DocuSeal

New

The free alternative toDocuSign

🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~10 min to installYou save €9/mo

DocuSeal does what you pay DocuSign for: you drop a PDF (quote, contract, mandate, terms, purchase order), place the fields to fill on it (signature, initials, date, text, checkbox, file, payment), add the signers and send by email. Everyone signs from their phone or computer, no account needed, and everyone gets the final document with its audit trail. Signatures are eIDAS compliant in Europe and ESIGN in the US. You can chain several signers in order, reuse templates, plug webhooks into n8n or Make, and there is an API to generate documents from your own tool. One Docker image, a SQLite database by default (or Postgres), and it is online. The project is AGPL-3.0 licensed, maintained by a small team that also sells a cloud version at €20 per user, and the repo is past 18,000 stars.

18.6kView on GitHub ↗

Versus DocuSign: the match

Price
DocuSeal
€0, plus a small VPS for a few euros a month
DocuSign
€9 a month yearly, €23 per user on Standard
Sends per month
DocuSeal
No limit
DocuSign
5 on Personal, 10 on Standard
Users
DocuSeal
Your team, no extra cost
DocuSign
1 on Personal, paid per seat after

DocuSign ↗

VS	DocuSeal	DocuSign ↗
Price	€0, plus a small VPS for a few euros a month	€9 a month yearly, €23 per user on Standard
Sends per month	No limit	5 on Personal, 10 on Standard
Users	Your team, no extra cost	1 on Personal, paid per seat after
Reusable templates	No limit	Depends on the plan
Legal value	eIDAS and ESIGN, audit trail included	eIDAS and ESIGN, audit trail included
Where your contracts live	On your server	With them

How to install it (even from zero)

One Docker image, a domain name, an email account for the sends. The prompt installs, sets up HTTPS and tests a first signature. Count ten minutes.

Paste this prompt into Claude (Code or Desktop)

It deploys DocuSeal from the official project with Docker Compose, wires your domain over HTTPS and checks a first send:

Installe DocuSeal sur mon serveur (la signature électronique open source, repo GitHub docusealco/docuseal) avec Docker Compose, en suivant la doc officielle docuseal.com/install. Pars de zéro : vérifie que Docker et Docker Compose sont présents, sinon installe-les. Récupère le docker-compose.yml officiel du dépôt (image docuseal/docuseal, port 3000, volume /data pour garder les documents) et lance-le avec la variable HOST réglée sur mon nom de domaine pour que le certificat HTTPS soit créé automatiquement. Ne publie pas le port 3000 en clair sur internet. Ouvre l'adresse, crée mon compte administrateur, puis configure dans les réglages l'envoi des mails (SMTP de ma boîte ou d'un service comme Brevo) pour que les demandes de signature partent. Vérifie en créant un modèle depuis un PDF de test avec un champ signature, en l'envoyant à mon adresse et en le signant. Explique chaque étape simplement, je débute.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

2
Prepare your templates once and for all
Quote, service contract, mandate: you place the fields once, then every send takes thirty seconds.
3
Back up the data folder
Your signed contracts live in the /data volume. An automatic copy elsewhere (the VPS does it in one line) and you sleep well.

What you actually do with it

Get a quote or a service contract signed

Your client gets an email, signs on their phone, everyone receives the signed PDF with the proof. No more “I will send it back scanned”.

Onboard a client with a complete file

Mandate, terms, bank details to attach, GDPR checkbox: one send, several signers in order if needed.

Generate contracts from your own tool

With the API and webhooks, your CRM or n8n creates the document, sends it and files the signed PDF, without you touching anything.

Project health, at a glance

Before installing an open-source tool, one question matters: is the project alive? These scores are computed from public GitHub data. They are not made up.

84/100

Excellent

Very active, well-maintained project: go ahead with confidence.

Activity: 100
Maintenance: 100
Community: 72
Maturity: 90
Momentum: 58

The repo in numbers

GitHub stars: 18.6k
Forks: 1.9k
Contributors: 6
Commits: 3k
Project age: 3.2 yrs
Last commit: 3 d ago
Size: 7.7 MB
License: AGPL-3.0

Built with

Ruby 39.4%
Vue 28.2%
HTML 20%
JavaScript 12.1%

Scores computed automatically from the GitHub API (last-30-days activity, update freshness, community size, project age). Refreshed daily.

Loucash’s take

8/10

If you send quotes and contracts to be signed, DocuSeal saves you DocuSign without losing anything essential: the person signs from their phone, the final PDF carries its audit trail, and the signature has the same legal value, eIDAS in Europe. Unlimited templates and sends, at your place. What I like: the simplicity. You drop a PDF, place the fields with the mouse, send. The install fits in one Docker image, and the API lets you plug it into n8n or your CRM so contracts generate themselves. What to know: the free version keeps everything essential, but a few options are reserved for their paid offer at €20 per user, like automatic reminders, signing embedded in your own site or conditional fields. And about invoices: the 2026 French reform requires electronic invoicing through a certified platform, not a signature. DocuSeal is for quotes, contracts and mandates, not that.

It’s for you if: You get quotes, contracts or mandates signed several times a month, you have a server, and you want to keep your documents at home.