DocuSign costs between R175 and R700 per user per month in South Africa, billed annually. The two team plans, Standard and Business Pro, each allow 100 envelopes per user per year, which works out to about 8 documents a month. That's the short answer. The longer one is worth five minutes, because the plan you pick decides whether you pay R54 per document or a fraction of that.
Prices checked in October 2026 on DocuSign's South African pricing page.
DocuSign's plans in rand
| Plan | Price (billed annually) | Per year | Envelopes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | R175 / month | R2,100 | 5 per month, 1 user |
| Standard | R450 / user / month | R5,400 per user | 100 per user per year |
| Business Pro | R700 / user / month | R8,400 per user | 100 per user per year |
| Enhanced | Quote only | Quote only | Negotiated |
An envelope is one send: a document (or a bundle of documents) going out to your recipients for signature. Every time you send, one envelope is used, whether the person signs today or never.
Personal is for one person sending a handful of documents. As soon as a second colleague needs to send, or you want shared templates, you're on Standard at R450 per user.
What 100 envelopes a year really means
100 envelopes per user per year sounds like plenty until you divide it by 12. It's 8 a month.
That's fine for a consultant who signs one client agreement a week. It's tight for an HR team in a hiring month, an estate agency with a busy weekend, or an accounting practice sending engagement letters at year-end. Busy months don't spread themselves evenly.
Here's what each envelope costs if you use every one of them:
- Personal: R2,100 for 60 envelopes = R35 per document
- Standard: R5,400 for 100 envelopes = R54 per document
- Business Pro: R8,400 for 100 envelopes = R84 per document
If you send fewer, each one costs more. Unused envelopes are money you've already spent.
The real cost for your team
Per-user pricing is where e-signature bills grow quietly. Here's the annual cost on annual billing:
| Team size | DocuSign Standard | DocuSign Business Pro | NomaSign |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 user | R5,400 | R8,400 | R1,188 |
| 3 users | R16,200 | R25,200 | R3,564 |
| 5 users | R27,000 | R42,000 | R5,940 |
| 10 users | R54,000 | R84,000 | R11,880 |
NomaSign is R99 per user per month billed annually (R1,188 a year), or R149 month to month. Documents and signers are unlimited, so the price stays the same whether you send 8 documents a month or 800. See the pricing page for the details.
Per-user pricing is only one of the ways e-signature bills creep up. We cover the others in the hidden costs of e-signature software.
"If it's that much cheaper, what am I giving up?"
It's the right question. A low price only matters if the signature holds up when someone challenges it.
The honest answer: the signing itself isn't where NomaSign saves money. Every document is sealed with an Adobe-trusted digital signature and comes with a full audit trail. The saving comes from what we don't rebuild. NomaSign works on top of the Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace you already pay for. Your documents are stored in your own OneDrive or Google Drive, and invitations go out from your own email address. We don't run a second document storage system and then charge you for it, simple as that.
So rather than take any vendor's word for quality, including ours, check it.
How to judge quality as well as price: 6 questions
Use these on any e-signature tool you're considering. They take ten minutes to check during a free trial.
1. Can anyone verify the signed PDF without the vendor's help?
Open a signed document in Adobe Acrobat Reader. A green "Signature is valid" tick means the signing certificate is on Adobe's Approved Trust List. DocuSign passes this test. So does NomaSign: you can download a NomaSign-signed document and check it yourself.
2. When does the document get locked?
Most tools only start sealing once the first person signs. NomaSign seals the document the moment you send it, and every signature after that is locked in as its own tamper-proof version. If anyone edits the file in between, it shows.
3. Is there an audit trail you could hand to a lawyer?
Look for timestamps, IP addresses, device details and a fingerprint (hash) of the document at each step. With NomaSign, yes, and it's in the document itself: the audit trail is embedded in the signed PDF and sealed with it, so the evidence travels with the file and can't be quietly separated from it.
4. Where do your signed documents live?
With DocuSign, they live in your DocuSign account, and you download them from there. With NomaSign, they're stored in your own OneDrive or Google Drive from the start. If you ever leave, your files are already where you keep everything else.
5. Who do the invitations come from?
DocuSign's emails come from DocuSign's address, on your behalf. NomaSign sends from your own mailbox, so your client sees a name they know. That also helps the email land in the inbox instead of spam.
6. Do your signers need an account?
They shouldn't, and with neither tool they do. Your client clicks a link and signs on their phone or laptop.
Is an e-signature legally valid in South Africa?
Yes, for most business documents. The ECT Act recognises electronic signatures, and that applies equally to DocuSign, NomaSign and any reputable tool.
There are exceptions that no software can get around. Schedule 2 of the Act excludes agreements for the sale of immovable property, long leases of land (over 20 years), wills and bills of exchange. Those still need ink. Where a law specifically requires a signature, the Act calls for an advanced electronic signature, which is a separate, accredited process.
South African courts have been more practical than the letter of the law. In Spring Forest Trading v Wilberry (2015, Supreme Court of Appeal), an agreement could only be cancelled "in writing and signed", and names typed at the bottom of an email exchange were enough. In Borcherds v Duxbury (2020, Eastern Cape High Court), a seller who signed an offer to purchase a property electronically was held to it, even though the ECT Act excludes property sales. Lawyers point out that the Borcherds judgment didn't deal with that exclusion and doesn't bind other courts (Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr on Spring Forest and on Borcherds).
So our advice stays simple: for anything the Act excludes, such as a property sale or a will, sign in ink. Don't rely on a court being generous.
Sources: ECT Act 25 of 2002 (gov.za)
Switching doesn't have to be a project
You don't need to move anything to try an alternative. Run NomaSign next to your current tool for a few weeks:
- Sign in with your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace account.
- Upload the PDF of a document you send often and place the signature fields. Save it as a template.
- Send it to a real client and see what they experience.
Your old signed documents stay wherever they are. New ones save to your own drive. The trial is 14 days, with no credit card.
Rather not do it yourself? We offer a free moving service for qualifying customers. Email 
and we'll let you know; most businesses qualify. Or see how NomaSign compares as a DocuSign alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Does DocuSign charge South African customers in rand?
Yes. DocuSign's South African pricing page lists its plans in rand: R175, R450 and R700 per month, billed annually.
How many documents can I send on DocuSign Standard?
100 envelopes per user per year, about 8 a month. An envelope can contain more than one document, but every send uses one.
Is NomaSign's price per user?
Yes. R99 per user per month billed annually, or R149 per user month to month. The people who sign your documents never pay and don't need an account.
Does NomaSign limit the number of documents?
No. Documents and signers are unlimited on every plan.
Is a cheaper e-signature less secure?
Not with NomaSign. Our signatures are stronger than most. We say that because of how they show in Adobe Acrobat Reader: open a NomaSign-signed PDF next to one from another tool and compare the signature panels. Ours shows the document certified the moment it was sent, then every signature as its own sealed, timestamped revision. Security comes from how a document is sealed, not from what it costs. The Proof File gives you a real NomaSign-signed document to check yourself. Open the Proof File.
Try it on a real document. Start a 14-day free trial with your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace account. No credit card, and your first signed document lands in your own drive. See our pricing.