At Zoho, we build products from the ground up that offer unmatched value to users. Our vision is to serve as the operating system for business so that our customers can run all their operations online. In 2017, we launched Zoho Sign as a complete digital signature app for businesses of all sizes and types. On the other hand, Adobe acquired EchoSign, rebranded it as Adobe Sign, and added it to their Document Cloud suite. 
Often we come across prospects, industry experts, and analysts who ask us how Zoho Sign fares against Adobe Acrobat Sign. In this blog post, we'll cover the major advantages to consider when it comes to selecting Zoho Sign over Adobe Acrobat Sign.
Free trial and getting started
The first step in any evaluation is to take the app for a test run. Both Zoho and Adobe offer a free trial; however, Zoho Sign's free migration and onboarding assistance help business get started much faster. This personalized trial experience can go a long way in any evaluation process.
Simple interface and robust features
As a business owner or professional, you are likely interested in comparing the user interface and features that both apps offer. Both applications are loaded with enterprise-grade features to provide signers with a seamless digital signature experience. Some of the advanced features are:
- Resuable templates: Convert frequently used document formats into reusable templates.
- Form-based signatures: Create on-demand, self-service documents to collect signatures through a secure URL, without any coding.
- Bulk send: Send documents to hundreds of signers at once.
- Advanced electronic signatures (AES): Enable users to sign documents with their personal digital signature certificates.
- Qualified electronic signatures (QES): Achieve the highest level of compliance as per eIDAS regulation in the EU. Signers will go through a one-time, face-to-face video-call verification with a trust service provider agent before receiving a qualified certificate.
- Multiple portals: Create multiple organization accounts with the common login credential and access the documents in a particular account.
When it comes to the ease of use, Zoho Sign comes out on top with its simple interface. New users can quickly and easily explore Zoho Sign's capabilities on their own. If they need any help, Zoho offers free personalized demos and training sessions.
Automated workflows
Although e-signatures help companies go paperless, paperwork comes with other tasks that are part of the business operating cycle. This can range from generating documents, processing payments, and building e-sign workflows to sending follow-up emails and monitoring your operations.
Adobe allows you to streamline your business operations by building custom workflows and or using its integration with Microsoft Power Automate. Zoho Sign integrates with no-code automation platforms such as Zoho Flow, Zapier, Microsoft Power Automate, and Make (Formerly Integromat). This allows you connect Zoho Sign with thousands of other online applications in order to generate documents, collect signatures, and set up automated advanced digital signature workflows.
Integration with other apps
Today, an e-sign app like Zoho Sign or Adobe Acrobat Sign is expected to work in sync with your existing CRM system, HRMS, finance tools, and other apps. This makes it so that users don't need to switch between multiple tabs to get their work done.
Integration with Zoho apps
It's a no brainer that Zoho offers tighter integrations with Zoho apps and fares better than Adobe Acrobat Sign in this respect. Zoho Sign readily integrates with all Zoho flagship apps, including CRM, Books, People, Desk, and many more. Adobe Sign, on the other hand, offers fewer integrations with Zoho applications. Some of these include Zoho CRM, Projects, Mail and Workerly.
Integration with third-party apps
When it comes to integrations with third-party applications, both Zoho Sign and Adobe Acrobat Sign integrate with popular tools such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Box.
Exclusive features in Zoho Sign
There are two exciting features exclusively available in Zoho Sign:
- OpenAI for document summarization: Many times, the signing process is delayed because of signers' busy schedules and the amount of time required to go through long documents. But with Zoho Sign's integration with OpenAI via Zia, Zoho's AI-powered assistant, signers can get a quick summary of important details in an agreement or contract before signing. This offers a great signing experience for end users and reduces the overall document turnaround time for businesses.
- Blockchain-based timestamping: This is an additional measure of document verification to check the existence of the signed business document and verify whether the document was signed at the given time. This also preserves the document signatures even after the certificates themselves expire.
APIs and SDKs for developers
Zoho Sign offers SDKs for developers to add digital signing functionalities to existing mobile apps, as well as APIs to trigger signing requests and automate the entire document signing workflow directly from those applications. We've also made our API collections available on developer platforms like Postman and SwaggerHub, so you can build and test API requests before incorporating them into your code. To assist you in getting started, we provide example code snippets across popular languages that are published in our API guide.
Affordable pricing
All Zoho services are pay as you go type and offered in both monthly and yearly subscription plans. Zoho Sign offers four editions—Free, Standard, Professional, and Enterprise—to allow users to evaluate and decide on the perfect plan for their businesses. Our yearly plans helps businesses save nearly 27% compared to the monthly options. The API plan is charged at flat cost of $0.5/signature request. With Zoho, there are no long-term contracts or forceful commitments; users can upgrade, downgrade or cancel their accounts as they wish.
Adobe offers two plans on its website: Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro.
The final word
We hope this comparison of Zoho Sign and Adobe Acrobat Sign aids you in making an informed decision.If you would like to know more about the features supported by both the apps, you can read our dedicated comparison page. If you want to know what features to look for when researching and choosing an e-signature app, read our blog post on how to choose an e-signature app for your business.
If you are convinced and interested in trying Zoho Sign, you can sign up for a free 14-day Enterprise trial. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to write to us at support@zohosign.com.
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