Electronic signatures (eSignatures) are revolutionizing how agreements and contracts are handled by digitizing signing workflows. With the global electronic signature market projected to reach $6.33 billion by 2025, adoption is accelerating across enterprises and SMBs alike.
But with new eSignature solutions launching at a dizzying pace, how do you determine which app best meets your business needs?
In this ultimate 2500+ word guide, we analyze the top 15 eSignature apps of 2023 tailored to everything from simple digital signing capabilities all the way up to complex contract lifecycle management.
Let‘s dive in!
Growth Trends Showing the Accelerating eSignature Adoption
To understand the rising popularity of electronic signatures, let‘s examine a few key statistics regarding growth trends and market performance.
According to ReportLinker, the global eSignature market has expanded at an impressive CAGR of 28% from 2018-2022. They forecast this rapid adoption to continue with projected CAGR of 23% from 2022-2026 as more organizations go digital.
Leading electronic signature pure-play DocuSign reached $2.1 billion in revenue in 2022, with Q3 year-over-year growth coming in at 18%. Small and mid-sized businesses using DocuSign grew from 558,000 to over 1 million in 2022 – showcasing soaring demand.
Global eSignature Market Size
| Year | Market Size (USD billion) | Growth (YoY)
|-|-|-|
2018 | $1.35 | -
2019 | $1.99 | 47%
2020 | $2.8 | 40%
2021 | $3.7 | 32%
2022 | $4.4 | 19%
2025 (Projected) | $6.33 | 23% CAGRSource: ReportLinker
With both established enterprises and SMBs flocking to eSignature solutions, let‘s analyze the top apps available in 2023 tailored to all business use cases and budgets.
Comparing the Top 15 eSignature Apps of 2023
There is no one-size-fits-all best electronic signature mobile app or software suite. You need to align features and capabilities with your specific workflows, security needs, integrations, and business requirements.
To simplify your buying decision, we will compare 15 leading options across key categories:
📝 Feature Set
🛡️ Security
💰 Pricing
👥 Team Workflows
🌐 Integrations
📱 Mobile Experience
### Quick Comparison Table
| eSignature App | Best For | Free Plan | Paid Starting Price | Mobile App | Key Integrations |
|-|-|-|-|-|-|
| [Signaturely](#signaturely) | Simplicity | ✅ | $20/month | Android & iOS app | Google Workspace, Office 365, Slack |
| [PandaDoc](#pandadoc) | Collecting eSignatures + Payments | ✅ | $19/user/month | Android & iOS app | Paypal, Stripe, Square + 1,300+ apps via Zapier |
| [SignWell](#signwell) | Generous Free Tier | ✅ | $8/month | Web + iOS app | G Suite, Office 365, Salesforce + 1,100 more |
| [DocuSign](#docusign) | Enterprise eSignatures | ❌ | $10/month | Android & iOS app | Salesforce, Oracle, SAP + 350 more |
| [HelloSign](#hellosign) | Easy Embedded eSignatures | 3 documents/month | $15/month | Android & iOS app | Google Workspace, Office 365 + Zapier |
| [SignRequest](#signrequest) | International Documents | ❌ | $13/month | Web Only | Zapier, WebMerge, Base CRMs |
| [eSign Genius](#esign-genius) | Pay-As-You-Go Model | ❌ | $1.99 per envelope | Web + iOS app | Zapier, Google Drive, Box + more |Now let‘s explore our top recommendations in more detail.
#1 Choice: Signaturely
Signaturely earns our recommendation as the best overall electronic signature software solution thanks to its unrivaled simplicity and ease-of-use.
Rather than overwhelm users with complex features catered towards enterprise contract lifecycle management, Signaturely perfects the core functionality SMBs depend on:
✅ Easy drag-and-drop document signing
✅ Unlimited signatures & documents
✅ Legally-binding eSignatures
✅ Built-in workflows + reminders
✅ Email + SMS notifications
✅TONS of integrations
The product engineers and designers at Signaturely have done an amazing job at streamlining the platform to remove any friction standing between a user and a legally valid electronic signature.
Instead of clunky upload workflows that require downloading, opening applications, and coordinating various services just to get someone‘s signature, Signaturely handles everything directly within your email inbox.
The seamless Gmail and Office 365 integration lets you instantly prepare documents for signature right from your familiar email environment – whether on the web or within the intuitive mobile app on iOS or Android phones and tablets.
Once your document is uploaded and signature fields placed where you need recipients to sign, inputting their email is all it takes for them to receive a link to conveniently sign without needing to create accounts or download anything additional whatsoever.
And thanks to partnership with an industry-leading certificate authority, Signaturely guarantees court admissibility and legal compliance with electronic transaction regulations like UETA and ESIGN to deliver binding signatures every time.
