Tutorials · October 2, 2026 · 5 min read
Get someone to sign a PDF online, free
Two free ways to get a signature back without printing or scanning: send the PDF and let them sign it, or send a signing link and get back a signed copy with a certificate page.
Signing a PDF yourself is the easy half. Getting a signature from someone else is where documents stall: the other person has to open the file, find a way to sign it and send it back, often on a phone and almost never near a printer. Here are two free ways to do it, and when each one is the better fit.
Option 1: send the PDF and ask them to sign it
The least work for you: attach the PDF to an email or a WhatsApp message and ask them to sign and return it. On a phone they can open esign.website, upload the file, draw a signature with a finger and download the signed copy, with no account and no app, then send it back to you.
It works, but everything depends on them. They have to work out how to sign, remember to send the file back, and you get whatever file they return, with nothing to show when they signed it or that it is the document you sent.
Option 2: send a signing link
With Send to Sign you upload the document once and get a link for the person who needs to sign. You need a free account; they do not.
Sign in, open Send to sign, upload the PDF (or a photo of a paper document) and add the signer's name and email. Click Create signing link and send the link however you already talk to them: email, WhatsApp or a text message. You can copy it again from the History tab at any time.
They open it in any browser, read every page, draw their signature, drag it to the right spot and tap Sign. The request turns to Signed in your History, with a button to download the signed PDF, and they can download the same copy straight after signing.
What comes back is more than a picture of a signature. The signed PDF is built on our server from the file you uploaded, so nobody can hand you an edited version, and if the file changed after they opened it, signing is refused until they reload it. Under the signature is a small line saying who signed and when, and the last page is a certificate: the signer's name and email, the time of signing by our server's clock, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of your original file.
What it costs
Both routes are free. On the free plan the signed copy carries the esign.website watermark across each page; $29 once (Lifetime) removes it from everything, including signed copies that come back through a link. There is no subscription to cancel.
What it does not do yet
Each link is for one signer, so a document that two people must sign on the same copy is beyond it: send a link to each and you get two signed files. There is no signing order, no reminder emails and no identity check. Access to the link is the only check on who signed, which makes these simple electronic signatures: fine for leases, quotes, offer letters and most everyday agreements, and not for documents that legally require a qualified or notarised signature.
Which one should you use?
If the other person is comfortable with technology and you only need the file back, the first route is fine. If you need to know they saw the exact document, want the signed copy to come to you rather than chasing it, or are asking a client or a new hire who should not have to figure anything out, send a link.