Guide

How to Sign a PDF Online for Free

You can sign a PDF for free without buying anything. To sign it yourself, use the tool already on your device: Preview on a Mac, Microsoft Edge or Adobe Acrobat Reader on Windows, or the built-in markup tools on an iPhone or Android phone. To get someone else to sign it, upload it to an e-signature service with a free allowance, place a signature field, and send them a link. Which one you need depends on a question most guides skip: whose signature are you collecting?

First: are you signing, or collecting a signature?

These are two different jobs. Signing a PDF yourself, say a form someone emailed you, only needs a way to put your signature on the page and save it. Collecting someone else's signature, a contract with a client or a lease with a tenant, needs a way to send it, have them sign on their own device, and keep a record showing who signed and when. Free tools handle the first job well. For the second, the free option is a service with a free tier.

Signing a PDF yourself, for free

On a Mac: Preview

1. Open the PDF in Preview and show the Markup toolbar (the pen-tip icon).
2. Click the Sign button, then create a signature by signing on the trackpad, holding a signature on paper up to the camera, or drawing it on a connected iPhone.
3. Click the saved signature to place it, drag it into position, resize it, and save the file.

On Windows: Microsoft Edge or Acrobat Reader

Microsoft Edge opens PDFs directly in the browser and has a Draw tool on its PDF toolbar: draw your signature with a mouse, pen, or touchscreen, then save a copy. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader offers a Fill & Sign tool that lets you type, draw, or upload an image of your signature and place it on the form. Neither one costs anything.

On a phone

Both major phone platforms can do it without an extra app in most cases. See the step-by-step guides for signing a PDF on an iPhone and signing a PDF on Android.

The catch with signing it yourself

A signature you place on your own copy is just an image on a page: it shows you meant to sign, but nothing records when you did it, from where, or that the document wasn't changed afterwards. That's usually fine for returning a form. It's weak if the document is a contract you might need to enforce, because the other side can more easily dispute it.

Getting someone else to sign a PDF, for free

To collect a signature, you need an e-signature service. The general process is the same everywhere:

1. Upload the PDF to the service.
2. Place a signature field (and usually a date and printed-name field) where the other person signs, and initials fields on any pages that need them.
3. Add the signer's name and email. They receive a link and sign on their phone or computer, without creating an account.
4. When everyone has signed, each party gets the completed PDF, typically with a certificate recording each signer's consent, timestamps, and IP address.

Several services include a free allowance that's enough for occasional use. Some reset every month and some are a one-time starting allowance; see the best free e-signature software for what each one actually includes and where its limits are. DocuAgree's first 3 documents are free with no card required, including uploaded PDFs, and after that it's $4.99/month with no limit on documents. If what you're sending is a standard document, you can also start from a free template instead of a PDF.

Why the signer's evidence matters

If a signature is ever challenged, what decides it isn't how the signature looks; it's the record around it. A service that shows the signer a consent disclosure, captures their email, IP address, and timestamps on its own servers, and seals the finished document so later changes are detectable gives you far stronger evidence than a signature image pasted onto a page. See is an electronic signature legally binding? for the conditions the law actually sets.

A word on "free online PDF signer" sites

Many websites offer to sign a PDF if you upload it. They work, but every file you upload ends up on someone else's servers. Before using one for a contract, an ID, or anything financial, check who runs it, what its privacy policy says, and how long it keeps your files. When you only need to sign it yourself, signing on your own device keeps the document off anyone else's servers.

Frequently asked questions

General information, not legal advice. If a document has specific signing requirements, such as notarization, witnesses, or a certificate-based digital signature, follow those instead.