Jumping From RightSignature to PandaDocs

We were previously paying RighSignature somewhere around $600/yr to essentially send around 4 documents per month via API to Podio. I took a deep breath and looked at that renewal cost during a pandemic and decided to look for options. It boiled down to SignNow or PandaDoc. When I saw PandaDocs free tier, I made the jump and haven't looked back. We did lose the automation functionality in the process, but the $600/yr savings makes up for it. We simply uploaded the NDA and Agreements we use and we "duplicate" them when we need to send a new one. The process takes 3 minutes at the most to setup, send and sign. If you're a small business getting started and need free e-Signing, PandaDoc is a winner.

Pros

They provide a free tier for smaller companies to fulfill their e-signing requirements. If that wasn't enough, their free tier does not have any major, missing components that would cripple the software. It just works beautifully at the wonderful cost of "zero".

Cons

I'm not in a place to complain when I'm using e-Signature software for free. However, it would be really, really nice if they could provide some limited API or Zapier functionality with the free tier. I don't expect that to happen, but it would be lovely if they did it.

Good document editor with e-sign feature

I use Pandadoc to create plans and contract agreements. It enables clients to sign digitally and immediately notify me when they see the proposal, which allows me to watch their level of engagement.

Pros

I appreciate the fact that Pandadoc notifies me as prospects see my proposals and enables them to sign digitally without scanning or printing. I like that it allows me to present a pick list to customers, from which they can choose which package or service they want, and it will instantly complete them.

Cons

I am unable to replicate whole sections, just some of the content parts. This is infuriating. That strikes me as a little clumsy from the developer side. The document didn't allow me to write in Landscape mode, so I've been drafting my proposals slides in InDesign and afterwards copying/pasting them as photographs into the document, and this has resulted in some duplication of effort on my side, which is inconvenient given that one of the reasons I choose this software because I need a system to help reduce time wasted on drafting proposals.

PandaDoc is more affordable & I receive same quality service.

I was hesitant at first; however, it was easy to adapt to being familiar with Docusign. Customers have not had any issues completing the PandaDoc forms.

Pros

I like that PandaDoc is much cheaper than other other sales processing software. Transitioning was not as difficult as I thought it would be.

Cons

Time consuming to set up. I have been told there are other softwares at a better price. So far customers are not having please with the checkout process.

Does the job but improvements needed

Easy to learn and use. PandaDoc support team does seem willing to listen and interested in suggestions. They say they will forward suggestions to the development team. Overall PandaDoc feels like it's still very young and needs its developers to pay more attention to some smaller details to improve user experience and polish some existing features.

Pros

Quick and easy to learn and train staff. PandaDoc support team is responsive, even if they don't have all the answers. Does some jobs well. If you just need to get a simple signature on a simple form, this is easy peasy.

Cons

No conditional logic on forms. For example a W-9 form requires either a SSN or EIN and only one check-box must be checked. No way to make conditional requirements like this. The editor is tedious when designing forms from scratch: making the slightest edit to a section that has many checkboxes, for example, will skew the whole document out of alignment. While viewing "Completed" documents, after opening a document to view it, then returning back to the list again, there's no indicator showing which document was last opened, so it's hard to know where you left off on the list of docs. This seems like such an obvious and simple feature. Published forms (forms embedded as code on on website) have the following issue: If a signature is needed from us (originator) and signer (website visitor), then signer must enter OUR email address before they can fill out the form. If we leave off our signature (as a workaround) then the signer will receive notification emails normally intended for originator (Your form has been viewed, etc) and there's no way to turn off those notifications. PandaDoc chat support staff was stumped on that one. There's no way to enable notification to another team member. This is a problem for teams that divide work. Example: team member #1 creates/modifies forms, team member #2 works with signed documents. Team member #2 can't be notified of newly arrived docs. Why limit who can be notified? Things like that. Improvements are needed.

Insane product versus obsolete pricing

Wonderful product discovering, harsh disappointment on the pricing model.

Pros

The visual template editor tool is completely insane; nothing to be compared to other existing SAAS out there. Tested like 7 other tools, really nothing compares.

Cons

The pricing model for the first 2 plans (essential 29$ / business 49$) EXCLUDES THE API ACCESS, that can only be enabled — with extra-charges — with an enterprise plan. The enterprise plan is on-demand quote only, through a useless call with the sale team, and probably very expensive (I did not go through there, not time for useless calls). This is completely insane as of 2021 as it makes Pandadoc both unsuitable for automation workflows in human-sized companies, and inconsistent with its competition and its time. This is 21th century, every SAAS out there has an open API from starter plans, and there's a reason for this : an API is not an "enterprise" nor an "advanced" feature at all; every startup use them be it through code or no-code integrations. This is a pretty ridiculous situation where I love the product, already setup everything working like a charm, want to buy it, but am facing an inconsistent and prohibitive pricing model.