As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates Docusign eSignature 3/5 and Youtrust (Yousign) 3/5 in E-Signature. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Docusign eSignature and 6 pick Youtrust (Yousign). Docusign eSignature scores higher on 3 of 7 criteria (Integrations & API, Signer identification and Signing workflow & signer experience). Youtrust (Yousign) scores higher on 4 of 7 criteria (Evidence, validation & retention, European sovereignty, Pricing transparency, plus 1 more). Provenance — Docusign eSignature: Rest of world; Youtrust (Yousign): EU-Made. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
Docusign eSignature scores higher on integration and API (6.7 against 6.2; four judges lean Docusign, one Youtrust, one tie), signing workflow (7.7 against 7.5; two lean Docusign, one Youtrust, three tie) and identity verification (6.0 against 5.8; one lean Docusign, five ties). Youtrust takes evidence and retention (6.0 against 3.8) and sovereignty (5.8 against 4.2) — 6 judges lean Youtrust, 0 lean Docusign on each — with data residency listed as EU-only and legal entity jurisdiction as FR, while Docusign lists data residency and jurisdiction as unknown under a San Francisco controller; we found no public information on its audit trail contents, qualified timestamps or retention periods. Pricing transparency reads 6.5 against 5.8 (three lean Youtrust, three tie) and signature levels nearly tie at 6.5 against 6.7. The six computed weighted totals each favor Youtrust — 6.2 against 5.5 from the legal counsel, 6.2 against 5.3 from the data-protection officer — yet the per-criterion splits mean no single winner.
Choose Docusign eSignature if
Your engineering team builds heavily against the platform — integration and API reads 6.7 against 6.2, with four judges leaning Docusign, one Youtrust and one tie.
You run complex signing flows — conditional fields, delegated signing, embeddable web forms, bulk send and 44+ signing languages are documented, and signing workflow reads 7.7 against 7.5 (two judges lean Docusign, one Youtrust, three tie).
You must map the three eIDAS levels to plans before purchase — the verdict places simple in each plan, advanced in higher plans and qualified as an add-on, and identity verification reads 6.0 against 5.8 (one lean Docusign, five ties).
You need qualified signatures through a registered QTSP in Europe, with data centres across three EU countries and a Dublin EMEA entity documented.
Choose Youtrust (Yousign) if
You must evidence signature integrity under audit — evidence and retention reads 6.0 against 3.8, with 6 judges leaning Youtrust, 0 leaning Docusign and 0 ties.
Your data-protection officer requires EU-only hosting — Youtrust's data residency is listed as EU-only with legal entity jurisdiction FR (Youtrust SAS of Caen), while Docusign lists data residency and jurisdiction as unknown and EU data residency is a sales contact; sovereignty reads 5.8 against 4.2 (6 judges to 0), though both products list subprocessor exposure as US Cloud Act.
You need published prices before talking to sales — Youtrust lists Free at 0 €, One at 9 € net per month, Plus at 23 € and Pro at 38 € net per license per month, while Docusign's qualified add-on and API plans are unpriced; pricing transparency reads 6.5 against 5.8 (three lean Youtrust, three tie).
Your stakeholders span legal, HR, revenue operations, integration and data protection — the computed weighted totals read higher for Youtrust with each of the six judges, for example 6.2 against 5.3 from the data-protection officer.
Your team sends high-volume batches — Youtrust's signing workflow credits CSV bulk send with placeholder signers, error validation and per-request tracking, plus templates, automatic reminders and approvers.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The Skeptic
Knows "legally binding" usually means a simple signature. Reads for the level the default plan actually signs at, the QTSP the provider does not operate itself, the per-QES and ident fees on top of the plan, the envelope limit, and "eIDAS-compliant" from a provider that names no trust service at all.
Docusign eSignature
Youtrust (Yousign)
This judge's pick
Criterion by criterion
eIDAS levels & trust services
Docusign eSignature
All three levels are named and mapped to plans: simple signatures on every plan, advanced in higher plans, qualified as an add-on, and Docusign describes itself as 'a registered Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) in Europe'. We found no public information linking that provider to its EU Trust List entry, on per-country availability of qualified signatures, ZertES, or qualified seals, and nothing showing the achieved level in the signed document or audit trail.
Youtrust (Yousign)
Simple, advanced and qualified are named as eIDAS levels with per-plan limits, the qualified add-on quoted at "Ab 10€/QES" on Plus and Pro, and handwritten-equivalence stated for the qualified level — but the plans below that add-on sign at the simple level, no qualified trust service provider is named with a trust-list entry, and we found no public information on ZertES or on whether the seal add-on is a qualified seal.
Signer identification
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, CLEAR and ID.me, an identity wallet for repeat signers, and AI-driven identity proofing for the qualified level — with an ID-check add-on 'Ab 2,35 €/Ausweisüberprüfung'. We found no public information on the countries each method covers, on who performs the qualified-level identification, or on retention and deletion of ID data, and the identification page itself says 'Contact sales to add identity verification to your plan'.
Youtrust (Yousign)
Signer authentication by SMS or email code (or none) is documented in the audit trail, and four identification tiers are named — image, video, face match and an ANSSI-certified route with human expert review — with ID data kept for ninety days. We found no public information on who performs the identification, which countries or ID documents are accepted, or whether an identification is reused for later signatures.
