DocuSign licensing is the set of terms under which Docusign, Inc. sells subscriptions to its agreement cloud services: Docusign eSignature, the Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform, Docusign CLM (contract lifecycle management) and API access for integrations. The company writes its name “Docusign” in its current documents; this wiki keeps the publisher name DocuSign. Two contract stacks exist. Plans ordered through a sales representative or partner are governed by the Master Services Agreement (MSA), which incorporates product Service Schedules, attachments and the Order Form, with the Order Form taking precedence over the schedules and the MSA.[1] Plans bought on docusign.com are “Subscription Plans” under the Sites and Services Terms and Conditions and the Web Plan Service Schedules.[5][6] Both stacks measure the same two things: who may use the service (Authorized Users, called Seats on Order Forms) and how much they may do with it (Envelopes, Automation Sends, agreements or documents). For the general models, see named user licensing and subscription and consumption licensing.
Editions
Docusign publishes US list prices for its self-service plans and sells larger plans by quotation.
| Family | Plans named by Docusign | Main unit |
|---|---|---|
| eSignature | Personal (USD 11 per month), Standard (USD 30 per user per month), Business Pro (USD 45 per user per month), Enhanced plans (quote), all on annual plans billed monthly[7] | Seat plus Envelope allowance[2] |
| IAM | IAM Starter (USD 45), IAM Standard (USD 50), IAM Professional (USD 80) per user per month, IAM for Enterprise (quote)[8]; IAM for Sales and IAM for CX applications[9] | Users or Seats plus Feature Counts[3] |
| CLM | Editions sold on an Order Form; no public price list | Seat Allowance or Document Count[4] |
| Developer API | Starter (USD 50), Intermediate (USD 300), Advanced (USD 480) per month billed annually; Enhanced (quote)[10] | Envelopes per month sent through API calls[10] |
eSignature web plans are limited in size: Personal is a single-user plan, Standard and Business Pro go up to 50 users, and Enhanced plans cover 50 or more.[7] A Docusign Support article also names Enterprise Pro as the custom, contract-negotiated eSignature tier.[12] Catalog SKUs include eSignature Standard, eSignature Business Pro, IAM Standard, IAM Professional and the Developer API Starter plan. Plan detail is in DocuSign eSignature licensing, DocuSign envelope allowances and API plans and DocuSign IAM and CLM licensing.
Metrics
| Docusign term | Catalog row | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Authorized User (Seat) | Authorized User (Seat) | All services; called Seats or Users on Order Forms[1][3] |
| Envelope | Envelope | eSignature and API plans[2] |
| Automation Send | Automation Send | IAM plans and unlimited web-app eSignature plans[9] |
| IAM Agreement | IAM Agreement | Agreement Manager document allowances[3] |
| Workflow; Feature Count | Workflow | IAM Workflow Builder[3] |
| Document Count (Per Agreement) | Document Count | CLM document-based subscriptions[4] |
| ID Verification attempt; SMS delivery | ID Verification attempt; SMS delivery | Per-use add-ons and allowances[7][9] |
The MSA defines an Authorized User as “one individual natural person” registered in the customer’s account. The person may be an employee, business partner, contractor or agent, and must be identified by a unique email address and user name; two people may not share one Authorized User.[1] Non-employees qualify only if they are bound by confidentiality and work for the customer’s internal business purposes. The MSA states that sending documents to suppliers and customers for signature is such a purpose.[1] Recipients who only sign do not need a Docusign account.[8] Catalog: Authorized User is one named individual and cannot be shared; Non-employee Authorized Users and sending to third parties.
Counting / floors
Seats. A Seat Allowance is the maximum number of Authorized Users registered in the account at a given time. Administrators may remove users and replace them with new people without penalty as long as the total stays within the allowance.[2] For IAM, Entitlements in use are “the total number of registered and active Users or Seats” with access to Docusign IAM at any time during the Term, so inactive but still registered users are a common source of overage.[3] Catalog: Seats may be reassigned within the Seat Allowance; IAM Entitlements are counted as registered and active users.
Envelopes. In eSignature, an Envelope is consumed when it is sent, whether or not anyone opens or signs it. A PowerForm counts when it is accessed. Envelopes sent by bulk send or through an API also count.[2] The allowance is pooled: there is no individual per-user limit, only a total for all Authorized Users.[2] Unless the Order Form says otherwise, seat plans carry 100 Envelopes per Seat for each 12-month period of the term.[2] Catalog: An Envelope is consumed when sent; Seat plans include 100 Envelopes per Seat per year.
