Dropbox Sign vs. Smallpdf

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Dropbox Sign
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
HelloSign is an electronic signature software offering acquired by Dropbox in early 2019. It includes features such as customization for businesses of any size and bank-level security.
$0
Smallpdf
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Made in Switzerland, Smallpdf is a company that offers a suite of document management tools for everyone-for work, for home, for life. Founded in Switzerland in 2013, Smallpdf provides what they describe as a simple, secure, and reliable answer to the world's PDF challenges. Smallpdf boasts serving over a billion users in 24 different languages since 2013, and in every country in the world.
$0
Pricing
Dropbox SignSmallpdf
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Essentials
$15
per month
Standard
$17.5
per month starting at two users, per user
Essentials API
$75
per month Starting at 50 signature requests / mo.
Standard API
$250
per month Starting at 100 signature requests / mo.
Premium
Custom
Custom
Smallpdf Basic
$0.00
Smallpdf Pro
$12.00
per month
Smallpdf Pro
$108.00
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Dropbox SignSmallpdf
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAdditional pricing available for HelloWorks and HelloFaxDiscounts are available for bulk purchases
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Dropbox SignSmallpdf
Considered Both Products
Dropbox Sign
Chose Dropbox Sign
I think all similar platforms can support smaller features, but Dropbox Sign might be easier to use, cost-effective, and friendly for new users and organizations that have no experience using it as an e-signature platform. Once I have a great experience, I would highly …
Chose Dropbox Sign
PandaDoc has an interface that isn't as simple but once you get used to it, it's really not bad. The biggest con is that I've had issues when using it where it glitches or just isn't loading. I think it's been issues on the back end that required ticketing. In the end, I didn't …
Chose Dropbox Sign
In my opinion, customer service is lacking. I believe they are unethical -- in my experience, they cancelled my membership despite asking them to only stop auto-billing. My account shows the membership was canceled but, I believe they still stole my $1630! Only reason I knew is …
Chose Dropbox Sign
Very similar program. I cannot say how different they are because I have not used DocuSign in some time.
Chose Dropbox Sign
Great software, however the integration of the Dropbox cloud in tandem with this is amazing and simpler than this great competitor for an all in one solution.
Chose Dropbox Sign
Dropbox seemed easier to use and cheaper than the others. It was just as functional.
Chose Dropbox Sign
Hellosign the easiest out of the class that we use. It is just super quick. We use eversign to get some extra templates, but it is pretty clunky for sending contracts.
Chose Dropbox Sign
It's useful that Dropbox Sign is connected with other apps (like fax), that's something the competitors I've used don't have.
Chose Dropbox Sign
So much better, specifically because of the lack of a limit. Focusing limits the total amount of docs you can sign per year and is more expensive. This product has similar if not slightly easier/Better functionality, and it’s for a much better price point. Would highly …
Chose Dropbox Sign
This is my first time using a tool like DropBox Sign and the reason I chose it is because the price was right for a small business with one user and I had a great customer service rep chatting with me that answered all of my questions very completely and efficiently.
Chose Dropbox Sign
Falls a little short but not too bad
Chose Dropbox Sign
Simpler to use and easier interface on your eyes
Chose Dropbox Sign
10 out of 10 times I will choose DocuSign moving forward over DropBox Sign. I hated how horrible their technical support was in solving my issue.
Chose Dropbox Sign
Docusign is fine, but Dropbox Sign provides far more flexibility and will scale with your business. Docusign seems to nickel and dime you every step of the way.
Chose Dropbox Sign
It stacks up pretty well, I do think some of the templates I've seen are a bit lacking with Dropbox sign.
Smallpdf
Chose Smallpdf
We actually never used other products like this. When we found SmallPDF it met our needs instantaneously. The only thing I can compare it to is Adobe and the features they provide, however, SmallPDF is more cost-effective for our team. It allows us to do most of the same …
Chose Smallpdf
I have not really used anything exactly like this tool because this was the first one I found and it worked great, and also the cost was not high.
Chose Smallpdf
Smallpdf is a basic PDF editor platform. Overall, it is best for beginners and those who only need a PDF editor to make simple edits and changes. Would also recommend it to those with a smaller budget. If you prefer an advanced, all-in-one PDF editor and also use other Adobe …
Chose Smallpdf
Almost all software's are based on a similar platform. We use them in turn according to our comfort level and ease of use.
Chose Smallpdf
As per my understanding, Smallpdf stacks up against the above tool because it is easy to use, the targeted goal only for pdf, handy, and one more thing is that small pdf has created the application for android and iOS. I really found Smallpdf helpful when using it on the fly. …
Chose Smallpdf
Adobe is not so quick. It takes a lot of effort to do a job in it. but small PDFs do the same job as in the second. Even adobe acrobat does not have as many features as Smallpdf. Smallpdf is like an ocean because you don't know ocean depth so a small pdf has so many features.
Chose Smallpdf
Smallpdf has a wonderful free version and is extremely simple to use. Adobe Acrobat can be a bit jumpy and heaven forbid you click on the wrong icon and it will ask you to sign in over and over again. Smallpdf isn't always the prettiest to use, but it is the best to get the job …
Chose Smallpdf
I think that Smallpdf stacks up against its competitors in terms of easiness of use. The tool is very user-friendly, every feature is communicated in an efficient way and very simple to user so the user doesn't have to be particularly good at using software. Its features are …
Chose Smallpdf
This is a more ethical decision. Adobe tends to lock you into their products and then charge you to end your contract. Smallpdf allows us to remain flexible and do our work at a lower cost.
Chose Smallpdf
