RunwayDue sends a PDF out for electronic signature and gives you back one file: the original with every signature stamped into it, and a certificate of completion bound to the back. The certificate records who signed, when (in UTC, to the second), from which network address, when each person agreed to sign electronically, and the SHA-256 fingerprint of the document as sent. Signers need no account; each gets a private link by email. Signing is included on Pro and bought in packs on the Free plan.
Weighing it against a dedicated signing tool? How RunwayDue and DocuSign differ sets the two side by side.
Setting up a request
Upload a PDF of up to 12 MB and 100 pages, or start from a proposal uploaded as a PDF or a contract with a PDF attached, which fills in the file, title and client. Then add the people, each in one of three roles:
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Needs to sign | Fills the fields you place for them |
| Needs to approve | Says yes or no, and signs nothing |
| Gets a copy | Receives the finished document, never asked for anything |
At least one person must be a signer, and "Add me as a signer" puts you on the list to countersign. Choose one after another, the default, where each person is emailed only once the one before has finished, or everyone at once. A sign-by date is suggested 14 days out and can be cleared; once it passes, the link stops accepting signatures and the request shows as expired.
Then place the fields: signature, initials, date signed, full name, job title, email, text box or checkbox. Click where each goes, then drag or resize it. Each signer has their own colour, so a box placed for the wrong person shows before you send. Date signed, name and email are filled in from the record, and the request will not send while any signer has nothing to fill.
What the signer sees
Signers work in a browser, with no account, app or printing. Before any field can be filled, a screen headed "Agree to sign electronically" tells them what will be recorded (name, email, time, network address, browser and operating system), that they can ask you for paper instead, and that nothing is signed until they press the final button. They tick a box to carry on, and the time goes on the record.
A "Go to next field" button walks them through their boxes. A signature can be drawn, typed in a script font, or uploaded as a photograph of an ink signature with the background removed. RunwayDue fills in the date itself, so nobody can backdate their own signature. A signer who disagrees can decline instead, and has to say why.
Reminders, replaced links and revisions
On Pro and the plans above it, an unsigned request is chased automatically: every 3 days unless you change it, zero to turn it off, stopping after six reminders or at the sign-by date. Only people who still have to act are reminded. On every plan, including Free, a Remind button sends one straight away.
If a link reached the wrong inbox, you can replace that one signer's link; the old one stops working and the change is written into the audit trail. After a decline or a withdrawal, "Send a revised version" copies the file, recipients and field placements into a draft of its own, with a fresh link for each person. Only the fields can be changed in that draft, so a reworded PDF or a different signer means a new request. No signature or consent carries across; the original stays untouched as the record.
The signed copy and its certificate
When the last person finishes, the signatures are stamped into the original PDF once, from the bytes that were sent, and the certificate is added at the back. It sets out:
- the document: title, file name, reference, SHA-256 of the original, signing order, sender, created and completed times
- each person: name, role, the email the link went to, when they signed, when they agreed to sign electronically, network address (or "not recorded") and browser
- the audit trail: every invitation, reminder, opening, consent and signature, each with its UTC time and network address
- anything that could not be drawn in full, such as a long answer in a small box
- a note on what kind of signature this is
The fingerprint lets anyone check, years later, that a copy of the original is the exact file that went out; what each part of a signing audit trail proves goes through every element. It is one self-contained PDF, which a bank or a court can read without a login.
Completion also updates the record it came from: a contract becomes signed, which puts its billing schedule into your forecast (each instalment still waits for you to press "Bill it"), and a sent proposal becomes accepted.
Contracts signed on their share link
Any sent contract, whether written in the built-in editor or uploaded as a PDF, can also be signed on its share link, which records less. The signer types their name (a job title and email are optional), types it again as the signature, and ticks a box confirming their authority to bind their organisation; the contract keeps those with the time and network address. There is no consent screen, no certificate and no email to you. It needs Pro or above, or one pack document on Free. For the certificate, upload the agreement as a PDF contract and send it with "Send for signature", which appears on any unsigned contract or unaccepted proposal with a PDF attached, rather than by its share link.
