•  DocuSign starts at €9/user/month up to €36/user/month.
• eversign is commonly used by the legal industry and SMEs for contracts.
•  PandaDoc starts at €8/user/month for a personal plan.

Research Strategy

Top Tools

• In order to identify the top e-signature tools used in Germany we identified industry leader lists for Germany, by overall popularity, and most successful for 2019. We then narrowed down our findings to identify most popular tools used in Germany that were confirmed by several other sources.
• SutiSign was ranked number 4 most popular company in 2019 with Germany being one of the most popular countries of use. The tool has a 97% renewal rate.
•  Lightico was rated 5 stars by customers and is listed on every cited list of popular tools with uses in Germany.
• PandaDoc was rated 4.5 stars by customers and is listed on every cited list of popular tools with uses in Germany. In addition, this tool was rated number one by financesonline.com.
•  SignNow was rated 4.5 stars by customers and is listed on every cited list of popular tools with uses in Germany. In addition, this company was listed as number 5 most popular company in 2019.
•  MSB Docs was rated 5 stars by customers in Germany with mentions in several lists as one of the top platforms.

Top Tools

• In order to identify the top esignature tools in France, we scoured reports of most popular tools in France and cross-referenced them with lists of the top tools by user rating, market share, and popularity overall. In addition, we used media publications about tools found to be popular in France to confirm their popularity two-fold.
•  IDnow by DocuSign is considered on of the top tools based on functionality and popularity with a 4.5 star customer rating and 60.6% market share for the parent company.
•  Eversign has been rated 4.8 stars by g2 in France and 5 stars from customer reviews.
•  HelloSign has been rated 4.6 stars by g2 in France and 4.5 stars by customer reviews with 97% user satisfaction.
•  SignRequest has been rated 4.6 stars by g2 in France and 4.8 stars by customer reviews.
•  Adobe Sign has been rated 4.3 stars by g2 in France, 4.5 stars by customer review and holds 11.04% market share.

Visma

• Monthly site visits: 2.79 million
• Visitors from Sweden: 44.96% (1.25 million visits)
• Country rank: 252 
• Category rank — finance, banking credit, and lending: 219  
•  Website link 

• Monthly site visits: 201,810  
• Visitors from Sweden: 95.09% (191,901 visits)
• Country rank : 1,554
• Category rank — finance, banking credit, and lending: 2,742  
•  Website link 

BankID

• Monthly site visits: 730,120 
• Visitors from Sweden: 91% (664,409 visits)
• Country rank: 501 
• Category rank — finance, banking credit, and lending: 1,160 
•  Website link 

Scrive

• Monthly site visits: 348,230  
• Visitors from Sweden: 67.16% (233,871 visits)
• Country rank : 1,336  
• Category rank — finance, banking credit, and lending: 1,928  
•  Website link 

Hogia

• Monthly site visits: 99,250 
• Visitors from Sweden: 94.40% (93,962 visits)
• Country rank: 2,098 
• Category rank — computers, electronics, technology, programming, and software: 3,953  
•  Website link 

Assently

• Monthly site visits: 109,760
• Visitors from Sweden: 69.93% (76,755 visits)
• Country rank: 4,944 
• Category rank — finance, banking credit, and lending: 5,022 
•  Website link

Research Strategy

• nemID, which encompasses both electronic ID and electronic signature tools, is freely available to all Danish citizens above a certain age and has reached 80% population penetration.

• In addition to being used for signing contracts, nemID is used for access to public services, securing email, and accessing internet banking. The system was developed and is maintained by Nets DanID A/S, a subsidiary of Danish payments company Nets.
• According to the Danish Agency for Digitization, Nets DanID is the only issuer of digital signatures, or what the Danish government calls "Public Certifications for Electronic Services."
• However, as Denmark is an EU member state, it also abides by the EU eIDAS regulation, which allows for other types of electronic signatures. However, it is unclear if any other eSignature systems have taken hold in Denmark, given nemID's almost-complete market control.

• As a result of this government-sponsored eSignature system, limited details regarding market penetration of other eSignature providers could be found online.
• Multiple eSignature providers were identified as supporting state-sponsored eSignature systems, such as nemID, in order to officially identify the signer: DocuSign, Adobe Sign, Penneo, and Signicat. As such, we included those companies in the spreadsheet in order of company size.
• The spreadsheet with the identified companies can be found here.

United Kingdom

DocuSign

Pricing

• Personal: $10(€9.16)/user/month or $120(€109.97)/user/year. [Currency Converter: 1 USD = 0.916 Euros].
• Business: $25(€22.91)/user/month or $300(€274.93)/user/year.
• Business Pro: $40(€36.66)/user/month or $480(€439.89)/user/year.

Industry Verticals

• The industry verticals likely to purchase DocuSign's eSignature tools include accounting and tax, communications and media, construction, financial services, government, healthcare, education, insurance, legal services, life services, nonprofit, real estate, retail, staffing, and technology.

Adobe Sign

Pricing

• Individual: £10.42(€12.33)/user/month or £125.02(€147.97)/user/year. [Currency Converter: 1 GBP = 1.18357 EUR]
• Small Business: £36.50(€43.20)/license/month or £438(€518.40)/license/year.
• Medium Business and Enterprise: The interested user should contact the company for price quotations.

