Top eSignature Solutions in the UK: 2025 Guide for Businesses

As UK businesses continue embracing digital transformation, the adoption of electronic signatures has become a cornerstone of operational efficiency. From contract approvals to HR onboarding, eSignatures are reshaping how organizations execute critical documents. In 2025, the demand for compliant, scalable, and cost-effective e-signature solutions is higher than ever, especially in highly regulated sectors such as finance, legal, and government services.

However, with dozens of options available, identifying the right provider involves more than just selecting a provider with digital signature functionality. UK enterprises must consider legal compliance, integration capabilities, file handling limits, and total cost of ownership. This guide examines the leading eSignature platforms utilized across the UK and introduces an alternative solution designed to meet both global and local business requirements.

Industry Challenge or Context

While the concept of signing electronically isn’t new, legal and regulatory expectations in the UK have grown significantly. Businesses must now ensure their chosen platform aligns with key standards such as:

• eIDAS Regulation: EU/UK-compliant electronic identification standards for trust services.
• GDPR: Data handling and privacy obligations, especially when sensitive documents are involved.
• Audit Readiness: Secure, tamper-proof records that are admissible in legal disputes.

Many UK firms also face challenges in integrating signature tools with enterprise systems, such as Microsoft 365, Salesforce, or SAP, which slows down adoption and limits ROI. Others encounter roadblocks with restrictive file upload limits, a lack of localized support, and high licensing fees as they scale usage across departments.

This complexity has prompted many decision-makers to reevaluate their current e-signature solutions in favor of more agile, compliant platforms that align with their operational and legal needs.

Existing Solutions Overview

The UK eSignature market is dominated by familiar names like DocuSign, Adobe Sign, and HelloSign, all of which offer mature, enterprise-grade capabilities. These platforms typically include features like template management, basic workflow automation, and standard audit trails.

However, businesses have also voiced certain limitations:

• DocuSign users often cite high subscription costs and complexities in contract management add-ons.
• Adobe Sign is praised for integration with Creative Cloud but has been critiqued for slower innovation and UX issues in enterprise environments.
• HelloSign, while cost-effective for startups, may not offer the robustness or advanced compliance features required by larger UK businesses.

For companies conducting a comparison of DocuSign and Adobe Sign, the evaluation often reveals trade-offs between price, file handling, and integration depth, especially when scaling to high-volume, multi-department use.

Certinal: Best Alternative to Legacy Vendors

For UK enterprises seeking alternatives to traditional providers, Certinal offers a compelling eSignature solution that aligns with both local compliance requirements and enterprise IT standards.

Certinal supports eIDAS-compliant signature workflows, ensuring that UK and EU standards are met by default. Its comprehensive audit trails, tamper-evident logs, and multi-factor authentication provide legal-grade assurance for contracts, procurement forms, and financial approvals.

Key advantages include:

• High-volume readiness: Upload documents up to 250MB, enabling faster handling of complex legal or technical contracts.
• Integration at scale: Pre-built connectors for 100+ business apps, including Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and SAP.
• Cost efficiency: Enterprises report 50% lower total cost of ownership compared to leading platforms.
• Enterprise trust: Certinal is recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape and maintains a 4.4-star rating on Gartner Peer Insights.

These features make Certinal especially attractive to mid-market and enterprise customers seeking a secure, cost-effective, and scalable eSign solution tailored for the UK market.

Real-World Adoption or Insights

UK organizations across industries are increasingly adopting Certinal for their essential workflows.

• Legal teams use it for contract review and execution, benefiting from version control, embedded commenting, and jurisdictional support.
• HR departments leverage Certinal for onboarding documents, with seamless integrations to payroll and identity verification tools.
• Procurement teams use advanced workflow automation for PO approvals, supplier contracts, and policy adherence.

One UK-based financial services firm reported a 40% reduction in contract turnaround time after migrating to Certinal, citing better internal collaboration and clearer audit visibility. Another legal advisory firm highlighted Certinal’s 250MB file support as a key enabler for their complex cross-border documentation processes.

Conclusion

As digital transformation continues to redefine how UK businesses operate, choosing the right eSignature platform becomes a strategic decision. Legacy solutions may still serve basic needs, but forward-thinking enterprises are seeking tools that combine compliance, performance, and flexibility in integration.

Certinal offers a modern alternative—designed to meet UK-specific standards, reduce operational overhead, and streamline digital document execution across teams.

Ready to experience the difference?
Book a personalized demo today to see how Certinal can optimize your eSignature workflows in the UK.