DocuSign's cheapest plan starts at around £10 per month, billed annually, with a limit on how many envelopes you can send. If you only need to sign a handful of documents a year, you are paying for capacity you will never use.
Quill charges £1.99 per document. No monthly fee, no annual commitment, no envelope limits. You pay when you send a document, and your signers do not need a DocuSign account or any account at all to sign.
| DocuSign Personal | Quill | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~£10/month (billed annually) | £1.99 per document |
| Annual cost (5 documents) | ~£120 | £9.95 |
| Envelope limit | 5/month on cheapest plan | No limit |
| Commitment | Annual contract | None |
| Signer account required | No (but nudges signup) | No |
| Legal validity (UK) | Yes (SES) | Yes (SES) |
DocuSign is built for teams that send dozens or hundreds of documents every month. It has templates, workflows, bulk sending, and integrations with CRMs and HR platforms. If that describes your business, DocuSign is probably the right tool.
But if you send fewer than 10 documents a month — or fewer than 10 a year — you are paying a premium for features you do not use. The cheapest DocuSign plan still costs over £100 a year even if you only send one document.
Quill does one thing: it sends documents for signature. You upload a PDF, add your signers, place signature fields, and pay £1.99. Your signers get an email with a secure link. They sign in their browser. You get a completed PDF with a full audit trail.
There are no templates, no workflows, no integrations. That is intentional. Quill is for people who need a document signed, not a document management platform. Every signature is legally binding under UK and EU law.
If you are also comparing other tools, see how Quill stacks up as an Adobe Sign alternative or a Dropbox Sign alternative. Or if subscription fatigue is the main issue, read about electronic signatures without a subscription.
How it works
Drop in the contract, agreement, or document you need signed. Any standard PDF works.
Add your signers and click where each person needs to sign. Assign fields to the right people.
Pay and your signers receive an email with a secure link. They sign in their browser — no account needed.
Pricing
No subscription. No monthly fee. No account balance. You pay when you send, and only when you send.
Legal validity
Quill produces Simple Electronic Signatures (SES), recognised under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 (UK), EU eIDAS Regulation, and the US ESIGN Act. SES are legally valid for the vast majority of commercial contracts and agreements.
Audit trail
Every signed document includes a certificate page recording signer names, emails, timestamps, IP addresses, and consent records.
Tamper evidence
A SHA-256 hash of the completed PDF is computed and stored. Any modification to the document after signing is detectable.
6-year retention
Audit data and signed documents are retained for 6 years, then permanently deleted.
Related
Google eSignature keeps failing? You are not alone.
Google's built-in eSignature for PDFs is unreliable. Quill is a dedicated PDF signing tool — £1.99 per document, no Google Workspace subscription needed.
Sign documents without an Adobe subscription
Adobe Sign requires an Adobe subscription bundle. Quill is £1.99 per document — no subscription, no bundle, no account needed. Legally binding in the UK, EU, and US.
BoldSign's free tier has a limit you will only find the hard way
BoldSign advertises 25 free envelopes per month but hides a recipient limit. Quill is £1.99 per document — the price and limits are upfront.
A Dropbox Sign alternative without the free tier ceiling
Dropbox Sign's free tier caps you at 3 documents per month. Quill is £1.99 per document with no monthly limits and no account required to sign.
Upload a PDF, add your signers, and send. Takes under five minutes.