Buyers look past Dropbox Sign (formerly HelloSign) when the API ladder jumps from $75 to $250 a month, when they need signing levels beyond a simple signature, or when they want to self-host. Most go to BoldSign or SignWell for lower-cost sending, to Zoho Sign inside a Zoho stack, or to Docusign for deeper workflow.
Visibility in our rankings can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within
the shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review or of this page. The first three alternatives
go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the
established names follow in their ranked order. How it works:
placement disclosure · editorial process.
What each alternative does differently
1. BoldSign
Budget signing and API from Syncfusion · United States
Free Essential plan with 25 envelopes a month, then Growth at 50 envelopes per user and Business with unlimited envelopes. The API starts at $30 a month with 40 envelopes included and $0.75 for each beyond that. A free sandbox watermarks documents and deletes them after 14 days.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you want a developer API with a published per-envelope overage price.
Pricing: Per sender per month on published tiers with a free plan; the API is priced per envelope on a separate published list. (free plan)
Full review: #3 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit BoldSign →
2. SignWell
Minimal, low-cost e-signature for small businesses · United States
Free for one sender and three documents a month; paid plans lift documents to unlimited and bill by sender (one on Light, three on Business). The API includes 25 free documents a month and bills per document after that. SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA support are listed.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you want unlimited documents on a small plan billed by sender.
Pricing: Published monthly plans that each include a set number of senders (one on Light, three on Business) with extra senders billed per month, a free plan limited to three documents a month for one sender, and API usage beyond the included documents billed pay as you go. (free plan)
Full review: #10 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit SignWell →
3. Zoho Sign
Signing that plugs into the Zoho suite · India
Envelope allowances rise by tier: five a month on the free single-user plan, 25 per user on Standard, unlimited from Professional. SMS, advanced signatures and recipient authentication consume separately bought credits. The trial lasts 14 days without a card, and a Zoho account is needed.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if your CRM or finance data already sits in Zoho.
Pricing: Per user per month on published tiers with a limited free plan; also included in the Zoho One bundle. (free plan)
Full review: #1 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Zoho Sign →
4. Youtrust (formerly Yousign)
European e-signature with eIDAS signature levels · France
Sold by a French company that now trades as Youtrust. Plus costs €23 per user a month with unlimited simple signatures, while advanced and qualified signatures are add-ons. A free plan allows two requests a month for one user. Fits buyers whose signers sit in the EU.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if your signers are in Europe and you may need advanced or qualified signatures.
Pricing: Free plan for one user with two signature requests a month, a single-user One plan at €9 a month, then Plus and Pro per user per month with unlimited simple signatures; advanced and qualified signatures are paid add-ons (QES from €10 each), and API plans start around €104 a month. (free plan)
Full review: #2 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Youtrust (formerly Yousign) →
5. Docusign eSignature
The incumbent e-signature platform · United States
Three published tiers: Personal at $10 a month with five envelopes, then Standard at $25 and Business Pro at $40 per user, each with 100 envelopes per user per year. The yearly cap is the catch. Offers far deeper workflow than Dropbox Sign, at a higher cost.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you need conditional routing and a broader integration list than Dropbox Sign offers.
Pricing: Per user per month on published Personal, Standard and Business Pro tiers with annual envelope allowances per seat; enhanced plans and API are quoted. (free trial)
Full review: #7 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Docusign eSignature →
6. airSlate SignNow
Low-cost signing for routine business paperwork · United States
Offers an API with 250 free signature invites and a free sandbox for testing. We could not read its seat pricing from the vendor site in this session, so compare quotes directly. Positioned as a general signing tool for routine business forms and PDFs.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you want to test an API with free invites before choosing a plan.
Pricing: Priced per account rather than per seat, with unlimited users on every plan and a cap on signature invites that rises with the tier; a 7-day free trial, with API and site licenses priced separately by invite volume. (free trial)
Full review: #6 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit airSlate SignNow →
7. Xodo Sign (formerly eversign)
Affordable signing and API from the Xodo PDF family · Austria
Now Xodo Sign. Basic costs $10 a month billed yearly with unlimited documents but only three templates, and Professional adds unlimited templates, bulk credits, SMS credits and PDF editing at $16. API access sits on the quoted Enterprise tier.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you want unlimited sending at a low flat price and some PDF editing.
Pricing: Per user per month on published tiers, with API plans sold separately by document volume. (free trial)
Full review: #9 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Xodo Sign (formerly eversign) →
8. Documenso
Open-source document signing you can self-host · Germany
Open source under AGPLv3, so you can run it yourself. Hosted tiers: free at five documents a month, Individual at $25, Teams at $40 for five users, Platform at $250. Younger than Dropbox Sign, with fewer connectors, and self-hosting means you maintain it.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you want to self-host or keep the signing code open to audit.
