Is Certifaction an alternative to DocuSign?
The short answer: yes! If you…
…want full focus on electronic signatures instead of contract management
…don’t want your eSigning provider to have access to your sensitive documents
…count on Swiss quality with individual technical support from Zurich
Certifaction as a DocuSign alternative – a comparison
Both Certifaction and DocuSign are premium providers in the field of eSignatures – but with different approaches. While DocuSign primarily offers tools for contract management, Certifaction is fully specialized in digital signatures.
| Certifaction | DocuSign | |
|---|---|---|
| eSignatures | ||
| Core focus on eSigning | Yes | No |
| Global validity of eSignatures |  |
 |
| Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) | Integrated | Requires a separate contract with an external provider |
| Separate signing page (besides placeable signatures) | |
 |
| Intuitive User Experience | |
 |
| Contract management features |  |
|
| Professional eSignature with integrated ID-Check | |
|
| Digital Twin to verify printed documents | |
|
| Custom branding | |
|
| Data protection & security | ||
| Data residency | Switzerland | Distributed / unclear |
| Local data processing | |
|
| Suitable for sensitive data | |
|
| Integration & Service | ||
| Net Promoter Score | >90 | 66 |
| Individual consulting | |
|
| Technical support | |
|
| Easy to integrate API | |
 |
| Customization based on client needs | |
|
| Pricing | ||
| Base | Flexible thanks to credits (based on usage) | Rigid due to pricing based on envelope or user |
What particularly distinguishes us as an alternative to DocuSign is our different data protection philosophy:
With DocuSign, the content of uploaded documents is routinely analyzed by the provider, e.g. as part of an AI analysis. In addition, DocuSign may be required to surrender all stored data to the U.S. government due to the CLOUD Act.
Certifaction, on the other hand, as a privacy-by-design solution, is based on the zero-knowledge approach: your data is processed locally and transferred to our servers already encrypted, so we can never read it. All data is also stored on ISO-27001 certified servers in Switzerland – the digital equivalent of a Swiss bank vault.
In addition, our software is especially designed to be lean, intuitive for any user, and very easy to integrate into your software environment via our API. If you have any questions or problems, our technical support team based in Zurich will be happy to assist you at any time.
Certifaction vs. DocuSign – Frequently asked questions
How are the approaches of Certifaction und DocuSign different?
DocuSign is one of the global leaders in digital document and contract management. While the company also offers electronic signatures, these are only one part of a much larger suite of features that enable the complete organization of documents & contracts in companies.
Certifaction, on the other hand, focuses exclusively on eSignatures and goes into great depth on this aspect. The Certifaction app is streamlined and easy to integrate – privacy and user-friendliness are our top priorities and an integral part of our corporate philosophy. In addition, our signer identification solutions are firmly integrated into our product out-of-the-box.
What exactly are the differences concerning data security?
Certifaction is the only “privacy-first” solution for eSignatures that incorporates complete end-to-end encryption (E2EE). This means that, unlike many other providers, Certifaction does not have access to documents and therefore cannot read or evaluate them. In contrast, DocuSign, for example, sells this evaluation as a strength as part of its AI solutions.
With the CLI integration tool, Certifaction also offers the option of operating an on-premise solution that can process documents locally with little effort.
What are the differences concerning pricing?
DocuSign charges per so-called “envelopes” or the number of signed documents, and in other cases according to the number of users. Certifaction, on the other hand, charges according to the number of signatures, with the cost of a signature depending on the choice of signature standard. The more signatures you require, the lower we can make the price per signature for you. The number of users or documents does not matter.
Certifaction also provides its API free of charge to customers and helps with integration into existing systems.
Global corporation vs. local contact?
DocuSign tries to cater to companies of all kinds across the globe.
Certifaction is located in the heart of Europe and focuses on companies with the highest demands in the areas of ease of use, data security and user identification for eSignatures.
Do you have more questions?
Why Certifaction
Your Benefits: The privacy-first solution for electronic signatures
Zero-Document-Knowledge
Simple Integration
Bulk Signing
Regulatory-compliant
Legally valid
“What you have developed is the next generation of eSigning, which is by far better than all the rusty certificate-based signing solutions regarding security, Digital Twin, life-cycle updates, and data privacy.”
Urs Fischer, Head of Business Development & Innovation, Health Info Net (HIN) AG
