Show HN: SignatureAPI – Electronic Signature API | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: SignatureAPI – Electronic Signature API

signatureapi.com

22 pointscucho12 comments

Hey HN! Victor here from SignatureAPI (https://signatureapi.com)

SignatureAPI is an electronic signature platform via API. Our customers use SignatureAPI to add electronic signatures to their apps and workflows.

SignatureAPI was born out of the frustration of a friend of mine who needed to integrate electronic signatures into his app, but found Docusign API, at $1+ per envelope, too expensive for his use case. We quickly realized that many others shared this same frustration.

We are different from other platforms such as Docusign, Dropbox Sign, Adobe Sign, etc in two key ways:

1. API-First. We are focused on the ease of integration and the developer experience (we are proud of our docs). With SignatureAPI, the API is not a second-class citizen to the UI. The API _is_ the product.

2. Pricing. Our pricing ranges from $0.10 to $0.25 per envelope. Compare that to Docusign API at $1.25–$4.80, Dropbox Sign API at $1.50–$2.50, or Adobe Sign API at $1.80–$2.50.

Our electronic signatures are legally binding in many places, including the US and the EU. The legal foundation of SignatureAPI was developed by a top team of electronic signature lawyers. (And yes, we have the “green checkmark” in Acrobat).

We’d love to hear your honest feedback—likes, dislikes, feature requests—whatever you’ve got.

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First thanks for shring this. Why should one use this (or docusign hellosign etc) if there are open source esignature platforms like documenso docuseal etc

We believe using an independent third party (like SignatureAPI, Docusign, etc) for electronic signatures adds value. If you host your own electronic signature platform instance, you act as both the authority and the signer/signee. In case of a dispute, this could make the signature difficult to defend.

That said, there may be cases where a self-hosted solution makes sense (eg in high-trust situations), and I always like seeing new electronic signature platforms come in and challenge the incumbents.

I didn't see any verification of the person, like checking an ID. Is that not a normal part of electronic signatures?

It seems like a path that a tech savvy company could excel in: document/ID photos, voice or video confirmations, recorded interviews..

Out of the box, we authenticate using email links, which is not the strongest method but sufficient for most cases and legally recognized.

You can also bring your own identity verification provider (eg ID card comparison with live video, biometrics, HSM token, etc) and integrate that verification into the signing process. Our API is flexible enough to support this.

Finally an affordable competitor in this bureauoratic market

Can you explain how is this affordable, like it is 1/4th the price but it still seems exorbitant (¢25) given that it's a basic service.

I always found DocuSign way too expensive for what it is. Hope to see you guys take them over

I am just here to support any competitor kicking off DocuSign off the market.

Do people sign documents through an API, like in an API call?

Our API lets you create and track e-signature transactions ("envelopes"), while the actual signing (the "ceremony") happens in a user interface we provide. You can customize, localize, and brand this UI, embed it into your web or mobile app, or send a link to your signers to sign.

What's the green checkmark?

We cryptographically sign (or seal) the document to meet the integrity and tamper-proof requirements of most regulations.

Here on HN, we know you can seal the document by signing the hash with a private key and a self-signed certificate. Technically, the e-signatures inside are OK, the seal is cryptographically valid, and the document is tamper-proof, but good luck explaining that to a layperson (like a judge) when they open the document in Acrobat and get a scary red alert saying the signatures are invalid.

At SignatureAPI, we seal the document with a certificate that has a trust chain ending in a root certificate in the Adobe Approved Trust List. This gets you a reassuring green checkmark and a message "the signatures are valid" when the document is opened in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.

You can check out an example here: https://signatureapi.com/docs/resources/deliverables/audit-l...

Not many e-signature providers offer this green checkmark. Docusign, Dropbox, and Adobe do, but most others don't even cryptographically seal the document—which should raise red flags about whether they really know what they're doing legally.

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