DocHub vs Zoho Sign

DocHub is a browser-based PDF editor and e-signature app. Chris Devor, who earlier built the iPhone utility maker Macroplant, launched it in October 2014, and it grew mainly through its Google Workspace Marketplace add-on, which has passed 57 million installs. In July 2022 airSlate acquired DocHub. Its core job is to open a PDF from Drive, Gmail or your computer, edit or fill it, sign it and send it out without installing desktop software.

The editor handles text edits, highlights, drawings, comments, page reordering, merging and splitting. Documents can go to several signers in a set order, with templates and an audit trail. Files can be opened from Google Drive, Gmail and Google Classroom as well as Dropbox, Box and OneDrive. The free plan shares three uses per month across core features; Basic and Pro are low-cost per-user subscriptions, and a Site License covers whole schools or companies.

DocHub fits teachers, freelancers and small teams living in Google Workspace who sign and annotate documents occasionally. It is not a full replacement for Adobe Acrobat when you need advanced PDF production or desktop editing, and its signing workflows are lighter than dedicated e-sign suites. pdfFiller has a bigger form library and signNow focuses on high-volume e-sign workflows and APIs, both from the same parent company.

Buying tip: prices are localised, so European visitors see euros instead of dollars, and annual billing cuts about 25%. Because airSlate owns three overlapping products, compare limits across DocHub, pdfFiller and signNow before you commit.

Zoho Sign is the electronic and digital signature app in the Zoho suite, made by Zoho Corporation, the private software company founded in 1996 in Chennai, India. It lets you sign documents yourself, sign in person or send them to multiple recipients in a set order, then keeps a tamper-evident signed PDF and a full audit trail.

Core features include templates, reminders, signer authentication, witness and delegate signing, approval workflows and cloud storage import. Premium add-ons cover qualified electronic signatures through trust service providers, blockchain timestamping, SignForms for self-service signing links and payment collection at signing. The Free plan allows one user and five envelopes a month. Standard adds 25 envelopes per user, Professional removes envelope limits and adds branding and reports, and Enterprise adds bulk send, in-person signing, APIs, webhooks and 21 CFR Part 11 controls.

Zoho Sign suits small and mid-sized businesses, especially those already on Zoho CRM, Books or Creator, and Microsoft 365 users who sign from Word or Outlook. DocuSign has broader enterprise workflows and brand recognition, SignWell is simpler for occasional senders, and PandaDoc is better when proposals and quotes need to be built before signing.

Buying tip: the Enterprise plan includes 50 complimentary API credits per user per month, capped at 2,500 per organization, which is often enough for embedded signing without buying the separate API plan. The 14-day trial runs on Enterprise with up to 10 users and drops to Free afterwards without deleting data.