# E-signatures for freelancers and small businesses

> Customers sign via a signing link on their phone: legally binding, no app needed. The Free plan with 5 signature requests per month stays free.

Source: https://smartdocs.de/en/freelancers/

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For freelancers, SmartDocs replaces the paper routine (print, sign, scan, send back) with a signing link: your customer signs in a few minutes in the browser, on a smartphone too, with no account and no app. The Free plan is permanently free and is enough for many freelancers.

## How it works

1. Set up your order confirmation or contract once as a template (3 templates on the Free plan) and reuse it.
2. Send the signing link by email. SmartDocs sends automatic reminders if nothing has happened yet.
3. The customer signs in the browser. You see the status in real time and receive the sealed document with an audit trail and a completion certificate.

## Typical uses

Booking contracts for events and parties, photo shoot contracts with usage rights, coaching and fee agreements, course registrations with terms of participation, quotes and order confirmations for home, garden and repair services, and project contracts for creative work.

## The Free plan

Permanently free, no payment details, no minimum term: 5 signature requests per month, 3 reusable templates, an audit trail and a completion certificate with every request. One request is one document, regardless of the number of signers. When your needs grow, upgrading to Pro (unlimited requests, €25 per month, cancel monthly) takes effect immediately. Details under [Pricing](/en/pricing/).

## Legal certainty

Even on the Free plan, every request produces a tamper-evident audit trail and a completion certificate. Most everyday business contracts have no form requirement; electronic signatures are admissible as evidence under eIDAS. For the statutory written form, there is the qualified signature (QES). More under [Legal validity](/en/legal-validity/). Hosting is exclusively in German data centers; see [Security](/en/security/).