Nine e-signature services had a free plan you can stay on when we read their pages on 5 November 2026, with allowances from 2 signature requests a month (Youtrust) to 25 envelopes a month (BoldSign). Most are for one sender. Pixasign Free is 1 user and 3 documents a month, with no card and the same sealed evidence as a paid plan.
The short answer
- Free plans exist and are usable. For a sole trader sending a few documents a month, one may be all you need.
- The limit is nearly always one sender. Adding a colleague usually means a paid plan.
- The unit differs. Some count documents, some envelopes, some signature requests. Read what is counted before you compare the numbers.
- Several big names have no free plan, only a trial: DocuSign, Signable, Legalesign, signNow, VedaSign, Yoti and Encodian Sign among them.
The free plans
Each row is the free plan as its own page described it on 5 November 2026. Where the page did not say something, the cell says “not stated” rather than guess.
| Free plan | Allowance | Senders | Audit record on the page | Card needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BoldSign Essential | 25 envelopes a month, 2 templates | 1, “No additional users” | “Audit trail with complete document history” | Not stated |
| PandaDoc Free | Create 5 documents a month, a shared limit | “For you and your team” | Not stated for the free plan | “No credit card required” |
| Zoho Sign Free | 5 envelopes a month | 1, “Single user only” | Audit trail listed | Not stated |
| Xodo Sign Free | Up to 5 documents a month, 1 every 7 days | Not stated | Not stated for the free plan | Not stated |
| SignWell Free | 3 documents a month, 1 template | 1, “Limited to 1 sender” | Audit trail listed | Not stated |
| eSignSimple Free | 3 documents a month | 1 | “Audit trail and certificate” | “Free forever, no card” |
| Dropbox Sign free account | “Three free documents to sign online per month” | Not stated | Not stated for the free account | Not stated |
| Youtrust Free | 2 signature requests a month. Signing your own documents is unlimited | 1, “1 user only” | “Sign & Seal verification” listed | Not stated |
| Pixasign Free | 3 documents a month, each with up to 20 people signing | 1 | Every document sealed, with the same evidence certificate as a paid plan | No card |
PandaDoc, SignWell, Xodo Sign, BoldSign and eSignSimple showed US dollar pages to a UK browser. That does not matter while the plan is free, and it does if you upgrade. For what the paid plans cost, see UK e-signature prices compared.
A free trial is not a free plan
Many pages say “free” and mean a trial: full features for a fixed number of days, then a paid plan or nothing. On 5 November 2026 these were trials, not free plans:
- DocuSign: no free plan on its UK plans page.
- Signable: no free plan; Pay As You Go from £2.60 an envelope, with no subscription.
- Legalesign: a free trial, and Pay As You Go at £1.50 per sent document.
- signNow: a free trial, then from $8 a month billed annually.
- VedaSign: a 14-day trial, then £15 a month.
- Yoti: a 14-day trial, then “£30 minimum monthly fee”.
- Encodian Sign: a 30-day trial with 50 envelopes.
- Adobe Acrobat: Acrobat Reader is free for opening PDFs; Acrobat Pro, which requests signatures, has a trial.
Zoho Sign’s page has one detail worth knowing: documents signed during its 14-day trial carry a watermark, and moving to the Free plan removes it.
What to check on a free plan
- What is counted. A document, an envelope (which can hold several documents) or a signature request. Some plans count a document when you sign it yourself, too.
- How many people can send. Most free plans are one sender. The people who sign are not senders.
- What you get back. A signed PDF, and a record of who signed, when and from where. If the page does not say the free plan includes it, ask.
- What happens at the limit. A wait until next month, a prompt to upgrade, or a charge.
- Whether a card is taken. A card on file can turn a free plan into a paid one by mistake.
- What happens to your documents if you stop. Can you still open and download what was signed?
None of these is a legal test. They are the practical questions that decide whether a free plan works for you. For what makes a signed document useful as evidence, see electronic signature evidence in the UK, and for the wider picture, electronic signatures for UK small businesses.
When free stops being enough
- More documents. If you send more than about 5 a month, BoldSign’s free 25 envelopes go furthest of the free plans we read. Past that, a paid plan.
- A second sender. On a per-user plan the bill doubles. On a per-account plan it does not: see e-signature with unlimited users.
- Branding, templates, reminders. These are where most free plans stop, and they are listed plainly on each pricing page.
The Pixasign free plan
Pixasign Free is 1 user and 3 documents a month, for as long as you like, with no card. Every document is sealed and comes with the same evidence certificate as on a paid plan, and every feature is included. On every plan, free or paid, each signature carries a small caption naming Pixasign and pixasign.co.uk/check, so whoever receives the file can check it.
At the limit, new sends wait until the 1st of the month, or you move to a paid plan. Documents already out for signature are never stopped. If you cancel a paid plan, the account goes back to Free and nothing is deleted. Paid plans are £19 a month inc VAT for 50 documents, with unlimited users: an account starts with room for 200 active people, raised free on request.
Try it on a real document
Free for 3 documents a month, no card. Or check our published sealed sample first, with no account at all.
Start free UK company. Documents stored in the EEA.Questions
- Is there a free e-signature service for UK small businesses?
- Yes. On 5 November 2026, BoldSign, PandaDoc, Zoho Sign, Xodo Sign, SignWell, eSignSimple, Dropbox Sign, Youtrust and Pixasign all had a free plan on their own pages, from 2 to 25 sends a month. Pixasign Free is 1 user and 3 documents a month, with no card.
- Is there a free DocuSign alternative in the UK?
- DocuSign had no free plan on its UK plans page on 5 November 2026. The services above did, each with a monthly allowance. Pixasign’s is 1 user and 3 documents a month, and every document is sealed with a DigiCert timestamp and an evidence certificate.
- Do free e-signature plans include an audit trail?
- Some say so on their pricing page: BoldSign, Zoho Sign, SignWell and eSignSimple list an audit trail on the free plan. Pixasign Free comes with the same evidence certificate as a paid plan. Where a page does not say, ask before you rely on it.
- What happens when I reach the free limit?
- It depends on the service. On Pixasign, new sends wait until the 1st of the month or a paid plan, and documents already out for signature carry on. Xodo Sign’s page says its free plan allows one document every 7 days.