The best e-signature app for freelancers: five picks for one-person businesses

Signing app or all-in-one?

A signing app does one job: you upload your contract, place the fields and your client signs from a link. An all-in-one client tool wraps the contract in a proposal, an invoice and a client portal, and charges for the whole bundle. If you already invoice from accounting software, the bundle mostly duplicates it. If you're piecing together five free tools, the bundle may be cheaper than it looks.

• Volume: count last year's contracts. Under a handful a month, a free plan may be enough.
• Countersigning: you usually want the client to sign first and you second, so you don't commit to terms they haven't seen.
• Client language: a client in São Paulo or Lyon reads the signing page more comfortably in Portuguese or French.
• Templates: one master contract you reuse, with the fee, dates and scope as fields.

Five picks compared

SignWell: a generous paid plan for one sender

SignWell's Light plan sends unlimited documents for $10 a month billed yearly or $12 month to month, with 5 templates and bulk send included. The Free plan is real but small: 3 documents a month and 1 template. In-person signing and your own branding need the Business plan at $30 a month billed yearly. A solid pick if you want unlimited sending on a small monthly bill and don't need invoicing.

Bonsai: if you also want proposals and invoices

Bonsai bundles proposals, contracts with built-in e-signing, invoices with payments and a client portal, starting on Essentials at $19 a month billed annually or $25 monthly. The cheaper Basic plan leaves out contracts. Bonsai also has a library of contract templates to start from. You're paying for a business toolkit, so it makes most sense if you'd use the invoicing too.

HoneyBook: client flow for creative services

HoneyBook's Starter plan, at $30 a month billed annually, covers proposals and contracts, invoices and payments, and a client portal, and clients sign on any device without downloading anything. It suits photographers, designers and planners whose work runs from inquiry to booking to final payment. As a pure signing tool it's the most expensive pick here.

DocuSign Personal: the familiar name, with a cap

DocuSign Personal costs $10 a month billed annually, or $11 on an annual plan paid monthly, and allows 5 envelopes a month for one user, with reusable templates and the mobile app. Clients recognize the brand, which helps with corporate clients whose legal team expects it. Five sends a month is enough for many freelancers and tight for anyone who sends an NDA before every call.

SignMaster: unlimited signing, clients in other languages

SignMaster Solo is $15 a month for unlimited envelopes, and the Free plan covers 3 a month. Clients see the signing page and emails in any of 6 languages, including Portuguese, French and Spanish, and Alana, the built-in AI assistant, fills a client's details into your contract for you to check. A signing order lets the client sign before you countersign. What it doesn't do: proposals, invoices or payments, and it has a smaller free allowance than some, so SignWell or a bundle may suit you better.

Set up a contract you can reuse

1. 1

   Start from one master contract

   Use your own, or begin with a freelance contract template and have it checked once for your field.

2. 2

   Turn the variables into fields

   The client's name, the fee, the deposit, the deadline and a short scope line become fields you fill per client.

3. 3

   Send it with the client first

   Put the client first in the signing order and yourself second, so you sign once you've seen their signature and any changes they asked for.