E-Signature Send Limits and Overage: What 17 Vendors Meter
By the Signatura team · Published September 21, 2026 · Updated October 15, 2026
Quick answer
Vendors meter different units. DocuSign meters envelopes at 100 per user per year on its US list, SignNow invites at 100, Adobe transactions at 150. The four largest Brazilian platforms meter documents per month instead of seats. PandaDoc, SignWell and Signatura publish no send meter on paid plans. DocuSign's rule also changes by country: across every storefront it publishes, the same two plan names carry three different rules for what happens past the allowance. Every figure below is quoted from the vendor's own page and dated.
Third-party pricing and plan details on this page were verified against each vendor’s own published pages on September 21, 2026. Vendors change their pricing frequently — check the vendor’s current plans before making a decision. The next check is due on December 21, 2026.
Every e-signature vendor prices per seat. What separates them is the second meter running alongside the seat — envelopes, transactions, invites or documents — and that meter, not the sticker price, is what decides the bill for a team whose volume moves. This page records what each vendor meters, what allowance its own page publishes, and what that page says happens when you cross it.
The short answer: three shapes. DocuSign, SignNow and Adobe Acrobat Sign sell a seat and an annual send allowance, so volume and headcount are billed separately. The four largest Brazilian platforms invert it and sell documents per month as the primary unit, with seats included or capped. PandaDoc, SignWell, Signeasy above its entry plan, BoldSign’s Business tier and Signatura publish no send meter on paid plans at all. Two Spanish vendors publish no price of any kind, and that is shown below as an absence proved from their own sitemaps rather than asserted.
The table
Every allowance and overage cell is quoted verbatim from the vendor’s own published page, in that page’s own language, so nothing is lost in a translation we made. The Checked column is the date we last read the figure on the vendor’s page. DocuSign appears three times because it sells three different things, and the rows below are its US and Canadian lists; every storefront it publishes is set out further down.
| Vendor (list) | What it meters | Published allowance, in the vendor’s words | What the vendor’s page says happens past it | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DocuSign eSignature, US list | Envelopes, per user per year | Standard and Business Pro: “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year”. Personal: “Send 5 envelopes per month”. Monthly billing: “up to 10 Envelopes per user per month” | “will be billed in a ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ manner, where Docusign will charge a set, per-envelope rate”. The rate is not on the pricing page but in the DocuSign support article it links to: “$3.60” per envelope on Standard Annual up to “$7.80” on Business Pro Monthly, or “$3.00” to “$6.50” pre-purchased as “Subscribe and Save” — every plan’s figure below | 2026-10-02 |
| DocuSign eSignature, Canadian list | Nothing, for ordinary web-app sending | “With annual or monthly eSignature Standard Unlimited or Business Pro Unlimited subscriptions, you can send as many envelopes as you want through our web app. No limits, no extra costs.” | Not applicable to web-app sending. Bulk send, PowerForms, Web Forms and API sends draw on a separate automation allowance | 2026-09-21 |
| DocuSign IAM line | Web-app sending: nothing, on Standard and Professional. Automation sends: 100 per user per year | “For IAM Standard or Professional, you can send unlimited envelopes using the Docusign web application or mobile application.” IAM Starter is metered outright: “For annual IAM Starter plans, you can send 100 envelopes per user per year and for monthly IAM Starter plans, you can send 10 envelopes per user per month.” Separately: “Annual IAM Standard or IAM Professional plans include a total of 100 automation sends per user per year across Web Forms, PowerForms, Bulk Send, and envelopes sent with custom and partner API integrations.” | Not stated, for either meter. Outside Canada this is the only line on which unlimited web-app sending is sold | 2026-09-22 |
| SignNow | Signature invites (envelopes), per user per year | “signNow users are limited to 100 envelopes/invites per user/year”, and “Even with the Enterprise Plan, SignNow limits each user to 100 signature invites (or envelopes) per year.” | No overage rate is published for the seat plans. The one per-invite figure on the page is the Site License, at “$1.50 per signature invite” | 2026-09-21 |
| Adobe Acrobat Sign | Transactions, per user licence per year | “Acrobat Sign plans sold as user licenses include 150 transactions per user per year unless otherwise stipulated in your contract.” Its table lists Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro, “except ETLA”, as Unlimited and every Acrobat Sign tier through Enterprise at 150 | “Business and enterprise-level customers who process a high volume of transactions can speak to their sales agent about buying a total volume of transactions with unlimited users (or a site license).” No published overage rate | 2026-09-21 |