### Signaturely‘s Key Capabilities
✅ Simple drag-and-drop signing
✅ Email + SMS reminders and notifications
✅ Legally-binding certificates
✅ 45+ templates
✅ Unlimited signatures
✅ G Suite + Office 365 integrations
✅ Affordable plans starting at $10/monthFor the majority of small business owners that want trusted electronic signatures without the learning curve, Signaturely hits the sweet spot.
Going Into More Detail on Other Top Contenders
While Signaturely earns our #1 recommendation based on ease-of-use and fast document turnaround times, we also understand many businesses require deeper functionality.
Let‘s analyze key capabilities of 4 other leading solutions:
#2: PandaDoc
PandaDoc differs by allowing users to collect legally valid electronic signatures AND payments within the same workflows – streamlining the document exchange process from proposal all the way through to invoice payment.
Over 30,000 customers trust PandaDoc to handle critical workflows, with the majority seeing at least a 10% bump in proposal-to-paid conversion rates.
With deep support for Payment Gateway integrations like Stripe that auto-fill billing details and allow signers to securely pay outstanding balances, it accelerates the time to get contractors, customers, and vendors paid.
Beyond payments, PandaDoc brings 500+ beautifully designed document templates spanning contracts, HR forms, NDAs, and real estate paperwork finely tuned to keep recipients engaged throughout signing.
These pre-built templates connect to data sources using merge tags that auto-populate personal details into custom agreements and proposals in seconds – saving days of manual document creation efforts.
And with over 1,000 application integrations via Zapier including everything from CRMs to marketing and billing software, it flexibly slots into virtually any cloud-based MarTech or SalesTech stack.
#3: DocuSign
With over a million customers globally, DocuSign stands as THE market share leader in enterprise-grade electronic signature solutions. And with quarterly revenues crossing $600 million, they have the war chest to continue leading innovation.
DocuSign goes far beyond just eSignatures to provide what they dub as the "Agreement Cloud" – an end-to-end system for automating the entire document lifecycle from preparation to signing to post-agreement tracking and insights.
Unlike tools focused solely on signing, DocuSign allows enterprises to programmatically generate documents from data, route to recipients based on complex business logic, garner actionable analytics on document performance, integrate into leading DMS platforms, and leverage machine learning to recommend optimal document strategies.
And they provide one of the deepest partner integration ecosystems with over 350 apps ranging from the leading CRMs and cloud storage tools all the way to niche solutions for clinical trials, rental applications, and commercial leasing.
So while DocuSign requires more upfront investment compared to basic signing apps, for enterprises managing hundreds of complex agreement workflows daily – that level of customization and scalability proves well worth the premium pricing.
#4: SignRequest
While North American businesses have widely adopted electronic signatures, other global regions have been slower to digitize contract workflows due to regional legislation differences.
That‘s where SignRequest comes into play – they‘ve built out specialized functionality targeting international use cases across Europe and other continents.
With advanced encryption, industry-leading uptime, and hosting options that comply with data residency laws in Germany, France, and other jurisdictions, SignRequest gives global entities enhanced confidence and trust in digitizing sensitive agreements.
And built-in audit trailing logging and reporting prepared organizations to pass stringent regulatory audits for finance, healthcare privacy policies, and other verticals with high verification standards.
SignRequest also goes beyond typical document templates to provide flexible "Signing Flows" – similar to a programming language just for electronically routing documents within your business based on conditional logic that models real-world signing sequences.
While still providing ease-of-use for individuals with free accounts to send unlimited signatures, these advanced controls have made SignRequest the electronic signature app of choice for global-minded enterprises.
…more comparisons on other top eSignature apps…
Now that we‘ve provided an independent analysis of the eSignature app landscape, let‘s turn our attention to evaluating some of the core functionality and capabilities to look for as part of your buying decision process.
## Key Electronic Signature Software Features to Evaluate
Even if you have determined electronic signatures align with your digital transformation initiatives, exactly what features and functionality should factor into your software selection?
Let‘s explore 10 critical areas to analyze:
### 1. Legal Validity and Compliance
First and foremost comes confirming whether an eSignature solution provides court-defensible signatures in your jurisdiction.
Selecting an application like Signaturely that partners with trusted certificate authorities (CAs) to apply tamper-proof digital certificates guaranteeing ISO, ESIGN Act, UETA, and eIDAS compliance can give you confidence in legal validity.
Forged or unauthorized signatures can instantly invalidate contracts and destroy trust between parties, so getting this right is non-negotiable.
### 2. Template Libraries and Workflows
Another area that distinguishes basic vs enterprise-ready systems comes down to document creation and routing capabilities...
## Expert Tips for Rolling Out Electronic Signatures from Legal and IT Perspectives
As insightful as software comparisons and capability analysis proves for identifying the best fitting electronic signature solution, we understand rolling out new business technology requires more than just checking boxes on features.
You need to evaluate how adopting modern eSignature workflows will impact employees, integrate with existing infrastructure, affect compliance risks, provide ROI, and influence client relationships.
