Sign a PDF without uploading it
macOS Preview signs a PDF for free: draw once with the trackpad, then drag the image onto the page. Vocemo stamps and flattens it for $15 a month. Docusign starts at 9 euros a month, Acrobat Standard at US$14.99. Pay a provider only when you need a verified identity trail.
- Free and already installed
- Preview signature capture, trackpad, camera or iPhone
- Docusign Personal
- 9 euros a month, 108 euros a year, 5 envelopes a month
- Acrobat Standard
- US$14.99 a month on the annual plan, billed monthly
- What a drawn signature is
- A simple electronic signature, not a qualified one
Can I sign a PDF on a Mac without uploading it anywhere?
Yes, and you can do it with software you already paid for. Every Mac ships with Preview. Preview can capture your signature once and place it on any PDF, with no account, no upload and no per document charge. Apple's own guide describes three ways to capture it: sign on the trackpad with your finger, hold a signature written on white paper up to the built in camera, or sign on an iPhone or iPad screen with a finger or Apple Pencil.
The signature is then stored on your Mac. Apple notes that if you use iCloud Drive, your signatures are available on your other Mac computers that have iCloud Drive turned on. Turn iCloud Drive off and the signature never leaves the machine.
The important part is what does not happen. The PDF is opened, altered and saved on your disk. No copy of the contract goes to a server, no counterparty database records that you looked at it, and no retention policy applies to it.
How do I add a signature to a PDF in Preview?
Open the PDF in Preview. Show the Markup toolbar, then click the signature button. Choose Trackpad, Camera or iPhone or iPad, and create the signature once. From then on it appears in the signature menu for every PDF you open.
Click the signature you want, then drag it to the right place on the page and use the handles to resize it. Save the file. That is the whole job for a one page form.
Preview is the right tool when you are signing one document today. It gets awkward when you sign the same kind of document repeatedly, because the placement is manual every time and you have to remember which page and which corner. A tool that remembers the page and the corner saves the fiddling, which is the part Vocemo's signing job automates: you pick the signature image, the page and the corner, and it stamps the signature and flattens it into the document. Signing is one of 21 document jobs in the app, and none of them send the file anywhere.
Is a drawn signature on a PDF legally binding?
This section describes what the two main instruments say. It is not legal advice, and the answer in your case depends on your jurisdiction and on the document. Check with a qualified adviser before you rely on any of it.
In the United States, the ESIGN Act defines an electronic signature at 15 U.S.C. 7006(5) as "an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record". A drawn image placed on a PDF with the intent to sign fits that description. The Act does not require any particular technology.
In the European Union, Regulation 910/2014, known as eIDAS, sets out three levels. Article 3(10) defines an electronic signature as "data in electronic form which is attached to or logically associated with other data in electronic form and which is used by the signatory to sign". That is the simple level, and a drawn image sits there. Article 25(1) says such a signature "shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in an electronic form".
So the simple electronic signature is admissible. Admissible is not the same as proven.
What is the difference between a drawn signature and a qualified electronic signature?
eIDAS Article 26 lists what an advanced electronic signature must do. It must be uniquely linked to the signatory, be capable of identifying the signatory, be created using signature creation data the signatory can use under their sole control with a high level of confidence, and be linked to the signed data so that any later change is detectable.
A picture of your handwriting meets none of those four. Anyone who has seen the picture can paste it on another document. Nothing in the file proves who placed it or when. Nothing detects a later edit.
Article 3(12) then defines a qualified electronic signature as an advanced signature "created by a qualified electronic signature creation device, and which is based on a qualified certificate for electronic signatures". Article 25(2) gives that one specific weight: a qualified electronic signature "shall have the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature".
That last sentence is the whole business case for the signing services. They are selling identity checks, a tamper evident seal and an audit trail. Those things genuinely cannot be produced by drawing on your own trackpad, because their value comes from a third party attesting to something. Docusign sells qualified signatures as a paid add on at 10 euros per recipient on its Standard and Business Pro plans, which tells you how the levels are priced apart.
When do I actually need a real e-signature provider?
Three situations, and they are worth separating from habit.
- The other side requires it. Many lenders, insurers and public bodies specify an advanced or qualified signature. If the counterparty names the level, you need a provider that issues it.
- The document type is carved out. ESIGN at 15 U.S.C. 7003 excludes wills, codicils and testamentary trusts, state law on adoption, divorce and other family law matters, most of the Uniform Commercial Code, court documents, some utility and foreclosure and insurance cancellation notices, and paperwork accompanying hazardous materials. For those the electronic route may not be open at all, whoever provides it.
- You will need to prove it later. If a dispute is plausible, buy the audit trail. An IP address, a timestamp, an email confirmation and a sealed hash are cheap compared with arguing about a JPEG.
Outside those, a large share of everyday signing is a form going back to someone who already knows you. A landlord's inventory, a school consent form, an invoice approval, an NDA between two people who have met. Sending those through a hosted service adds a copy of the document to somebody else's storage and buys nothing you will use.
What do the options cost?