| Dropbox eSignature in the Dropbox plans | Signature requests, per month | The plan comparison lists “Unlimited self-signing” and “Signature requests — 3 per month” | Not stated on the plans page | 2026-09-21 |
| Signeasy | Outbound signature requests, on the entry plan only | Personal: “Send 5 contracts for signature monthly”. Business and Business Pro: “Send unlimited documents for signature” | Not stated. The plan table carries the note “* Fair usage restrictions applicable.” | 2026-09-21 |
| PandaDoc | Documents, on the free plan only | Free: “Includes 60 docs for free per year”. Starter: “Unlimited document uploads and e-Signatures”. Business: unlimited | Not stated. Enterprise is offered with per-seat or per-document pricing | 2026-09-21 |
| SignWell | Documents, on the free plan only | Free: “3 Documents a Month”. Light, Business and Enterprise: “Unlimited Documents” | Not stated for document sending | 2026-09-21 |
| BoldSign | Envelopes, per month | Essential (free): “25 envelopes/month”. Growth: “50 envelopes/month/user”. Business: “Unlimited envelopes” | Not stated | 2026-09-21 |
| Clicksign (Brazil) | Documents per month and users | A slider sets the plan: “Documentos por mês — 20 / 50 / 100 / 200 / 350 / 500”. Start R$69/mês with “5 usuários”, Plus R$99 with “10 usuários”, Automação R$135 with 10. Above them, “Avançado” is “Sob medida” for “300+ documentos por mês” with “Usuários Ilimitados” | “O uso de documentos além do contratado, ou de funcionalidades não incluídas no plano, será cobrado à parte.” Its comparison table prices it: “Preço por Documento Excedente” of “Até R$ 3,00”, “Até R$ 4,90” and “Até R$ 6,90” on Start, Plus and Automação, and “Preço por Usuário” of R$ 15 | 2026-09-21 |
| ZapSign (Brazil) | Documents per month, as a monthly franchise | Individual, free: “3 documentos por mês”. Profissional: 20 / 80 / “Ilimitados” documents at R$ 39,90 / R$ 89,90 / R$ 149,90 a month. Equipe: 20 / 80 / 200 at R$ 69,90 / R$ 119,90 / R$ 259,90 | Move up a franchise. The page states the constraint that decides an annual contract: “A franquia de documentos é mensal, inclusive nos contratos anuais.” | 2026-09-21 |
| D4Sign (Brazil) | Documents per month | A slider sets the plan: “DOCUMENTOS POR MÊS — 20 / 50 / 100 / 150 / Ilimitado”. Starter R$ 39,90/mês and Advanced R$ 59,90/mês at the 20-document position, both listing “Usuários Ilimitados” | Move up the slider. Read the footnote on the unlimited tier: “* Exceto o Plano Starter Ilimitado, que conta com limite de 10 usuários e não possui envio em lote.” | 2026-09-21 |
| Autentique (Brazil) | Documents per month, on the free plan only | Grátis, R$ 0: “Documentos: 10/mês”. Profissional, R$ 99: “Documentos: Ilimitados”. both listing “Usuários: Ilimitados” and “Signatários: Ilimitados” | Not stated. Note there is no public pricing URL — the plans are published in the “Quanto custa?” section of its home page | 2026-09-21 |
| Signaturit (Spain) | Advanced biometric signature sends — not sending in general | Business, 43€/35€ per user per month: “Firma simple — 5 créditos regalados”, “Firma avanzada con biometría — Hasta 5 envíos al mes”. Business+, 72€/57€: “Hasta 20 envíos al mes” plus “Firma cualificada” | Not stated on the pricing page | 2026-09-21 |
| Firmafy (Spain) | Total sends, against a plan rather than a seat | Annual billing: BUSINESS 30€/mes “(Pago único: 360€)” for “200 envíos/año” and “Incluye 2 usuarios”; ENTERPRISE 60€/mes for “500 envíos/año” and “Incluye 5 usuarios”. Monthly billing: “15 envíos/mes” at 50€ and “40 envíos/mes” at 100€ | Not stated. Its comparison table prices the other meter: “Usuarios extra” at “90€ extra” on annual plans, marked “✗” on monthly ones | 2026-09-21 |
| Docuten (Spain) | Not published | No published price. Its FAQ states the basis instead: “El coste de Docuten varía en función del volumen de documentación que, como empresa, envíes a firmar, o en función de las facturas que emitas y recibas” | Not published — quoted per customer | 2026-09-21 |
| Viafirma (Spain) | Not published | No published price. Its FAQ states: “Todas las funcionalidades de nuestro software están disponibles independientemente del plan que se contrate”, while noting that “algunas funcionalidades, como el envío de SMS o las verificaciones de identidad mediante onboarding, tienen un costo adicional” | Not published — quoted per customer | 2026-09-21 |
| Signatura (us) | Seats only | One plan, from $24/seat/month billed annually or $32 billed monthly, listing “Unlimited documents” and “Unlimited templates”. No send allowance of any kind | Nothing to cross. There is no envelope unit, so no overage exists to bill | 2026-09-21 |
Reuse: this table is free to reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). Credit Signatura by name and link to this page. The licence covers our compilation and our checks; the quoted wording belongs to each vendor.
