Winning a new client is always a great feeling for small business owners—but the celebration doesn’t start until you’re holding a signed contract.
To streamline e-signatures and kick off projects quickly, you need the right digital contract tool. While DocuSign has been the market leader for the past decade, it’s not the only tool available. In fact, DocuSign alternatives may be a better fit for service-based businesses who need frictionless client workflows beyond signing documents and contracts.
Here we’ll overview the best DocuSign alternatives for service providers, freelancers, and small teams by discussing key features and best use cases for these tools—as well as a decision framework to choose the right electronic signature solution for you.
Key takeaways
- DocuSign is the most popular e-signature solution worldwide—but the market is now packed with other feature-rich options.
- DocuSign alternatives for service providers may offer more robust features that go beyond online contracts.
- HoneyBook is one such DocuSign alternative, providing an all-in-one client management platform that includes electronic signatures—as well as proposals, booking, communications, invoicing, payments, and more.
- HoneyBook is an ideal fit for small businesses who don’t require e-signing bells and whistles and instead want to manage client actions from one place.
- HoneyBook may not be the right DocuSign alternative for businesses with high client volumes, large teams, or advanced reporting requirements.
Top 5 DocuSign alternatives to consider
Let’s break down the best DocuSign alternatives to find you the optimal tool for signing documents and creating legally binding contracts. We’ll look at different tools’ strengths, pains, and best use cases.
HoneyBook
HoneyBook is a favorite all-in-one clientflow platform for independent businesses seeking to effortlessly manage client actions (including document signing) from a single virtual HQ.
Client management and workflow automation
| Admin automation | Sales automation | Communication automation | Project management automation |
| Pre/post meeting tasksSchedulingBooking | Thank you emailsFollow-upLead qualificationPre/post discovery callsService selectionBooking | Thank you emails ConfirmationsCheck-ins | Due dates Task reminders Onboarding and welcome packetsOffboarding |
Business owners on HoneyBook love the ability to create customized clientflows (including for signatures). You create a branded digital pipeline within HoneyBook where both you and your clients can communicate, view task progress, and centralize project logistics.
What’s more, workflow automations are extensive in HoneyBook, allowing you to set up triggered communications throughout the client lifecycle—such as time-saving automations.
Proposals, contracts, and e-signatures
HoneyBook helps you handle all the logistics of kicking off a project: make a branded proposal from dozens of templates, auto-fill a contract with client info, and send it off for digital signature with auto-tracking and reminders.
Invoicing and online payments
Add invoicing directly to your contracts and manage them from your customized clientflow. HoneyBook also has natively integrated payment processing—available at low transaction fees—that you can set up to send automatically and track in-platform.
PandaDoc
PandaDoc focuses on providing powerful e-signature features and complex document management workflows.
Advanced proposal builder
PandaDoc’s document editor is its flagship feature, enabling businesses to customize documents, leverage its library of 1000+ starter templates (proposals, quotes, contracts, and more), and create signable interactive forms and tables.
E-signatures and approval workflows
With PandaDoc, you have some fairly advanced e-sign features, such as real-time audit trails, reporting tools, drag-and-drop fields, and integrated payments. It also has secure e-signature abilities and multi-step approvals, so you can create specialized workflows.
Document management tracking and analytics
If you’re keen to get real-time views, engagement tracking, and performance insights, PandaDoc has some great native analytics.
Zoho Sign
Zoho Sign is a highly secure electronic signature solution within a broader business management ecosystem—a best choice if you’re already using Zoho’s other products.
Secure and compliant e-signatures
Zoho Sign has a reputation for security and compliance. It meets the highest industry compliance standards (such as CCPA, GDPR, and HIPAA) and has diverse authentication options, including ID verification and blockchain timestamping.
Integration within the Zoho ecosystem
Zoho offers a robust suite of business tools, from CRM and Books to cloud storage and marketing. It also has its own selection of Zoho Apps to extend functionality, which can be useful for growing mid-market businesses who may need to add on tooling.
