Electronic signature software, judged on what matters after you buy

The checklist

Choosing e-signature software usually starts with a demo and a price, and both look similar across vendors. The questions below are the ones that separate them once you use the tool for a few months.

1. How is sending counted?

Many providers sell plans by "envelopes" (documents sent for signature) per user, per month or per year, and charge for more. That model is fine if your volume is predictable and low; it turns into a recurring negotiation if it is not. Look for the exact wording on the pricing page: "5 per month", "100 per user per year" and "unlimited" mean very different bills.

Salsox does not count envelopes on its paid plans. Personal and Business can send as many documents as they need, subject to fair-use limits designed to stop spam, such as a cap on recipients per document and on very new accounts. The free plan sends three documents a month so you can try it.

2. What does a signer go through?

The person signing is rarely your customer for the software, but their experience decides how fast you get a signature back. Check whether signers need an account, whether the page works at phone width without zooming, how many taps a typical signature takes, and whether you can reach them outside email. Salsox needs no signer account, guides signers one field at a time on a phone, and lets you share any signing link over WhatsApp or SMS.

3. What evidence do you get?

If a signature is ever disputed, what matters is the record around it. Good software keeps a tamper-evident audit trail (who, what, when, from where), a fingerprint of the final file, and a way for a third party to check it. Salsox keeps an append-only audit trail, records the SHA-256 hash of the original and the sealed copy, and gives every completed document a verification code anyone can check on the public verification page. On Business, the trail is printed on a certificate page inside the PDF and a certificate-based digital seal can be applied.

4. How do you fix mistakes?

Typos in email addresses and links that expired are the most common support problems in e-signature tools, and some make you void the envelope and rebuild it. In Salsox you correct a recipient's address or renew an expired document in place; signatures already given stay attached, and the old link stops working.

5. Can you take payment?

If the signature is followed by an invoice, signing and paying in one step saves a round of chasing. Salsox's Business plan includes Sign & Pay: the signer pays a fee or deposit by card or mobile money through Stripe or Paystack, into your own account, as part of signing.

6. Can you leave with your data?

Check whether you can export everything, not just a document at a time, and whether that still works after you cancel. Salsox exports every original, signed PDF and audit trail as a ZIP on every plan, at any time.

7. What is missing?

Every tool has gaps, and an honest vendor tells you. Salsox does not offer reusable templates, bulk sending, a public API, team seats or CRM integrations today, and it handles PDFs only. If your workflow depends on those, the DocuSign comparison and the PandaDoc comparison explain where those platforms are stronger.

A short way to decide

If you send contracts as an individual or a small team, want signers to finish on a phone, and prefer a flat price to counting envelopes, Salsox is built for that. If you need enterprise administration, deep integrations or high-volume automation, a larger platform will cost more and do more. Either way, start with a real document: the free plan and the free Sign PDF tool let you test before anyone asks for a card.