How the absences were established
Two vendors on this table publish no price. That is a claim about something not existing, so asserting it would be worthless — it is shown instead:
- Docuten. Its own published sitemap at
docuten.com/es/sitemap_index.xmllists 928 URLs, and none of them is a pricing page: every match for precio, tarifa or pricing is a blog post about cost savings or a grant programme./es/precios/,/es/tarifas/and/es/pricing/each return 404. - Viafirma. Its own published sitemap at
viafirma.com/es/sitemap_index.xmllists 803 URLs with no match at all for precio, tarifa or pricing./es/precios/and/es/tarifas/both return 404.
The same standard applies to the “not stated” cells in the overage column. Those mean the vendor’s page publishes an allowance but no rate or consequence for passing it — not that nothing happens. Ask for the figure in writing before you sign, because you will otherwise meet it on an invoice.
Per seat or per envelope: the three shapes
Per seat with an annual send allowance. DocuSign outside Canada, SignNow and Adobe Acrobat Sign. Two meters run at once: you buy headcount, and each head carries a yearly ration. This is the shape that surprises people, because the allowance is annual while the work is seasonal — a hiring wave or a renewal cycle spends months of ration in a fortnight. What the excess costs is rarely on the pricing page: DocuSign puts its per-envelope rate in a support article, and SignNow and Adobe name no rate for their seat plans on the pages we read.
Per document, with seats included. The Brazilian platforms, and Firmafy in Spain. The first question their pricing pages ask is how many documents you send in a month, and the price follows from that number. This is easier to forecast when volume is steady and more punishing when it is not — ZapSign states outright that the franchise is monthly “inclusive nos contratos anuais”, so a quiet January does not subsidise a busy February.
Per seat, unmetered. PandaDoc, SignWell, Signeasy above Personal, BoldSign’s Business tier, DocuSign’s Canadian list and IAM line, and Signatura. One meter, one forecast. The thing to check here is not the send meter but what else is gated: templates per sender, bulk send, API calls, or a capability sitting one tier above you.
A fourth shape, in Spain: metering the signature type rather than the send. Signaturit’s allowance is not on sending at all — it caps advanced biometric signatures at 5 a month on Business and 20 on Business+, while simple signature is not rationed the same way. If your document mix is mostly simple signatures, that ceiling never binds; if it is mostly identity-verified ones, it binds immediately. Read which unit a meter counts before comparing two numbers that look alike.
Where you buy it changes the meter: DocuSign storefront by storefront
DocuSign does not publish one eSignature price list. It publishes dozens — one per country storefront — and which one you are shown depends on where your browser lands. The allowance is nearly identical across all of them. Two things are not: the name of the tier you are buying, and what DocuSign’s own page says happens once you pass the allowance. On 22 September 2026 we opened every storefront listed in the pricing page’s own country switcher and read the plan cards and the envelope FAQ on each. We could read 31 of them, and all 31 are below.
There are deliberately no prices in this table. DocuSign quotes each storefront in its own currency, and setting those beside our US dollar figures would invite a comparison the exchange rate alone makes wrong. What is genuinely comparable between storefronts is the meter.
