Is a recorded e-signature the same as an audit trail?

No. An audit trail is a list of events: who opened the document, from which IP address, and when they signed. A recording is a replay of the session itself, so you can see the signer fill the fields and sign.

Is a recorded e-signature legally binding?

The signature is an electronic signature like any other. Under the federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. 7001), a signature or contract cannot be denied legal effect just because it is electronic. The recording adds evidence of how it was signed. This is not legal advice.

Can I use a recorded e-signature for TCPA consent?

Yes. The FCC's prior express written consent has to be signed, and electronic signatures count where federal or state law recognizes them. A recording of the signing keeps the request for consent in the same manner and format the consumer saw it, which the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule asks for.

How much does a recorded e-signature cost on Kapture?

Unlimited e-signatures are $15 a month with your own storage bucket, with no seats. Pay as you go is $0.25 a signed document with your own bucket, or $0.50 on KX21-hosted storage. New accounts start with 2,000 free tokens, no credit card needed.

Kapture · Recorded e-signature

Recorded e-signature

A recorded e-signature is an electronic signature that comes with a replay of the signer’s whole session: the document and wording they saw, what they typed, where they clicked, and the second they signed. An audit trail says a signature happened. A recording shows how.

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Why record a signing

“I never signed that”: A certificate lists an email, an IP address and a time. A replay shows the person opening the document, scrolling it, filling the fields and signing. That is a harder story to dispute.
Signed consent: The FCC’s prior express written consent has to be signed, and an electronic signature counts. The FTC asks you to keep the request for consent in the same manner and format it was presented. A recording of the signing keeps exactly that. See what a TCPA consent record has to contain.
One record for forms and signatures: Most teams keep lead-form proof in one tool and signed documents in another. With a recorded e-signature, a signature is just one more recorded submission, searchable in the same place as the lead that led to it.

What counts as a recorded e-signature

A signing is recorded, in the sense we mean, when you can produce all of these for it:

A replay of the signer’s actual session, not a reconstruction or a list of events
Each field as they filled it, and each click, with the time of each
The document and any disclosure wording exactly as they saw it
The signed PDF, tied to that recording by one ID
Proof neither has been edited since
A copy in storage you control, for as long as you need it

How the tools compare

From each vendor’s public pages, checked September 29, 2026. Tell us if one has changed.

Tool	What it keeps of a signing	Records lead forms too
DocuSign, Dropbox Sign, PandaDoc, signNow	An audit trail and a certificate of completion: who, when, from which IP address. We found no replay of the signer’s session in their public pages.	No
OneSpan Sign	Its patented Visual Audit Trail: the screens the signer was shown and each click to sign, played back screen by screen. Closest to a recording among e-sign tools.	No
Remote online notarization, such as Proof	A video of a live webcam call with a notary. Built for notarized documents, not everyday signing.	No
TrustedForm, Jornaya	No e-signature. They record or certify lead forms.	Yes
Kapture	A full session replay of every signing, field by field, with the signed PDF and a tamper-proof record, in your own bucket.	Yes, with the same pixel

Kapture is the one tool we know of that builds your forms, sends your documents for signature, and records both with the same session replay, in storage you own.

What Kapture keeps on every signing

Templates from a PDF you upload, with the name, signature and date lines found for you
Several signers on one document, each with their own signing link and automatic reminders
Every request tracked through draft, sent, viewed, in progress and completed, with the full history kept
The signer’s session recorded from start to end, like any other Kapture submission
The signed PDF and the recording in your own storage bucket, with webhooks and an API
No seats: anyone on your team can send

Unlimited e-signatures are $15/mo with your own bucket, or pay as you go at $0.25/envelope. New accounts start with 2,000 free tokens, no credit card needed. See how that compares to DocuSign.

Where it falls short: the $15 plan needs your own storage bucket, such as Cloudflare R2 or Amazon S3. If a customer requires DocuSign by name, Kapture will not change that. A recording is evidence of what happened; it does not fix wording that was wrong to begin with. This is not legal advice.

Questions

What is a recorded e-signature?: An electronic signature that comes with a replay of the signer's whole session: the document and wording they saw, what they typed, where they clicked, and when they signed, kept with the signed PDF.
Is a recorded e-signature the same as an audit trail?: No. An audit trail is a list of events: who opened the document, from which IP address, and when they signed. A recording is a replay of the session itself, so you can see the signer fill the fields and sign.
Is a recorded e-signature legally binding?: The signature is an electronic signature like any other. Under the federal ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. 7001), a signature or contract cannot be denied legal effect just because it is electronic. The recording adds evidence of how it was signed. This is not legal advice.
Can I use a recorded e-signature for TCPA consent?: Yes. The FCC's prior express written consent has to be signed, and electronic signatures count where federal or state law recognizes them. A recording of the signing keeps the request for consent in the same manner and format the consumer saw it, which the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule asks for.
How much does a recorded e-signature cost on Kapture?: Unlimited e-signatures are $15 a month with your own storage bucket, with no seats. Pay as you go is $0.25 a signed document with your own bucket, or $0.50 on KX21-hosted storage. New accounts start with 2,000 free tokens, no credit card needed.