The vendor never reads your document
With DocuSign, the document is uploaded to and processed by the service. With Zeromatics, it is sealed on your device — the server only ever holds ciphertext.
Comparison
Beyond DocuSign?
Sign documents the vendor can never read.
DocuSign is the ubiquitous standard for e-signature, accepted everywhere and integrated with everything. With Zeromatics, signing happens inside a zero-knowledge workspace where the server only ever holds ciphertext — the vendor can never read your document.
DocuSign is a good product. This page is about one architectural difference — and who it matters for.
Side by side
DocuSign and Zeromatics, side by side
| DocuSign | Zeromatics | |
|---|---|---|
| Encryption model | Documents are uploaded to and processed by DocuSign, encrypted at rest with DocuSign-managed keys (customer-managed keys via the paid Security Appliance). | Client-side, zero-knowledge encryption — the server only ever holds ciphertext; the vendor can never read the document. |
| Where signing happens | On DocuSign's service, which reads and renders the document to run the signing flow. | Inside your zero-knowledge workspace; the document is decrypted only on the signer's device. |
| E-signing & digital signatures | Industry-leading e-signature with broad legal acceptance and certificate-based digital signatures. | E-signing and cryptographic digital signatures built into the encrypted workspace. |
| Integrations | Vast ecosystem of integrations and a mature developer API. | Signing lives inside the workspace where the documents already are. |
| Document workflow | Strong agreement workflow and contract lifecycle management (CLM). | Review and approval routing inside the encrypted workspace, with a signed audit trail. |
| Task management & AI | AI features and analytics run on DocuSign's cloud over your agreement data. | Encrypted tasks and private RAG AI on self-hosted models — your data never leaves your boundary. |
| Self-hosting | Cloud SaaS, hosted by DocuSign. | The entire platform can run privately on the customer's own infrastructure. |
| Platform breadth | Agreement management: e-signature, CLM and related tools. | Five products on one encrypted core — signing is one feature of the workspace. |
The difference that matters
Who can read the document being signed?
Signing where the documents already live
No upload to a separate signing service. E-signing and cryptographic digital signatures are built into the same encrypted workspace.
Run it on your own infrastructure
DocuSign is hosted SaaS. Zeromatics can run entirely on your own servers — agreements, workflow and signatures all stay inside your boundary.
To be fair
When DocuSign is the right choice
- You need the most widely recognised and legally accepted e-signature brand.
- Counterparties already expect to sign through DocuSign.
- You depend on its vast catalogue of pre-built integrations and mature API.
- Full contract lifecycle management at enterprise scale is a current requirement.
If your data could appear in a headline, the architecture is the decision. That is where we are different.
See the difference, sealed, live.
Watch your own data turn to ciphertext before it leaves the browser. The demo takes two minutes.