The short version
Of the 31 storefronts, 29 sell tiers named Standard and Business Pro, metered identically: 100 envelopes per user per year on annual billing, 10 per user per month on monthly. The two Canadian storefronts — English and French — sell Standard Unlimited and Business Pro Unlimited instead, and do not meter ordinary web-app sending at all. The 29 metered storefronts do not agree with each other either: 4 say excess envelopes are billed at a set per-envelope rate, and the other 25 mention no charge — they tell you to buy more envelopes yourself, and reserve the right to stop you sending under a Reasonable Use Policy. Same two plan names, three different rules on the pricing pages. None of those pages prints what an extra envelope costs: DocuSign publishes that in its support centre, and what it says there does not match the 25.
Every storefront we could read
The Past the allowance and Automation and API sends columns are our short labels for the rule. The vendor’s own wording for each is quoted verbatim below the table.
| Country and storefront | Paid tiers, as that page names them | Send allowance, in that page’s own words | Past the allowance | Automation and API sends | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia en-AU | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Billed per envelope | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Austria de-AT | Standard · Business Pro | “Versenden von insgesamt 100 Umschlägen pro Benutzer und Jahr zum Signieren” · “Versenden von insgesamt 10 Umschlägen pro Person und Monat zum Signieren” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Belgium fr-BE | Standard · Business Pro | “Envoyez 100 enveloppes par utilisateur et par an pour signature au total” · “Envoyez 10 enveloppes par utilisateur et par mois pour signature au total” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Belgium nl-BE | Standard · Business Pro | “Stuur in totaal 100 enveloppen per gebruiker per jaar ter ondertekening” · “Stuur in totaal 10 enveloppen per gebruiker per maand ter ondertekening” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Brazil pt-BR | Standard · Business Pro | “Envie um total de 100 envelopes por usuário por ano” · “Envie um total de 10 envelopes por usuário por mês” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Canada en-CA | Standard Unlimited · Business Pro Unlimited | “Send unlimited envelopes◊ through our web app” | Not metered in the web app | Separate allowance: 100 per user per year | 2026-09-22 |
Canada fr-CA | Standard Unlimited · Business Pro Unlimited | “Envoyez un nombre illimité d’enveloppes◊ par le biais de notre application Web” | Not metered in the web app | Separate allowance: 100 per user per year | 2026-09-22 |
Colombia en-CO | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Finland en-FI | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year for signature” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month for signature” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
France fr-FR | Standard · Business Pro | “Envoyez 100 enveloppes par utilisateur et par an pour signature au total” · “Envoyez 10 enveloppes par utilisateur et par mois pour signature au total” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Germany de-DE | Standard · Business Pro | “Versenden von insgesamt 100 Umschlägen pro Benutzer und Jahr zum Signieren” · “Versenden von insgesamt 10 Umschlägen pro Person und Monat zum Signieren” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Hong Kong en-HK | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Ireland en-IE | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year for signature” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month for signature” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Italy it-IT | Standard · Business Pro | “Invia un totale di 100 buste/utente/anno per la firma” · “Invia un totale di 10 buste/utente/mese per la firma” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Japan ja-JP | Standard · Business Pro | “1ユーザーあたり年間100通のエンベロープ送信” · “1ユーザーあたり月間合計10通のエンベロープ送信” | Billed per envelope | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Luxembourg de-LU | Standard · Business Pro | “Versenden von insgesamt 100 Umschlägen pro Benutzer und Jahr zum Signieren” · “Versenden von insgesamt 10 Umschlägen pro Person und Monat zum Signieren” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Luxembourg fr-LU | Standard · Business Pro | “Envoyez 100 enveloppes par utilisateur et par an pour signature au total” · “Envoyez 10 enveloppes par utilisateur et par mois pour signature au total” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Malaysia en-MY | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Mexico es-MX | Standard · Business Pro | “Envía un total de 100 sobres por usuario al año.” · “Envía un total de 10 sobres por usuario al mes” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Netherlands nl-NL | Standard · Business Pro | “Stuur in totaal 100 enveloppen per gebruiker per jaar ter ondertekening” · “Stuur in totaal 10 enveloppen per gebruiker per maand ter ondertekening” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Philippines en-PH | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Portugal pt-PT | Standard · Business Pro | “Envie um total de 100 envelopes/utilizador/ano para assinatura” · “Envie um total de 10 envelopes/utilizador/mês para assinatura” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Singapore en-SG | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
South Africa en-ZA | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
South Korea en-KR | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Spain es-ES | Standard · Business Pro | “Envía un total de 100 sobres por usuario al año” · “Envía un total de 10 sobres por usuario al mes” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Sweden en-SE | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year for signature” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month for signature” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Switzerland en-CH | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year for signature” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month for signature” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
Taiwan en-TW | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
UK en-GB | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year for signature” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month for signature” | Billed per envelope | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
US en-US | Standard · Business Pro | “Send a total of 100 envelopes per user per year” · “Send a total of 10 envelopes per user per month” | Billed per envelope | Same allowance — PowerForms counts against it | 2026-09-22 |
The wording, verbatim
Grouped by what the rule actually is, each quoted from the storefront pages that publish it, in the language they publish it in.