Smallpdf has had a great impact on our business since we moved to this software from Adobe which is more expensive, so we managed to save a lot of money for using it.
Chose Smallpdf
While extremely useful and feature rich, PDF xChange does not have the ability to work with multiple files at the same time as efficiently as Smallpdf. It is also a traditional desktop software which means being constrained to one specific PC.
Chose Smallpdf
PDFfiller has other functions that make it a bit more complicated to use, it is also slower than Smallpdf when it comes to any type of conversion. I even had to close the page when I tried to use PDFfiller because it remains frozen and does not It advances, so much so, that I …
Chose Smallpdf
Smallpdf is accessible online as a web-based .pdf solution not like many software that must be installed on a computer.
Chose Smallpdf
I used to convert my PDF files with LightPDF software. But It was slightly difficult for me to navigate on that software. The interface of that software was not very easy to understand. And compression result quality was also not satisfactory. So I selected Smallpdf for all my …
Chose Smallpdf
When comparing Smallpdf to Adobe Acrobat the first thing that comes to mind immediately is how much cheaper Smallpdf is compared to Adobe. The difference has been huge for our company and has allowed us to save money while keeping the same quality level for the products …
Chose Smallpdf
Smallpdf is a cheaper alternative. There is no additional software to purchase, so no need to pay to upgrade licensing every year. I think it is easier to use, although it doesn't have as many tools or options as Adobe. Depending on what you use it for, I think it is a great …
Chose Smallpdf
As it is a web-based software, it helps me avoid installing any software program for managing PDF related work. It has many more functions than my previous PDF program. It helps me in all kind of Office file conversions. I also found it very reasonable in terms of subscription …
Chose Smallpdf
Its easy setup and easy user interface makes it easy to operate for many of my colleagues. I don't need to train them much for this software. So I started using it in my organisation.
Chose Smallpdf
I've been using it for quite some time and I think that's why I'm fond of it since sometimes it has not behaved how I would like, however, and yet I must admit that Smallpdf is one of the best and fastest PDF file converters. It also surprises me that it is almost the only …
Chose Smallpdf
I prefer Smallpdf, due to the ease of use and good results I have had during the time, both when creating pdf files and also to reduce the weight of the files I created and all this in just a few seconds.
Best Alternatives
Dropbox SignSmallpdf
Small Businesses
Foxit eSign
Foxit eSign
Score 9.8 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
DocuSign
DocuSign
Score 8.3 out of 10
M‑Files
M‑Files
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Dropbox SignSmallpdf
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.8
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.7
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
6.8
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Dropbox SignSmallpdf
Likelihood to Recommend
Cross functionally this product is great and the reminders/ email notifications are super helpful. Also signers who are not familiar with Dropbox sign have no problem using the tool. I find it super user friendly. I have found its a little harder to use when a signer has an agent (not a party signing the doc) and the agent wants to review prior to the person signing.
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I would suggest Smallpdf for simple needs in terms of PDFs management that can be [easily] resolved such as: size compression, deleting of pages and file conversions. This tool is very user-friendly and easy to use, it is available online so the user doesn't need to download any software. In case of heavy files compression, the tool isn't appropriate since it doesn't support heavy documents.
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Pros
  • Allows customization for each client.
  • Gives us all the room we need to create a thorough contract.
  • Allows us to save each executed contract as a PDF.
  • Looks like a pricey, professionally drawn-up contract.
  • The ability to send a new customer a professional-looking contract like this makes us look "bigger" than we are.
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  • One of the best things that Smallpdf does is pdf conversion both to and from pdf. It is especially great to transform pdf tables into Excel documents.
  • PDF splitting is really great since allows for cropping large files and just keep the information necessary; something that comes really handy when presenting information to your supervisors.
  • PDF merging also works wonders, it allows for mixing several different pdf documents into just one of them. It is extremely easy to set up.
  • This a really fast pdf reader, it feels really fast compared to other options that tend to feel clunky. Its workspace is super comfortable and well organized so finding a tool you need is always a simple task.
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Cons
  • It would be nice to be able to build a template for just the location of the signature boxes that would allow me to upload a document, and the boxes could be basically replaced. I have the exact same doc for each of my clients, but there are small changes here and there, and I have to fill in their personal info through another program, so it would be nice to be able to do a template this way instead of just tying a template to one document.
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  • It has everything I'm not sure what I will say. E-sign, Share, convert. You can give an option in upload priorities features which I can see later.
  • Background remover thing also you can add in it. So I can remove the unnecessary thing from an image.
  • You can add a chatbot for help.
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Likelihood to Renew
It's a great software and we will continue to use it. It's a great time and money saver when it comes to legal contracts and makes the process easy for both sides who need to sign or add information to a document or contract. We definitely need our contracts to be legally binding and HelloSign provides this for us
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No answers on this topic
Usability
