esig-suite vs Documenso
Documenso is a good product — a full signing application you host. esig-suite is a different thing: a library you embed inside the app you already have. The choice turns on license and architecture, not feature checklists.
The one-sentence version
Documenso is an AGPL-3.0 application you deploy. esig-suite is an MIT-licensed SDK you embed. If you want a standalone signing portal, Documenso is the more complete product today. If you want signing inside your own SaaS, agency deliverable, or closed-source product, the AGPL is the reason you're reading this page.
| esig-suite | Documenso | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| What it is | Embeddable SDK (engine + adapters + React UI) | Hosted signing application (Next.js monolith) |
| Embedding in closed-source SaaS | Unrestricted | AGPL network-use clause triggers source-disclosure obligations for the whole offering; most teams route around it with a commercial license |
| Your UI | Yours — headless core, optional React components | Documenso's — themable, but it's their app |
| Signature format | PKCS#7 / CAdES, optional RFC-3161 (CAdES-T) | PAdES via its own stack |
| Audit model | Append-only, hash-chained log you store | Application database |
| Self-hosted | Both | Both |
Why the AGPL question decides it for embedders
AGPL-3.0 extends copyleft to network use: offer the software (or a derivative) as a service and you must offer the corresponding source — for many legal teams, of the offering as a whole. SaaS teams, agencies shipping client work, and closed-source products typically can't accept that without a commercial agreement. MIT imposes no such obligation: embed, modify, ship, keep your code yours. If you already know you need MIT-permissive, the comparison ends here.
Where Documenso is ahead — honestly
A polished end-user signing experience out of the box, team/template management UI, a larger community, and years of production hardening as a complete product. If you were going to run a standalone signing portal and can live with AGPL (or their commercial license), use Documenso — don't rebuild their app on top of our SDK unless embedding is the actual requirement.
Where esig-suite is different
MIT and library-first: renderHtmlToPdf → signPdf (+TSA) → verifyPdfSignature, self-issued per-tenant certs, tokenized multi-signer envelopes, and a hash-chained audit log — all as npm install, not a deployment. You own the certs, the PDFs, and the trail, with no application surface to adopt and no copyleft review to schedule.
License texts govern; this page is a summary, not legal advice. Competitor facts reflect their public repositories/licenses as of July 2026 — tell us if we've gotten something wrong: open an issue.