Why do legacy providers charge so much?
Many legacy e-signature vendors established their business models around enterprise per-seat licenses. Under this structure, a company pays 30 to 50 EUR per user every month, regardless of whether that user sends 100 documents or zero documents.
For small and medium enterprises where employees only occasionally send agreements, this results in an exorbitant real cost per executed signature. Furthermore, many international platforms add punitive fees for Nordic identity verification (MitID/BankID).
5 hidden fees to watch out for in SaaS contracts
Before entering into a long-term electronic signature agreement, scrutinize the fine print for these common hidden costs:
1. Identity verification surcharges: Extra per-transaction fees every time a recipient authenticates with MitID.
2. Extra recipient fees: Charging double or triple if an agreement requires two or three co-signers.
3. Long-term archiving fees: Deleting documents after 30 days unless you purchase expensive retention add-ons.
4. Onboarding and API setup fees: Charging thousands of kroner upfront just to unlock API keys or custom company branding.
5. Multi-year lock-ins: Rigid 12-month or 24-month contract commitments with strict renewal windows.
The benefits of a credit-based pricing model
A transparent credit-based model aligns software costs directly with business activity. With KvikSign, your company only pays when an actual signing or verification action occurs.
Credits purchased on active accounts do not expire, allowing businesses with seasonal peaks (such as recruitment agencies or property managers) to maintain stable cash flow without wasting money during quieter months.
Cost comparison example: What does digital signing really cost?
Consider a typical company of 15 employees sending 300 contracts annually (approx. 25 contracts per month):
• Legacy Enterprise SaaS: 5 user licenses at 350 DKK/month = 21,000 DKK/year + MitID gateway fees = over 25,000 DKK annually.
• Traditional Danish provider with user seats: Base subscription 4,800 DKK/year + 600 signatures at 5 DKK = 7,800 DKK/year.
• KvikSign Credit / Subscription Plan: Unlimited users, included MitID verification, and integrated secure file sharing: less than half the cost of traditional platforms with zero binding.