[opensourcedex]

Documenso is a free, open source document management & e-signatures project written in TypeScript and released under AGPL-3.0. It has 15,062 GitHub stars, 3,225 forks and 238 open issues, and was last pushed 7 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #3 of 18 tracked projects in Document Management & E-Signatures, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 62 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

Documenso — Secure, open-source document signing for everyone

What is Documenso?

What it is

Documenso is open-source document signing software. It lives in business software ecosystem, specifically document management and e-signatures. Project calls itself open-source DocuSign alternative. It provides digital signing for PDF documents. It is written in TypeScript. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Repository shows 15014 stars, 3207 forks, 238 open issues, last push 2026-09-14.

Signing documents digitally introduces signing tool provider as party to signature. Documenso solves problem of trust provider. It lets teams self-host signing service. It lets teams review code under hood. It aims to build open trust infrastructure. It also offers hosted signup at documenso.com.

Key capabilities

  • Signs PDF documents digitally, with PDF signing topic and @libpdf/core.
  • Supports PAdES-standard PDF signatures, from pades-standard topic.
  • Provides self-hosted deployment and hosted signup at documenso.com.
  • Exposes application API through tRPC, with Prisma ORM and Postgres SQL Database.
  • Views PDFs with pdf.js and manipulates PDFs with @cantoo/pdf-lib.
  • Uses react-email templates and local Inbucket mail server for development.
  • Supports internationalization through Lingui and UI components through shadcn/ui and Radix UI.

Who uses it and how

  • Organizations self-host to keep signing data and signing service under own control.
  • Developers run local setup with Node.js v24 or above, Postgres SQL Database, optional Docker.
  • Developers fork repository, copy .env.example to .env, run npm run dx to start Postgres and Inbucket, then run npm run dev.
  • Users access app at http://localhost:3000, incoming mail at http://localhost:9000, database at port 54320.
  • Large organizations contact project for Enterprise plan when they need extra flexibility and control; contributors report bugs or propose features through detailed issues, because external pull requests are paused except for trusted contributors.

Getting started

Typical install/run/deploy methods are self-hosting and hosted signup at documenso.com. Local development requires Node.js v24 or above and Postgres SQL Database; Docker is optional, and npm run dx starts Postgres and Inbucket before npm run dev serves app at http://localhost:3000.

When to use it — and when not to

Documenso suits teams that want open-source alternative to DocuSign and can operate self-hosted signing infrastructure. It is less suitable for teams that want broad external pull-request contribution, because external pull requests are paused except for trusted contributors. Self-hosters must operate Postgres SQL Database and email infrastructure, and listed metrics show 0 contributors, 238 open issues, and repository age 0 years.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline
Documenso Logo

The Open Source DocuSign Alternative.
Learn more »

Discord · Website · Documentation · Issues · Upcoming Releases · Roadmap

Join Documenso on Discord Github Stars License Commits-per-month open in devcontainer Contributor Covenant

About Documenso

Signing documents digitally should be fast and easy and should be the best practice for every document signed worldwide. This is technically quite easy today, but it also introduces a new party to every signature: The signing tool providers. While this is not a problem in itself, it should make us think about how we want these providers of trust to work. Documenso aims to be the world's most trusted document-signing tool. This trust is built by empowering you to self-host Documenso and review how it works under the hood.

Join us in creating the next generation of open trust infrastructure.

Recognition

Documenso - The open source DocuSign alternative | Product Hunt Documenso - The Open Source DocuSign Alternative. | Product Hunt

Community and Next Steps 🎯

  • Try Documenso by self-hosting it or signing up at documenso.com.
  • Tell us what you think in the Discussions.
  • Join the Discord server for any questions and getting to know other community members.
  • ⭐ the repository to help us raise awareness.
  • Open detailed issues to report bugs or propose features.

Contributing

Note: We no longer accept external pull requests, aside from a small group of trusted contributors we reach out to directly. The best way to contribute is through detailed issues. Read Why We're Pausing External Pull Requests for the reasoning.

  • Documenso stays open source. You can read, audit, run, and fork the code.
  • To report issues or propose changes, see our contribution guide.

Contact us

Contact us if you are interested in our Enterprise plan for large organizations that need extra flexibility and control.

Book us with Cal.com

Tech Stack

TypeScript Made with Prisma Tailwind CSS

Local Development

Requirements

To run Documenso locally, you will need

  • Node.js (v24 or above)
  • Postgres SQL Database
  • Docker (optional)

Developer Quickstart

Note: This is a quickstart for developers. It assumes that you have both docker and docker-compose installed on your machine.

Want to get up and running quickly? Follow these steps:

  1. Fork this repository to your GitHub account.

After forking the repository, clone it to your local device by using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/documenso

  1. Set up your .env file using the recommendations in the .env.example file. Alternatively, just run cp .env.example .env to get started with our handpicked defaults.

  2. Run npm run dx in the root directory

    • This will spin up a postgres database and inbucket mailserver in a docker container.

  3. Run npm run dev in the root directory

  4. Want it even faster? Just use

npm run d
Access Points for Your Application

  1. App - http://localhost:3000

  2. Incoming Mail Access - http://localhost:9000

  3. Database Connection Details

    • Port: 54320
    • Connection: Use your favorite database client to connect using the provided port.

  4. S3 Storage Dashboard - http://localhost:9001

Developer Setup

Manual Setup

Follow the manual setup guide to configure Documenso on your local machine.

Run in Gitpod

  • Click below to launch a ready-to-use Gitpod workspace in your browser.

Open in Gitpod

Run in DevContainer

We support DevContainers for VSCode. Click here to get started.

Video walkthrough

If you're a visual learner and prefer to watch a video walkthrough of setting up Documenso locally, check out this video:

Watch the video

Docker

We provide official Docker images on DockerHub and [GitHub Container Registry](https://gh

readme truncated — read the full docs on github

Frequently asked questions

Is Documenso free to use?

Documenso is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Documenso do?

Secure, open-source document signing for everyone

What is Documenso written in?

Documenso is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/documenso/documenso, and it has 15,062 GitHub stars.