Docusign eSignature vs Youtrust (Yousign)

Docusign eSignature

All three eIDAS levels are documented by name — simple signatures on every plan, advanced signatures on the higher plans and qualified signatures as an add-on to the e-signature plans — and Docusign names itself as a registered qualified trust service provider in Europe. That is a stronger story than most, but we found no public information on a linked EU Trust List entry, qualified electronic seals, Swiss ZertES coverage, or the signature level being shown in the signed document and its evidence.

Youtrust (Yousign)

Simple, advanced and qualified signatures are all named as eIDAS levels, with document examples per level, QES priced "Ab 10€/QES" on Plus and Pro and advanced unlimited on those plans, a self-described recognition as a qualified trust service provider, and an electronic seal sold as an add-on. I found no public information on a trust-list entry, per-country availability of each level, or the chosen level being shown in the signed document or audit trail.

Docusign eSignature

Methods are named and modern: one-time passcodes, phone authentication, automatic validation of government identity documents, biometric liveness via video selfies, signers reusing an existing CLEAR or ID.me account, an identity wallet to re-apply a completed verification on later agreements, and a proof file for audits. What the public pages do not show is which method applies to which signature level in which country, who performs the identification, or what happens to ID data afterwards — for a team sending into Germany versus France that is the question that decides cycle time.

Youtrust (Yousign)

Signers are authenticated with a code by SMS or email — or without a code — and the mode used lands in the audit trail; identification for the higher levels is listed by name as image, video, face-match and a certified method described as ANSSI-certified and legally equivalent to in-person verification, combining automated facial recognition with human expert review. ID data retention is published at ninety days. I found no public information on which countries or ID documents each method accepts, or on a named identification provider.

Docusign eSignature

The core of a revenue signing flow is documented: reusable team templates, conditional fields, delegated signing, bulk send, custom branding, mobile-optimized web forms with drag-and-drop building and versioning, signing in 44+ languages, and WCAG 2.0 AA listed on the plans. Signing order only appears in passing (automatic routing in the Word integration), and we found no public information on signer roles, parallel versus sequential routing, substitute signers or a published accessibility conformance statement.

Youtrust (Yousign)

Bulk Send generates an individual signature request per line from a CSV with placeholder signers, read-only fields filled from the file, error validation before sending and per-request tracking — the mass-send answer a revenue team actually needs — while automatic reminders, templates, approvers, real-time tracking, custom branding and seven signer languages are all documented. The audit trail records signing by emailed link, shared link or in person, and an accessibility declaration is listed among the published legal documents. I found no public information on conditional fields, delegation or substitute signers, or an explicit signing order.

Docusign eSignature

An audit trail is automatically generated and stored for every agreement and identity checks compile into a proof file, which is the minimum I need. But we found no public information on what the audit trail records, whether it attaches to or embeds in the signed PDF, whether timestamps are qualified or long-term validation is supported, or how long documents and evidence are retained — the only statement is the generic privacy-policy line that data is kept no longer than necessary.

Youtrust (Yousign)

Every signature automatically gets a timestamped evidence file, and the audit trail is documented in detail — sender and signer details with IP addresses, authentication mode, signature context, dates of consent and validation, and a document hash that exposes any later modification — with retention published at ten years for signature evidence and a certified third-party archiver, Arkhineo, offering ten-year archiving in a digital safe. The help centre states that downloading all audit trails at once is not possible, and I found no public information on PAdES long-term validation or a named qualified timestamp provider.

Docusign eSignature

Signing from the systems where revenue closes is well covered: connectors for Word, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Power Automate and Dynamics 365, Salesforce and NetSuite named behind a sales conversation, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and Box on every plan, an App Center with more than 1,000 partner integrations, a free developer account and embeddable web forms with API pre-population. We found no public information on webhooks, SDKs or published rate limits, so I could not confirm from public pages that the API covers every signature level.

Youtrust (Yousign)

The API is a real product: a Developer Center, a free 40-day sandbox with paid-plan features, webhooks documented event by event across the signature-request lifecycle with sandbox and production environments, and API plans at "Ab 106 € exkl. MwSt. / Monat". For signing from inside the CRM there is HubSpot contact sync plus Zapier. I found no public information on SDKs, published rate limits, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace connectors, or named DMS, ERP and HR connectors.

Docusign eSignature

The contracting entity is Docusign, Inc. of San Francisco, the privacy policy says data is likely hosted across Australia, the United States, the EU and Canada with transfers to some twenty countries, and EU data residency appears on the pricing page only as a contact-sales line. Proven European elements exist — an EMEA entity in Dublin, a French controller, data centres in three EU countries and Docusign's own EU trust-service-provider status — but we found no public information on ownership, hosting providers or subprocessor locations; the only third parties named are US app-store billing intermediaries and a marketing data vendor.

Youtrust (Yousign)

The imprint names Youtrust SAS of Caen, registered at the Caen court with a French VAT ID, as the entity behind the site and apps; the vendor's own pages state data is hosted in Europe; a data processing agreement and a subprocessor list are among the published legal documents; and the vendor describes itself as a recognised qualified trust service provider. The same imprint names the host as the French establishment of AWS, a US-headquartered parent, while the subprocessor list's contents are not shown on the captured pages. Ownership is unstated, and I found no public information on ISO 27001 or ETSI conformity certifications.

Docusign eSignature

Personal at 9 € per month with 5 envelopes per month, Standard at 23 € per user per month with 100 envelopes per user per year and Business Pro at 38 € per user per month are public with the billing period stated, identity checks are listed ab 2,35 € per check, and renewal, overage, the five-business-day cancellation notice and exclusive-of-tax terms are published. A buyer still cannot compute a qualified-signature volume: the QES add-on carries no public price, the Business Pro envelope limit is not stated, the identity-verification page itself says 'contact sales', plans and prices may apply to new customers only, and the captured pages give different figures on refunds.

Youtrust (Yousign)

Four plans are priced publicly with billing period and VAT treatment stated — Free at 0 € with two signature requests a month, One at 9 € net per month, Plus at 23 € net per license per month, Pro at 38 € net per license per month — together with request, template, workspace and mass-send limits per plan, an SLA per plan, QES at "Ab 10€/QES" and an annual option giving two months free. Scale pricing and several add-ons — archiving, SSO, SCIM — are not priced publicly, and I found no public information on identification fees, overage, or the contract term and notice period.