PandaDoc Review – Pros & Cons [2023]

PandaDoc is a popular electronic signature software that allows you to manage legally binding signatures for all your documents. With flexible customizability, PandaDoc lets you finetune templates to your needs. PandaDoc has unique features like recipient analytics, interactive quotes, and more. The built-in editor is strong, so you don’t need other word-processing tools to edit your documents. While PandaDoc is impressive, some features may be lacking. We’ll cover it all in our review – let’s go!

Top Features of PandaDoc

PandaDoc is rich in features, and they are designed to make e-signing more efficient. Here is a detailed overview of its features.

Document Signing

Signing documents and sending them to other signers is very simple and efficient with PandaDoc. Once your document is finalized, you can instantly share it with the recipient. You can also send personalized messages with that document to brief the recipient. While sending the document, you can set the expiration date.

That’s not all. If you allow the recipient to forward that document to others, they can end that document to other signers. This makes the whole process more convenient. Preparing and sending documents is easy, thanks to the user-friendly interface of PandaDoc. More on that later.

Template Library

As we have already mentioned, PandaDoc has a massive collection of templates to make document creation effortless. You will find more than 450 templates for your needs in the template library. Expert professionals create these templates, so most small or medium businesses will find these templates helpful.

These templates come in various types. Be it an invoice or marketing agreement, you will find everything in the template library. If these templates aren’t enough, you can customize them with the necessary fields or contents. Customizing these templates is a breeze because you have an easy document editor here. 

Document Upload

Templates available in the PandaDoc library might not always fit the exact needs of your business. In such cases, you may upload the necessary documents in different formats. PandaDoc lets you upload documents in multiple formats, such as PDF, Word, PNG, JPG, etc. You can customize Word files in PandaDoc.

Other formats aren’t customizable. So, if you have uploaded a PDF document with errors or need to change something, you need to create a new document and upload it to PandaDoc again. This may be an issue for many users, but it’s the standard practice in the industry.

Document Editor

When handling various types of documents, you may need to edit documents anytime, anywhere. Having a simple document editor like PandaDoc is bliss. This offers you basic editing features in mid-tier plans. You can add multiple fields to your documents to make them stand out. This is applicable for templates downloaded from the platform or external documents uploaded to the platform.

For example, you can pull a template and add signatures, initials, date fields, checkboxes, text boxes, dropdown menus, and more to those templates. Different blocks can also be added to the documents, such as text, images, videos, pricing tables, and more to design the document just as you need. This flexibility isn’t common in many other e-signature tools. So, PandaDoc can be an efficient tool for designing your contracts or invoices before sending them to signers.

Version Control

If you have a large business that needs to dispatch numerous documents daily, you might also have a team to manage these documents. When multiple users work on a document, version control is crucial. PandaDoc offers excellent version control to keep track of every change made to the document. 

With this feature, PandaDoc creates a new version of the document if anyone edits or sends a document. Restoring or redlining a document will also create a new version. You can check these versions from the version history and restore the document to any previous version you want. The chance of losing these documents is also reduced with the version history.

Advanced Editor

Besides the basic editor in mid-tier plans, you will get an advanced editor in high-tier plans, which has some unique features to make your workflow more efficient. For example, you can add pricing table blocks that let recipients customize the order easily. 

When you add such a block to a sales document, a purchase order, for example, the recipients can customize the numbers before sending them back to you. As a result, the whole process is completed faster with less confusion. You can add other elements to documents or templates in the advanced editor.

One of these elements is variables. You can add these variables to eliminate the need to fill in the values manually. Once the variable value is put in, that variable will be automatically copied to all the relevant fields to save time. You can define these variables in different ways for each document. 

You can use the comment feature if you need to point out something after you have sent your document. When you mention the recipients using this feature, the recipients can see the updates and participate in the discussion. You can also block recipients from editing that document. This ensures no unwanted changes are made after you send the document to recipients for signing.

Content Library

Whether you pick a document from the template library or upload your own, all recent documents are saved in the content library. If you use a custom element in the document, that will also be saved in the library so you can use it quickly.

Custom Branding

If you choose high-tier plans on PandaDoc, you have the option to customize the branding of your documents. For example, you can upload logos to PandaDoc and use them in your documents. Removing the default branding is also possible. Plus, you can customize email footers according to your needs.

Multiple Language Support

Creating and managing documents in multiple languages is possible here. PandaDoc supports languages like English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and more, but the number of languages supported is much lower than other popular e-signature tools, which seems to be a significant drawback. 

Recipient Analytics

This advanced feature of PandaDoc gives you a complete overview of the recipient’s behavior after sending the documents to them. You can check how much time they’ve spent on each page or the whole document. Other activities of recipients can also be checked with this feature.

Security Features

Two-factor authentication is a must to ensure the safety of your documents. PandaDoc offers two-factor authentication, so you have nothing to worry about. This tool is also compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, etc. PandaDoc also has secure cloud storage to safely store your documents. As the audit trail is attached to the document, you can see every action inside.

Pros & Cons of PandaDoc

Check the advantages and disadvantages of this tool before you commit.

PandaDoc Plans & Pricing

PandaDoc offers four pricing plans, with one of them free. Here they are:

• Free – starting at $0/mo
  • Unlimited legally binding eSignatures
  • Unlimited document uploads
  • Payments
  • Mobile app
• Essentials – starting at $29/mo
  • Templates
  • Rich media drag-and-drop document editor
  • Document analytics
  • 24/7 email and chat support
• Business – starting at $59/mo
  • CRM and Zapier integrations
  • Content library
  • Custom branding
  • Approval workflows
• Enterprise – ask for a quote
  • SSO support and custom user roles
  • Unlimited number of team workspaces
  • User performance and content reporting
  • Notary

Our Take on PandaDoc

PandaDoc is an efficient e-signature tool that takes care of all your signing needs. Once you upload a document or pick a template, you have moderate customizability to add multiple fields to your document. After finalizing your document, you can easily send your document to multiple signers and view recipient analytics. Adding variables lets you avoid filling in the same information over and over again. You also have the custom branding feature, which allows you to upload your logos and other elements to keep your documents consistent. PandaDoc uses 256-bit SSL encryption and two-factor authentication to protect your sensitive documents on the cloud. With the version control system, you can easily view the version history and restore the desired version. PandaDoc offers multiple integrations, but more would be better. The measly language support is another downside of the tool. This tool offers a free plan, and the Essentials plan costs $29 per month, which is a bit higher compared to basic plans on other tools.