HelloSign vs Certyneo comparison: which to choose in 2026?

Introduction: why compare HelloSign and Certyneo in 2026?

With the progressive entry into force of the eIDAS 2.0 regulation and the generalisation of hybrid working, choosing an electronic signature solution has become a strategic issue for legal, HR and finance departments. HelloSign — rebranded Dropbox Sign in 2023 but still widely known by its former name — and Certyneo position themselves on this market with very different philosophies. On one side, an American platform integrated into the Dropbox ecosystem; on the other, a European SaaS solution created to meet the regulatory requirements of the continental market. This article breaks down both offers from the perspective of legal compliance, business features, pricing and user experience, to help you make an informed decision for 2026.

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1. Presentation of the two platforms

HelloSign (Dropbox Sign): an American origin

Founded in 2011 and acquired by Dropbox in 2019, HelloSign is now marketed under the Dropbox Sign brand. The solution is highly popular with Anglo-Saxon SMEs thanks to its ease of use and native integration with Dropbox, Google Workspace and Slack. It offers simple electronic signatures (SES) and, since 2022, an advanced form (AES) via third-party partners for certain European markets.

However, HelloSign remains a platform designed according to American standards (ESIGN Act, UETA), which creates regulatory friction for companies subject to European law. Signatory data is hosted on American cloud infrastructure — a non-negligible constraint since the invalidation of Privacy Shield and the implementation of the Data Privacy Framework, which some legal practitioners still consider fragile.

Certyneo: a European SaaS solution centred on compliance

Certyneo is a B2B electronic signature SaaS designed and hosted in Europe, with an architecture built from the outset around regulation eIDAS No 910/2014 and its evolution eIDAS 2.0. The platform offers the three levels of signature provided for in the European framework — simple (SES), advanced (AES) and qualified (QES) — with qualified trust service providers (QTSP) listed on the European Trusted List.

The solution natively integrates a comprehensive guide on the legal value of electronic signature that legal teams can consult to calibrate the signature level appropriate for each document type. Hosting is exclusively carried out in ISO 27001 certified data centres located in the European Union, which greatly simplifies GDPR compliance.

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2. Regulatory compliance and legal value

HelloSign facing European law: structural gaps

The main weakness of HelloSign for European use lies in its relationship with eIDAS. The platform does not offer a qualified signature (QES) in its own right: to achieve this level, the user must resort to hybrid workflows with third-party providers, which complicates the chain of trust and dilutes traceability. However, certain legal acts — transfer of equity interests, electronic authentic deeds, certain credit contracts — impose under French and European law a QES level or a notarial deed.

Furthermore, the question of data location is central: without robust binding corporate rules (BCR) or perfectly documented standard contractual clauses (SCC), exposing signatory data to American servers may violate articles 44 to 49 of the GDPR. A situation that led several European DPOs to exclude HelloSign from their calls for tender from 2024 onwards.

Certyneo and eIDAS: native compliance at three levels

Certyneo natively offers the three levels of signature recognised by eIDAS, with automatic management of the required level according to the document type configured by the administrator. This approach reduces the risk of human error — signing a commercial lease with a simple SES when an AES is recommended — and simplifies the audit trail for compliance teams.

The regulation eIDAS 2.0: understanding everything introduced by the way introduces the European digital identity wallet (EUDIW), and Certyneo has committed to a compatibility roadmap with this new standard from the first quarter of 2026. HelloSign has, to date, published no official roadmap for the European market in this regard.

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3. Compared business features

Signature flows and automation

| Criterion | HelloSign (Dropbox Sign) | Certyneo | |---|---|---|| | Simple signature (SES) | ✅ | ✅ | | Advanced signature (AES) | ⚠️ Via third party | ✅ Native | | Qualified signature (QES) | ❌ | ✅ Native | | EU hosting | ❌ | ✅ | | REST API | ✅ | ✅ | | AI contract generator | ❌ | ✅ | | Qualified time stamping | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ | | French language support | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ |

Certyneo stands out notably with its AI contract generator, which allows you to produce a legally structured document before submitting it for signature, without leaving the platform. HelloSign, refocused on its core business of "signature", does not offer an equivalent.

