This article acts as a guide to Free plan. You can create a Free account here.
Note: A maximum of 5 documents can be sent during the trial.
What’s included in the Free account
Functionality | Free plan |
Number of documents you can send | 5 per month (60 per year on older annual Free accounts) |
Recipients | 2 per document* |
Templates | 5 |
Fillable fields (Signature field, text field, initials field, date field, checkboxes, radio-buttons, dropdowns, stamp field, upload file field) | Unlimited |
Document storage | Unlimited |
Users in account (seats) | Unlimited |
* You don’t need to add yourself as a recipient if you don’t need to sign the document.
You can compare Free plan with other plans here.
Note: New Free accounts are on a monthly plan, and your send limit resets each month on your plan start date. Older annual Free accounts are on a yearly plan, with the billing cycle based on the signup date. See Free plan document limits.
How to create a Free account
Click here to create your Free account.
Complete the signup process. Your account will be ready to use immediately.
How to switch to Free
Open PandaDoc and go to Help in the upper menu > Contact Support.
Open the support chat in the lower-left corner and select Ask question.
Ask Fin to switch you.
Finally, confirm that you would like to switch and chat bot will switch you.
Note: Plan changes will take effect immediately if you have a trial or an expired subscription. With an active subscription, plan changes will take effect from the next invoice date.
Note: Accounts switched to Free through the support chat are currently moved to the annual Free plan, with a limit of 60 documents per year.
Warning: Content library items will be inaccessible after downgrading to Free eSign. Make sure to download these items before changing your plan. Additionally, ensure you fully understand the plan limitations, such as templates limits and the document send limit (5 per month, or 60 per year on older annual Free accounts).
What happens to my documents after switching?
All your existing documents remain in your account.
You can download completed documents.
Sending documents with paid functionality will no longer be available. See the full functionality list here.- All documents created during your trial or paid subscription remain accessible as long as your account is active.
What happens to my templates?
You can access your templates and create documents from them.
Free plan allows up to 5 templates. If you have more, you’ll need to delete some before creating new ones.
What happens to my team?
All users in your workspace will also switch to the Free plan.
Can I switch back to a paid plan?
Yes! You can upgrade at any time without losing your data.
How to create and change your electronic signature
Go to Settings → Profile.
Make sure your name is added, this helps speed up signature creation. If no name is provided, your email will be used instead.
Click Setup signature to open the signature creation dialog.
Ways to create your signature:
Draw your signature
Type your name and choose a style
Upload an image of your signature
You can also create or change your signature directly from a signature field in the document editor.
Working with documents
We want you to get the full experience right away! That’s why we give you a trial bonus to kick things off.
The 14-day trial period
From the moment you sign up, you can send up to 5 documents over the next 14 days. Think of this as a "test drive”, it’s our gift to help you get started.
Active account limit
Once your trial ends (on Day 15), your Free plan subscription begins. At this point, your limit resets to a full 5 documents, and it resets to 5 again every month on your plan start date.
It doesn't matter if you used 1 document or all 5 during your trial; you still get a brand-new 5 document sends the moment your subscription goes active.
How to create documents
Click +Document on your dashboard or document lister.
Upload files in PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, PNG formats
You can also upload directly from your connected drives.
You can create unlimited documents in the app, but only 5 can be sent for eSignature per month (60 per year on older annual Free accounts). Sent documents count toward your limit.
Preparing and sending documents
Step 1: Add recipients and fields
Select the recipient from the top panel.
Drag and drop fields (signature, text, initials, date, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown, stamp, upload) onto the document.
Note: Collect files fields is unavailable with Free eSign.
Step 2: Send your document
Click Review and send to send via email. Customize subject and body text.
Generate a shareable link to send via messenger or other channels.
Working with templates
Free plan limit: 5 templates.
Templates allow you to reuse documents for repeated workflows.
How to create a template
Go to the Templates tab: Templates
Click +Template
Or convert an existing document via File → Convert to Template.
Template roles
Templates use roles instead of recipients. Roles are placeholders for future recipients.
Assign roles in the right sidebar and set permissions for each role.
Using templates
After creating a template and assigning roles, click Create document in the template lister to quickly generate new documents or create a document directly from the template.
Organizing & storing documents
Find all documents in the Document list.
Create folders using New folder next to the +Document button.
Move documents/templates via drag & drop or Move option at the top right.
Access signed by you documents in Inbox.
Team management
Unlimited team members can be invited to the Free plan.
Team members can access all documents, create new ones, and send for eSignature.
How to invite team members
By email or via invite link.
Deactivate links anytime using the link recreation icon.
Manage all team members in All users.
Collaborators
For document-specific access, invite team members as collaborators from Invite → Collaborator or File → Recipients → Collaborators.
API access on Free plan
API access on Free plan doesn't cover Oauth 2.0 applications creation and Webhooks.
API is available on the Free plan accounts created after June, 5th, 2026
Users can get both a sandbox key and an API key
Volume limits:
Monthly Free plan: 5 doc sends/month (shared with app and MCP sends), 25 documents created/month via API
Older annual Free plan: during trial, 50 doc creates and 50 doc sends; after trial, 60 doc sends/year and 150 documents created/year
Sandbox limitations:
Documents sent with a watermark
Recipients restricted to your business domain, or your own email if using Gmail
What's included on Free:
Template creation
Document creation
Document sending
Troubleshooting
On the monthly Free plan, you can send 5 documents per month. Once you reach the limit, sending is blocked until your allowance resets on your next monthly plan date. On older annual Free accounts, the limit is 60 documents per year.
I can’t send a document with more than 2 recipients
You can add only 2 recipients per document using Free Sign. Upgrade to a full plan to add more recipients.
To upgrade, follow these steps:
Select Start subscription now within the document or on Home
Next, select Manage plan and select the plan you need
Enter your credit card information
Finally, select Pay now
“Doing our part to reduce spam” message
Since certain users can use no-cost tools like PandaDoc to share harmful links, we're not allowing Free eSign and trial users to send documents with links. By removing links (including hyperlinked emails) from your PDF and re-uploading it to PandaDoc, you’ll be able to send the document. To avoid restrictions on sending documents that contain links, please upgrade to a full plan by following the steps above.
I
can’t invite a user with Manager or Member role
Unfortunately, you can't invite a user with a Manager or Member role. Account roles are available only with Starter, Business, and Enterprise plans. All users invited to Free eSign accounts will have an admin role.
To invite users in a Manager or Member role, consider upgrading to a full plan by following the steps indicated earlier in this guide.
I can’t download my document as .docx
Free eSign plan allows you to download your document as a PDF only. To download your document as .docx, consider upgrading to a full plan by following the steps indicated earlier in this guide.