Electronic signature, without DocuSign
🔒 VPS only ✉️🚫 External email relay requiredDocumenso is the open-source alternative to DocuSign: send your PDFs to be signed, track every signature, and keep a complete audit trail. Your documents and signatories remain on our servers in France.
What is Documenso?
Documenso is an open-source platform for electronic signature of PDF documents, designed as a self-hostable alternative to DocuSign. The user uploads a document, places fields (signature, date, text), sends it for signature to one or more recipients, and then tracks the lifecycle via an audit log.
The tool offers reusable templates, direct signature links, a REST API, webhooks, and an embedding capability to integrate signing into your own applications. It manages multi-signatory workflows (signing order, roles), white-labeling, teams, and Zapier integration. Documenso claims compliance with the ESIGN Act and UETA frameworks.
Technically, Documenso relies on a React / TypeScript ecosystem (Next.js monorepo), a tRPC API layer, a PostgreSQL database via the Prisma ORM, and custom PDF processing (@documenso/pdf-sign). The project is published under the AGPL-3.0 license and deploys natively in Docker, with official images.
Host Documenso at DINAO
No managed container for Documenso: this application is installed on a VPS hosted in France (1 vCPU / 2 Go / 10 Go minimum).
Application available on a VPS
This application requires privileged access to the host machine, which is incompatible with managed shared hosting. It is installed on a VPS (virtual private server) that you administer: DINAO delivers it with Docker and the management panel of your choice, and you install and maintain Documenso yourself. The VPS is not managed by DINAO unless you add the managed-services option when ordering.
Technical reason: bind-mount d'un chemin hôte (volumes nommés uniquement en managé).
Discover the Docker VPS →Requirements for Documenso: 1 vCPU, 2 Go, 10 Go. Our Docker VPS at €11 excl. VAT per month covers them.
Outbound email requires an external service
Outbound SMTP is blocked by design on DINAO's shared hosting (anti-spam protection for all our customers). For the email-sending features of Documenso (notifications, campaigns…), you will need to subscribe to an email routing service outside the DINAO infrastructure (e.g. Mautic hosted elsewhere, SendGrid, Brevo, a third-party SMTP relay…).
Detection: variable NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_TRANSPORT détectée (service documenso) + variable NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_HOST détectée (service documenso) + variable NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_PORT détectée (service documenso) + variable NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_USERNAME détectée (service documenso) + variable NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_PASSWORD détectée (service documenso) + variable NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_FROM_NAME détectée (service documenso).
Technical details
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Other applications managed by DINAO in the same category, hosted in France and GDPR compliant.
You might be wondering…
Does Documenso replace DocuSign?
Yes, for PDF electronic signing: multi-recipient sending, configurable fields, templates, tracking, and audit trail. The main difference is that you host it yourself with DINAO, without per-envelope subscriptions and without entrusting your documents to a third-party service.
Do my contracts go to a third party?
No. Your documents, signatories, and their data remain on your instance hosted in France. Documenso is fully open-source: you know exactly what is happening.
Can I integrate it into my applications?
Yes, via its REST API, webhooks, and embedding capability, which allows integrating the signing journey directly into a React, Vue, or other app.
What is the legal value of the signatures?
Documenso claims compliance with the ESIGN Act and UETA frameworks and provides an audit trail per document. For qualified signature requirements (eIDAS AES/QES), contact DINAO regarding the configuration suited to your needs.
Where is the data hosted?
On DINAO's infrastructure in France, in one of the available data centers, with an isolated PostgreSQL database in a dedicated container.
