How to sign a PDF online, free
Draw a signature and place it exactly where you need it — no account, no upload, and a clear answer on what this does and doesn't cover legally.
The quick version
Upload your PDF, draw your signature with a mouse, finger, or stylus directly on the page, and download. It's the same idea as signing a printed page with a pen, done digitally — Sign PDF is built specifically for this and takes under a minute for a single signature.
What a drawn signature does and doesn't cover
It's worth being clear about this before you rely on it: drawing a signature onto a PDF adds it as visual content on the page, the same way ink looks on paper. It does not add cryptographic signature verification, identity confirmation, or a tamper-evident audit trail — the things dedicated e-signature services like DocuSign or Adobe Sign are built around, and that some contracts, legal filings, or business processes specifically require. For an internal form, a permission slip, or an informal agreement between people who already trust each other, a drawn signature is usually exactly enough. For a contract where legal enforceability or a verifiable signing record genuinely matters, check what your specific situation requires before treating a drawn signature as equivalent to a certified e-signature.
Which tool to use
Sign PDF is the fastest path if all you need is to add a signature — upload, draw, place, download, with page navigation if the document needs signing on more than one page. Edit PDF covers the same freehand signature capability but bundled with everything else you might need at the same time: filling in real form fields if the PDF has them, replacing or adding text (style-matched to blend in), inserting images or shapes, highlighting, and whiteout — useful if signing is only part of what the document needs before it's ready to send back.
Why do this instead of printing, signing, and scanning?
The traditional alternative — print the document, sign it with a pen, then scan or photograph it back into a PDF — works, but costs time and often produces a lower-quality result (visible paper texture, slight skew, uneven lighting from a phone photo). Signing directly in the PDF skips all of that: the rest of the document stays exactly as sharp as the original, and there's no printer or scanner involved at all.