Switching from DocuSign to SignZA takes under an hour. This guide covers everything — creating your account, recreating your document templates, downloading your historical signed documents, and communicating the change to your clients.
Why do South African businesses replace DocuSign?
DocuSign is the global market leader in e-signatures, but it was built for US and European enterprise customers. For South African SMEs, accountants, attorneys, and property professionals, the cost-to-value calculation has shifted significantly over the past two years.
DocuSign prices its plans in US dollars. At May 2026 exchange rates, the entry-level “Personal” plan costs approximately R560/monthand the “Standard” plan — which adds teams, templates, and workflow features — runs closer to R1 400/month. Those costs are not fixed: every time the rand weakens against the dollar, your DocuSign subscription becomes more expensive in ZAR with no change in what you receive. For a small business sending 20–30 documents a month, the price is difficult to justify.
DocuSign also offers no permanent free tier. There is a 30-day free trial, after which you must subscribe to continue using it. There is no way to stay on DocuSign at zero cost, even for low-volume use.
On local compliance, DocuSign produces a “Certificate of Completion” that records signer metadata and timestamps. It is a separate file, not embedded in the signed PDF, and it references its own internal audit framework rather than the South African Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act 25 of 2002. For organisations that need to demonstrate compliance to South African courts, regulators, or auditors, a certificate that explicitly references the ECT Act is a cleaner evidentiary position.
How do you switch from DocuSign to SignZA?
The transition has six steps. Most businesses complete all of them in under an hour on the same day they decide to switch.
- 1Create your SignZA account at signza.app/signup — no credit card needed for the free plan. You can send your first document within minutes of signing up.
- 2Set up your first template: upload your most-used document PDF, drag signature and date fields onto the correct pages, and save it as a template (Pro feature, R99/month). If you're on the free plan, skip this step and proceed with manual uploads for now.
- 3Test internally: send the document to yourself or a colleague as a test signer. Confirm the fields appear in the right positions, the signing flow works on mobile, and the ECT Act audit certificate is present on the final page of the signed PDF.
- 4Download your DocuSign history: log into DocuSign, navigate to your completed envelopes, and export all signed PDFs. Store them in a local folder, Google Drive, or SharePoint. Do this before you cancel — access ends when your subscription does.
- 5Send your first live documents via SignZA: begin routing new documents through SignZA. Notify clients with a brief message that you've moved to a new signing platform (see the template below).
- 6Cancel your DocuSign subscription once all historical documents are downloaded and your team is comfortable with the new workflow.
How do you migrate your templates to SignZA?
DocuSign templates cannot be exported or imported directly into SignZA. The two platforms store template data in incompatible proprietary formats. However, recreating templates in SignZA is faster than it sounds.
To recreate a template in SignZA, you need the original PDF file you used as the base in DocuSign (your service agreement, NDA, lease addendum, or other standard document). If you only have the DocuSign-signed version, log into DocuSign, find a recently sent envelope using that template, and download the original unsigned document from the “Documents” tab of the envelope before downloading.
Once you have the base PDF:
- Upload it to SignZA from your dashboard
- Place signature, initials, and date fields at the correct positions
- Click “Save as template” and give it a name
The first template takes approximately 5 minutes. Subsequent templates take around 2 minutes each because you are already familiar with the field placement interface. If you have three standard templates, the full recreation effort is under 15 minutes.
Templates are a Pro feature. If you are evaluating SignZA on the free plan, you can still test the full send flow manually — upload the PDF fresh each time and place fields before sending. Once you upgrade to Pro, add your templates and from that point the workflow is significantly faster. Read the full templates guide for details on saving, editing, and using templates with saved contacts.
What should you do with your historical DocuSign documents?
Your completed DocuSign envelopes remain accessible in your DocuSign account for as long as your subscription is active. Before you cancel, you must download everything you need to keep.
DocuSign allows you to download signed documents from the Manage page. For large volumes, you can use DocuSign's bulk export or connect to their API. For most South African SMEs with under a few hundred documents, manual download by folder or date range is sufficient.
Where to store them:
- Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive — organised by client or year, accessible from anywhere
- SharePoint — suitable for firms with document management policies
- Local NAS or server backup — if your practice maintains on-site records
Retain the signed PDFs exactly as downloaded. They are self-contained legal records — the DocuSign audit trail is embedded in the certificate of completion. You do not need to re-sign them or migrate them into SignZA. They remain legally valid under the ECT Act regardless of which platform produced them.
Going forward, every document signed through SignZA includes an ECT Act audit certificate embedded on the final page of the PDF itself — not as a separate file. This means the evidentiary record travels with the document permanently, whether it is stored in Google Drive, emailed to a counterparty, or presented to a court or auditor.
SignZA retains all signed documents for 7 years. They are downloadable from your dashboard at any time within that window.
How do you communicate the change to clients?
Most clients will not notice the change. They receive a link, open it, and sign. The only visible difference is that the link URL changes from docusign.net to signza.app, and the signing interface looks different. Neither requires any action on the client's part in advance.
When you send your first SignZA document to a client who previously signed via DocuSign, include a brief note alongside the link. A simple WhatsApp message works well:
“Hi [name], we've moved to a new signing platform called SignZA. To sign, just click the link below — no account or download needed. Let me know if you have any questions.”
Most signers complete the document without further questions. The SignZA signing interface is designed to be self-explanatory: orange fields are tap targets, a modal appears for drawing or typing a signature, and a single “Confirm & Sign” button submits. The entire signing experience takes under two minutes for a single-signer document.
Signers do not need to create a SignZA account, download an app, or store a password. The signing link is the only thing they need. This typically results in higher completion rates compared to portal-based tools where the signer is required to register before they can access the document.
For clients on email, you can send the link directly in the body of your message. For clients on WhatsApp — which is most South African business contacts — paste the signing link directly into the chat. Read the full send guide for more detail on sharing options and tracking document status in your dashboard.
Frequently asked questions
Will my clients need to re-register?
No. Signers never register on SignZA. They receive a unique signing link, open it in any browser, and sign. There are no accounts, no passwords, and no app downloads required for the person receiving and signing a document.
Can I import my DocuSign templates?
No — DocuSign templates are stored in DocuSign's proprietary format and cannot be exported in a way that SignZA can import. You will need to recreate them by re-uploading your base PDF and placing fields manually. The first template takes about 5 minutes; each additional template takes about 2 minutes.
What about my DocuSign audit trails?
DocuSign audit trails are contained in the “Certificate of Completion” file associated with each envelope. Download the signed PDF and the certificate together before cancelling your subscription. Both remain valid legal records after your DocuSign account is closed. You do not need to do anything else — they are already complete.
Is SignZA's free plan actually free?
Yes. The free plan allows you to send up to 5 documents per month with no expiry date, no credit card required, and no automatic conversion to a paid plan. Free-plan documents include a small “Powered by SignZA” watermark on the cover page. If you send more than 5 documents per month or want to remove the watermark, upgrade to Pro at R99/month or R890/year.
How long does the switch take?
Most businesses complete the full transition in under an hour: account creation (5 minutes), template recreation (5–15 minutes depending on how many you have), downloading DocuSign history (10–20 minutes depending on volume), and sending your first live document (5 minutes). After that, your day-to-day workflow is the same as before — except you are paying in rand at a fraction of the cost.