Billed per envelope
en-AUen-GBen-US— “If your Envelope usage exceeds your plan allowance, each Envelope used in excess is considered an ‘additional’ Envelope that will be billed in a ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ manner, where Docusign will charge a set, per-envelope rate.”ja-JP— “エンベロープの使用量がプランの許容量を超えた場合、超過したエンベロープは「追加」エンベロープと見なされ、「従量課金」方式で請求されます。Docusignは、エンベロープ1通ごとに一定の料金を請求します。”
Buy more yourself; sending can be stopped
de-ATde-DEde-LU— “Das Sendevolumen unterliegt unserer Richtlinie zur angemessenen Nutzung. Wir können die Versendung neuer Umschläge aussetzen, wenn Ihr Sendevolumen die angemessene Nutzung überschreitet.”en-CHen-COen-FIen-HKen-IEen-KRen-MYen-PHen-SEen-SGen-TWen-ZA— “Send volume is subject to our Reasonable Use Policy. We may prevent you from sending new envelopes if your send volume exceeds Reasonable Use.”es-ES— “El volumen de envío está sujeto a nuestra Política de uso razonable. Es posible que te impidamos enviar nuevos sobres si tu volumen de envío excede el uso razonable.”es-MX— “El volumen de envío está sujeto a nuestra Política de uso razonable. Podemos evitar que envíe nuevos sobres si su volumen de envío excede el uso razonable.”fr-BEfr-FRfr-LU— “Le volume d’envoi est soumis à notre Politique d’utilisation raisonnable. Il se peut que nous vous empêchions d’envoyer de nouvelles enveloppes si votre volume d’envoi excède une utilisation raisonnable.”it-IT— “Il volume di invio è soggetto alle nostre Norme sull’uso ragionevole. Potremmo impedirti di inviare nuove buste se il tuo volume di invio supera l’uso ragionevole.”nl-BEnl-NL— “Op het verzendvolume is ons beleid voor redelijk gebruik van toepassing. Wij kunnen voorkomen dat je nieuwe enveloppen verstuurt als je verzendvolume het redelijke gebruik overschrijdt.”pt-BR— “O volume de envio está sujeito à nossa Política de uso razoável. Podemos impedir que você envie envelopes novos se o volume de envio exceder o Uso razoável.”pt-PT— “O volume de envio está sujeito à nossa Política de Uso Razoável. Podemos impedi-lo de enviar novos envelopes se o volume de envio exceder o Uso Razoável.”
Not metered in the web app
en-CA— “With annual or monthly eSignature Standard Unlimited or Business Pro Unlimited subscriptions, you can send as many envelopes as you want through our web app. No limits, no extra costs.”fr-CA— “Avec les abonnements annuels ou mensuels eSignature Standard Unlimited ou Business Pro Unlimited, vous pouvez envoyer autant d’enveloppes que vous le souhaitez via notre application Web. Pas de limites, pas de frais supplémentaires.”
Wherever a DocuSign page publishes the word unlimited, the same footnote is attached. It is on all 31 storefronts we read — on the Canadian eSignature tiers, and on the IAM plans shown everywhere else: “◊ Unlimited envelopes are included when sent through the web application. This allowance is not applicable to other sending methods. The unlimited envelope send volume is subject to Docusign’s Reasonable Use Policy.” Two limits live in that sentence. Unlimited means the web application only, and it is still bounded by a policy whose threshold is not published anywhere on the page. DocuSign publishes the footnote in English even on storefronts that are otherwise entirely in another language.