Integrations and API

HelloSign has a mature API and native integrations with Salesforce, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Dropbox. This is an undeniable strength for teams already integrated into these ecosystems.

Certyneo offers a documented REST API OpenAPI 3.0, real-time webhooks and certified connectors for leading HRIS systems (Workday, Lucca, Factorial) and ERP (SAP, Sage). For HR solutions, integration with employment contract management workflows, amendments and paperless payslips is particularly advanced.

Signatory experience and mobility

Both platforms offer a signature experience without the need for the signatory to create an account. Certyneo nevertheless offers a fully localised interface in French, with contextual guides explaining the legal value of each type of signature — an advantage appreciated when deploying to populations unfamiliar with digital technology.

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4. Pricing and business model

HelloSign: a grid focused on signature volume

HelloSign offers three pricing tiers: Essentials (~€15/month/user), Standard (~€25/month/user) and Premium (on request). Pricing is based on the number of sends per month, which can become expensive for companies with high volumes of recurring documents. Note: advanced eIDAS compliance features are generally only available from Premium plans, with additional costs.

Certyneo: transparency and budget predictability

Certyneo adopts a per-user pricing model with included signature envelopes, without per-act billing for common uses. You can consult the complete grid on the Certyneo pricing page and simulate your return on investment using the ROI calculator available online.

For companies wishing to migrate from another solution, Certyneo's migration offer includes technical and legal support, as well as the takeover of existing workflows — a commitment rarely offered by American players.

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5. Support, assistance and ecosystem

Quality of French-language support

HelloSign offers support in English with variable response times depending on the plan subscribed. In practice, French-speaking users report difficulties in obtaining precise answers to questions about European compliance, as these subjects are often referred to general documentation.

Certyneo has a support team based in France, reachable by chat, telephone and email, with contractual SLA commitments from intermediate plans onwards. The Certyneo help centre contains over 200 articles in French covering business use cases, regulatory aspects and technical integrations.

Partner ecosystem and consulting

Certyneo collaborates with a network of integration partners, law firms and expert accountants trained in eIDAS compliance. This consulting dimension — absent from the HelloSign offering — is crucial for companies deploying electronic signatures in sensitive contexts: mergers and acquisitions, litigation, healthcare or real estate sectors.

Legal framework applicable to electronic signature in 2026

The foundational European texts

Electronic signature in Europe is governed by regulation eIDAS No 910/2014 (Electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services), directly applicable in all Member States without national transposition. This regulation defines three levels of signature:

• SES (Simple Electronic Signature): any data in electronic form attached or logically associated with other data, used to sign.
• AES (Advanced Electronic Signature): uniquely linked to the signatory, allowing their identification, created with data under their exclusive control, and detecting any subsequent modification.
• QES (Qualified Electronic Signature): AES created using a qualified signature creation device (QSCD) and based on a qualified certificate issued by a QTSP listed on the European Trusted List. Only QES benefits from a legal presumption of equivalence to handwritten signature throughout the EU (art. 25§2 eIDAS).

Under French law, articles 1366 and 1367 of the Civil Code recognise electronic signature as equivalent to handwritten signature insofar as it allows the signatory to be identified and guarantees their link with the deed. Decree No 2017-1416 specifies the technical conditions applicable.

GDPR and data location

Regulation GDPR No 2016/679 requires that the personal data of signatories (identity, IP address, time stamp, certificate) be processed with a legal basis and, in the event of transfer outside the EU, on the basis of an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards (art. 44 to 49). Hosting this data on American servers, even within the framework of the 2023 Data Privacy Framework, exposes the processors responsible to a residual risk documented by the European Data Protection Committee (EDPB).

