Skribble vs HelloSign: The Swiss E-Signature Platform with Full eIDAS Compliance

Why Switch from HelloSign to Skribble?

HelloSign, rebranded to Dropbox Sign in 2023 after Dropbox’s acquisition, has been a popular e-signature solution for small and medium businesses. But the acquisition exposed a fundamental issue: HelloSign is now part of a US technology conglomerate subject to US data jurisdiction, and its e-signature capabilities remain limited to Simple and Advanced Electronic Signatures under EU law. For any European business that needs signatures with the legal weight of a handwritten signature — employment contracts, financial agreements, real estate transactions, regulatory filings — HelloSign simply cannot deliver.

Skribble, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, is the only e-signature platform that supports all three levels defined by the EU eIDAS regulation: Simple Electronic Signature (SES), Advanced Electronic Signature (AES), and Qualified Electronic Signature (QES). The QES level, achieved through Skribble’s partnership with Swisscom Trust Services (a certified EU and Swiss trust service provider), gives electronic signatures the same legal standing as handwritten signatures across all 27 EU member states and Switzerland.

This is not a minor technical distinction — it determines whether your signed contract holds up in court. A growing number of EU regulations and national laws require QES for specific document types. By choosing Skribble, European businesses gain access to the highest level of electronic signature available, backed by Swiss data sovereignty and GDPR-aligned privacy practices.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Skribble	HelloSign (Dropbox Sign)
SES (Simple)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
AES (Advanced)	✅ Yes	⚠️ Limited
QES (Qualified)	✅ Yes (Swisscom Trust Services)	❌ Not available
eIDAS compliance	✅ All 3 levels	⚠️ SES/AES only
Legal equivalence to handwritten	✅ Yes (QES)	❌ No
API access	✅ Full REST API	✅ Full API
Visual signing flow	✅ Drag-and-drop	✅ Drag-and-drop
Templates	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Bulk signing	✅ Yes (Business)	✅ Yes
Audit trail	✅ Detailed, timestamped	✅ Audit trail
Integrations	✅ SAP, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft	✅ Dropbox, Google, Salesforce
Data location	✅ Switzerland	⚠️ United States
Mobile signing	✅ Mobile-optimized	✅ Mobile app

Pricing

Skribble offers flexible pricing from pay-per-use to enterprise plans:

Skribble Pay-per-use: No subscription — CHF 2.50/SES signature, CHF 5.00/AES signature, CHF 25.00/QES signature. Ideal for low-volume or occasional signing.
Skribble Fair Flat: CHF 35/month per user (billed annually) — 600 SES, 60 AES, or 10 QES signatures per year included, additional signatures at reduced rates, API access, visual signing, templates
Skribble Business: CHF 85/month per user (billed annually) — unlimited SES and AES, QES at reduced rates, bulk signing, custom branding, admin dashboard, priority support, advanced API features
Skribble Enterprise: Custom pricing — dedicated account management, SLA guarantees, custom integrations, volume discounts, SSO
HelloSign (Dropbox Sign) Essentials: $20/month — 5 signature requests/month, templates, audit trail
HelloSign Standard: $30/month per user — unlimited signature requests, team features, integrations
HelloSign Premium: Custom pricing — advanced branding, bulk send, SSO, compliance features

For businesses that need QES, there is no price comparison — HelloSign simply does not offer it. For SES-only use cases, Skribble’s pay-per-use model at CHF 2.50/signature can be more cost-effective for low-volume users than HelloSign’s monthly subscription. For high-volume SES/AES signing, HelloSign’s unlimited plan may offer better value per signature, but without the legal qualification that makes Skribble essential for European business documents.

