Docusign eSignature vs Skribble

Docusign eSignature

All three eIDAS levels are named and placed in the plan structure — SES included in every plan, AES in advanced plans, QES as an add-on — and Docusign names itself a registered Qualified Trust Service Provider in Europe, with QES described as the legal equivalent of a handwritten signature in the EU. That covers my fixed-term contracts' written-form need at the level of naming. I found no public information on the EU Trust List entry, qualified electronic seals, ZertES, per-country availability, or the signature level being shown in the signed document and audit trail.

Skribble

All three eIDAS levels are named and mapped to plans — unlimited simple signatures everywhere, Pro carrying 120 FES/QES a year — with QES stated as valid under both eIDAS and ZertES and the German written-form requirement addressed, plus an organisational seal available on request from Pro. Skribble states plainly that it is not itself a trust service provider and relies on partners; a Swisscom partnership is named, but we found no public information naming the qualified trust service provider with its trust-list entry or showing the signature level in the finished document.

Docusign eSignature

Methods are listed by name: one-time passwords, phone authentication, automatic validation of most government-issued identity documents, video-selfie liveness with randomized facial movements, AI-driven identity proofing that lets a signer complete QES identification in minutes, CLEAR or ID.me accounts, and an identity wallet that reuses a completed check for later signatures. For my applicants the open question is which countries' IDs actually pass — no country or document list is published — and I found no public information on a named identification provider, automated versus agent-based identification, or retention and deletion of ID data beyond the general privacy policy.

Skribble

This is the crux for my new hires: QES identification is documented as a smartphone ID scan plus selfie video, with agent-guided video identification and in-person identification as alternatives, and one successful identification unlocking QES in the signer's profile — a phone-friendly path. The Swiss-versus-EU legal framework for identification is selectable and charged per successfully completed identification; we found no public information on which ID documents or nationalities are accepted, or on retention and deletion of identification data.

Docusign eSignature

Bulk send to multiple recipients at once, reusable and team-shared templates, delegated signing, mobile-optimised web forms with conditional logic and custom envelope fields, custom branding, 44+ signing languages, WCAG 2.0 Level AA, and no-code workflow automation — with HR recruiting and employee onboarding named as a use case. This is the ten-minutes-on-a-phone experience I need. I found no public information on signing without an account or on a published accessibility conformance statement beyond the WCAG line on the pricing page.

Skribble

External signers sign in the browser with no account and no app, reachable by email, link or QR code, and the vendor reports most documents signed within the first ten minutes — exactly the onboarding-by-phone experience I need. Signing order, bulk upload of several documents at once from Team upwards, and manual plus admin-activated automatic reminders with three frequency options are documented; we found no public information on reusable templates with field placement, delegation to substitute signers, or signer accessibility.

Docusign eSignature

Every agreement automatically generates and stores a robust audit trail, identity verification results compile into a secure proof file, and AES carries tamper-evident PKI-based digital certificates. What the pages leave undescribed is what the audit trail records, whether qualified timestamps or long-term validation such as PAdES-LTV apply, how long documents and evidence are kept, and whether they can be exported with evidence intact — exactly what I need to prove a signature on a disputed fixed-term contract years later.

Skribble

For contracts that may be disputed years later, the captured pages show AATL-conformant signatures on all plans, a signature validator available on an annual-fee basis, and terms stating that accounts and documents are deleted when the customer contract ends. We found no public information on an audit trail or certificate of completion, its contents, qualified timestamps, long-term validation, or any retention period for signed evidence.

Docusign eSignature

A developer centre with a free developer account and API overview, web forms that embed into our own applications with API pre-population, cloud storage on every plan (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box), workspace apps such as Slack, Teams, Zoom and Stripe, and a Microsoft suite — Outlook, Word, Teams, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Power Automate — each described with its scope, plus an App Center with 1,000+ partner integrations. Salesforce, Dynamics and NetSuite connectors come only via sales. I found no public information on webhooks, SDKs, published rate limits, API access to qualified signatures, or a named HR system connector.

Skribble

An open REST API with public documentation, an immediately testable demo key, all three signature standards and continuous status tracking is documented, plus connectors for Microsoft 365, Google Drive, SAP and Salesforce. We found no public information on webhooks, embedded signing, SDKs or rate limits — and no HR system among the connectors, so the bridge from my HRIS into signing I would have to build myself.

Docusign eSignature

European elements are proven: a registered European QTSP with data centres across three EU countries, an EMEA entity in Dublin for privacy matters, and a French controller entity. Against that, the privacy policy says personal data will likely be stored in infrastructure in Australia, the United States, the European Union and/or Canada, transfers to 21 countries are listed with binding corporate rules moving data out of the EEA, and data residency is listed as not included in the published plans, available only by contacting sales. We found no public information on ownership, the hosting or subprocessor chain, or where signer ID data is stored.

Skribble

EU customers contract with Skribble Deutschland GmbH in Karlsruhe and pick between German and Swiss data centres at setup, hosting runs in ISO 27001 certified centres, a DPA is published, and the privacy policy lists subprocessors with their locations. The edges of the chain are partly non-European — Cloudflare and other US providers handle security and analytics while core document hosting stays in Swiss or German centres — and we found no public information on ownership.

Docusign eSignature

The main plans are public with billing period and limits: Personal at 9 €/month with 5 envelopes per month, Standard at 23 €/month per user with 100 envelopes per user per year, Business Pro at 38 €/month per user, an ID check at "Ab 2,35 €/Ausweisüberprüfung", a five-business-day cancellation notice before renewal, and no-refund terms. What I cannot compute is my real cost: QES is only "available as an add-on to eSignature plans" with no price, the identity-verification page says "Contact sales to add identity verification to your plan", AES sits in advanced plans without public prices, and overage fees are mentioned but not quantified.

Skribble

Pro is '6 EUR per month (per user, billed annually)' with unlimited simple and 120 FES/QES signatures a year, Starter is '0 EUR per month (pay per use)', and eIDAS identifications run '15,50€ pro Identifikation (mindestens 50 Identifikationen)' charged only when successfully completed — enough to budget most of my two-hundred-contract QES cost up front. Scale is priced on request, the captured pages show different plan line-ups (Individual, Team, Pro in the terms against Starter, Pro, Scale on the pricing page), and we found no public per-signature price for pay-per-use or quota overage.