What an extra envelope costs
None of the 31 pricing pages prints a price per envelope. DocuSign prints one in its support centre instead, in FAQ: Managing Your Docusign eSignature Envelopes. The 4 storefronts that bill per envelope link to that article from the answer stating that rule, and the two Canadian ones from their automation-allowance answer; none of the 25 Reasonable Use storefronts links to it. In US dollars, its table reads:
| Plan | Cost per envelope, “Subscribe and Save” | Cost per envelope, “Pay-As-You-Go” |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Annual | $3.00 | $3.60 |
| Standard Monthly | $4.50 | $5.40 |
| Business Pro Annual | $4.80 | $5.80 |
| Business Pro Monthly | $6.50 | $7.80 |
“Subscribe and Save” is DocuSign’s name for envelopes bought in advance on the Plans & Billing page, to raise the allowance “before your next billing date”; “Pay-As-You-Go” is the rate for envelopes used past it. The article adds “Additional tax may apply.” and “Personal plans are not included.” A second article, Local currency costs per Envelope, prints the same table in 15 currencies: USD, CAD, AUD, GBP, EUR, BRL, JPY, HKD, COP, SEK, CHF, KRW, ZAR, SGD and MXN. That covers the currency 22 of the 25 Reasonable Use storefronts charge in. The other 3 — Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan — sell their plans in US dollars at prices below the US list, and the article does not say whether its US-dollar row applies to them.
The two sources do not tell the same story. On the 25 Reasonable Use storefronts, the pricing page mentions no charge for going over and says DocuSign “may prevent you from sending new envelopes”. The support article says, with no country exception, “If usage on a Standard or Business Pro plan exceeds the plan allowance, each excess envelope is billed on a Pay-As-You-Go basis”, and the support centre prices those envelopes in most of those storefronts’ currencies. Both are DocuSign’s own pages. We quote both and do not choose between them; if it matters to your budget, ask DocuSign in writing which one applies to your account. The same article also tells a paid account that sees “The envelope allowance for the account has been exceeded.” and needs to send more to “open a case in the Docusign Support Center to request an account-limit review.” We read both articles, and checked all 31 storefronts for a link to them, on 15 October 2026; the envelope article is dated 14 October 2026, the local-currency article 4 June 2026.
What is identical, and what is not
- Identical on all 31 storefronts. The Personal plan at five envelopes a month, in each page’s own words.
- Identical on the 29 metered storefronts. 100 envelopes per user per year on annual billing; 10 per user per month on monthly.
- Not identical. The tier names, which carry Unlimited in Canada and nowhere else; the consequence of passing the allowance as each pricing page states it, which comes in three versions; and whether automated sending has a meter of its own, which it does in Canada and nowhere else on the eSignature line.
Automation, bulk send and the API
On the 29 metered storefronts there is no separate automation meter, because there is nothing to separate it from — PowerForms sends draw on the same envelope allowance as everything else. Canada is the one country where the 100-per-user-per-year figure survives as something narrower: a dedicated automation allowance that only bulk send, PowerForms, Web Forms, custom APIs and partner APIs draw on. That distinction matters most to the teams least likely to check it, because bulk send draws one unit per recipient rather than one per batch.
DocuSign’s separate IAM line behaves like the Canadian one, everywhere. Its Standard and Professional tiers publish “unlimited envelopes using the Docusign web application or mobile application”, and then, separately: “Annual IAM Standard or IAM Professional plans include a total of 100 automation sends per user per year across Web Forms, PowerForms, Bulk Send, and envelopes sent with custom and partner API integrations.” IAM Starter is metered outright, at 100 envelope sends per user per year. Read on 22 September 2026 on the IAM plans page.
What we could not read
DocuSign’s own country switcher lists 53 locales. Of those, 22 answered every request with a redirect into an A/B-test bucket (/en-api-US/…/exp/…/variant) and returned no page at all, on repeated attempts with and without browser headers. They are absent from the table and nothing is claimed about them. Most are second-language editions of a country already above, so 28 countries are covered; the ones with no readable edition at all are Chile, Denmark, Iceland, India, Israel, New Zealand and Norway. The same A/B test is the reason to treat any table of this page as a reading rather than a fact — including this one. Open your own country’s page.