Workflow automation for approvals
Take advantage of personalized templates and easy to use workflows that include contract approvals, ID verification, signatures, payments, and more.
Proposify
Proposify is aimed at helping sales teams close the deal through design-first proposals and workflows.
Structured proposal creation
Proposify helps you make beautiful, client-tailored proposals, quotes, and agreements. You can harness its convenient template library and reusable content blocks.
Deal and approval management
Trim the approvals process with custom-built workflows that make it easy for clients to read, suggest changes, and sign documents. Proposify even integrates with your preferred CRM, so you can auto-pull client information directly and prevent errors.
Proposal metrics and insights
Proposify has excellent in-document metrics, so you know how your signers are interacting with your contracts (e.g. open time, time spent on each section, etc.).
Acrobat Sign
Adobe’s e-signiature product, Acrobat Sign, is an enterprise-grade e-signature solution with deep digital signing and editing capabilities.
Enterprise-level electronic signatures
Acrobat Sign is a first choice for enterprises with high-volume contracts who need strong authentication, compliance, and audit trails. In-platform, you can easily edit and convert your PDFs, as well as securely send them off for signatures.
Integration with Adobe and business tools
Acrobat Sign works best within the Adobe ecosystem, layering effortlessly into other modules such as Creative Cloud and Analytics. It also has robust connections with CRM systems and tools, such as Microsoft, Google Drive, Slack, HubSpot, and Zapier.
Scalable document management workflows
With Acrobat Sign, you can automate document routing at scale, which is useful if you have large-scale usage capabilities and need to configure recipient details, roles, and templates.
What to consider when analyzing alternatives to DocuSign
Choosing the right alternative to DocuSign is essential to streamlining your small business contracts—as well as impressing your clients with secure, efficient workflows.
Use these key questions below to determine which DocuSign alternatives fit your business workflow complexity, contract volume, and growth plans:
- Scope of functionality: Do you only require e-signature features, or are you looking for an all-in-one platform?
- Contract templates and customization: Do you need custom branding? Do you have diverse proposal and contract template needs?
- Approval workflows and compliance standards: Do you need multi-step client workflows? Do you have strict compliance standards to meet?
- Proposal and document collaboration features: Do you need detailed collaboration features (such as comments or cross-device support) and/or client-facing portals?
- Payment collection and invoicing support: Are looking to improve efficiency with integrated payments and invoices?
- Workflow automation and reminders: Do you have significant workflow complexity that could benefit from automations (reminders and more)?
- Team roles, permissions, and internal approvals: Do you need multiple user permission types? Do your approvals involve multiple steps?
- Integrations with CRM, accounting, and project tools: Does your tech stack involve third-party tooling? Do you need integrations for different devices?
- Reporting, audit trails, and document tracking: Are document analytics important to your sales and client management strategy? Do you need audit trails for compliance?
- Scalability as contract volume increases: Is your client list growing? Do you need a tool that allows for increased contract volume?
Overall, your DocuSign alternative selection will depend on how much of the process you want to manage from one central system. For example, HoneyBook is an all-in-one platform to handle electronic signatures, as well as proposals, client workflows, automations, payments, and more.
HoneyBook vs DocuSign for service-based businesses
HoneyBook is a sleek all-in-one client management platform with standard e-signature capabilities, as well as extensive clientflows that centralize your communications, bookings, invoicing, payments, and more directly in-platform.
Compared to HoneyBook, DocuSign mainly offers advanced electronic signature capabilities and robust integrations with your favorite tools. Though it has some basic client management features available, you’ll have to pay for a higher pricing tier.