It works well for it's intended use, I feel like some of the features can improve a bit and it's recently received a bit of a face lift but over all it's been a really easy tool to utilize and implement and we've used it since we've opened.
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Its usability in my work is very important. I have to share various documents with my clients very frequently and most of the documents I send them are in PDF format only. So I use this software very much to convert my Word and Excel files into PDF. And whenever I need to send large file to my clients, I convert them into PDFs and compress them with this tool and then I send those files to my clients.
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Reliability and Availability
I have not encountered this because it was so easy to use however just seeing how they created a community is great and shows that they are here for their users. I am going to say I am sure they are available and ready to assist when needed. The fact that we have not yet experienced an outage and issues says a lot though :)
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No answers on this topic
Performance
Again I cannot say it is enough this app is simple. We are preparing to be able to integrate with Salesforce and Sharepoint at a very small cost per user (these are the platforms we use) and it is great that they have the option to integrate these apps. We love this app
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1.- Because it is easy to use and each function is duly indicated so you can not go wrong. 2.- Its service is fast, it takes only a few seconds to transform the files and in less than a minute it is downloaded and you can occupy it without problem. 4.-This IS online so you do not install anything, which is very useful because you can also use it from a tablet or your mobile
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Support Rating
Support is limited to email only (for our subscription level), which might be OK for a e-signing platform if support was relatively rapid. This is not the case with HelloSign. Since the issues first arose a week ago, we have made no discernible progress in solving the problem. No matter how quickly I respond to a follow-up email, we receive only 1 email a day from the support. The other issue, which is a true edge case situation, is their insistence on receiving email from the same email account as the HelloSign registration. We changed our organizational email recently, and I was still logging into HS using our old email address. This became a hard stop on further support, which doesn't make sense on a practical level. Why would someone write in for support with specific issues if they weren't a customer? And if they did, wouldn't that be a miniscule proportion of the support requests? So if you adopt a policy that stops providing support to anyone who isn't verified, regardless of the situation, isn't that using a blunt instrument to solve a very rare issue? Reflects the overall organizational values, in my opinion, which is not to value the small customer.
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Everything is so simple and works so well, you shouldn't need support, but on the one occasion in several years that I needed it, support was quick and courteous.
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Implementation Rating
I can not say it enough - this was the easiest implementation we have had with an application. I became an admin, I added the person who would be the back up admin, we moved forward with adding accounts and that was it. All the users we have were self sufficient enough to move forward with very little guidance and the guidance they received was in house.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
PandaDoc has an interface that isn't as simple but once you get used to it, it's really not bad. The biggest con is that I've had issues when using it where it glitches or just isn't loading. I think it's been issues on the back end that required ticketing. In the end, I didn't find it as reliable. We've never had an issue with Dropbox Sign and we still use it daily.
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As per my understanding, Smallpdf stacks up against the above tool because it is easy to use, the targeted goal only for pdf, handy, and one more thing is that small pdf has created the application for android and iOS. I really found Smallpdf helpful when using it on the fly. Small pdf not only provides for the PDF it also provides the different functions for the other files like excel, HTML, doc, ppt, and many more.
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Scalability
Between the easy to use app, the pricing, and the team at dropbox. This app is hands down great! Easy to use. Anyone can start using it and if not I am sure the team at dropbox will guide you to implement. The cost especially for us as a nonprofit is sustainable which is great.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Faster time to contract signature-less overthinking because they sign with their finger on the phone with the sales rep.
  • Reduction of paper waste and organization.
  • Ease for sales reps to quickly choose and alter any agreement they need while on a call.
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  • From an initial cost perspective, we've gone from a collection of free and freemium software products that we used in combination to do what we wanted, to paying Smallpdf's per-user license fee.
  • We estimate that creating the same final product with our old method took about 30 minutes per 1-100 page file. We are now down to approximately 10 minutes, if the input material does not require much manipulation.
  • Around 50% of tasks used to require advice from a highly-technical user to fix unexpected errors. With Smallpdf we estimate we are now down to less than 20%.
  • For things that Smallpdf cannot do we find ourselves falling back to old methods which can sometimes create wasted time when we only realize that Smallpdf is not up to the task in the middle of the job.
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ScreenShots

Dropbox Sign Screenshots

Screenshot of drag and drop fields for any document to create an e-signature documentScreenshot of signer settings that can be used to distribute agreementsScreenshot of Notifications of completed signaturesScreenshot of uploading a documentScreenshot of Admin homepageScreenshot of template creation

Smallpdf Screenshots

Screenshot of Desktop AppScreenshot of Homepage