What counts as one envelope
An envelope is not a document. DocuSign’s own definition treats an envelope as the container — a set of documents sent to a set of recipients in one transaction — so a 40-page contract with three signers is one envelope, and three separate one-page NDAs are three. Two consequences follow, both from DocuSign’s own published FAQ:
- It counts when sent, not when completed. The allowance is spent “whether or not the Envelope is signed or completed”, so a request that is declined, ignored or voided has still been paid for. A typo that forces a re-send costs a second envelope.
- Automated sends count too. PowerForm submissions draw on the same allowance, and bulk send draws per recipient rather than per batch — which is what turns a single mail-merge into hundreds of units.
The other vendors’ units are not interchangeable with that one. Adobe counts a transaction, defined on its own page as occurring “each time an electronic document or collection of related electronic documents is sent to one or more End Users through Acrobat Sign” — close to DocuSign’s envelope. SignNow counts an invite. The Brazilian platforms count a documento. Signeasy counts an outbound contract. When two vendors both say “100”, check what each is counting before treating the numbers as comparable.
What to do with this table
- Find your own annual send volume first, then read the allowance column. Most teams underestimate it, because re-sends, declines and voided requests all count on the vendors that meter.
- Multiply by the number of people who send, not the number of people in the company. A per-user allowance pools across seats at some vendors and not at others; ask which.
- Get the overage rate in writing. Of the vendors here that meter a paid plan, we found a published price per unit past the allowance for only two: Clicksign, on its comparison table, and DocuSign, in a support article rather than on its pricing page. Wherever the price is not published, it is a number you want before it is a number on an invoice.
- Check the country you are buying from. DocuSign is the clearest case: the same two tier names are metered on the US list and Unlimited on the Canadian one — and among the storefronts that do meter, what its own page says happens past the allowance comes in two different versions. Every storefront we could read is above. Always read your own country’s page rather than a comparison article, including this one.
- Then compare the seat price. It is the last step, not the first, because it is the only number both shapes publish and therefore the one that hides the difference.
Where Signatura fits
We are on this table under the same rules as everyone else, and the honest row is short: Signatura meters seats and nothing else. One plan, from $24 per seat per month billed annually, with unlimited documents and unlimited templates, no envelope unit, and no charge for the people who sign. There is no overage column for us because there is no allowance to cross.
That is a genuine structural difference from the first shape above, and it is worth saying plainly what it is not: it is not cheaper at every headcount, it does not make us a qualified trust service provider, and it does not mean we out-feature an incumbent. It means the bill does not move when your volume does. If your volume is steady and small, a metered plan may well cost you less; if it is uneven, that is the case for the unmetered shape, whichever vendor you buy it from. Our own numbers are on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Is e-signature pricing per seat or per envelope?
Both, usually at the same time. Every vendor on this table prices seats; the difference is whether a second meter runs alongside. DocuSign outside Canada, SignNow and Adobe sell a seat plus an annual send allowance — 100 envelopes, 100 invites and 150 transactions per user per year respectively. The Brazilian platforms sell documents per month as the primary unit with seats included or capped. PandaDoc, SignWell, BoldSign’s Business tier and Signatura publish no send meter on paid plans. Work out which shape you are buying before comparing any two prices.
What counts as one envelope in e-signature pricing?
One envelope is one send — the container holding whatever documents go to whatever recipients in a single transaction, not one page and not one signature. A 40-page agreement with three signers is one envelope. DocuSign’s own FAQ adds the two rules that matter: the envelope counts “whether or not the Envelope is signed or completed”, so declined and abandoned requests are still spent, and bulk send draws on the allowance per recipient rather than per batch.
What happens if I go over my e-signature plan’s limit?
It depends on the vendor, and most of them do not say. At DocuSign the pricing page’s answer also depends on the country. On some storefronts it bills excess envelopes “in a ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ manner, where Docusign will charge a set, per-envelope rate”. On most of the rest it mentions no charge: you buy more envelopes yourself, and “We may prevent you from sending new envelopes if your send volume exceeds Reasonable Use.” Which storefront does which is in the table above. The price itself is on none of those pricing pages but in a DocuSign support article: on the US list, “$3.60” per envelope on Standard Annual up to “$7.80” on Business Pro Monthly, less if bought in advance, with the same table published in 15 currencies. Clicksign prints its price on its own comparison table, at “Até R$ 3,00” to “Até R$ 6,90” per excess document depending on plan. SignNow’s pricing page says your plan “seamlessly transitions to a pay-as-you-go model” but names no rate. Adobe directs high-volume customers to a sales conversation about buying a transaction pool. Signeasy, BoldSign, Dropbox, PandaDoc, Signaturit and Firmafy publish an allowance and no stated consequence — get it in writing.