Prices verified September 2026, each from the vendor's own pricing page. Docusign and Adobe show prices in the currency of the region you browse from, so the symbols below are the ones each page displayed.
| Option | Signature level | Where the PDF goes | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| macOS Preview Markup | Simple, a drawn image | Stays on your disk | Free with macOS |
| Vocemo | Simple, image stamped and flattened | Stays on your disk | $15 a month, or $144 a year |
| Docusign Personal | Simple, with an audit trail | Docusign's servers | 9 euros a month, 108 euros a year, 5 envelopes a month |
| Docusign Standard | Simple, qualified as a paid add on | Docusign's servers | 23 euros per user a month, 276 euros a year |
| Docusign Business Pro | Simple, qualified as a paid add on | Docusign's servers | 38 euros per user a month, 456 euros a year |
| Acrobat Standard | Electronic signatures, hosted | Adobe's servers | US$14.99 a month annual billed monthly, US$24.99 month to month |
| Acrobat Pro | Electronic signatures, hosted | Adobe's servers | US$19.99 a month annual billed monthly, US$239.88 prepaid for the year |
| Acrobat Pro for teams | Electronic signatures, hosted | Adobe's servers | US$23.99 a month per licence |
If you would rather this ran on your own Mac, that is what Vocemo does. Free for 7 days, then $15 a month for 3 Macs.
Download free for MacDocusign counts envelopes. Personal allows 5 a month, and both Standard and Business Pro allow 100 per user a year. An envelope is one send, however many pages or signers it holds, so the limit bites on frequency rather than on length. Docusign's qualified signature add on costs 10 euros per recipient on the Standard and Business Pro plans.
What the local option does not do
Be clear about this before you cancel anything. A signature stamped on your own Mac, by Preview or by Vocemo, does none of the following.
- It does not verify anybody's identity. There is no SMS code, no photo ID check, no email confirmation loop. The document records a picture, not a person.
- It produces no audit trail. No certificate of completion, no timestamps, no record of who opened the file and from where.
- It is not tamper evident. Flattening a signature into the page makes it harder to drag off in a PDF editor. It is not a cryptographic seal, and it does not detect a later edit the way eIDAS Article 26(d) requires.
- It does not send anything to anyone. There is no signing link, no reminder email, no signing order for three counterparties, no dashboard showing who has not signed. You attach the file to an email yourself.
- It is not a qualified electronic signature. It cannot be. A qualified signature needs a qualified certificate from a trust service provider, and that is a thing you buy, not a thing your laptop computes.
- It does not do certificate based digital signing. If you hold a signing certificate already, use the tool that supports it.
If any line on that list matters for the document in front of you, pay for the provider. That is the honest answer, and it is a smaller share of documents than the marketing implies.
Does Vocemo replace Docusign?
No, and it is a different job. Vocemo places a signature image on a chosen page and corner of a PDF and flattens it into the file, on your Mac, with nothing uploaded. That covers the form you fill in and send back. It does not send documents out for signature and it issues no certificates.
What it does change is the default. If most of your signing is the return of a form, the hosted service is doing filing you did not ask for. Vocemo is $15 a month or $144 a year, which works out at $12 a month. There is a 7 day trial with no account, and one subscription covers 3 Macs. The installer is 5.5 MB, it needs macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon, and the signing job is one of 21 document jobs that all run on the machine. For the wider picture of why that is possible now, see on-device AI on a Mac.
How do I check that a PDF tool is not uploading my document?
Turn off Wi-Fi, unplug Ethernet, disconnect any tethered iPhone, quit the app and relaunch it. Then sign a PDF. If it completes, the file did not travel. That test proves the strong half of the claim and takes a minute.
Web based signing tools fail that test by design, which is fine as long as you know it. The question to ask is not whether a tool uploads, but whether the upload buys you something. For a qualified signature it buys a great deal. For putting your name on a delivery note it buys a copy of your delivery note on someone else's disk.
Questions
Is a signature made in Preview legally binding?
Under the US ESIGN Act, an electronic signature is any symbol or process attached to a record and adopted with the intent to sign, so a drawn image can qualify. Under eIDAS in the EU it counts as a simple electronic signature, and Article 25(1) says it cannot be refused as evidence purely for being electronic. Whether it is enough for your specific document depends on the document and your jurisdiction, so check with a qualified adviser.
What is the difference between an electronic signature and a digital signature?
An electronic signature is the legal idea: any mark adopted with intent to sign. A digital signature is one technical method of making one, using a certificate and a cryptographic seal that detects later edits. eIDAS Article 26 sets out the four properties that lift a signature to the advanced level, and a drawn image meets none of them.
How much does Docusign cost per month?
Docusign's own pricing page shows Personal at 9 euros a month, or 108 euros billed annually, with 5 envelopes a month. Standard is 23 euros per user a month and Business Pro is 38 euros per user a month, both with 100 envelopes per user a year. Qualified electronic signatures are a paid add on at 10 euros per recipient. The page shows prices in the currency of the region you browse from.
Can I sign a PDF for free on a Mac?
Yes. Preview is included with macOS and captures a signature from the trackpad, the built in camera or an iPhone, then places it on any PDF. There is no account and no per document charge. It gives you a simple electronic signature with no identity check and no audit trail.
Do I need Adobe Acrobat to sign a PDF?
No. Preview signs PDFs at no cost, and other Mac apps stamp a signature onto a chosen page without a subscription. Acrobat Standard is US$14.99 a month on the annual plan billed monthly and US$24.99 month to month, which is worth paying when you need Adobe's hosted signing workflow rather than a signature on a form.
When is a qualified electronic signature required?
It is required when a law or a counterparty asks for that level, which happens most often in regulated finance, property and public sector work in the EU. eIDAS Article 25(2) gives a qualified signature the same legal effect as a handwritten one, which is why it is asked for. Only a qualified trust service provider can issue one, so no local app can produce it. Confirm the requirement for your own jurisdiction and document type.
Sources
Every price on this page was read from the vendor's own page on the date shown above. Prices change; if you find one out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Competitor prices in this article were checked in September 2026. Prices change; if you find one out of date, write to us and we will correct it.