Docusign eSignature vs Adobe Acrobat Sign
Docusign eSignature or Adobe Acrobat Sign? Here is how they compare on price, free plan, platforms and the jobs each does best, from each vendor's own pages.
| Compared on | Visit | Visit |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | E-signature priced per user with envelope allowances, plus IAM plans adding AI agreement search and workflows | Adobe's e-signature service, sold inside Acrobat for teams plans or as custom-priced Acrobat Sign Solutions |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $10/mo billed annually (Personal)Docusign eSignature pricing | $16.99/seat/mo billed annually (Acrobat Standard for teams)Adobe Acrobat Sign pricing |
| What it covers | 1 user, 5 envelopes a month. $120 a year billed upfront, or $11 a month on an annual plan paid in monthly instalments ($132 a year). | Per license on an annual plan, billed monthly or prepaid ($203.88 a year); includes collecting e-signatures and tracking responses with no usage cap; cancelling after 14 days costs half the remaining annual commitment. |
| Free trial | Free trial of eSignature; the pages read do not state its length | Free trial of Acrobat Pro for teams and Acrobat Studio for teams for up to 10 licenses; trial length not stated on the plans page |
| Platforms | Web, API | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Integrations (vendor's figure) | 1,000+ pre-built integrations, including Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and HubSpot | Integrations with Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, SAP SuccessFactors, Microsoft Dynamics 365, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Power Automate and Zapier |
| Open source | No | No |
| Made by | Docusign, Inc. | Adobe Inc. |
Choose Docusign eSignature if…
- The job is sending a handful of contracts a month as a sole trader.
- The job is collecting payments and form data as part of signing.
Choose Adobe Acrobat Sign if…
- You want a mobile app (iOS and Android).
- The job is teams that already edit PDFs in Acrobat and want e-signatures in the same subscription.
- The job is sending agreements from Microsoft 365, Salesforce or Workday.
Still weighing it up?
If neither is quite right, Docusign eSignature and Adobe Acrobat Sign are also compared with their other rivals: Docusign eSignature vs PandaDoc, Docusign eSignature vs Dropbox Sign and Docusign eSignature vs signNow.
What Docusign eSignature does
- Envelopes holding several documents and signers, with reusable templates, reminders and a real-time audit trail
- Docusign Iris AI: agreement type detection, field suggestions, and AI summaries with Q&A for signers
- Payment collection during signing, web forms, PowerForms and bulk send on Business Pro
- IAM plans: Agreement Manager AI repository for search, data extraction and analysis, plus no-code Workflow Builder
- AI-Assisted Review for contract review and redlining on IAM for Enterprise
- Developer plans with REST APIs and SDKs, plus MCP connectors that bring Docusign into AI tools
Watch out for
- Envelope allowances: Personal 5 a month; Standard and Business Pro 100 per user per year on annual plans, with extra envelopes billed pay-as-you-go
- Payment collection, web forms and bulk send need Business Pro or an IAM Professional or higher plan
- No free plan for sending; the free developer account is a demo environment whose envelopes are not legally valid
What Adobe Acrobat Sign does
- Request signatures from Acrobat on desktop or mobile, with no usage caps on Acrobat for teams plans
- Send one document to multiple signers at once, each receiving a personalised version
- Audit trails, real-time status and notifications when documents are signed
- Signable web forms for websites and reusable templates shared across a team
- Custom branding on signature request emails and confirmation pages
- AI Assistant in Acrobat Studio for teams: summaries, insights and answers across PDFs, plus PDF Spaces
Watch out for
- Business plans are annual commitments; cancelling after 14 days costs half the remaining commitment
- Standalone Acrobat Sign Solutions has no published price
- The pages read do not describe payment collection during signing
Questions
Is Docusign eSignature or Adobe Acrobat Sign cheaper?
They price different things, so neither is simply cheaper. Docusign eSignature's entry price, $10/mo billed annually (Personal), is for the whole plan; Adobe Acrobat Sign's, $16.99/seat/mo billed annually (Acrobat Standard for teams), is per user or seat. Price the number of people, channels or contacts you have on each.
Do Docusign eSignature and Adobe Acrobat Sign have free plans?
Neither has a free plan. Docusign eSignature offers a free trial of eSignature; the pages read do not state its length. Adobe Acrobat Sign offers a free trial of Acrobat Pro for teams and Acrobat Studio for teams for up to 10 licenses; trial length not stated on the plans page.