Privacy & Data Sovereignty

Skribble’s Swiss foundation provides best-in-class data protection:

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland — protected by the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (FADP), one of the world’s strongest privacy frameworks
All document processing and signature data stored in Swiss data centers operated by certified providers
Swiss adequacy decision by the European Commission — Swiss data protection is recognized as equivalent to EU GDPR
Not subject to the US CLOUD Act, FISA Section 702, or Patriot Act
Documents are encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256)
Signed documents include tamper-evident cryptographic seals that detect any modification after signing
Swisscom Trust Services partnership — a Swiss/EU-certified trust service provider under eIDAS and ZertES regulations
Data minimization — documents are processed for signing and not retained beyond the necessary period
No US parent company with potential data access (unlike HelloSign/Dropbox Sign, which is owned by US-based Dropbox Inc.)
Regular security audits and penetration testing by independent firms

The contrast with HelloSign is significant. After Dropbox’s acquisition of HelloSign, all HelloSign data is subject to Dropbox’s US-based data practices and US legal jurisdiction. The Dropbox Privacy Policy explicitly states that data may be shared with US law enforcement. For European businesses handling sensitive contracts — employment agreements, M&A documents, financial instruments — this jurisdictional exposure creates unnecessary legal risk.

Migration Guide

Migrating from HelloSign to Skribble is straightforward for most business workflows:

Assess your signature needs — identify which documents require which eIDAS level. Most internal approvals and non-regulated agreements can use SES. Employment contracts, financial agreements, and regulated documents may require AES or QES. This assessment determines your Skribble plan and whether signers need QES identity verification. (30 minutes)
Create your Skribble account — sign up at skribble.com and choose your pricing plan (Pay-per-use for evaluation, Fair Flat for regular use, Business for teams). Set up your organization profile, invite team members, and configure branding. (15 minutes)
Complete QES identity verification (if needed) — for users who will create QES signatures, schedule a video identification session (5-10 minutes per person). Once verified, the signer’s qualified certificate is linked to their Skribble account and subsequent QES signatures require only two-factor authentication. (10-15 minutes per signer)
Set up integrations — connect Skribble to your existing tools using pre-built integrations (SAP, Salesforce, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, SharePoint) or the REST API. Replicate your HelloSign workflow templates in Skribble’s visual editor. (1-2 hours)
Migrate templates and workflows — recreate your most-used document templates in Skribble, placing signature fields, date fields, and other form elements using the visual drag-and-drop editor. Test the signing flow with internal team members before going live. (1-2 hours)
Download archived documents — download all previously signed documents from HelloSign for your records. HelloSign provides bulk download options. Store these in your document management system. Cancel your HelloSign subscription once all active signature requests are completed. (30 minutes)

Estimated total time: Half a day for basic setup; 1-2 days for full enterprise migration with integrations. Difficulty level: Easy (basic) to Moderate (enterprise with API integrations).

Real-World Use Cases

A Swiss law firm with EU clients adopted Skribble to replace a combination of HelloSign (for US client contracts) and wet signatures (for EU contracts requiring legal equivalence). The firm’s partners and associates completed video identification for QES, enabling them to sign engagement letters, settlement agreements, and court filings with the same legal weight as handwritten signatures. Cross-border contract execution that previously required courier services and physical meetings now happens in minutes, saving the firm an estimated 120 billable hours per year on administrative signature logistics.
A German HR technology company integrated Skribble’s API into their recruitment platform, enabling employers to send legally binding employment contracts for QES signing directly from the platform. German employment law requires certain contract provisions to be signed with qualified signatures, making HelloSign legally insufficient. The API integration reduced the contract-to-start time from an average of 12 days (including postal signature logistics) to less than 24 hours, with a 94% signer completion rate on the first attempt.
A real estate management company in Zurich managing 800+ rental properties switched from HelloSign to Skribble for tenant lease agreements. Swiss tenancy law recognizes QES as equivalent to handwritten signatures, allowing the company to digitize its entire leasing process. New tenants complete video identification once (during the property viewing or remotely afterward) and then sign their lease via Skribble with QES. The company eliminated paper-based contract workflows, reduced contract processing time from 2 weeks to 2 days, and cut annual printing and postage costs by CHF 45,000.

