Since the usage of electronic signature was legally approved, lots of respective apps and services have become available. If you find it difficult to navigate among all the options, here is a complete review of the two most popular services: DocuSign and SignNow. DocuSign has been around since 2003, and SignNow was established in 2011. They look quite similar at first glance – read on to learn which one has more to offer.
Learning Curve, Convenience, and Accessibility
It is really difficult to find any drastic differences in terms of how intuitive, user-friendly, and convenient these e-signature services are. After uploading a file (both web apps have a drag & drop feature), you can prepare it for e-signing. You will add different fields to the corresponding parts of your document in a very similar way.
As for editing, SignNow has the edge over DocuSign in the convenience aspect: you are able to add signers and manipulate a document in the same editor. This means that you can add all the fields you need, close the document without signing it, and then add it later. In DocuSign, if you want to change the signers or the order, in which the document will be signed, you will have to switch between the editor and the menu for selecting the signers.
Both apps are easily accessible since you only need your email address to register. The registration procedure, however, is much faster and more intuitive on SignNow. All you need to create an account is a valid email address or a Facebook account. With DocuSign, it is more complicated. It will ask for a valid phone number, your company details, and your position in it, etc.
Price Plans and Value for Money
Both services provide a free trial with no credit card required. Even though DocuSign offers 30 days compared to 7 days offered by SignNow, SignNow is a convincing winner in this category. Its subscription plans start at $8 per person (in case you choose to be billed annually) and allow you to add up to 10 users if you work on the same project as a team. To compare, DocuSign’s cheapest option is $10, and it is single-user. The subscription plan with all the e-signature features included is $25 per user with 10 senders in SignNow. In DocuSign, this type of plan costs $40 and allows up to 5 users by default. However, there is a possibility to negotiate the quantity of users with managers.
As for what you get for the money you pay, SignNow is leading with the number of features that it offers for each plan:
- Unlimited number of documents for signing (DocuSign’s basic plan has a 5/month limit);
- Bulk sending in the second pricing option (DocuSign offers bulk sending in the most expensive plan);
- Teams (from 1 to unlimited), which are not offered by DocuSign, etc.
Finally, SignNow has its own Business cloud, AirSlate. For $50/month per user, you can get access to all the tools SignNow offers and more personalized customer support.
Available Features
Here is a quick round-up of all the unique features that each of the services offers.
| DocuSign | SignNow |
Up to 5 senders linked to 1 account for convenience.Comments that allow you to ask questions about a document, direct those questions to specific people, offer suggestions, etc.Collaborative fields that you can use to negotiate anything with your signers within the documents. | A powerful PDF editing program.USLegal Forms Library.Up to 10 senders may be connected within a single account.Live chatting with technical support.Unlimited teams to work on different projects.Document groups for cases when you need to send a bundle of different documents to be signed.Signing link invites can be generated when you don’t want to specify your signers’ emails.Advanced threat protection to guarantee there is no malware in your documents or attachments. |
As one can see, SignNow offers more features. DocuSign has additional features for collaboration but it is clear that the developers of the SignNow app prioritize the convenience of users by simplifying e-signing procedures, providing a convenient space for teams, and offering to send bundles of papers at a time.
Customer Support and Communication
Both services have Support pages on their websites with an extensive library that will guide through multiple questions. SignNow has an option to issue tickets. Their status can be checked in the My Tickets section of the Support page. You can contact the customer support via corresponding forms on the webpage and receive answers to the questions you failed to locate in the database. Additionally, SignNow offers video tutorials and a call center to help users who have subscribed to their business cloud.
SignNow seems to be more open to communication with their users in general. If you leave a review of their app, the team will respond and offer solutions to any issue.
Conclusion
Despite being a relatively new app, SignNow impresses its users with its efficiency. Having compared it with DocuSign, we can conclude that it wins in all the categories:
- SignNow is simple and intuitive to learn.
- It has all the necessary features to create and send documents for e-signing.
- The app is cost-efficient, giving you more with each pricing plan.
- It has a handier editor and a quicker registration procedure.
- The developers of this app are open to communication with its users, which results in the improvement of the app.