Which e-signature tools have no send limit?
On their own published pages, and on paid plans: PandaDoc, SignWell, Signeasy from its Business plan up, BoldSign from its Business plan up, DocuSign on its Canadian list and on the IAM line, and Signatura. Note the qualifier in each case — several of those vendors do cap the free plan, and an unmetered send allowance can sit alongside caps on templates, API calls or bulk sending.
Do the people who sign need to be paid for?
Not at any vendor on this table. Every one of them charges the sender, not the signer. Clicksign states it explicitly in its own FAQ — signing requires no account, only sending does — and the same holds across the category. If a quote ever prices recipients, that is the thing to question.
How current are these figures?
Every cell was read on the date in its own Checked column, from the vendor’s own published page rather than from a comparison article or a summary. This page is maintained as a living reference rather than left to decay: the next scheduled re-check is 21 December 2026. The DocuSign storefront table is re-read on the same cycle, every storefront at once, so its rows carry one date rather than drifting apart. Pricing in this category changes without notice — Clicksign was running a time-limited promotional discount on the day this table was built, which is excluded here in favour of its standing price — so check the vendor’s live page before relying on any number, including ours.
Sources. Every figure is quoted from the vendor’s own published page, read on the date in the Checked column. DocuSign eSignature plans and pricing, US and the same page for Canada — the 100-envelope allowance, the Personal plan’s 5 a month, the monthly 10 per user per month, the “Pay-As-You-Go” overage wording, the envelope counting “whether or not the Envelope is signed or completed”, the Canadian “as many envelopes as you want” wording, and the IAM tab’s “Unlimited envelopes” label. Every other DocuSign storefront in the country table was read at its own URL, linked from its own row, on 22 September 2026, together with the IAM plans page for the IAM envelope and automation allowances. In DocuSign’s support centre, FAQ: Managing Your Docusign eSignature Envelopes — the per-envelope prices in US dollars, the “Subscribe and Save” and “Pay-As-You-Go” columns and the pay-as-you-go rule — and Local currency costs per Envelope for the same table in 15 currencies, read on 2 October 2026, the day the US row was re-read, and again on 15 October 2026, when the first was dated 14 October 2026 and the second 4 June 2026. SignNow plans and pricing — the 100 envelopes/invites per user/year line, the “Even with the Enterprise Plan” answer, and the Site License at $1.50 per signature invite. Adobe Acrobat Sign transaction limits — the 150 transactions per user per year line, the service-level table, the definition of a transaction, and the sales route for high volume. Dropbox plans — the eSignature row at 3 signature requests per month. Signeasy pricing — Personal at 5 contracts for signature monthly, unlimited sending from Business up, and the fair-usage note. PandaDoc pricing — 60 docs for free per year on Free and unlimited document uploads from Starter up. SignWell pricing — 3 documents a month on Free and Unlimited Documents on every paid plan. BoldSign pricing — 25 envelopes/month on Essential, 50 per user on Growth, unlimited on Business. Clicksign planos e preços — the documents-per-month slider, the Start / Plus / Automação standing prices and user counts, the “Avançado” tier, the billing FAQ’s “cobrado à parte” line, and the comparison table’s per-user and per-excess-document prices. ZapSign planos e preços — the free plan’s 3 documents a month, the published franchise table, and the monthly-franchise line. D4Sign planos e preços — the documents-per-month slider, Starter and Advanced prices, and the unlimited-users footnote. Autentique — the “Quanto custa?” section of its home page. Signaturit precios — the Business and Business+ per-user prices and the biometric send caps. Firmafy tarifas — the annual and monthly plans, their send allowances and included users, and the extra-user price. Docuten FAQ and Viafirma FAQ — the quote-only statements; the absence of a pricing page was established from each company’s own sitemap, as set out above. Signatura’s own figures are on our pricing page.
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