Signing workflow & signer experience
Docusign eSignature
Public pages show reusable templates, conditional fields, drag-and-drop web forms embeddable in customers' applications, bulk send, delegated signing, custom branding, 44+ signing languages and WCAG 2.0 Level AA, and Microsoft integrations route documents 'automatically routed to the right people in the right order' with real-time status updates. We found no public information on in-person signing or mixing signature levels within one process.
Youtrust (Yousign)
Templates with per-plan limits, automatic reminders, approvers and followers, a detailed CSV bulk-send with seven signer languages, custom branding, a shareable signing link, an in-person mode and a forms add-on are documented, and an accessibility declaration is listed among the legal documents. We found no public information on signing order, conditional fields or delegation to substitute signers.
Evidence, validation & retention
Docusign eSignature
An audit trail is 'automatically generated and stored' for every agreement, tamper-proof certificates accompany every advanced signature, and identity checks compile a proof file — but we found no public information on the audit trail's contents, qualified timestamps, long-term validation, a validation report, or how long signed documents and their records are kept.
Youtrust (Yousign)
A per-signer PDF audit trail records the authentication mode, consent and validation dates and a document hash for integrity checks, evidence files carry a timestamp, signature evidence is kept ten years, and a certified French archiver offers ten-year archiving as a paid add-on. No qualified timestamp provider is named, long-term validation is not described, and the vendor itself states it is not possible to download all audit trails for all documents at once.
Integrations & API
Docusign eSignature
The plans from Standard up include a 'branchenführende API', a free developer account with a developer centre, cloud-storage connectors and Slack, Teams, Zoom and Stripe, and each Microsoft connector (Word, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Power Automate, Dynamics 365) is described with its scope; Salesforce, Dynamics and NetSuite remain sales conversations. We found no public information on webhooks, published rate limits, SDKs, or API access to qualified signatures.
Youtrust (Yousign)
A documented API with webhooks for nine signature-request and three signer events, separate sandbox and production environments, a free 40-day sandbox, embedded signing in your own application, and HubSpot and Zapier connectors are documented, with the API plan priced from "Ab 106 € exkl. MwSt. / Monat". We found no public information on SDKs, rate limits, or connectors for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or DMS, ERP and HR systems.
European sovereignty
Docusign eSignature
The controller is Docusign, Inc. of San Francisco, personal data is 'likely' stored in Australia, the United States, the EU and/or Canada, EU data residency appears on the plans page only as 'Vertrieb kontaktieren', and binding corporate rules exist precisely to move EEA data to Docusign outside the EEA. European elements are proven — a Dublin EMEA entity, data centres across three EU countries, the registered-European-QTSP claim and ISO 27001 — but we found no public information on a subprocessor list with locations or on the ownership chain.
Youtrust (Yousign)
The contracting entity is Youtrust SAS in Caen with French registration and VAT, EU hosting is stated as standard, a data processing agreement and a subprocessor list are among the published legal documents, and archives sit with the French certified archiver Arkhineo. Ownership is unstated, the named host is the French establishment of a US-headquartered provider, and standard contractual clauses cover transfers outside the EU.
Pricing transparency
Docusign eSignature
Personal at 9 €/month with 5 envelopes per month, Standard at 23 €/month per user with 100 envelopes per user per year, and Business Pro at 38 €/month per user are public with annual billing stated, plus the ID-check add-on 'Ab 2,35 €/Ausweisüberprüfung'. But the qualified-signature add-on carries no public price, the identification page says 'Contact sales to add identity verification to your plan', overage fees are reserved without a rate, API plans are not priced publicly, and prices may change without notice at renewal.
Youtrust (Yousign)
Free, One ("9 € (netto) pro Monat"), Plus ("23 € (netto) pro Lizenz /Monat") and Pro ("38 € (netto) pro Lizenz /Monat") are priced with annual figures, signature-request and template limits, mass-send quotas, the qualified add-on at "Ab 10€/QES", automated forms from "Ab 10€/Monat" and a published API plan price. Identification fees, overage and the contract term are not stated, and above five users everything becomes a custom offer.
Sovereignty, side by side
Dimension
Docusign eSignature
Youtrust (Yousign)
Legal entity
Not determined
Not determined
Ownership
Not determined
Not determined
Data residency
Not determined
Not determined
Subprocessors
US CLOUD Act reach
US CLOUD Act reach
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
Questions about Docusign eSignature and Youtrust (Yousign)
Which is better, Docusign eSignature or Youtrust (Yousign)?
As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates both 3/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Docusign eSignature and 6 pick Youtrust (Yousign). Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is Docusign eSignature or Youtrust (Yousign) European?
Docusign eSignature is not European by provenance (Rest of world). Youtrust (Yousign) is European (EU-Made). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.
Where do Docusign eSignature and Youtrust (Yousign) store customer data?
Per the vendors’ own pages as captured — Docusign eSignature: its pages as captured do not say. Youtrust (Yousign): Default not stated; pages mention Europe.
Do Docusign eSignature and Youtrust (Yousign) have a free plan?
As of 28 Oct 2026, Youtrust (Yousign)’s own pages state a free plan; Docusign eSignature’s pages as captured do not. Each product page links the pricing page it was read from.