Dropbox Sign is the e-signature service from Dropbox. Its homepage describes it as formerly HelloSign. If you are in the UK and looking for an alternative, the main differences are how it charges for a team, what its prices say about VAT, and how each one limits what you send.
Everything below about Dropbox Sign was read on its own pages on 20 October 2026, and each figure names the page it came from. Where those pages do not say, we do not guess.
The short version
Opened from the UK, Dropbox Sign’s pricing page shows prices in pounds. Its Essentials plan is for one user, and the page headlines unlimited signature requests. Its Standard plan is priced per user. The page does not say whether prices include VAT.
Pixasign prices include VAT. The paid plans are a flat monthly price with unlimited users (an account starts with room for 200 active people, raised free on request), and each plan has a monthly allowance of documents. There is also a Free plan.
So the choice mostly comes down to one question. Is it one person sending a great many documents, or several people sending a moderate number? The first points to Dropbox Sign Essentials. The second is what a flat price is for.
Where Dropbox Sign is the better fit
- One person sends a lot. Its pricing page says “Unlimited signature requests with no hidden fees”. Pixasign plans have monthly allowances of 50, 200 and 500 documents, and there is no overage charge: at the limit, new sends wait for the 1st or a bigger plan.
- You live in Dropbox, Google, Microsoft or HubSpot. The same page lists integrations with Google Drive, Microsoft Word and HubSpot, and says you can store signed documents in Dropbox, Google and Microsoft.
- You need an API. Dropbox Sign has a separate Sign API with its own pricing page. This site does not describe an API for Pixasign. You send from your computer in the web app.
- You are asked for certifications. Its pricing page says it is “Compliant with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, eIDAS, GDPR, and more”.
- You want chat support. The page says all customers have email and chat support. Pixasign support is by email at hello@pixasign.co.uk, answered by a person.
- You want more tools around the signature. Its feature list includes templates, bulk send, reminders, branding, reporting and in-person signing on a mobile device. If you rely on one of these, try the Pixasign Free plan before you move.
- You work in Word. Its feature list shows a Microsoft Word integration. Pixasign takes a PDF, or a photo of a paper document, so Word files are saved as PDF first.
Where Pixasign is the better fit
- Several people send. Dropbox Sign’s Standard plan is priced per user. Pixasign’s paid plans have no per-user fee. For more on how the two models behave as a team grows, see per-user or flat fee.
- You want VAT stated on the price. Pixasign prices include VAT. The price shown is the total charged, with nothing added at the payment page.
- You want to pay monthly, with no minimum term. Every Pixasign plan is monthly at the advertised price. Cancel any time from Account. The plan runs to the end of the month you paid for, then the account goes back to Free, and nothing is deleted.
- You want the other side to be able to check the file. When the last person signs, the whole file is sealed with a DigiCert timestamp. Anyone can check a file free at pixasign.co.uk/check, with no account.
Prices, read on 20 October 2026
| Plan | Price as published | Users | Sending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropbox Sign Essentials | £15.83 a month billed monthly, or £11.67 a month billed yearly (£140 a year). VAT not stated | 1 | Page headline: unlimited signature requests |
| Dropbox Sign Standard | £24 per user a month billed monthly, or £20 per user a month billed yearly (from £480 a year). VAT not stated | 2 or more; for 5+ users, contact them | Page headline: unlimited signature requests |
| Dropbox Sign Premium | “Get a custom quote” | 5 or more | Page headline: unlimited signature requests |
| Pixasign Free | £0 | 1 | 3 documents a month, no card |
| Pixasign Starter | £19 a month inc VAT | Unlimited | 50 documents a month |
| Pixasign Team | £59 a month inc VAT | Unlimited | 200 documents a month |
| Pixasign Business | £99 a month inc VAT | Unlimited | 500 documents a month |
Dropbox Sign figures from sign.dropbox.com/products/dropbox-sign/pricing, opened from the UK and read 20 October 2026. The page showed prices in pounds (GBP) and does not say whether they include VAT or tax. Every paid Pixasign plan has unlimited users (an account starts with room for 200 active people, raised free on request).
Plain arithmetic on those figures. Three people sending on Dropbox Sign Standard is £72 a month billed monthly, or £60 a month billed yearly, which is £720 a year. Pixasign Starter is £19 a month inc VAT, which is £228 a year inc VAT, for any number of people sending, up to 50 documents a month. Dropbox Sign’s page does not say whether its figures include VAT, so check that before you compare.
For one person sending a lot, the sum is different. Essentials is £140 a year billed yearly, and the page headlines unlimited signature requests. Above 500 documents a month, Pixasign has a Scale plan with no published price: you email hello@pixasign.co.uk. Dropbox Sign’s page shows its prices and headlines unlimited requests.
Side by side
| Compared on | Pixasign | Dropbox Sign |
|---|---|---|
| Currency and VAT | Pounds, inc VAT | Pounds when we opened its pricing page from the UK; the page does not say whether VAT is included |
| Users | Unlimited on every paid plan | 1 on Essentials; per user on Standard |
| How much you can send | 50, 200 or 500 documents a month on the listed plans, no overage charge | Page headline: unlimited signature requests |
| Billing | Monthly, no minimum term | Monthly or yearly; renews automatically until you cancel |
| Free option | Free plan: 1 user, 3 documents a month, no card | 30-day free trial of paid features; another page of theirs mentions a free account with three documents a month |
| Who signs | No app, no account, no password; signers never pay | Signers need no account before signing and pay nothing |
| What you can upload | A PDF, or a photo of a paper document | Their pricing page does not say |
| Record of signing | Evidence certificate; hash-chained events; DigiCert timestamp on the sealed file | A non-editable audit trail that is “time stamped”, per their pricing page |
| Checking a signed document | Free public checker at pixasign.co.uk/check, no account | Their pricing page does not describe a public checker |
| API | Not described on this site | Yes, with its own pricing page |
| Support | Email, answered by a person | Email and chat |
On the free option: the pricing page says “Try our free plan” but does not show its limits. A separate page, sign.dropbox.com/what-is-hellosign/free-document-signing, says a free account gets three free documents to sign online per month. Both were read on 20 October 2026.
Technical details
Pixasign’s seal is a PAdES document timestamp, the standard set out in ETSI EN 319 142: an RFC 3161 timestamp issued by DigiCert over the whole file, signed with DigiCert’s RSA-4096 key and SHA-384, with long-term validation (LTV) data embedded in the PDF. There is one timestamp, applied at the end. Change a byte the seal covers and it breaks; anything added later shows as a change at pixasign.co.uk/check.
Pounds, VAT and hosting
If you are a UK business, a price with no VAT statement leaves you with a question: is VAT added at checkout? Dropbox Sign’s pricing page does not say. Ask them before you budget.
Pixasign is made by Pixacomms Ltd, a UK company registered in Wales (company no. 15861826), with its registered office in Cardiff. The application runs on Hetzner in Nuremberg, Germany, and backups sit in Reykjavík, Iceland, both in the EEA. Card payments are handled by Stripe. Document files are encrypted at rest. The detail is on our security page.
Dropbox Sign’s pricing page does not say where documents are stored. It lists a “data residency” option among its features, which it describes as storing completed documents in one of its global data residency options. Ask Dropbox Sign which plan includes it, if where the data sits matters to you.
A word on the law
Dropbox Sign’s pricing page says its signatures are legally binding under the US ESIGN Act of 2000. The same page also says they are legally binding in the United Kingdom, among other places. Our guide to whether an electronic signature is legally binding in the UK sets out the basis, and our guide to simple, advanced and qualified signatures explains the levels (the wider picture is in our main guide). Pixasign does not offer qualified signatures. Pixasign does not do witnessing, so deeds and anything that needs a witness are out. Formalities are a question for whoever drafts the document, not for a software supplier.
Send one and look at what comes back
Free for 3 documents a month, no card. Send a real document, have it signed on a phone, and read the evidence certificate. Then check the sealed file yourself at pixasign.co.uk/check.
Start free UK company. Documents stored in the EEA. Unlimited users on every paid plan, with room for 200 active people to start.Questions
- Is Dropbox Sign the same as HelloSign?
- Dropbox’s homepage describes Dropbox Sign as formerly HelloSign. Its pricing page still sends sign-in and sign-up links to app.hellosign.com.
- How do the prices compare?
- It depends on your own sums. Opened from the UK on 20 October 2026, Dropbox Sign Essentials was £15.83 a month, or £11.67 a month billed yearly (£140 a year), for 1 user. Standard was £24 per user a month, or £20 per user a month billed yearly. Its page does not say whether VAT is included. Pixasign Starter is £19 a month inc VAT for 50 documents a month, with unlimited users (room for 200 active people to start, raised free on request). One person sending up to 3 documents a month pays nothing on the Pixasign Free plan.
- Do the people I send to have to pay or sign up?
- Not on either. Dropbox Sign’s FAQ says people who sign do not need an account first and pay nothing. On Pixasign, signers need no app, no account and no password, and never pay. They can sign on a phone. You send from your computer.
- Can I send a Word or Excel file to Pixasign?
- No. Save it as a PDF first, or send a photo of a paper document.
- What happens to my documents if I stop paying Pixasign?
- Nothing is deleted. Your account moves to the Free plan, so you can still view, download and check everything already signed, and send up to 3 documents a month. Sealed PDFs you have downloaded keep their seal and timestamp, because both are embedded in the PDF itself.