Company Background

Skribble AG was founded in 2018 in Zurich, Switzerland, by Philippa Wollermann and Philippe Stuker. The founders recognized a gap in the European e-signature market: while US-based platforms like DocuSign and HelloSign dominated, none of them offered Qualified Electronic Signatures — the highest legal standard under the EU eIDAS regulation and Swiss ZertES law. This meant European businesses that needed legally binding digital signatures equivalent to handwritten ones had no convenient solution.

Skribble’s breakthrough was its partnership with Swisscom Trust Services, a subsidiary of Swisscom AG (Switzerland’s largest telecommunications company) that is certified as a trust service provider under both the EU eIDAS regulation and Swiss ZertES law. This partnership gives Skribble access to the infrastructure needed to issue qualified certificates and create Qualified Electronic Signatures — a capability that requires certification, auditing, and regulatory approval that most e-signature startups cannot obtain independently.

The company has raised over CHF 20 million in funding from European investors, including lead rounds from Swiss and German venture capital firms. Skribble has maintained its Swiss headquarters and commitment to European data sovereignty, with its entire team based across Switzerland, Germany, and other European countries. The company serves over 3,000 businesses and has processed millions of signatures.

Skribble’s approach reflects a broader trend in European enterprise software: building products that meet EU regulatory standards natively rather than retrofitting US-designed solutions for European compliance. While HelloSign and DocuSign have added some EU features over the years, they were designed for the US ESIGN Act legal framework and have not achieved QES certification — a gap that grows more significant as EU digital regulations tighten.

Security & Compliance

Skribble implements security and compliance measures aligned with Swiss and EU standards:

eIDAS compliance across all three signature levels (SES, AES, QES), with QES providing legal equivalence to handwritten signatures in all EU member states
ZertES compliance for Swiss law, providing the same legal equivalence under Swiss electronic signature legislation
Swisscom Trust Services certification — qualified certificates issued by a certified trust service provider audited under EU and Swiss regulatory frameworks
AES-256 encryption for documents at rest; TLS 1.3 for data in transit
Tamper-evident cryptographic seals on signed documents, using qualified timestamps that detect any modification after signing
ISO 27001 aligned information security management practices
SOC 2 Type II compliance for enterprise customers requiring formal audit attestation
Two-factor authentication for all signature creation, with additional mobile confirmation for QES
Qualified timestamps on all signatures, providing legal proof of the exact signing time from a certified time-stamping authority
Comprehensive audit trail documenting every step of the signing process — invitation, document access, identity verification, signature creation, and completion — for legal evidence

Integration Ecosystem

Skribble integrates with major business tools and offers comprehensive API access:

REST API — full-featured API for embedding signing workflows into custom applications, with SDKs for popular programming languages and detailed documentation
Salesforce integration — send documents for signature directly from Salesforce CRM records, with automatic status updates and signed document storage
SAP integration — embed Skribble signing into SAP procurement, HR, and contract management workflows
Google Workspace — create signature requests directly from Google Docs and Google Drive
Microsoft 365 / SharePoint — integrate with Microsoft document management and workflow automation
HubSpot — send contracts and proposals for signing from HubSpot CRM deals
Zapier — connect Skribble to 5,000+ applications through Zapier automation workflows
Webhook notifications — real-time event notifications for signature request status changes, enabling automated downstream processing
White-label signing (Enterprise) — embed the Skribble signing experience into your own application with custom branding
Batch/bulk signing (Business) — process high volumes of documents with pre-configured templates and automated distribution

Who Should Switch?

