The price anchor
| Inkseal | DocuSign | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 — no subscription | $10/mo |
| Annual | $0 after purchase | $120 |
| 5-year total | $149 | $600 |
| 10-year total | $149 | $1,200 |
Subscription figures from the vendor's published pricing ($10/mo, ~$120/yr); the Inkseal column is the full price, paid once.
Break-even analysis
Fifteen months of DocuSign Personal pays for Inkseal outright — and removes the envelope cap entirely. Everything after that is free, forever. And your first document costs nothing at all.
- After 1 year: Inkseal has cost you $149 total — DocuSign has cost $120.
- After 3 years: Inkseal is still $149 — the subscription is at $360.
- After 5 years: Inkseal is still $149 — the subscription is at $600.
What you get for $149 once
- Drag-and-drop fields. Render any PDF with pdf.js, drop signature / initials / date / text fields, assign each to a color-coded signer, mark required or optional.
- Sequential or parallel routing. Signer 2's link only activates after signer 1 finishes — or send to everyone at once.
- Real signing experience. Signers open a unique link, see their fields highlighted, draw or type a signature, and must check "I agree to sign electronically" before finishing.
- Flattened final PDF. Signatures and text are embedded into the original PDF via pdf-lib at the exact recorded coordinates — plus an appended audit certificate page.
- Hash-chained audit trail. Every event records the UTC timestamp, signer name and email, IP address and browser user agent, chained with sha256(prev_hash + event) and rooted in the original document's own SHA-256. One-click Verify recomputes the whole chain and pinpoints any tampering.
- No renewal, ever. The license does not expire and there is no per-seat meter — $149 is the whole price.
Pricing questions
How does "first document free" work?
Every install can create and fully complete one envelope free — send it, collect all signatures, download the flattened PDF with its certificate page. Creating a second envelope asks for a $149 lifetime license key (sold on Whop). One payment, unlimited documents forever.
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — the full source is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/inkseal-mvp and always will be. The $149 buys the license key plus the signed Windows installer, 1-click setup and updates instead of running git clone yourself.
Are the signatures legally valid?
Inkseal implements the core requirements commonly associated with ESIGN/UETA (US) and basic eIDAS "simple electronic signature" validity: demonstrated intent via click-to-sign, consent capture (completion is refused without the "I agree to sign electronically" checkbox), association of the signature with the record, a tamper-evident hash-chained audit trail, and copies for all parties. It is NOT a Qualified Electronic Signature (eIDAS QES) — no certificate-based digital signatures, no Qualified Trust Service Provider, no KBA identity verification, and no compliance certification is claimed. That's fine for everyday agreements like leases, contracts and NDAs; legal sufficiency depends on jurisdiction and document type, so if you need QES or work in a regulated industry, consult a lawyer first. Full details on the Inkseal compliance page.
How does the audit trail compare to DocuSign's?
Every event (created, sent, viewed, consented, each field signed, completed, declined) records the UTC timestamp, signer email, IP and user agent, chained with sha256(prev_hash + event) and rooted in the SHA-256 of the original uploaded PDF; the final PDF's SHA-256 is recorded at completion. Anyone can hit Verify and recompute the whole chain — no need to take a vendor's word for it. DocuSign's certificate is solid too, but it's proprietary; you trust them, not math you can check.
Inkseal — $149, one time
Or get Inkseal plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.