Comparison
A free DocuSign alternative, with the evidence trail intact
O2A2 E-sign sends unlimited documents for electronic signature at no cost. Signers open a single-use link in any browser with no account and no app, and the executed PDF comes back with a SHA-256 hash stamped on every page and a certificate of completion recording the time, IP address, and device behind each signature. It is built around the ESIGN Act and UETA, and run by O2A2 LLC in North Carolina.
The short answer
Use O2A2 E-sign if you want to send agreements for signature without paying for it, and you care about being able to prove later how a document was signed. It is free to send an unlimited number of documents, there is no card and no per-signature charge, and every executed page carries the document's SHA-256 hash so any copy can be checked against the record.
Use DocuSign if you need to verify who is signing, or you need to satisfy a vendor security review. They can check a photo ID, ask knowledge-based questions, or text a one-time code, and they hold SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications that we do not. For a high-value transaction with a counterparty you have never met, that difference matters more than the price does.
Side by side
O2A2 E-sign compared with DocuSign
Docusign's plans and prices change on their own schedule, so this table describes what each product does rather than quoting figures that would go stale. For current pricing, see docusign.com/pricing.
| O2A2 E-sign | Docusign | |
|---|---|---|
| Price to send a document | O2A2 E-signFree. No card, no per-document or per-signature charge. | DocusignPaid plans, priced per user. A free tier exists for signing rather than sending at volume. |
| Documents you can send | O2A2 E-signUnlimited. | DocusignPaid plans include an allowance of send envelopes; exceeding it costs more. |
| Does the other party need an account | O2A2 E-signNo. They open a single-use link and sign. | DocusignNo. They open a link and sign. |
| Legal basis in the United States | O2A2 E-signESIGN Act and UETA, with an electronic signature disclosure and recorded consent. | DocusignESIGN Act and UETA, plus qualified signature options in other jurisdictions. |
| Certificate of completion | O2A2 E-signAttached to every executed document. | DocusignAttached to every executed document. |
| Tamper evidence on the file itself | O2A2 E-signSHA-256 hash of the document stamped into the footer of every executed page, so a printed or forwarded copy can be checked against the record. | DocusignDigital certificate applied to the completed PDF. |
| Audit trail | O2A2 E-signAppend-only, enforced by a database trigger rather than by application code. Records cannot be edited or deleted after the fact. | DocusignFull audit history in the completion certificate. |
| Signer identity checks | O2A2 E-signAccess to a single-use emailed link, with IP address, device, and timezone recorded. | DocusignOptional photo ID verification, knowledge-based authentication, and SMS one-time codes. |
| Third-party security certification | O2A2 E-signNone. We have not been through a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audit. | DocusignSOC 2 and ISO 27001 among others, which many procurement teams require. |
| Integrations with other systems | O2A2 E-signNone today. Documents go in and out as PDFs. | DocusignA large catalogue, including Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace. |
| Support | O2A2 E-signEmail, from the company that builds it. | DocusignTiered support including 24/7 options on higher plans. |
| Paper documents | O2A2 E-signPhotograph a signed page with your phone, and it is flattened, enhanced, and recognised into a searchable PDF in the browser. Handwriting and signatures are kept as they are. | DocusignScan and upload. |
| Editing a PDF before sending | O2A2 E-signBuilt in. | DocusignAvailable in the wider Docusign product family. |
| Languages in the signing interface | O2A2 E-signEnglish, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese. | DocusignMany more. |
| Where your documents are rendered | O2A2 E-signIn the signer's browser. The server never rasterises a page, so the file you uploaded is the file that gets signed. | DocusignServer-side rendering, as is normal for the category. |
Being straight about it
Where DocuSign is the better choice
There are transactions this product should not be used for, and pretending otherwise would be a poor way to start a relationship about legally binding documents.
Verifying who is on the other end
We prove that whoever received the email opened the link, and we record the IP address, device, and timezone that did it. Docusign can go further and check a government ID, ask knowledge-based questions, or send a one-time code to a phone. If a transaction genuinely needs that, use them.
Passing a vendor security review
Docusign holds SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications. We do not — not because the practices are absent but because the audits cost more than a free product earns. If your counterparty's procurement team requires a certification, we will fail that check.
Signatures outside the United States
This product is built around the ESIGN Act and UETA. Docusign offers qualified electronic signatures under eIDAS in the EU and equivalents elsewhere, backed by trust service providers. For a cross-border agreement that needs one, they are the right tool.
Connecting to the rest of your stack
Docusign plugs into Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Workday, and hundreds of others, and has a mature developer API behind it. We move PDFs in and out. If you need a signature to trigger something in another system automatically, we are not there yet.
Track record and scale
They have been doing this since 2003 for some of the largest companies in the world, with the support contracts and service levels that implies. We are a small company in North Carolina running our own tool in public.
What you get here
Where O2A2 E-sign is the better choice
It is actually free, not free to start
Unlimited documents, unlimited templates, no card, and no charge per signature or per envelope. Nothing meters you into a paid plan halfway through a contract.