Here’s a quick comparison of the main features of each.
| Feature | DocuSign | HoneyBook |
| Primary use case | Focused on advanced electronic signatures capabilities | All-in-one business management platform with built-in e-signatures |
| Contract creation and template management | Large library of 900+ contract templates | Wide variety of contract templates and more |
| E-sign functionality and compliance | Deep e-signing functionality (e.g. advanced role types, send by WhatsApp, signers’ ID verification, global time zone support, etc.) | Highly convenient features (e.g. auto-fill client details, automated reminders, status updates, integrated invoicing, etc.) |
| Proposal and agreement workflows | Custom fields for contracts, though limited workflows | Lots of proposal templates and easy multi-step workflows |
| Invoicing and online payments | Some invoice templates and payment gateways (e.g. PayPal, Stripe, etc.) | Ability to add invoicing to contracts, plus natively integrated payment processing |
| Client management (CRM capabilities) | Limited native features, but offers integrations with CRM tools (e.g. Salesforce, Dynamics, and Zoho) | All-in-one CRM with special focus on clientflows and templates |
| Workflow automation | Building custom workflows is limited without add-ons | Extensive clientflows and automation opportunities |
| Scheduling and calendar tools | Integrations with popular calendar tools (e.g. Outlook, Google Drive, and Calendly) | Built-in booking and calendar features |
| Reporting and business insights | Some standard reports and AI-based analytics | Basic reports available for e-signatures and other client actions |
| Integrations with other tools | Robust integrations and APIs with major tools (e.g. Microsoft, Salesforce, Zoom, etc.) | Some high-demand integrations (e.g. email, QuickBooks, Calendly, Facebook, Pic-Time, and Zapier) |
| Client communication | Integrates with SMS, WhatsApp, and email notifications (for an extra fee) | Ability to manage all client communications directly in-platform |
| Team collaboration and permissions | Advanced user permission levels available | Customized client portals with unique permissions for team members and clients |
| Sign pricing and scalability | Starts at $10/month for 5 envelopesYou may need the $25/month plan if you have more clients or require workplace integrations. You may need the $40/month plan if you want to receive payments | Excellent built-in value, with unlimited clients, projects, payments, templates, etc. starting at $29/month |
| Mobile signature app | Simplified version of desktop version | All-in-one features available on mobile (with ability to customize notifications and use time-tracking) |
| Customer service | Online resources, community board, and help requests (via chat, email, or phone) | Help center and free transfer services, as well as chat, email, and phone support |
| Best for | Businesses with high contract volumes and larger teams | Independent, service-based small businesses |
Is HoneyBook the right DocuSign alternative for your business?
If you’re leaning towards an all-in-one DocuSign alternative to handle your digital contracts and other client actions, HoneyBook is a top-rated platform. It’s especially effective if:
- You’re an independent small business (e.g. designers, photographers, event planners, creatives, business consultants, and coaches) that doesn’t have advanced e-signature requirements or high client volumes.
- You’re looking to handle your end-to-end clientflows from one place.
- You want to take advantage of built-in automation opportunities.
- You’re seeking a platform that’s genuinely easy to set up (including free transfer services!).
See firsthand how HoneyBook speeds up your digital contract process, simplifies your client workflows, and enables growth for your small business. Sign up here to start your free trial.
FAQs
Is HoneyBook legally valid for electronic signatures?
Yes, HoneyBook supports legally binding electronic signatures that comply with top contract standards and laws (including the E-Sign Act and UETA).
Can HoneyBook replace DocuSign for client contracts?
HoneyBook’s built-in contract and e-signature capabilities can easily replace DocuSign for small businesses. As a DocuSign alternative, it also offers extensive templates, workflows, and integrated invoicing for more robust client management.
Is HoneyBook suitable for international clients?
HoneyBook can be used with international clients and has some global-friendly features, such as time zone and translation support. That said, your business and/or bank account will need to be set up in the U.S. or Canada to access certain features.
Does HoneyBook offer templates for contracts and agreements?
Absolutely, HoneyBook has a reputation for beautiful, service-based templates that small businesses can easily use to get started with new clients.
What other DocuSign alternatives are currently on the market?
In addition to HoneyBook, popular DocuSign alternatives today include PandaDoc, Dropbox Sign (formerly HelloSign), (Adobe) Acrobat Sign, Signeasy, Signnow, Signaturely, SignRequest, Xodo Sign (formerly Eversign), DocHub, and GetAccept.