Germany

Lightico

Pricing

• Details on Lightico's in-call eSignature tools pricing are not readily available in the public domain.
• However, the company offers: a free trial on its eSignature tools and packages starting from $1 (€0.92). [1 USD = 0.916 Euros].
• Interested users are advised to contact Lightico in-call eSignature’s sales team to inquire about the pricing of the products.

SutiSoft

Pricing

• Professional: $8.00(€7.33)/user/month or $85.00(€77.88)/user/year.
• Premium: $20.00(€18.32)/user/month or $200.00(€183.24)/user/year.
• Enterprise: The interested user should contact the company for price quotations.

Industry Vertical

• The industry verticals likely to purchase SutiSoft's eSignature tools include automotive, consumer products, financial services, government, travel and leisure, healthcare, software, retail, professional services, and manufacturing & engineering services.

Research Strategy

Selected Findings

• The pricing for SignRequest’s business plan is €15/month or €12/month if billed yearly.
• The pricing for Adobe Sign’s plan for small businesses is €41.99/month (1-year commitment).
• The pricing for Visma’s business plan is €65/month or €55/month if billed yearly.
• The pricing for Scrive’s company plan is €178.05/month (£150.00/month).
• The pricing for Assently’s business plan is €603.41/month (SEK 6,350/month).

Research Strategy

NemID

• Danish citizens are able to access NemID eSignature tools without any charge.
• Service Provider: DKK 3.28 (€0.14)/user (session) or DKK 1.05 (€0.44)/user (annual) [Currency Converter: 1 DKK = 0.13 Euros]

• The industry verticals likely to purchase NemID eSignature tools include merchants, restaurants and shops; banks and issuers, and corporate and public sectors.

DocuSign

• DocuSign has a free version eSignature package for the first 30 days. However, the company has three plans that users should subscribe to, including:

• The industry verticals likely to purchase DocuSign signature solutions include financial services, real estate, accounting and tax, communication and media, construction, government, healthcare, higher education, legal services, life sciences, mortgage, and non-profit organizations.

Adobe Sign

• Individual: DKK 140.00 (18.74)/month (does not require annual subscription) or DKK 92.71 (€12.41)/month, which translates to DKK 1,112.50 (€148.89) if billed annually.

• Smaller Businesses: DKK 326.05 (€18.74)/license/month and DKK 3,912.50 (€523.60) if billed annually [Currency Converter: 1 DKK = 0.13 Euros].

• Corporation and Enterprise: The interested user should contact the company for price quotations.
• The industry verticals likely to purchase Adobe Sign’s eSignature tools include financial services, media and entertainment, retail, travel and hospitality, high tech, and telecommunication.

Penneo

• Penneo Basic: €119/user/month

• Penneo Advanced: The interested user should contact the company for price quotations.
• The industry verticals likely to purchase Penneo’s eSignature tools include audit and accounting, company law, property management, HR, general administration, and finance.

Signicat

• Details on Signicat’s eSignature tools pricing are not readily available in the public domain.

• Interested users are advised to contact Signicat’s customer service to inquire about the pricing of the products and services.
• The industry verticals likely to purchase Signicat’s eSignature tools include retail banking, insurance, HR, and asset management.

Research Strategy

Purpose and Implementation Date

• The EU's electronic IDentification, Authentication and Trust Services (eIDAS) regulation (eIDAS) regulation was designed by the European Union (EU) to establish updated, international standards of online identity as well as verification and validation of trust.
• It provides consumers with secure digital identities and makes cross-border trade easier for businesses.
• It came into force on July 1, 2016, and is being completely implemented directly across the whole of the EU since September 29, 2018.

How the eIDAS Regulation Works

• Every EU citizen that has an official means of identification such as a national identity card can be identified and/or authenticated in order to access online public services in other EU countries with similar electronic IDs.
• A pilot project involving Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands resulted in the successful connectivity of their electronic ID and authentication infrastructure. This made it possible for Austrian and German citizens to use their eIDs to access online public services in the Netherlands.
• For example, if an Austrian driver incurs a fine in the Netherlands for speeding, they can access detailed information regarding the penalty in their native language using their eID, and they can decide to challenge or pay the fine.

E-sign Software Companies

• With respect to the eIDAS, e-sign software companies are known as trust service providers (TSPs). Every EU country has a supervisory body that approves TSPs to provide products and services which comply with the eIDAS.
• Electronic trust services verify the identity of an individual who sends a message over the Internet, and also the integrity of the message being transferred through the Internet. This eliminates barriers in the digital market because they boost information security and generate trust.

Benefits of the eIDAS for Businesses

• There are many benefits for businesses that have customers and partners in the EU. Since contracts between two or more entities in different EU countries would involve less form-filling, this leads to simplified and faster procedures which reduces costs.
• SMEs would find it easier to trade in other EU countries as they expand beyond their local markets.
• The fintech sector is likely to benefit from easier new account opening process and credit rating checks would be simpler.
• Consumer confidence in online traders in other EU countries would also improve.