What is an envelope in e-signature pricing?
An envelope is one package of documents sent to one set of recipients for signature. Size does not matter: a two-page NDA and a forty-page master agreement each count as one envelope, and adding three signers to the same package still counts as one. It matters because it is the unit most e-signature plans meter. DocuSign's published Standard and Business Pro plans allow 100 envelopes per user per year, which works out at roughly two a week.
Asked because you are choosing a tool? DocuDeal is free for 3 documents a month, $149 on Pro for the whole workspace with unlimited users.
Competitor figures on this page were read from each vendor's own published pricing page on 2026-09-17. Prices change; check theirs before deciding.
What counts as one, and what does not
One envelope is one send. Several documents to the same recipients in one package is still one. The same document sent to two different clients is two. A document you correct and re-send after it has gone out generally starts a new one, which is the detail that quietly eats an allowance when a team is iterating on terms.
Why the unit was chosen
It maps to the legal artefact rather than to pages or people, which makes it a defensible thing to meter and a hard thing to estimate in advance. You know roughly how many deals you do; you do not know how many times each one will be re-sent.
How to check whether the cap will bind
Count what your team sent last quarter, multiply by four, divide by headcount, and compare that to the allowance per user. If you are inside it with room, the cap is irrelevant and price per seat is the only axis. If you are near it, a plan that meters documents instead, or one that does not meter per person at all, changes the arithmetic.
| Scenario | Envelopes used |
|---|---|
| One NDA to one signer | 1 |
| One NDA to three signers | 1 |
| Contract plus two schedules, same recipients, one send | 1 |
| The same proposal to two different clients | 2 |
| A contract re-sent after correcting a clause | Usually 2 |
General behaviour across e-signature products. Exact counting rules vary by vendor; check the plan terms if you are near an allowance.