PearSign vs DocuSign

The e-signature that charges for what you send, not who you are

Why teams choose PearSign over DocuSign

DocuSign is no longer selling e-signature; it is selling a contract data platform. Signing is now the entry point to Intelligent Agreement Management — an AI repository, no-code workflow and AI contract review. If you want every agreement searchable with renewal dates extracted, that platform is the product and it is genuinely good. If you need documents signed, you are paying a premium for a layer you will not open.

Side by side

One table, top to bottom: the three differences that do the real work, then what each product costs for the same team, then every capability DocuSignpublishes set against ours. Read the qualifier under each mark rather than the mark alone — most of the difference is not whether something exists but which tier you must reach to use it. A hollow tick means it exists behind a higher plan or a paid add-on.

Included on every plan
Available on a higher tier or as a paid add-on
Not offered

Capability	PearSign	DocuSign
Where the two differ
What you pay for	One flat price for the organisation, with the team included. $15 a month covers 3 team members, $39 covers 15, $129 covers 50 — these are the MONTHLY rates Paying yearly costs ten months rather than twelve Adding a colleague changes nothing on the invoice until you outgrow the tier The people signing your documents never pay and never need an account	A per-seat subscription, and now a platform upsell above it. eSignature Standard: $30/user/mo month-to-month, $25 billed annually eSignature Business Pro: $45/user/mo month-to-month, $40 billed annually Personal: $11/user/mo month-to-month, $10 billed annually IAM platform: Starter $45, Standard $50, Professional $80 per user per month Business Pro and IAM Starter both land near $45 with different contents — an easy fork to buy the wrong side of
How much you can send	Monthly allowances, sized for teams that send regularly. 250 envelopes a month on the $15 plan — 3,000 a year 1,000 a month on $39, 4,000 on $129 The allowance belongs to the account, so the whole team draws on one pool	100 envelopes per user per YEAR on both e-signature team tiers. Standard and Business Pro: 100 envelopes per user per year Five Standard seats is 500 envelopes a year in total Overage is a sales conversation, not a checkout line
What “unlimited” means	The allowance is the allowance, and the API draws on the same pool. No separate meter for API sends — an envelope is an envelope however it was created API access from the $15 plan, webhooks included Nothing about embedding changes what you pay	Unlimited applies to the web app only; automation is metered separately. IAM Standard and Professional: web-app sends unlimited Automated and API sends capped at 100 per user per year on those same plans Anything embedded in a portal is metered outside the unlimited headline
Trying it first	A permanent free plan, so you can send real documents before deciding. 3 free envelopes total, no card No trial clock, so an evaluation cannot quietly expire mid-decision Every plan including Free carries the AATL seal and a certificate of completion	No free plan — every tier is paid. There is no ongoing free tier, only paid plans Annual plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee Evaluating means entering payment details first
What is not on the price list	Everything we charge for is published. Five tiers, all with a number next to them, up to $399 a month Phone verification is included in the Professional plan, not metered per use No per-transaction line items	The identity and delivery layer is quoted per transaction. ID verification and knowledge-based authentication: per transaction, unpublished Remote online notarisation, SMS and WhatsApp delivery: unpublished For identity-heavy onboarding the verification line can rival the seat line
What it costs — a team of five, sending 300 documents a month
Plan compared	PearSign Professional	DocuSign Standard
How the price is built	flat, 15 seats included	5 × $30 monthly · $25 annual
Cost per month	$39	$150
Sending included	1,000 / month	500 / year
Cost per document at this volume	$0.13	cap reached in 7 weeks
Sending and signing
Reusable templates	Free plan and up	All plans
Signing order and sequential routing	All plans	Standard, $30/user monthly ($25 annual)
Bulk send to many recipients at once	Professional, $39/mo flat	Business Pro, $45/user monthly ($40 annual)
Request file uploads from the signer	All plans	Business Pro, $45/user monthly ($40 annual)
Public web form anyone can start	Professional, $39/mo flat	Business Pro, $45/user monthly — PowerForms / Web Forms
Automated reminders and expiry	All plans	All plans
Sign on mobile with no account	All plans	All plans
Saved templates included	3 Free, 15 Starter, 100 Professional, unlimited Enterprise	Unlimited; shared templates from Standard
In-person signing on one device	Not offered	Standard, $30/user monthly ($25 annual)
Creating the document
AI drafts the document from a prompt	Professional, $39/mo flat	Not published on the pricing page
AI places the signature fields	Professional, $39/mo flat	Not published on the pricing page
Edit a PDF in the browser before sending	All plans	Not published on the pricing page
Proposal and quote builder with pricing tables	Not offered	Not an eSignature feature
Proof the signature holds
Tamper-evident seal on the finished PDF	All plans	All plans
Certificate of completion	All plans	All plans
Audit trail	All plans	All plans — real-time audit trail
Verify a signed document after the fact	All plans	Not published on the pricing page
Identity and access
Phone / SMS verification of the signer	Professional, $39/mo flat	Enhanced (contact sales), or a paid add-on
Government-ID verification	Not offered	Standard onwards — 5 trial uses, then per transaction, unpublished
Remote online notarisation	Not offered	Enhanced — contact sales
SSO / SAML	Enterprise, $399/mo flat	Enhanced — contact sales
Roles and permissions	Starter, $15/mo flat	Standard, $30/user monthly ($25 annual)
Knowing what is in your contracts
AI repository over executed agreements	Not offered	IAM Starter, $45/user — Agreement Manager
Contract lifecycle management	Not offered	CLM — quote only, on top of IAM
Building on it
REST API	Starter, $15/mo flat	All plans
Webhooks	Starter, $15/mo flat	Not named on the pricing page
Custom branding	Starter, $15/mo flat	Standard, $30/user monthly ($25 annual)
Collect payment at signing	Not offered	Business Pro, $45/user monthly ($40 annual)
API sends metered separately from your plan	No — an envelope is an envelope however it was created	Yes — automated sends capped at 100/user/yr even on IAM “unlimited”
Data residency	Not published by PearSign	Enhanced — contact sales

