit trail | Yes, with certificate of completion and SHA-256 hash | Yes |
How much does Documenso cost?
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 5 documents per month, up to 10 recipients per document. |
| Individual | $25/month billed yearly ($300) | Unlimited documents, API access for personal use, email support. |
| Teams | $40/month billed yearly ($480) | 5 users included (extra users $8/month), API for automation, embedded signing. |
| Platform | $250/month billed yearly ($3,000) | Unlimited documents and users, white-label embedded signing. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Cloud or self-hosted with compliance and licensing options. |
Prices checked September 24, 2026 on Documenso pricing. Vendors change prices and may show different prices by country and currency, so confirm before you buy.
eSignSimple pricing, for comparison
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 3 documents a month (a document counts when it is sent), unlimited signers, templates, audit trail and certificate of completion. |
| Bronze | $4.99/month or $39.99/year | 1 sender, 25 documents a month, automatic reminders. |
| Silver | $9.99/month or $89.99/year | 1 sender, unlimited documents, bulk send (up to 200 people per send), web forms, REST API and webhooks. |
| Gold | $19.99/month or $179.99/year | Everything in Silver, team seats for up to 5 senders with shared templates, your logo and brand color, priority support. |
Where is Documenso the better choice?
- Open source with a self-hosting option and an enterprise license for on-premises use.
- Team plans with admin features: 5 users included on Teams, with room to grow.
- Embedded signing on Teams and white-label signing on Platform.
- An active developer community and public roadmap.
Why do people switch to eSignSimple?
Lower price for one sender
$9.99/month for unlimited documents on Silver versus $25/month billed yearly on Documenso Individual.
Flexible billing
Pay monthly or yearly and cancel any time from your account settings.
Bulk send and web forms
Send one template to up to 200 people, or share a public link that anyone can fill and sign.
Word upload
Upload a Word document and we convert it to PDF before you place fields.
A worked example: a freelancer with 12 contracts a month
Using the prices on this page (checked September 2026): 12 documents a month is over Documenso's free 5, so the next step there is Individual at $25/month billed yearly, $300 a year. On eSignSimple, Bronze covers up to 25 documents a month for $39.99 a year, and Silver removes the limit for $89.99 a year. For a single sender who mostly needs contracts signed, that is the whole difference. It changes if you need what Documenso includes and we do not: open-source code, self-hosting, or embedded signing for your own product.
What changes for your signers
Signers have a similar experience on both: an email with a link, a browser-based signing page that works on phones, and no account to create. On eSignSimple they can draw, type or upload their signature, you can set a signing order, and on paid plans they get automatic reminders every 3 days, up to 3 times. The completed PDF ends with our certificate of completion page, and anyone can check the finished file on our verify page. If you embedded Documenso's signing inside your own site, that part does not carry over: our signers always sign on our hosted page through their email link.
Moving an API integration from Documenso
If you automated Documenso, plan a small rewrite rather than a find-and-replace. Our REST API uses bearer API keys, multipart upload of a PDF or Word file with a JSON description of signers and fields, field positions as fractions of the page from the top-left corner, and a separate call to send a saved template with only names and emails. Webhooks cover signer.signed, document.completed, document.declined and document.voided, signed with HMAC-SHA256. Map your existing event handlers to those four, test with a draft created with send set to false, and keep your Documenso integration running until the new one has handled a few real documents.
Moving from a self-hosted Documenso
If you run Documenso yourself, switching to a hosted tool is a trade-off, not just a migration. You stop maintaining servers, databases, email delivery and updates, and features such as Word upload, bulk send and web forms come with the service rather than with your own operations work. You also give up control over where documents are stored and the ability to read and change the code. If self-hosting was a policy decision, for example a data-residency rule, that rule still applies, and we are not the right replacement.
Who should pick which?
| Pick eSignSimple if… | Pick Documenso if… |
|---|---|
| You are a single sender who wants the lowest monthly price for unlimited documents. | You want open source or must self-host. |
| You want bulk send and web forms without extra setup. | A team of up to 5 needs shared access today. |
| Hosted-only is fine for you. | You embed signing in your own product. |
How do you switch from Documenso to eSignSimple?
- Download completed documents and certificates from Documenso.
- Create an eSignSimple account with Google.
- Upload your most-used PDFs or Word files and recreate fields as templates.
- Send a test document to yourself to check the signer experience.
- Let documents already out for signature finish in Documenso before you switch them off.
- Move API integrations to our REST API v1 and webhooks, then cancel your Documenso plan.
- Keep the signed PDFs and certificates you exported; they stay valid as they are.
Our take
Both have a small free tier (5 documents a month on Documenso, 3 on eSignSimple), so the choice comes down to what you value: open source and teams (Documenso) or a lower flat monthly price for one sender (us).
We would not suggest leaving Documenso if you self-host or embed signing; we do neither.
Where we fit better is the person who simply sends contracts: a freelancer, a landlord, a small agency. If you have never looked at Documenso's code and do not plan to, open source is a nice principle you are paying $25 a month to respect. If the code or the hosting matters to you, it is worth every cent.
We compare published features and prices from each vendor's own website and list the sources above. Where we could not verify something, we say so. Documenso is a trademark of its owner; eSignSimple is not affiliated with it. See how we protect documents on our security page and what each plan includes on pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Documenso free?
Documenso's hosted free plan includes 5 documents a month, and the open-source version can be self-hosted.
Is eSignSimple cheaper than Documenso?
For one sender with unlimited documents, yes: $9.99/month on Silver versus $25/month billed yearly for Documenso Individual (checked September 2026).
Can I self-host eSignSimple?
No. eSignSimple is only available as a hosted service.
Does eSignSimple have team accounts?
Yes, on Gold ($19.99/month): the owner plus up to 4 invited senders, with shared team templates. For more than 5 senders, contact us or use separate accounts.
Can I import my Documenso documents into eSignSimple?
Completed documents should not be re-signed or re-imported; download the signed PDFs and certificates from Documenso and archive them as they are. For templates, upload the original PDF or Word file and place the fields again.
Will my Documenso webhook handlers work with eSignSimple?
Not unchanged. Our events and payloads are different: signer.signed, document.completed, document.declined and document.voided, each signed with HMAC-SHA256 in the esign-signature header. The API docs list what each event contains.
Does eSignSimple offer embedded signing like Documenso Teams?
No. Signers always open their own link from an email and sign on our hosted page. If signing inside your own product is a requirement, Documenso or another tool with embedded signing is the better choice today.
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