Open-source alternatives to DocuSign you can host yourself

Three open-source tools let a business send documents for electronic signature from a server it controls: Documenso, DocuSeal and LibreSign. Each keeps the contracts, the signatures and the audit trail on your own server instead of a signing service's. This article compares them, explains what you need to run one, and summarises what South Africa's Electronic Communications and Transactions Act says about electronic signatures.

Why host your own signing service

A signing service sees every document you send through it: employment contracts, supplier agreements, client quotes, loan forms. It holds them, and the names, email addresses and signing history of everyone involved, for as long as its terms allow. Running your own means the documents and the record of who signed what stay on a server you choose, under the law you choose, and the cost does not rise with every user or envelope.

The three tools

Documenso

Documenso describes itself as the open-source DocuSign alternative. Its self-hosted edition has the full core signing features under the AGPL. A small set of features, including single sign-on, white-label embedding and support for the United States 21 CFR Part 11 rules, sits in an enterprise directory and needs a paid licence key in production. It runs in Docker with a PostgreSQL database, an SMTP server for email and S3-compatible storage for files.

DocuSeal

DocuSeal turns a PDF into a form with signature, date, checkbox and file fields, sends it to one or more signers in order, and signs the finished PDF. Its free open-source edition covers legally binding signatures, multiple signers, user management, unlimited retention and your own mail server. White-label branding, automated reminders, bulk sending, single sign-on and its API are in a paid on-premises edition. Its licence adds one condition to the AGPL: the DocuSeal attribution must stay in the user interface. It is the lightest of the three to run; its makers size it at one to two processor cores and one to four GB of memory for ten thousand signed documents.

LibreSign

LibreSign, developed by the LibreCode cooperative, adds signing to Nextcloud. Documents are signed from Nextcloud Files, by internal users or by people outside the organisation, in a set order, with a traceable record and a QR code for checking a signed document later. For a team that already keeps its files in Nextcloud, it is the shortest path: no second system and no second set of accounts. Each LibreSign version targets one Nextcloud major version, so the two are upgraded together.

The signing certificate

Each tool stamps the finished PDF with a digital signature made with a certificate. A self-signed certificate works and proves the document has not changed since it was signed, but Adobe Acrobat will not show it as trusted. For signatures that show as trusted in Acrobat, use a certificate from a certificate authority on Adobe's approved list, bought separately. Documenso's documentation describes both routes.

What South African law says

The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (ECT Act) sets out when an electronic signature counts. In outline, and not as legal advice:

• Most agreements can be signed electronically. Where the parties want an electronic signature but have not agreed on a type, any method that identifies the person, shows their approval and is as reliable as the purpose needs will do (section 13(3)). An electronic signature is not invalid only because it is electronic (section 13(2)).
• A signature required by law needs an advanced electronic signature. Where a law requires a person's signature without saying what type, a data message meets that only with an advanced electronic signature (section 13(1)). An advanced electronic signature comes from a process accredited under the Act, which requires, among other things, face-to-face identification of the signer (sections 37 and 38). Software alone does not make a signature advanced; the accredited identity process does.
• Some documents cannot be done electronically at all. The Act does not validate agreements to sell immovable property, long leases of immovable property over 20 years, wills and codicils, or bills of exchange (Schedule 2).

If a document falls into the second or third group, check with the provider of any accredited service, and take legal advice.

Which to choose

• Already on Nextcloud: LibreSign.
• The simplest standalone service for a small team: DocuSeal.
• A full signing platform with an API and room to grow: Documenso.

All three run on a Noiz Cloud server, a self-managed Ubuntu or Debian server with full root access, installed by following each project's own documentation. If you would rather have the signing service installed, run and kept up to date for you, get in touch and we will scope it with you.

Sources

Checked 19 October 2026.

Tools

• Documenso, its enterprise licence, self-hosting guide and signing certificate guide
• DocuSeal, its additional licence terms, editions and server requirements
• LibreSign and its installation guide

The law

• Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (Government Gazette 23708): sections 1, 4, 13 and 34 to 38, Schedules 1 and 2

Noiz

• Noiz Cloud

Note: while some of this content was produced with the help of AI, the final editing has been done by a real human being.