Access codes on Business and Enterprise
On Business and Enterprise you can give a signer an access code to pass on separately, over the phone for instance. It is asked for before the document opens and checked again on consent, signing, declining and downloading, and guessing is capped at eight attempts per link every 15 minutes. The app's own description is fair: useful against a forwarded email, though not much more. On Free, Pro and the trial the field is not shown.
What it is not
These are electronic signatures with an audit trail, not certificate-based digital signatures from a licensed certifying authority, a DSC or an Aadhaar eSign; if a document demands one of those, use a licensed provider for it. Nor does RunwayDue verify identity by document, text-message code or security questions: the record shows that whoever held the link, and any access code, did what the trail says. There are no saved templates and no bulk sending either: each request carries one PDF, with its own recipients and fields.
The note on what kind of signature this is, shown where you send and beside the fields, follows the country your workspace has stated: the ESIGN Act, state law and seven excluded kinds of document for the US, the DSC warning and the IT Act's list for India, and a general note for anywhere else or nowhere stated. The certificate's legal note follows the same country, fixed when the signed copy is made; a signer's country is never collected.
The law, in brief
In the US, the ESIGN Act and state law (UETA in almost every state, a statute of its own in New York) give an electronic signature the effect of ink, with a short list of exceptions. ESIGN, UETA and New York's own statute, explained covers the law, the documents ESIGN does not reach, category by category covers the exceptions, and how Indian law treats an e-signed agreement covers India. None of this is legal advice.
What signing costs
Signing is included on Pro, at $15 a month billed yearly or $17 monthly, where each request you send uses one of the plan's 250 documents a month. On Free you buy signature documents in packs of 1, 5, 10 or 25: $2, $7, $12 and $25, or ₹100, ₹400, ₹700 and ₹1,500 in India before 18% GST. Pack documents do not expire. Access codes come with Business, at $50 a month billed yearly or $60 monthly. Every plan gets the same consent screen, audit trail and certificate.
Frequently asked questions
Does the person signing need a RunwayDue account?
No. Each signer opens the private link from their email in a web browser, agrees to sign electronically, fills in their fields and presses "Finish signing". Because the link stands in for a login, forwarding it hands over that person's place, which is what an access code on Business and Enterprise guards against.
Can I send a Word document for signature?
Not as a Word file. RunwayDue takes PDF only, because a Word document repaginates on each reader's machine and a signature box has to stay on its line; a Word upload is refused with a note to export a PDF first. A PDF locked with a password or usage restrictions is refused too, because it cannot be stamped without corrupting the signed copy. Printing it to PDF usually produces an unprotected version.
What happens when a signer declines?
The request closes for everyone at once, so nobody else is asked to sign a document somebody has refused. The signer's reason is emailed to your workspace's address, and "Send a revised version" starts a fresh draft with the same file, recipients and fields; only the fields can be changed there, so a reworded PDF goes out as a new request. On Free, the pack document a declined request used is not given back, because it was delivered and answered.
Can I pull a signature request back after sending it?
Yes, until the last person signs: "Withdraw" closes it, and the signer's link then says so. A fully signed document cannot be withdrawn: once the last person signs, the Withdraw button is gone. On Free, if nobody had opened it, the pack document goes back on your balance; once anyone has, it stays spent, and the confirmation says which applies before you press it.
Is the signed PDF attached to the completion email?
No. Everyone on the request, including anyone who only gets a copy, is emailed to say it is done, with a link to the signed copy rather than an attachment. Signers download it from the same private link they signed with, and each such download is added to the request's audit trail.
Can I send a document that is not a contract or a proposal?
Yes. A signature request can stand on its own: upload your own PDF (up to 12 MB and 100 pages, with no password or usage restrictions), such as a non-disclosure agreement or a change order, and it gets the same consent screen and certificate. Starting from a proposal or contract fills in the file and the client and ties the result to that record, so completing it marks the contract signed or the proposal accepted.