IAM allowances. IAM plans move from envelope counting to “Automation Sends” (API, integration, Bulk Send, Web Form and PowerForm sends) of 100 per user per year, pooled at account level. Web application envelopes are unlimited on IAM Standard and above.[9] Agreement Manager documents, Workflows and per-use features such as ID Verification have their own allowances.[9]
Minimums. IAM Standard and IAM Professional have a 3-user minimum online.[8] Enhanced API plans have a 5-user minimum.[10] Catalog: IAM Standard and Professional need at least three users.
Virtualization & partitioning
Docusign services are multi-tenant cloud services, so no hardware, virtualization or partitioning rules apply. The relevant boundary is the account: allowances are pooled across the user seats bought with a subscription.[9] Government Products with a FedRAMP or State and Local Government designation are hosted within Docusign’s FedRAMP Moderate authorized boundary. Connecting them to other Docusign or third-party services authorises export of Customer Data outside that boundary.[2] Catalog: Docusign Government Products.
Cloud / BYOL
There is no bring-your-own-licence model. Integrations are licensed by sending method. eSignature web plans “may not be used in conjunction with Docusign APIs” and support only a limited number of integrations.[6] API sending needs a developer (API) plan or an Enhanced plan. Developer plans are priced on API features and envelope volume. Envelopes sent from the free developer account are not legally valid.[10] Catalog: Web plans may not be used with Docusign APIs; Developer account envelopes have no legal validity.
Programs
- Web Subscription Plans. Online plans renew automatically for the same period unless cancelled at least five business days before the end of the term.[5] Annual web plans may be refunded within 30 days of purchase, an option that “may only be used once per customer”.[7]
- Enhanced plans. Sales-led eSignature, IAM and API plans with custom envelope limits, organization management and single sign-on, ordered under the MSA.[7][1]
- Support Plans. Standard, Plus, Premier and Enterprise Premier. Premier is offered for an additional fee as an add-on to Plus, and Enterprise Premier as an add-on to Premier.[11]
- Free Developer Account and free account and trial. The developer account runs in a demo environment and does not expire.[10] Docusign Support describes a free account with light sending (commonly up to 3 envelopes in total) and a free trial of about 14 days.[12]
Contract terms
Under the MSA, fees are invoiced annually in advance and payment is due within 30 days. Each Order Form is non-cancellable and non-refundable except as the Agreement provides, and the Term is “a continuous and non-divisible commitment” regardless of the invoice schedule.[1] The Term runs from the Order Start Date to the Order End Date on the Order Form, and the MSA does not itself provide for automatic renewal.[1] Customers whose subscription started before 2022-11-14 remain on legacy terms.[1]
Overages follow the product schedules. Extra eSignature Seats are charged pro rata for the rest of the Order Term at the then-current list price unless the Order Form sets another amount. Envelopes above the allowance incur a per-Envelope charge.[2] IAM adds per-Feature overage fees.[3] CLM adds per-eDocument fees for document-based subscriptions, invoiced monthly in arrears.[4] Online plans are billed for overage monthly in arrears.[5] Docusign must give at least 30 days’ notice before changing online plan fees.[5] Catalog: Order Form terms are non-cancellable and non-divisible; Envelope overage is charged per Envelope; 30 days notice before online fee changes.
Data retention differs by product, which matters for exit planning. Completed eSignature documents can be retrieved with Professional Services for up to two years after the Term.[2] CLM allows 90 days.[4] IAM data is subject to prompt deletion when the agreement ends.[3]
Audits and compliance
The MSA contains no general licence-audit clause. It forbids using the services in a way that “circumvents contractual usage restrictions” or exceeds the authorised use in the Order Form.[1] It also lets Docusign process Customer Data to verify compliance with those restrictions when it has a reasonable belief of non-compliance.[1] The IAM Schedule adds an explicit Entitlement audit, carried out from service data or by information requests that the customer must answer in a commercially reasonable time. It excludes access to Customer Data.[3] Use of ID Verification may be audited, limited to the customer producing documents.[2] In practice most compliance is enforced in the product. Usage and entitlement units are viewable in the administrative console where available.[5] Users who exhaust an allowance see a “limit reached” message.[12] Catalog: No use that circumvents usage restrictions; Docusign may audit IAM Entitlement use.
For an effective license position, compare three numbers per account with the Order Form: registered and active users against the Seat or User Allowance, envelopes or Automation Sends consumed against the pooled allowance for the term, and feature counts (Workflows, Agreement Manager documents, ID Verification) against their allowances. See effective license position and true-up.
Out of scope
This article does not cover Docusign Notary, Rooms, Insight and Analyzer, or the Docusign Signature Appliance, except where named above. It also omits regional price lists outside the United States, partner and reseller terms, and the AI Attachment for Docusign Services beyond its role as a schedule. Negotiated Order Form terms override the published defaults described here.