The short answer: OpenSign™ is the leading open-source DocuSign alternative. It is licensed under the AGPL, available on GitHub, and can be self-hosted on your own servers — so you control where your documents and signatures live. It's free to use and supports legally binding eSignatures, templates, an audit trail and an API.
Why choose an open-source eSignature tool?
- Transparency — anyone can audit the code that handles your sensitive documents.
- Data ownership — self-host so signed contracts never leave your infrastructure.
- No vendor lock-in — you're never trapped by a pricing change or shutdown.
- Compliance — keep data inside a specific region or network to meet GDPR, HIPAA or internal policies.
- Cost — no per-seat or per-document licensing for the core product.
What makes OpenSign a true open-source alternative
Unlike "freemium" tools that simply gate features, OpenSign publishes its full source code. You can read it, contribute to it, fork it, or run it yourself. Explore the project on GitHub and the setup steps in the documentation.
Core capabilities
- Drag-and-drop signature, initial, date, checkbox and text fields.
- Reusable templates and bulk (quick) send.
- Tamper-evident audit trail and certificate of completion.
- REST API and webhooks for automation — see the eSignature API guide.
- SSO and multi-user team support.
Self-hosted vs cloud
| Self-hosted OpenSign | OpenSign Cloud | DocuSign | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source available | Yes | Yes | No |
| Data location | Your servers | Managed cloud | Vendor cloud |
| Setup effort | Moderate | None | None |
| Cost | Infra only | Free tier | Paid |
How to self-host OpenSign
- Clone the repository from GitHub.
- Deploy with Docker, or to a platform like AWS, GCP or DigitalOcean.
- Configure your database, email provider and storage.
- Invite your team and start signing — all on your own infrastructure.
Prefer not to manage servers? The hosted version gives you the same open-source product with zero maintenance.
Ready to try it? Create a free OpenSign account and start signing documents in minutes — no credit card required. Prefer to run it yourself? OpenSign is 100% open source on GitHub.