THE BASICS
What is an envelope in electronic signing?
Electronic signing comes with a little vocabulary. An “envelope” is simply the agreement you send for signing, together with its recipients, fields, and instructions. Here’s what that means for your workspace.
One agreement, one sending process
Think of an envelope as the container around a signing task. In Countersigned, it holds one PDF, the people involved, the fields they need to complete, and settings such as signing order and reminders.
The envelope follows the agreement from draft through sending and completion. Its history records activity along the way, so you can see which agreement was sent and how far it has progressed.
Several signers can share one envelope
Suppose you send a services agreement to a client and include yourself as the second signer. That is one envelope. Adding a colleague who receives a copy does not turn it into three envelopes.
The distinction is the agreement you send, rather than the number of signatures on it. Sending a separate agreement to another client creates another envelope, even if both agreements started from the same template.
Usage is counted when you send
Preparing a draft does not use a sent envelope. Countersigned counts the agreement when you send it. Resending an invitation or correcting that same agreement does not consume a second envelope.
A signature field also does not have its own envelope cost. An agreement can need a signature, initials, and several answers from the same recipient while remaining one envelope.
Know your monthly allowance
Countersigned Free includes up to 20 envelopes per month, up to 20 saved templates, and one workspace seat. It is a permanent free plan. Pro includes 200 envelopes in one shared workspace allowance for $20 per seat per month.
Allowances reset on the first day of each calendar month in UTC. On Pro, adding seats lets more people work in the workspace; it does not multiply the shared envelope allowance. Your Billing page shows your plan and current usage.
Plan around the agreements you send
To estimate your needs, count the separate agreements you expect to send in a typical month. Include recurring work, such as new client agreements or onboarding documents, and leave room for busier periods.
Keep envelope usage separate from AI credits. Signing and reusing templates do not consume AI credits. Document AI is still in development, so the advertised AI credit allowances are not yet usable. The pricing page explains the current plans and feature availability.
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