Attest vs DocuSign

Attest and DocuSign at a glance

DocuSign eSignature runs from a single-user Personal plan to Enhanced plans for 50 or more users, priced through its sales team. Attest is built around a different promise: proof anyone can check, on documents only the parties can read. DocuSign's details below are as published on its own pages on October 11, 2026.

	Attest	DocuSign eSignature (as published October 11, 2026)
Who can read your documents	Only you and the people you send them to. Every document is end-to-end encrypted in your browser	DocuSign: documents are "encrypted in transit and at rest using industry-standard AES-256 encryption". Customer-managed keys need its premium Security Appliance add-on
How a signer signs	A passkey only they control (Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN), with no account or password	An emailed link; access codes on every plan, SMS and ID verification on higher plans or as paid add-ons
What ties the signature to the document	Each signer's own cryptographic signature over the document's fingerprint and their entries	DocuSign's PKI tamper seal on the finished document: DocuSign's seal, not the signer's
Checking a signed document	Anyone, free, with no account. The open-source verifier is inside every signed copy and checks it against a public blockchain	The certificate of completion and DocuSign's seal
After your account ends	The signed copy still verifies on its own, even if Attest is gone	For up to two years after the subscription ends, a customer can ask DocuSign's Professional Services to help retrieve completed eDocuments; after that, if no retrieval was requested, DocuSign may delete them
Prove a fact without the document	Yes: share a zero-knowledge proof that you signed, and the date it was completed	Not offered
Free to start	2 documents, in total	30-day trial
Entry price	$5 a month for 20 documents	Personal: $15 a month for 5 envelopes ($11 a month on an annual commitment)
Signers pay	Never	Never

Privacy: who can read your contracts

DocuSign says documents are "encrypted in transit and at rest using industry-standard AES-256 encryption". It describes no end-to-end encryption, so its service can decrypt documents to process them. Customers who want to manage the encryption keys in their own data center can add DocuSign's premium Security Appliance. That is how most e-signature services work: the vendor's systems can open what they store.

Attest encrypts every document in your browser before upload, and only the people you send it to can open it, in their own browsers. Attest stores your document only as ciphertext it can't read.

For contracts that carry salaries, prices, investor terms or personal details, this is the difference between trusting a vendor's internal controls and not having to. We compared 21 e-signature services in October 2026, Attest and 20 others, and Attest was the only one that end-to-end encrypts every document, for every signer, by default.

How people sign

On DocuSign, a signer opens an emailed link. Email access codes are included on every plan; stronger checks, such as SMS codes or ID verification, depend on the plan or cost extra per use.

On Attest, a signer opens their link and approves with a passkey. A passkey is a cryptographic key only the signer controls, unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN. The passkey signs a statement that names the exact document and everything the signer entered, so each signature belongs to that signer and that document. Signers still need no account and no password, and they never pay.

Proof that doesn't depend on the vendor

A DocuSign document carries DocuSign's PKI seal and a certificate of completion. DocuSign says the seal "indicates the electronic signature is valid and that the document has not been tampered with after it was downloaded from DocuSign eSignature". The copies DocuSign stores follow its eSignature Service Schedule (version September 15, 2025): a customer can retrieve eDocuments during the subscription; for up to two years after it ends, the customer can ask DocuSign for Professional Services to help retrieve completed eDocuments that remain stored; and after those two years, if no retrieval was requested, DocuSign "shall have the right to delete" the account and its eDocuments.

An Attest signed copy proves itself, with no certificate authority and no vendor involved. Every party receives the same sealed PDF: the signed pages, with a "Signed with Attest" stamp on each signature and a seal line at the foot of every page, the certificate of completion, the audit trail up to completion and a "Verify it yourself, without us" page, with the original document, the evidence and a standalone open-source verifier attached inside. Every completed agreement is anchored on the Horizen public blockchain.

Anyone can open the verifier in a browser and drop the PDF on it, with no account, even if Attest no longer exists. It checks the original document inside the signed copy against what every signer signed, each signer's passkey signature and entries, Attest's anchored record of the agreement on Horizen, and that nothing was added to the PDF after it was sealed. It also re-makes every page you see from what was signed and compares the result with the copy byte for byte, so pages drawn with anything else fail. It pins its trust root (the chain, Attest's registry and the keys it checks against are built into the verifier, never read from the file being checked) and accepts only anchors from Attest's registered wallets. Change one byte of the document, of any signer's entries or of the signed pages, and verification fails.

Proving an agreement without sharing it

A bank, a landlord, an investor or a new employer sometimes needs to know that an agreement exists, not what it says. Attest's Share proof gives them exactly that: a zero-knowledge proof that you, or you and a named co-signer, signed an agreement completed on a given date. The recipient sees the email addresses, the completion date, and that the proof is valid and where its record is anchored; the document, its title and its terms stay private. The proof is verified on zkVerify. DocuSign does not offer this.

Price at small volume

What you send	Attest	DocuSign (as published October 11, 2026)
A few documents, once	2 documents free, in total	30-day free trial
Up to 5 a month	$5 a month (up to 20)	Personal: $15 a month, or $11 a month with an annual commitment
Up to 20 a month	$5 a month	Standard: $45 per user a month on monthly billing, with up to 10 envelopes per user a month, so 20 a month needs two users or pay-as-you-go envelopes

On DocuSign, an envelope counts once it is sent, whether or not anyone signs it. On Attest, a document you void before anyone signs, or a draft you discard, is given back to your allowance. On every plan of both services, the people who sign pay nothing.

Who should choose Attest

• Small businesses and professionals who send contracts, quotes, NDAs and offer letters and want each one provable for years.
• Freelancers and consultants who need a record that settles scope and payment disputes.
• Anyone signing confidential agreements, where the contract itself should stay between the parties: every Attest document is end-to-end encrypted in the browser.
• Anyone who receives a signed document and wants to check it independently, for free.

Switching from DocuSign

There is nothing to migrate. Sign in to Attest with your email, set up your signing key with a passkey and a recovery phrase, upload the PDF you would have sent with DocuSign, add your signers and place their fields. Your first 2 documents are free, in total, so you can try it on a real agreement before you pay anything.