---
title: Documenso (open source)
description: Open-source DocuSign alternative for e-signatures, self-hostable with a real audit trail and a signing API, built on a modern TypeScript stack.
canonical: "https://10xgtm.ai/oss/documenso"
type: open-source-review
license: AGPL-3.0 (EE files commercial)
repo: "https://github.com/documenso/documenso"
language: TypeScript
---

# Documenso

Open-source DocuSign alternative for e-signatures, self-hostable with a real audit trail and a signing API, built on a modern TypeScript stack.

The most credible open-source DocuSign alternative in 2026, a clean signing UI on a modern stack with **a real audit trail and no document caps when you self-host**. The catch: getting legally valid signatures on your own server means **wrestling a signing certificate**, and the enterprise pieces (SSO, 21 CFR Part 11, white-label embed) live behind a **paid Enterprise Edition**.

## Project facts

- **License:** AGPL-3.0 (EE files commercial)
- **Repo:** https://github.com/documenso/documenso
- **Stars:** 14.8k
- **Language:** TypeScript

## What it does

- Send PDFs for e-signature with drawn, typed, or uploaded signatures, plus fields for text, dates, checkboxes, and initials
- Reusable templates and direct signing links, so recurring contracts go out without rebuilding the document each time
- Multi-recipient workflows with signing order, so a document routes through signers in sequence
- Every completed document gets a timestamped audit trail and a cryptographic signing certificate embedded in the PDF
- REST API, webhooks, and embedded signing to wire signatures into your own product or automation
- Full self-host under AGPL with no document, recipient, or user caps on the free build, so signed contracts stay on your infrastructure

## What it can't do

- Sign anything on self-host until you generate and mount a signing certificate (cert.p12); without it the app runs but signing fails
- Give you SSO, an organisation auth portal, passkey and 2FA reauth, or 21 CFR Part 11 on the free build; those are Enterprise Edition commercial
- Match DocuSign on bulk send, deep template libraries, and complex conditional routing yet
- Accept your pull requests; the team paused external PRs in 2026, so contribution runs through detailed issues and a small invited group
- Hand you polished self-host docs; hands-on setup help largely assumes a paid plan, and the community calls the docs thin

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Full review: https://10xgtm.ai/oss/documenso