Signing things is the whole point of these apps. The ability to add an electronic (or digital) signature to any document. For me, a great eSignature app has to meet a few criteria: To make this list, the document signing software had to be nice to use but also provide all the features that small and medium businesses need. And while there are lots of eSignature apps out there that will get the job done, a lot of them are awful to use. The problem with business app categories like this is that often the people paying for the app (or deciding which one to get) aren't the ones who have to use it every day. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog.

We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site-we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. Unless explicitly stated, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. Our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. What makes the best electronic signature app? If you've been sent a document you need to sign electronically, start with one of these apps, or scroll to the end to see some other options. While you can digitally sign a document with dozens of different tools, the apps on this list are all dedicated eSign apps that make it super easy to do. We use the terms interchangeably-in common usage, they basically are-but it's worth keeping that distinction in mind as you do your research. For official purposes, digital signatures are a lot more secure and legally recognized around the world-and you need a dedicated eSign app to add them. If there ever was a court case, it would be a lot harder for anyone to claim they weren't the one to actually sign the document-the kid hardly squiggled in their email address. This creates both a 'fingerprint' that makes the document unique and a paper trail that can be independently verified. If the other lawyers can convincingly argue that your erstwhile business partner left their iPad on their coffee table and a small child decided to draw a squiggle on the open document and hit send without realizing, then you might be out a lot of money.Ī digital signature is a special kind of electronic signature that uses cryptography to protect the document and also embeds details like email addresses, when and where people signed any documents, and the serial number and identifying details of the device they use to do it. It's still legally binding, but because anyone could easily forge it, you might have a harder time enforcing its validity in a contentious court case. You can make one with almost any app, from Microsoft Word to Adobe Photoshop.

When talking about online document signing, electronic signatures and digital signatures are slightly different things.Īn electronic signature is just your typed, drawn, or otherwise computer-added signature on a document. electronic signatureĪs with all things legal, definitions matter. How to sign documents online: Digital signature vs. Preview for occasionally signing documents on a MacĪdobe Acrobat Reader for occasionally signing documents on a PCĮSignatures.io for a pay-as-you-go option Please.) The best eSignature softwareĭocusign for businesses that sign lots of things (Seriously, if you hire freelance writers, please use a good app. I considered and tested almost 40 electronic signature apps, and these are the six best-for everyone on both sides of the paperwork. Whether you're looking for a way to electronically sign a document that you've just received or want to send documents out to be digitally signed by contractors and other business partners, I have recommendations for the right apps to use. So, as you can imagine, I've had to use a lot of eSign apps.

I'm based in Ireland, and I can only imagine what shipping original documents back and forth to the US in a timely manner would cost. As a freelance tech writer, I've had to sign dozens of contracts, statements of work, W8-BEN-E forms, and other legal documents over the last decade just to do my job.

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