DocuSign vs. HotDocs by CARET

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
DocuSign
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
DocuSign supports transactions with document sharing and electronic signature, as well as automated and guided data collection and entry, record updating across disparate systems and payment collection upon agreement, as well as analytics and reporting.
$15
per month
HotDocs by CARET
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
HotDocs is a document automation and assembly software product, acquired and now supported by AbacusNext since 2017.
$25
per user/per month
Pricing
DocuSignHotDocs by CARET
Editions & Modules
Personal
$15
per month
Real Starter
$15
per month
DocuSign for Realtors
$35
per month
Standard
$40
per month
Business Pro
$60
per month
Advanced Solutions
Custom Pricing
Basic
$25
per user/per month
Enterprise
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DocuSignHotDocs by CARET
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DocuSignHotDocs by CARET
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
DocuSignHotDocs by CARET
Small Businesses
PDFfiller
PDFfiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
Jotform
Jotform
Score 8.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.7 out of 10
Responsive
Responsive
Score 6.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Box
Box
Score 8.5 out of 10
Responsive
Responsive
Score 6.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DocuSignHotDocs by CARET
Likelihood to Recommend
5.5
(153 ratings)
7.4
(9 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.1
(11 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(46 ratings)
8.5
(2 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(5 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
DocuSignHotDocs by CARET
Likelihood to Recommend
DocuSign
I am going to speak of a personal experience- on multiple occasions: I need my husband to sign documents during the day and I don't need him here- physically. He sometimes works in different parts of the state as well at his own company. There is no problem at all, as long as he has access to his cell phone, email, and cell phone service- he can sign the documents I need him to. It is AMAZING- I can't speak highly enough of Docusign.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
It is well suited in the organisations which deals with lots of paper work like legal, teaching, research, etc as they need similar kind of documents again and again. In a typical office set up it is of great use by human resource, marketing and legal department. Hot docs is not suitable if you have a proprietary or solo business as it do not caters to them.
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Pros
DocuSign
  • Ease of sending the same document out to multiple recipients, at multiple locations, for multiple signatures
  • Quick turnaround - once the recipient signs the document, we receive notification and the document back immediately
  • Can resend, alter, change, and/or add to the email and/or document that is sent out very easily
  • The recipient can save the document after signing, so they too have their own electronic copy for their records
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Personalized training. We were able to get an expert on a video call who walked us through solutions to each of our unique problems (i.e. all fifty states have different notary blocks, how can we auto-populate it when the state of the deal is selected?).
  • Team access. Multiple people can work with the templates at once, thus allowing the members of our team who deal with financials to work on their documents while others focus on the organizational and legal documents.
  • Once you have successfully drafted your templates, it runs incredibly smooth (barring any minor hiccups that happen with software updates) and efficiently.
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Cons
DocuSign
  • Tracking, particularly when collecting signatures through connected applications, such as an ATS, is not always clean or easily traceable.
  • Formatting documents to handle electronic signature types (signatures, initials, etc.) is not always easy, and highly dependent on the partner's technology.
  • It is not convenient to have to use DocuSign as a stand alone product if the signatures are required for 3rd party applications. It definitely excels on its own, but the scope of that usage, at least for us, is slim.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Most HotDocs templates demand high-level code. This includes complicated Word codes
  • Using HotDocs is incredibly user-friendly. Creating and maintaining templates is a programming task
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Likelihood to Renew
DocuSign
I can't imagine doing business without DocuSign now. I would never want to go back to the way we used to do things. The "new way" is "the way" is "the right way." We can honestly be proud of a "one right way" process and not have to suffer through "5 ways for 5 days."
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
No answers on this topic
Usability
DocuSign
Generally user-friendly once you have command of the basics, but also has a lot of nuances that can make it difficult to train others on. DocuSign University is a helpful tool, but understandably a lot of content to get through to become a well-versed user. A lot of different functionalities but only a few I use on a weekly basis.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
Could be more intuitive - could even "suggest" fill-ins with the option to take or not take the suggestion.
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Reliability and Availability
DocuSign
It does not go down. I have had zero issues with DocuSign, approaching 4 years.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
No answers on this topic
Performance
DocuSign
Everything loads quickly. Reports are generated in a reasonable time. No noticeable difference in integrated software processing speeds.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
DocuSign
I'd give them a 10, but there has been 1 or 2 small cases that seemed to fall to the wayside, but I was able to call them up and get them resolved. We were having a bad implementation night (after midnight) and we needed assistance from Docusign. They were able to get an engineer to help us in the early morning hours
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
I haven't had to contact HotDocs very often for support. I suppose I rated them mid-level simply because I would like to see more online training options or white papers to view to assist with learning. I want to understand how to do something versus having it done for me.
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Online Training
DocuSign
Docusign is super easy to use, and apart from a few administration details, there was really nothing to train on. Post implementation, there were issues with configuration of auto-filled documents with the integrating 3rd party. That training required some time, because the DocuSign expert took the time to walk me through the 3rd party's configuration (how often does that happen?) so I could see how DocuSign should be best used to overcome weaknesses in the 3rd party platform. 10/10 expert care.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
DocuSign
Until you get the hang of it, I recommend doing several internal tests before sending a document to a client. As I mentioned earlier, you have to go through a bit of trial and error at first to verify that the workflow works as expected.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
If you use WordPerfect X9 - choose"no word-processing software."
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Alternatives Considered
DocuSign
I would say that DocuSign's biggest competitor and a most similar product is Adobe Sign. They both offer almost identical features with Adobe offering a slightly better interface. Adobe Sign is also less costly than DocuSign while offering templates that can be useful for various activities. If you are looking for more branding options then Adobe offers a slight advantage but for corporate control, I would say DocuSign offers more security.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
I haven't evaluated other products. We are so used to HotDocs that it would be difficult for us to switch to something else. We continue to use HotDocs because switching cost is high once you have already started. Be careful before beginning to use this program, as it is hard to breakaway.
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Scalability
DocuSign
In my years of using DocuSign, I have never had an outage. I haven't even encountered a bug.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
DocuSign
  • DocuSign has made fax machines obsolete for receiving, signing, and returning documents to multiple parties.
  • DocuSign is a secure method of signing documents and that is a positive. Fax machines are generally not very secure.
  • DocuSign stores your documents in an encrypted form which protects your privacy and the privacy of all parties named in a document.
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CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Time savings by employees when generating documents mean better ROI efficiency for labor.
  • Faster, more accurate turnaround for documents needing to be generated from templates.
  • Large capital expenditure depending on the number of users and developers.
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ScreenShots

DocuSign Screenshots

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