E-signatures · Compared
Electronic signature against digital signature
An electronic signature is any electronic mark a person makes with the intention of signing: a typed name, a drawn squiggle, a click on a button. A digital signature is a specific cryptographic technique that binds a document to a key. The first is a legal category, the second is a piece of maths, and a good signing process uses both.
The two terms get used as synonyms in marketing and mean quite different things in practice. Knowing which one somebody is talking about is usually the difference between a productive conversation and a circular one.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
3 min read · Published
| Electronic signature | Digital signature | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A mark made with intent to sign | A cryptographic operation over the document |
| Defined by | Law: ESIGN, UETA, eIDAS, the Electronic Transactions Act | Standards: PAdES, XAdES, CAdES |
| Proves | That a person intended to sign | That the file has not changed since signing |
| Fails when | Intent or identity is disputed | A single byte of the document changes |
| On its own | Legally valid, but only as strong as the evidence around it | Strong evidence of integrity, silent about intent |
Why the law does not care about the technique
The statutes are deliberately technology neutral. ESIGN and UETA in the United States, eIDAS in the European Union and the Electronic Transactions Act in Australia all say a signature cannot be denied legal effect merely because it is electronic. None of them require cryptography. That is why a typed name at the bottom of an email can bind you, and why the interesting question is never is it legal but rather how will we prove it later.
What the cryptography adds
A digital signature answers a different question: has this file changed since it was signed. It cannot tell you whether the person meant to agree, whether they had authority, or whether anyone showed them the terms. What it removes is the argument about whether the copy in your hand is the copy that was signed, which in practice is the argument that costs the most to have.
A defensible process uses both
The electronic signature is the act: the person opened their own link, saw the document and pressed sign. The digital signature is the seal over the result. Around them sit the two things that carry the weight in a dispute: an identity check appropriate to the value of the document, and an audit trail recording what happened and when. Any one of the four alone is thin; together they are hard to argue with.
Questions people ask
Is a typed name a valid signature?
In most jurisdictions, yes, if the person intended it as their signature. That is what the technology neutral statutes mean in practice. Whether it is a good idea is a separate question, because a typed name on its own leaves you proving intent from context rather than from the record.
Do I need a digital signature for a contract?
Rarely as a legal requirement, often as a practical one. Most commercial agreements are enforceable with a plain electronic signature plus decent evidence. The cryptography earns its place when the document may be challenged years later, or when a regulator expects to see that the file has not been altered.
Which one does a signing platform give me?
Both, usually. The person makes an electronic signature by acting on their own link, and the finished PDF is sealed with a digital signature over the whole file. If a platform gives you only the first, the signed copy is a picture of a signature on a document anybody could edit afterwards.
Is an image of my handwritten signature a digital signature?
No. A scanned squiggle is an electronic signature at best, and it is the weakest kind, because it can be copied off one document and pasted onto another in seconds. It is the presence of a verifiable cryptographic seal, not the look of the mark, that makes a signature hard to forge.
What is an advanced electronic signature?
A middle tier defined by eIDAS: uniquely linked to the signatory, capable of identifying them, made with something under their sole control, and linked to the data so any change is detectable. In practice that means a digital signature over the document, which is why PAdES is the usual way to carry one in a PDF.
Does a wet ink signature beat an electronic one?
Not generally, and often the reverse. A page of paper carries no record of who witnessed it, when it was signed or whether the copy you hold is complete. A well run electronic process carries all three. The place paper still wins is the narrow set of documents that specific laws require to be on it.
Make one with e-signatures
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.
Send a document for signingRelated questions
- What is PAdES?PAdES is the ETSI standard for digital signatures embedded in a PDF. What it adds over a plain signature, its levels, and how to spot one in a reader.
- What is an RFC 3161 timestamp?An RFC 3161 timestamp is a signed statement from an independent authority that a document existed at a moment. How it attaches to a PDF signature.
Step by step in the builder: Send a PDF for e-signature.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .