Documenso Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Documenso hosting on xCloud gives you a self-hosted document signing server on your own domain, with PDF signing workflows and email invitations to signers. Deploy Documenso from the OneClick catalog and xCloud starts the pinned v2.18.0 image with a private PostgreSQL 15 database, generates the encryption keys and a bootstrap signing certificate and publishes it over HTTPS. You supply the SMTP relay.

Deploy your Documenso

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is Documenso?

Documenso is an open-source document signing platform, and its README calls it the open source DocuSign alternative. It argues that signing documents digitally should be fast and easy, and that signing tool providers add a new party to every signature. The template README lists PDF workflows, audit trails and email-based signer invitations. Self-hosted Documenso is a signing server you run yourself, rather than the project's hosted service at documenso.com. Its licence is AGPL-3.0.

The xCloud template deploys Documenso v2.18.0, pinned by digest, with PostgreSQL 15.14. Uploads are stored in the database, and a signing certificate in PKCS#12 form is generated into the documenso_cert volume on first start. The install form asks for your SMTP details, because sign-up confirmation and signing invitations need a working mail relay.

From Sign-Up to Your First Signing Server In 3 Easy Steps

Self-hosting a signing server normally means a database, secrets, a certificate, a mail relay and a domain before the first document goes out. This is the same starting point without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account, pick Documenso from the OneClick catalog and choose a domain. Add your SMTP relay details for email.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We run pinned Documenso v2.18.0 with PostgreSQL 15.14, generate its secrets and certificate, and publish it over HTTPS.
Step 03
Register And Promote Your Admin
Sign up and confirm your email, then run the documented command to grant ADMIN and turn off open sign-up.

Everything Documenso Does, On Your Own Server

Documenso runs in full here, a self-hosted signing platform on infrastructure you control.

Upload, Add Signers, Sign
Upload a PDF, add signers and signature fields, then collect every signature in the browser on your own server.
Email Signer Invitations
Invitations go out through the SMTP relay you set in the install form, so mail runs through your own provider.
Certificate-Signed Downloads
Signed PDFs carry a CAdES detached signature made with the certificate installed on your server.
Documents Stay Put
Uploads are stored in PostgreSQL, and telemetry is disabled, so your documents stay on the server you control.
Generated Secrets Included
The database password, session secret, encryption keys and signing passphrase are generated at install, not typed by you.
Survives A Restart
After a restart of both containers, a signed document stayed COMPLETED and byte-identical, with the certificate unchanged.

Everything You Need To Run Your Document Signing, Your Server

Managed hosting for Documenso, so HTTPS, PostgreSQL and the signing certificate stay running on a server you control.

Documenso v2.18.0 deployed instantly
Upstream images pinned by digest
PostgreSQL with no published port
Free SSL certificate
Server security updates included
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Documenso

Collect signatures on contracts
You upload a PDF, add the people who must sign, and Documenso emails each one an invitation, then keeps an audit trail of what happened.
Keep signed documents on your own server
A business that does not want contracts held by a third-party signing provider keeps uploads and records in a PostgreSQL volume it controls.
Run one signing server for a small team
A small team shares one instance, with the first account promoted to administrator and public sign-up switched off after onboarding.
Send onboarding paperwork
An HR or operations team sends the same PDF forms to new people and tracks which recipients have signed.

Documenso vs Alternatives

DocuSign: Documenso's README calls it the open source DocuSign alternative. Here documents and the audit trail sit on your own server, and this page makes no legal-equivalence claim.
DocuSeal: DocuSeal is a separate document signing project with its own OneClick page. Compare its template and API features with Documenso's before choosing.
OpenSign: OpenSign is another separate signing project with its own OneClick page. Check its signer experience and licence terms next to Documenso's AGPL-3.0.
Printing and scanning by hand: Paper needs no server, but every contract costs a round of printing, signing and scanning. Documenso replaces that with emailed links, at the cost of running a server and an SMTP relay.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for Documenso hosting. Pick the one that fits, and resize any time.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

Heavier signing volume, alongside other services on the same box.

$59.99per month

16 GB RAM
6 vCPU cores
200 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

Documenso alongside a whole self-hosted stack.

$84.99per month

24 GB RAM
8 vCPU cores
300 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in. Documenso is free under the AGPL-3.0 license.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Documenso on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

Start your journey without cost.

$0forever

1 server
10 sites

Start free

Starter

Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

6–10 servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

11+ servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts automatically as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Self-managed hosting

Ready To Sign On Your Own Server?

Documenso on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own the server. Stay in control.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Is Documenso free?

Yes. Documenso is released as open source under AGPL-3.0, and the licence is linked here at the pinned v2.18.0 tag, a copyleft licence that expects modified versions to publish their source. Your xCloud invoice covers only the VPS, and your SMTP provider bills you on its own.

Can you self-host Documenso with Docker?

Yes, and this Documenso Docker hosting template does it for you: the upstream image, pinned by digest, runs beside a private PostgreSQL container on your own server, with HTTPS in front of port 3000. It is not the hosted Documenso cloud, so documents stay on your server.

How much RAM does Documenso need?

The template manifest asks for 1024 MB of RAM, 2 CPU cores and 10 GB of disk as a floor. Concurrent signing, large PDFs and database growth need more, because uploads live in PostgreSQL. This page sells the 6 GB tier, which leaves wide room above that floor.

Why does Documenso need SMTP?

Sign-up confirmation and signing invitations are sent by email, and sign-up cannot complete without a working relay. The install form asks for the host, port, security mode, username, password and sender address. Real delivery was not exercised in QA, so send yourself a test first.

How do I get an admin account in Documenso?

There is no pre-created admin. Register, confirm the email, then promote your account with the documented database command run on the server. The first registrant is a normal user, not an administrator, so do this once before you hand the site to anyone else.

Can strangers register on my Documenso server?

Yes, until you stop them. Anyone who can reach the site can register until you set NEXT_PUBLIC_DISABLE_SIGNUP=true in the Environment editor and redeploy. Do that right after your own account is promoted, and keep using a private SMTP relay for the confirmation mail.

Are Documenso signatures legally strong out of the box?

Not by default, and this page makes no legal claim. Signing uses a generated self-signed bootstrap certificate, so replace it with a trusted PKCS#12 certificate before production use and keep its passphrase in sync. Ask your own legal adviser what your documents require.

Can I upload Word files to Documenso?

Not in this template. DOCX conversion is not enabled, so upload PDF files. If you need Word support, upstream says to point the document conversion URL setting at a Gotenberg service, which this template does not include. Convert to PDF before you upload.

How do I back up Documenso?

Back up documenso_postgres and documenso_cert together, plus the session secret, both encryption keys, the signing passphrase and the database password. A database restore without the matching encryption keys cannot decrypt stored documents. Keep backups off the server and test a restore.

Backup and restore Docker apps

How do I upgrade Documenso?

A live install keeps Documenso v2.18.0 when the catalog is re-synced. To upgrade, back up both volumes and the generated secrets, then adopt a newer template version rather than editing the image tag or digest. Read the upstream release notes and migrations first, and never delete the named volumes.

Is Documenso an alternative to DocuSign?

Its README calls it the open source DocuSign alternative. Documenso collects signatures on PDF documents and runs on your own server, with an audit trail and email invitations to signers. This page makes no feature-parity or legal-equivalence claim, so test a real signing flow first.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.