Deploying an eSignature solution is mission critical for most businesses; however, choosing the wrong vendor could have devastating consequences. It is important to understand your business’s specific needs, such as cost predictability, scalability, security and enterprise-grade features that support your eSignature workflows.
The right eSignature solution can have a significant impact on your business, enhancing productivity and improving employee and customer satisfaction. We’ve evaluated two eSignature solutions, DocuSign and Nitro Sign, to help you make an informed decision about which one better suits your unique business needs.
Key evaluation criteria we considered are:
- Price
- Price flexibility
- Scalability
- Feature Matrix
- Security
- Customer Support
- Customer Success
- Integrations
First, an introduction of both brands
DocuSign Overview:
Founded in 2003, DocuSign claims to be the eSignature pioneer and the world’s #1 way to sign electronically. They have over 350+ pre-built integrations, a powerful API, and more than 1,000,000 customers and hundreds of millions of users in over 180 countries. Learn more about DocuSign.
Nitro Sign Overview:
Founded in 2005 in Melbourne, Australia, Nitro’s team now spans the globe and works with over half of the Fortune 500. Nitro is the number one alternative to Adobe Acrobat and has extended its platform to offer eSignature and document intelligence solutions. Learn more about Nitro.
Price: Nitro Wins
DocuSign offers four eSignature plans ranging from Personal ($10 per month for a single user) to Standard ($25 per month) and Business Pro ($40 per month) for large enterprises. Their Advanced Solutions plan includes integrations, customer support, user management and other features at a custom price.
Nitro Sign offers three unlimited eSignature packages ranging from Essentials at $9.99 per month for individual users, to Advanced at $19.99 per month and Enterprise at $29.99 per month for large enterprises.
Nitro Sign is also available as a part of the Nitro Productivity Platform package, which includes the leading Adobe Acrobat alternative - Nitro PDF Productivity, Nitro Sign Essentials, Analytics, Control Center, and customer support starting at $9.99/user/month. Nitro Sign Advanced or Enterprise can be included for an additional $19.99 per month or $29.99 per month.
Whether you purchase Nitro Productivity Platform or just Nitro Sign, you’re guaranteed to spend less than you would if you purchased any of DocuSign’s plans because Nitro Sign offers unlimited eSigning and signature requests.
Price Flexibility: Nitro Wins
DocuSign:
DocuSign plans limit envelope usage, where one envelope allows you to send a group of eSignature requests together. DocuSign’s eSignature personal plan includes 5 envelopes every month and Standard and Business Pro plans include an allowance of up to 100 sent envelopes per user per year. Business and enterprise-level customers that process a high volume of transactions, or that require a site license, can purchase a total volume of transactions with unlimited users.
Nitro Sign:
Nitro Sign offers unlimited eSigning and signature requests, regardless of the Nitro Sign plan you purchase. Enterprise customers requiring a high volume of transactions, e.g. via integrations and APIs, are subject to contractual use limits and can purchase additional volume.
Scalability: Nitro Wins
Nitro Sign offers scalable eSigning and company-wide deployment at a lower total cost of ownership.
With DocuSign’s higher priced plans and consumption-based pricing model, businesses will have difficulty deploying their eSignature solution organization-wide and will likely pay overage charges for company-wide deployment or exceeding envelope usage.
Features Comparison: DocuSign Wins
DocuSign has a comprehensive feature-set, which allows them to support numerous high-complexity eSignature workflows for businesses with specific requirements. Nitro Sign’s feature-set supports the common eSignature workflows that most businesses require. In scenarios where DocuSign’s horsepower isn’t needed by every department in an organization, Nitro Sign is the more affordable eSignature solution that can be broadly deployed to meet business needs while controlling costs. You can review DocuSign feature set here.
Features we have in common:
Differentiating Features: DocuSign Wins
- Draft Watermark
- Smart Sections
- DocuSign Conditional Routing
- DocuSign Advanced Workflow
- DocuSign Workspaces
- DocuSign Correct Documents
- DocuSign Powerforms
- DocuSign Payments
- DocuSign Data Validation
- DocuSign Responsive Signing
- DocuSign Connect
- DocuSign AutoPlace
Security: Tie
Both DocuSign and Nitro Sign include a level of compliance that lends legal validity to the eSignatures created with each tool. They also both meet additional privacy and security requirements such as AICPA SOC2® Type 2, HIPAA, CSA STAR program, Privacy Shield and GDPR. Both solutions also offer enhanced security features such as Single sign-on (SSO) and two-factor authentication (2FA) for added document security. DocuSign offers additional industry-specific compliance requirements, typically restricted to enterprise accounts, like FedRAMP and FERPA.
To review DocuSign’s security details, click here.
To review Nitro Sign’s security details, click here.
Customer Support: Nitro Sign Wins
DocuSign
DocuSign’s Support Hub offers many free self-service resources, including a Support Community, Downloads, Release Notes, DocuSign University, and Knowledge Market. Beyond these resources, additional support needs to be purchased via DocuSign's Support Plans. The Standard Support plan is included with a subscription while all other plans must be purchased separately. All of DocuSign’s Support plans include access to their self-service resources, system availability monitoring, online case management, and various SLAs. The Support plans include other support resources like 24/7 live phone support, escalated support, and integration support. For more information on DocuSign support, click here.
Nitro Sign
Nitro has Premium Support and many of the same self-serve support options as DocuSign, including a Community Forum, Knowledge Base, and User Guides. Nitro users can access the Community Form to read Nitro announcements, ask questions other users can answer, or submit product improvement suggestions. A chat bot is available to assist with eSigning related questions, and is accessible by logging into Nitro Sign and clicking, “Chat with Milo”. The Nitro Sign user guides contain a host of articles for better product understanding, walkthroughs, step-by-step user instructions and screenshots help any user understand Nitro PDF Pro, Nitro Sign and Nitro Admin features. For more information on Nitro Sign support, click here.
Customer Success: Nitro Wins
While DocuSign and Nitro both have Customer Success organizations, DocuSign customers who purchase Enterprise Premier Support receive a Technical Customer Success Manager. All other customers must purchase this separately in addition to a paid plan. Nitro Sign Advanced and Enterprise plans include a Customer Success Manager.
Integrations: DocuSign Wins
DocuSign is the clear winner in this category with over 350 integrations, DocuSign integrates with an extensive host of applications and systems. See a list of all their integrations here. Nitro Sign supports the most common integrations and continues to develop in this area. It currently has integrations with Salesforce, leading cloud storage providers like Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, and SharePoint and automation services like Zapier and Microsoft Power Automate which allows Nitro Sign to connect with hundreds of applications.See a list of all of Nitro’s integrations here.
Conclusion
Choosing the right eSignature solution depends on your business’s specific needs. If your business needs common eSignature workflows, is cost conscious, and requires an affordable deployment , then a solution like Nitro Sign will work great. If your business requires niche eSignature workflows and customizations, then DocuSign would be the better solution for select power users within an organization.
To learn more about Nitro Sign, schedule a personalized demo now.