Skribble is ideal for:

Business owners who need legally binding digital signatures equivalent to handwritten signatures under EU law
Legal and compliance professionals handling contracts, agreements, and regulatory documents that require qualified electronic signatures
Developers who need a robust e-signature API with full eIDAS compliance for their applications
HR departments issuing employment contracts, offer letters, and agreements that must meet national signature requirements
Real estate and financial services professionals handling transactions where signature validity is legally critical
Privacy-conscious organizations that want document signing under Swiss/EU jurisdiction, not US data sovereignty

The Bottom Line

If your business only needs simple electronic signatures for internal approvals and low-stakes agreements, HelloSign (Dropbox Sign) works fine and may be cheaper at high volumes. Its Dropbox ecosystem integration is a genuine advantage for organizations already embedded in that platform.

But the moment you need signatures that carry the legal weight of a handwritten signature in the EU — and that moment comes faster than most businesses expect, whether through employment contracts, financial agreements, regulatory filings, or cross-border deals — HelloSign cannot help you. It does not offer Qualified Electronic Signatures, and as a US-owned platform, it faces structural barriers to eIDAS QES certification.

Skribble fills this gap definitively. It is the only platform offering all three eIDAS signature levels with genuine Swiss data sovereignty, a certified trust service provider partnership, and an API-first design that integrates into existing business workflows. For European businesses that take legal validity and data protection seriously, Skribble is not just an alternative to HelloSign — it is the platform that makes legally binding digital signatures actually work in Europe.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the three eIDAS signature levels and why do they matter?

The EU eIDAS regulation defines three levels of electronic signatures with increasing legal weight. Simple Electronic Signature (SES) is the basic level — essentially any electronic indication of agreement, like clicking an 'I accept' button or a typed name. Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) requires unique identification of the signer, the signer's sole control, and the ability to detect subsequent changes to the signed data. Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) is the highest level — it has the legal equivalence of a handwritten signature in all EU member states and requires a qualified certificate issued by a certified trust service provider after identity verification. Only QES is universally accepted for contracts that require handwritten signatures by law.

What is the difference between Skribble's QES and what HelloSign offers?

HelloSign (now Dropbox Sign) offers Simple Electronic Signatures (SES) and, in some contexts, Advanced Electronic Signatures (AES). It does not offer Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES). This is a critical distinction for European businesses: many contracts — employment agreements, real estate transactions, certain financial documents, and regulatory filings — require a QES to be legally valid in EU member states. Skribble is one of the few platforms that offers QES through its partnership with Swisscom Trust Services, a certified EU and Swiss trust service provider. If you need signatures with the legal weight of a handwritten signature, Skribble is one of the only viable options.

How does the QES identity verification work on Skribble?

To use Qualified Electronic Signatures on Skribble, each signer needs to complete a one-time identity verification. This can be done via video identification (a live video call with an identity verification agent, taking about 5-10 minutes) or through electronic identity (eID) services where available. Once verified, the signer receives a qualified certificate from Swisscom Trust Services that is stored securely and linked to their Skribble account. Subsequent QES signatures only require two-factor authentication (password plus mobile confirmation) — the identity verification does not need to be repeated.

Is Skribble legally valid outside of Europe?

Skribble's SES and AES signatures are recognized in most international jurisdictions that accept electronic signatures under their respective laws (ESIGN Act in the US, similar laws in UK, Canada, Australia, etc.). However, Skribble's key advantage — QES with EU-wide legal equivalence to handwritten signatures — is specifically relevant under the EU eIDAS regulation and Swiss ZertES law. Outside the EU, QES does not carry automatic legal recognition, though it can serve as strong evidence of signing intent. For cross-border transactions involving EU parties, Skribble's eIDAS compliance is a significant advantage over US-based alternatives.

Can I use Skribble with my existing document management system?

Yes. Skribble offers a comprehensive REST API that integrates with existing document management systems, CRMs, ERPs, and custom applications. Pre-built integrations are available for popular business tools including SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft SharePoint, Google Workspace, and various DMS platforms. The API allows you to embed the signing process directly into your existing workflows — documents can be sent for signature, signed, and returned without leaving your business application.