Sales, forms & workflow platforms
Looking for a pdfFiller alternative?
pdfFiller is an online PDF editor and form filler with a large library of ready-made fillable forms, including a lot of official US paperwork.
Signed is a different shape of product, so this is a comparison rather than a pitch — which is why the table starts with what pdfFiller does better, and why there is a whole section below on what Signed does not do at all.
pdfFiller vs Signed, side by side
| pdfFiller | Signed | |
|---|---|---|
| Genuinely better at | Finding and filling standard forms: a searchable form library, real editing of scanned pages, and tools for typing into documents that were never designed to be filled in digitally. | Signed works on the file you already have rather than a library copy, and it does the work on your iPhone instead of uploading the document to be edited. |
| Known for | pdfFiller is an online PDF editor and form filler with a large library of ready-made fillable forms, including a lot of official US paperwork. | An iPhone app for signing the document in front of you: create a signature by drawing it, typing it in a real handwriting style or generating one with AI, then place the signature, initials, date, text and checkmarks on any PDF and export a flattened copy. |
| Day to day it feels like | Signing is the last step of a bigger workflow — a proposal, a form submission or a deal room — so the document is generated as much as signed. | Open the PDF on your phone, tap where things go, share it back. No account to create, no recipients to invite, no email round-trip. |
| Where your document lives | Uploaded to the service so it can be processed, stored or routed to other signers. | Local-first: documents, signatures and initials are stored only on the iPhone. Nothing is uploaded and there is no cloud copy on any server. |
Stay with pdfFiller if…
…you regularly need blank official forms, or you have to edit scanned documents rather than just sign them.
We would rather you kept the tool that fits than switched and found the feature you depended on missing. Half the people searching for a pdfFiller alternative should actually stay put.
What Signed does not do
Read this before you switch. These are real gaps, not modesty — if one of them is why you use pdfFiller, Signed is not a replacement.
- Multi-party routing. There is no sending a document to three people in a set order, no reminder emails, no dashboard showing who has signed. Signed signs the copy in your hand.
- Audit trails and certificates of completion. Enterprise platforms record IP addresses, timestamps and identity checks into a tamper-evident certificate. Signed does not produce one.
- Signer identity verification. No SMS codes, no ID checks, no national eID (BankID, itsme, eIDAS-qualified certificates). If your counterparty requires verified identity, you need a platform that provides it.
- Teams, templates and integrations. No shared team plans, no CRM or Google Drive connectors, no API. It is a single-person app on a single device.
- A desktop or web app. Signed is iPhone-only. Our free web signature generator makes a signature image, but the document signing happens on the phone.
What you get if you do switch
- No account, ever. Nothing to create, nothing to log into, no email round-trip. Open the PDF, sign it, send it back.
- The document stays on your iPhone. Signatures, initials and files are stored on the device — nothing is uploaded, and there is no cloud copy on any server. Optional Face ID lock on top.
- Three ways to make the signature. Draw it with a fingertip, type your name in a real handwriting style, or let AI generate one that looks handwritten rather than like a font.
- The boring fields are the fast part. Saved initials, an auto-filled date, text boxes and checkmarks — so a form that wants initials on every page stops being a chore.
- A flattened export. The signature and every field become part of the page, so the PDF you send back looks the same everywhere it is opened.
More e-sign alternatives
Or start from the document you actually have
All 73 document types → · or make a signature first with the free signature generator.
Worth reading before you decide
Signed is a signing tool, not legal advice — whether an electronically signed document is accepted depends on the document, the counterparty and where you are. pdfFiller and other product names belong to their respective owners; this comparison reflects each product's publicly described focus and our own honest read of it. We deliberately quote no ratings, review counts, plan limits or prices for other products, because those change — check the vendor for current details.