Pricing: The AGPL code is free to self-host; the hosted service has a limited free tier and paid individual, team and enterprise plans, with commercial licensing for companies that cannot accept AGPL terms. (open source)
Full review: #15 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Documenso →
9. Signeasy
Mobile-friendly signing with basic contract tracking · United States
Personal at $10 per seat a month sends only five contracts a month, while Business at $20 and Business Pro at $30 send unlimited documents. Adds a contract repository with AI key-term extraction. SSO and bulk send sit on higher tiers or add-ons.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you want unlimited sending at a lower per-seat price and a contract repository.
Pricing: Published tiers: a single-user Personal plan capped at a few sends a month, then Business and Business Pro billed per user, with API access and SSO on custom plans. (free trial)
Full review: #13 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Signeasy →
10. PandaDoc
Document builder with signing, quotes and payments · United States
Built around creating the document first: quotes, proposals and contracts with signing attached. Its pricing page blocked our fetch, so we verified no prices here. A fit if the pain is document preparation rather than the signature step.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if your signed documents begin as quotes and proposals built from a template library.
Pricing: Per seat per month on published tiers, billed cheaper annually, with a free plan capped at five documents a month and CRM integrations and approval workflows reserved for the Business tier and above. (free plan)
Full review: #4 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit PandaDoc →
11. Skribble
Qualified e-signatures for Swiss and EU law · Switzerland
Swiss provider selling all signature standards. Team costs €23 per user a month billed yearly with unlimited simple signatures and 72 advanced or qualified signatures per user a year. Starter has no subscription and charges per signature. Narrower in integrations than Dropbox Sign.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you need qualified signatures under Swiss or EU law.
Pricing: Published business plans per user per month, with qualified signatures charged per signature or included in volume bundles. (free trial)
Full review: #11 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Skribble →
12. Scrive
Nordic e-signing built around national eID schemes · Sweden
Swedish vendor. Essential costs €21 per user a month billed annually and Business €49, the tier where BankID, MitID and other national eIDs become available as paid add-ons. Cancelling needs three months of notice before the contract ends.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if your signers use Nordic national eIDs such as BankID or MitID.
Pricing: Published per-user plans in euros billed annually, starting around €21 a month for Essential, with national eID signing only from the Business tier and billed as an add-on; enterprise and API volume are quoted. (free trial)
Full review: #14 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Scrive →
13. Adobe Acrobat Sign
Signing built into Acrobat and Microsoft 365 · United States
Reached through Acrobat: Standard lets users request e-signatures and Pro adds sending in bulk, per Adobe's plans page. We could not load a price or an Acrobat Sign page, so verify both. Makes sense when staff already hold Acrobat licenses.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if staff already use Acrobat and you want signing in the same license.
Pricing: Included in Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Standard business licenses per user per month; Acrobat Sign Solutions for larger deployments and API use are quote only. (free trial)
Full review: #8 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Adobe Acrobat Sign →
14. OneSpan Sign
E-signature for regulated financial and public sector · United States
Priced as a quoted enterprise plan by transactions or usage band, with SMS from $0.40 per transaction and identity verification from $2.50. No self-serve tier comparable to Dropbox Sign's. Aimed at regulated customer agreements such as banking onboarding.
Switch from Dropbox Sign if you handle regulated customer agreements and need identity checks built in.
Pricing: No published price list: plans are volume-based, sold as a set number of transactions or a usage band, with CRM and industry integrations billed extra; the only free option is a developer sandbox whose documents are watermarked and not legally binding. (none)
Full review: #12 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit OneSpan Sign →
Questions and answers
Can I export all my signed documents from Dropbox Sign?
Yes, signed PDFs can be downloaded per request, and all of them through the API or admin Team sync. The Documents list offers Download, Download PDF, Download as CSV for response data, and Download Signed for a ZIP by email. Bulk export of every document needs a script or Team sync.
Does Dropbox Sign export my templates?
We found no template export in the Dropbox help pages we checked, so assume templates must be rebuilt. The API can read template files, and the help center describes duplicating templates inside Dropbox Sign, not moving them to another vendor. Ask the new vendor whether it imports templates.
How do I cancel Dropbox Sign, and is there a refund?
You cancel online under Settings, Billing, Cancel plan, or by post. Subscriptions and fees are non-refundable and cannot be credited unless the law requires it. If you cancel after the renewal date, the plan stays active until the end of the next billing period.
What happens to API integrations when I leave?
Production requests need a paid API plan, and Dropbox says the API returns a 402 status without one. Once you cancel, your integration will stop sending legally binding requests. Plan the cutover, since Dropbox's SDK calls and webhook callbacks will not carry over to another vendor.
Who owns Dropbox Sign today?
Dropbox, Inc. operates it, and its terms point Dropbox Sign users to a separate Dropbox Sign Terms of Service. The site and developer docs use the Dropbox Sign name, and the old HelloSign domains still serve help and developer pages.
Which alternatives publish API pricing?
BoldSign lists API plans from $30 a month with 40 envelopes included and $0.75 each beyond that. SignWell gives 25 free API documents a month, then pay per document. Documenso lists a Platform plan at $250 a month. Docusign and OneSpan quote API and enterprise pricing.