To address common concerns around adoption challenges, security uncertainties, and legal precedence, we tapped industry experts for their advice on successfully transitioning from ink signatures to electronic:
```md
### Overcoming Resistance to Change
"Companies must proactively communicate how technologies like electronic signatures will benefit staff by eliminating manual paperwork and streamlining document turnaround. Highlight specific mundane tasks that will be eliminated through automation and let influencers try demos to experience improved speed firsthand."
**- Amy Thompson, Change Management Consultant**
### Ensuring Legal Compliance
"Both electronic and digital signatures are now widely recognized as legally valid methods for entering into binding agreements. However, be aware that certain industries like healthcare and financial services have additional regulations regarding consumer notices, consent capture, and retention policies you must incorporate."
**- Ryan Sills, Contract Lawyer**
### Adopting Best Data Security Practices
"When weighing electronic signature solutions, you should absolutely compare encryption methods, 2-factor authentication options, password policies, employee access controls, hosting locations, and audit trail watermarking. Enforcing separation of duties across document generation, transmitting, auditing, and storage reduces manipulation risks."
**- verificationnetworks.com**
### Delivering Tangible Return on Investment
"For maximum ROI, don‘t just digitize existing processes as-is. Instead, use electronic signatures as a catalyst to question every input and output of workflows to prune inefficiencies. Removing manual data re-entry by integrating core systems with your eSignature platform fuels big productivity gains."
**- Arun Pattabiraman, Business Process Consultant** Let‘s now switch gears to put some hard numbers around the customer savings achievable when deploying the right electronic signature systems…
Electronic Signature Adoption Stats and Business Benefits
Between accelerated document turnaround, reduced errors from illegible signatures, lowered paper and printing burdens, and faster payment collection, electronic signatures contribute significant and measurable ROI across nearly every industry.
Let‘s explore some adoption stats that quantify customer savings:
-
83% faster document cycle times – Salt Lake County government slashed approval processes from 6 weeks to 5 days by implementing DocuSign eSignatures across 100+ campus departments
-
26 hours saved per week eliminating manual paperwork – Investment advisors Royal Fund Management automated client account openings with integrated eSignature workflows.
-
57% more new customer contracts finalized for sales teams – RealtyJuggler real estate platform users close more deals by emailing listing agreements instantly from anywhere via mobile signing.
-
88% employee satisfaction levels around digitized workflows – McKesson healthcare professionals praise the flexibility of managing patient consent forms through encrypted electronic signatures.
-
51% lower costs per agreement versus paper checks – State governments eliminating expensive overnight shipping for ink signed approvals.
And those are just a sampling of the quantified performance gains being realized globally by public sector agencies, financial services firms, healthcare networks, insurance providers and real estate brokers after deploying electronic signature capabilities.
Let‘s wrap up with some best practice advice for ensuring your electronic signature implementation also delivers maximum value.
Tips for Rolling Out Electronic Signatures Successfully
While modern eSignature software has simplified much of the technical complexities historically surrounding digitizing signature reliant workflows, some upfront planning is still required for a smooth adoption journey.
Here are 8 tips to drive user adoption and achieve a high ROI deploying electronic signatures within your organization:
1. Set objectives – Establish quantifiable targets for turnaround times, cost reductions, contract closure rates or other critical metrics upfront to track progress.
2. Map document flows – Diagram current paperwork dependent processes involving signatures to identify top bottlenecks for automation.
3. Solicit staff input – Interview team members interfacing with contracts to uncover pain points and change management concerns.
4. Phase deployments – Rollout system incrementally across groups to iron out issues on smaller scale first before company wide initiatives.
5. Overcommunicate benefits – Consistently showcase employee feedback, cost savings achieved and productivity gains in internal communications campaigns.
6. Incentivize usage – Gamify adoption through friendly departmental contests for highest contract throughput.
7. Simplify training – Develop self-help toolkits with video tutorials, cheat sheets and chatbots tailored to signature workflows.
8. Continually optimize – Leverage reporting tools to find new efficiency opportunities as adoption progresses.
Sticking to electronic signature best practices like these will pave the way for transformation at your organization. Reach out if any questions!
Top eSignature Apps Summary and Recommendations
With electronic signatures entering mainstream business toolkits to accelerate agreement velocities from sales to contracting to payments, identifying the right eSignature app tailored to your needs ensures you capitalize on this growing digital transformation trend.
To recap, Signaturely earns our highest recommendation for most small businesses looking for unlimited, legally valid electronic signatures thanks to its unrivaled simplicity and smooth integrations with leading business productivity platforms.
However, explore alternatives like PandaDoc if you require deeper payment functionality or SignRequest for global-friendly security capabilities.
And don‘t underestimate change management planning – make sure to adequately support employees with training while tracking ROI metrics to showcase the tremendous time and cost savings electronic vs paper signatures unlock.
Want to take your first steps towards legally binding paperless workflows this year? Start your free Signaturely trial today!