Read it end to end and the shape is consistent. DocuSign has the longer feature list, and the rows above say so plainly — there are capabilities there that PearSign does not have at all. What the table also shows is what each product charges to do the work most teams actually do: send documents, collect signatures, and let a few colleagues do the same. On that work PearSign is a flat $39 a month for fifteen people with a thousand documents included, and every competitor here multiplies by headcount before you send anything. That is the trade: a shorter feature list, at a fraction of the price, with no meter on what you send.

Rows come from DocuSign’s own published plan comparison, read on 2026-08-25. Where DocuSign does not publish something it is marked not published rather than “no” — an absent mention is not evidence of an absent feature. Scope is product capability as each vendor documents it; security certifications and compliance programmes are not compared here.

Send one and see

3 envelopes total, free forever, no card and no trial that quietly ends. Put something you actually need signed through it.

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Straight answers

PearSign and DocuSign

Is PearSign actually cheaper than DocuSign?

For a team, substantially — and the gap is structural rather than a discount. Five people on DocuSign Standard is $150 a month for 500 envelopes a year. PearSign Professional is $39 a month for 1,000 envelopes a month. For one person sending a handful of documents a year, DocuSign Personal at $11 a month may cost less than a paid PearSign plan — though PearSign's free tier covers 3 envelopes total at no cost. Figures checked 2026-08-25.

Are PearSign signatures as legally binding as DocuSign's?

Signatures collected through PearSign are intended to be legally binding under the U.S. ESIGN Act and UETA — the same statutes that govern electronic signatures generally. Documents carry an AATL-backed certificate and a tamper-evident audit trail, so a signed PDF verifies in Adobe Acrobat without a warning.

Can I move my templates over?

There is no automated import from DocuSign. You upload the same source documents and place fields once; PearSign's AI does most of that placement on upload, and it drafts documents from a prompt if you do not have one ready.

Sources

Every DocuSign figure on this page was read from DocuSign’s own site on 2026-08-25. Pricing changes; the source is linked so you can check it rather than trust us.

DocuSign eSignature plans and pricing

DocuSign is a trademark of its respective owner. PearSign is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by DocuSign.

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