The hash is on the page
Every page of an executed document carries the envelope id and the document's SHA-256 hash in its footer. A copy that was printed, emailed, or filed somewhere else can still be checked against the original record.
An audit log that cannot be rewritten
Events are append-only, enforced by a database trigger rather than by a policy in the application. Nothing in the product can edit or delete an audit record, including us.
Paper comes back in
Agreements signed on paper do not have to stay outside the system. Photograph the pages with your phone — a QR code hands the session over from your desktop — and they are flattened, enhanced, and read into a searchable, editable PDF, with the handwriting and signatures left exactly as they are.
Built for the phone the email arrived on
Most people sign on their phone, so the signing page is designed for one first, in six languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Chinese.
Links that work once
A signing link is a single-use bearer token, stored only as a SHA-256 hash and compared in constant time. Forwarded links stop working, and neither a signing link nor the client portal will tell a stranger whether a document exists.
Legality
A signature collected here is legally binding
Two laws govern this in the United States. The federal ESIGN Act of 2000 and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act say that a signature, contract, or record may not be denied legal effect merely because it is electronic. Neither law prescribes a technology. What they require is that four things be true, and each one is something the software has to do rather than claim.
- 01
Intent to sign
The signer draws or types their signature into a field that says what it is, on a document they are looking at, and presses a button that completes it.
- 02
Consent to sign electronically
Every signer is shown the Electronic Signature Disclosure before signing, and their agreement to it is recorded in the audit trail with a timestamp.
- 03
Association with the record
Each signature is bound to a specific field on a specific page of a specific document, and the executed PDF carries that document's SHA-256 hash on every page.
- 04
Retention and reproduction
Both parties keep a copy. You can download the executed document at any time, and your counterparty can fetch theirs from the client portal.
Some categories of document are excluded from the ESIGN Act by statute, including wills and testamentary trusts, adoption and divorce papers, and court orders. This is a description of the law, not legal advice.
Questions
Common questions
- Is O2A2 E-sign really free?
- Yes. You can send an unlimited number of documents for signature without paying anything, without entering a card, and without a per-signature or per-envelope charge. There is no trial that expires. If paid plans are ever introduced, they will be announced on this site before anything changes.
- Are signatures collected here legally binding?
- In the United States, yes, for the great majority of business agreements. The federal ESIGN Act of 2000 and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act give an electronic signature the same legal effect as a handwritten one, provided the signer intended to sign, agreed to do business electronically, the signature is attached to the record it belongs to, and the record can be retained and reproduced. O2A2 E-sign is built around those four conditions: signers are shown an Electronic Signature Disclosure and record their consent, each signature is bound to the specific document and field it was drawn in, and both parties keep a downloadable executed copy. Some documents are excluded from ESIGN by statute, including wills, adoption and divorce papers, and court orders. This is a description of the law, not legal advice.
- Do the people I send documents to need an account?
- No. Each signer receives their own single-use link by email and opens it in any browser on any device. There is nothing to install, nothing to register, and no password. This works the same way as DocuSign for recipients.
- What stops someone altering a document after it has been signed?
- When the last party signs, the executed PDF is fingerprinted with SHA-256 and that hash is stamped into the footer of every page alongside the envelope id. Anyone holding a copy can hash it and compare. Separately, a certificate of completion is attached recording each signature with its time, IP address, device, and timezone, drawn from an append-only audit log that a database trigger prevents anything from editing or deleting.
- How is O2A2 E-sign different from DocuSign?
- The honest summary is that we are free and evidence-focused, and DocuSign is broader and more certified. We give you unlimited sending, a page-stamped SHA-256 hash, an append-only audit trail, a built-in PDF editor, phone-camera paper import with OCR, and a signing interface in six languages, at no cost. DocuSign has SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification, identity verification options such as photo ID and knowledge-based authentication, qualified electronic signatures under eIDAS in Europe, hundreds of integrations, and 24/7 support tiers. If a transaction needs verified signer identity or a vendor security certification, DocuSign is the better choice and we would tell you so.
- Can I sign on a phone?
- Yes. The signing page is built mobile-first, because most people sign on the device the email arrived on. It works in any modern mobile browser, and the interface is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Chinese.
- Can I bring documents that were signed on paper into the system?
- Yes. Photograph the signed pages with your phone — scanning a QR code hands the session over from your desktop — and each page is automatically flattened, enhanced, and put through optical character recognition in the browser, producing a searchable and editable PDF. The handwriting and the signatures themselves are preserved as images rather than converted to text.
- Who runs O2A2 E-sign, and where is my data?
- It is built and self-hosted by O2A2 LLC, a software company in North Carolina, United States. It began as the tool we built to get our own client agreements signed. Executed documents are yours to download at any time, and your counterparties can request a secure link from the client portal to fetch copies of anything they signed. You can reach us at e-sign@freedocusignature.com.
Try it with a real agreement
Upload a PDF, place the fields, and have it out for signature in a few minutes. No card required.