Electronic Signature vs Digital Signature: What's the Difference?

The terms get used interchangeably, but they describe different things. An electronic signature (e-signature) is the broad, legal concept: any electronic mark that shows a person's intent to agree to a document. That can be a typed name, a checkbox, a drawn squiggle, or a signature image pasted onto a PDF. A digital signature is a specific, technical method — a cryptographic mechanism that also proves who signed and that the document hasn't changed since.

Put simply: every digital signature is a kind of electronic signature, but not every electronic signature is a digital signature. One is a legal category; the other is a security technology that can back it up.

An electronic signature captures intent. When you draw your name on a delivery tablet, type your name into a web form's 'sign here' box, or drop a signature image onto a contract, you've created an electronic signature. In the US (under the ESIGN Act and UETA) and the EU (under eIDAS), these are generally valid and enforceable for most everyday agreements.

The catch is proof. A pasted signature image says who claims to have signed, but on its own it doesn't cryptographically prove it was that person, or that nobody altered the document afterward. For low-stakes documents — internal forms, informal agreements — that's usually fine.

A digital signature uses public-key cryptography to bind the signature to both the signer's identity and the exact contents of the document. If a single character changes after signing, the signature breaks and verification fails. This gives two guarantees a plain image can't: authenticity (the signer is who they claim, via a certificate) and integrity (the document is unaltered).

This is what banks, governments, and legal platforms use for high-value documents. It usually involves a digital certificate from a trusted authority. You don't need it to add your signature to a PDF for a landlord or a permission slip — but you do for things where tamper-proof identity matters.

For the vast majority of everyday signing — agreements, forms, letters, contracts between individuals — a plain electronic signature is legally sufficient and far simpler. Draw or type your signature and place it on the document. For regulated, high-value, or fraud-sensitive documents, you'll want a digital signature with a certificate, typically through a dedicated platform.

If you just need to sign a document quickly, create a signature image with a signature maker and drop it onto your PDF — no account, no certificate, done in a minute.