What do electronic signatures cost in the UK?
Between nothing and several hundred pounds a year, depending mostly on how the provider has chosen to bill you rather than on what you actually use. The headline price is rarely the number you end up paying.
The three ways you get charged
Per user, per month
The most common model, and the most expensive for small businesses. You pay for a licence whether or not you send anything, and adding a colleague doubles it. Docusign, Adobe Acrobat Sign and Dropbox Sign all work this way. Expect £10 to £25 per person per month, usually cheaper if you commit for a year up front.
Per document, or per envelope
You pay for what you send and nothing in a month when you send nothing. UK providers in this space charge roughly £1.50 to £2.50 a document. This suits businesses whose volume is irregular, which is most of them.
Free, with limits
Several platforms offer a handful of documents a month free. Useful for trying things out. The catches are usually the audit trail, the branding, and what happens when you exceed the allowance mid-contract.
The costs that are easy to miss
| What to look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Envelope or transaction caps | Docusign Personal caps at five documents a month. Adobe team plans cap at 150 per user a year. Going over means upgrading, not paying a little more. |
| Seat minimums | Dropbox Sign's Standard plan has a two seat minimum, so a sole trader pays for two. |
| Annual commitment | Headline prices are usually the annual rate. Monthly billing is often 40 to 80 per cent more. |
| Per-user pricing | If your office manager also needs to send, that is another full licence. |
| API access | Frequently reserved for higher tiers, sometimes considerably higher. |
| Branding | Putting your own name on the emails is often a paid upgrade. |
Working out your own number
Take the documents you sent in the last twelve months, not the number you imagine sending. Most small businesses guess high. Then:
- Under about 10 a month, per-document pricing wins clearly.
- 10 to 21 a month, it depends which subscription you compare against, how many people need to send, and how steady your volume is. Irregular months and multiple senders both favour per-document.
- Over about 21 a month, every month, with one sender, an unlimited subscription probably works out cheaper.
GetSigning charges £1.19 a document, including VAT, with no subscription, no per-user fee and no cap. Twenty documents in a year costs £23.80. Nothing at all costs nothing at all. Above roughly 17 documents a month you would likely pay less on an unlimited plan elsewhere, and we would rather say so.
Cheapest is not always cheapest
One thing worth paying for: the audit trail. A signature with no evidence behind it is worth very little if it is ever questioned. Whatever you choose, check that a completed document records who signed, when, from what IP address and device, that they consented to sign electronically, and that the record cannot be altered afterwards without it showing.
General information, not legal advice. GetSigning is not a law firm. If a document matters, take proper advice on it.
£1.19 a document. No subscription.
One price, whatever your volume. Three free documents to see if it fits.
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