ETSI technical standards

Electronic advanced and qualified signature formats are standardised by ETSI: EN 319 132 (XAdES), EN 319 122 (CAdES) and EN 319 142 (PAdES for PDFs). These standards guarantee interoperability and the longevity of signatures over time. A solution that does not generate signatures in these standardised formats exposes its users to risks of non-recognition during inspections or disputes.

Time stamping and retention

Qualified time stamping (art. 41 eIDAS) provides a legal presumption as to the date and time of an electronic event. It is essential for the long-term evidentiary value of signed documents. Electronic evidence archiving, governed in France by the NF Z42-020 standard, complements this system for regulatory retention periods (10 years for commercial contracts, 5 years for accounting data, 50 years for certain civil status documents).

Legal risks of a non-compliant solution

Using an electronic signature solution that does not comply with eIDAS exposes the company to the nullity of signed deeds, to difficulties in establishing evidence in the event of a dispute and, in the matter of data processing, to GDPR penalties that can reach 4% of annual global turnover (art. 83§5 GDPR).

Use scenarios: HelloSign vs Certyneo in real situations

Scenario 1: a law firm of 20 lawyers

A law firm specialising in corporate law manages several dozen equity transfers, shareholder agreements and settlement protocols each month. These documents require at least an advanced electronic signature (AES) to be enforceable, and often a QES for the most sensitive deeds.

With HelloSign, the legal team quickly identified the absence of native QES as a blocker: for each document requiring this level, it was necessary to switch to a third-party provider, generating breaks in the traceability chain and additional delays of 24 to 48 hours. After migration to Certyneo, the firm reduced the time to process transfer files by 65%, centralising the entire workflow — document generation, signature level selection, sending, automatic follow-up, archiving — in a single interface.

Scenario 2: an industrial SME managing 300 supplier contracts per year

An SME in the manufacturing sector with a procurement department of 5 people must have framework contracts, purchase orders and confidentiality agreements signed by suppliers spread across 12 European countries. The diversity of interlocutors — including some uncomfortable with digital technology — requires a simple user experience, available in multiple languages, without account creation.

HelloSign met the "volume" dimension well but presented gaps in French localisation and parametrable automatic follow-ups. With Certyneo, the procurement team configured separate workflows by contract category, with appropriate signature levels (SES for internal NDAs, AES for framework contracts) and automatic follow-ups on D+3 and D+7. The average time to return signed contracts dropped from 8.2 days to 2.4 days, a reduction of 70%, consistent with benchmarks published by professional associations in the sector.

Scenario 3: a hospital group of approximately 1,200 beds

A public health establishment must digitise the signature of several types of documents: practitioner engagement contracts, clinical research protocols, conventions with institutional partners. The regulatory framework in the healthcare sector requires enhanced traceability and data hosting for health data compliant with HDS requirements (Health Data Host, ASIP Santé certification).

HelloSign, hosted on American infrastructure, was excluded from the outset from the HDS regulatory scope. Certyneo, whose healthcare offering is built on HDS-certified hosting in France, enabled the establishment to deploy electronic signature for all its HR and administrative processes in less than six weeks, with integrated user training and dedicated support. The estimated gain on recruitment and practitioner engagement processes was valued at the equivalent of 0.8 administrative FTE per year, representing a positive ROI from the fourth month of use.

Conclusion

The HelloSign vs Certyneo comparison reveals two opposing philosophies: HelloSign is a generic American solution, effective for simple uses in English-speaking environments, but structurally limited in the face of European regulatory requirements for 2026. Certyneo, designed natively for the European market, meets the three levels of eIDAS, guarantees GDPR-compliant hosting within the European Union and integrates advanced business features — AI contract generator, qualified time stamping, French-language support — which are missing from its American competitor.

For companies subject to French and European law, the choice is clear: regulatory compliance is not improvised, and every document signed with an unsuitable solution is a latent legal risk. If you wish to evaluate Certyneo for your organisation, request a demonstration or create your account on certyneo.com — migration from another solution is supported and handled.