Electronic signature vs digital signature: the real difference

People use the two terms interchangeably, and vendors let them. One describes what the law accepts as signing, the other describes a way of proving a file has not changed.

The two terms answer different questions. An electronic signature answers "did this person agree?" A digital signature answers "has this file changed since it was signed, and which key signed it?" A good signing process uses both.

Side by side

	Electronic signature	Digital signature

|---|---|---|

What it is	A legal concept: any electronic sound, symbol or process a person adopts with intent to sign	A cryptographic mechanism using a private key and a hash of the document
What it proves	That the person meant to sign — if the surrounding record supports it	That the file has not changed since signing, and which key signed it
What it does not prove on its own	That the document was not altered later	That a particular human was holding the key
Where the law mentions it	ESIGN, UETA, eIDAS "simple" signatures	Underlies eIDAS advanced and qualified signatures, and PDF signature standards

Why the distinction matters

A drawn signature image pasted into a PDF is an electronic signature. It says nothing about whether the rest of the PDF was edited afterwards — the image can be copied onto a different document in seconds. That is the gap a digital signature closes: change a single byte of a digitally signed file and verification fails.

The reverse gap exists too. A digital signature proves a key signed the file. It does not prove who controlled the key at that moment. Tying the key to a person — through identity checks, delivery to a specific address and a record of what happened — is the job of the surrounding process.

How they work together in practice

1. The signer is invited to a specific address and proves who they are to whatever level the document needs.
2. They review the document and take a clear signing action. That action is the electronic signature.
3. When everyone has signed, the system computes a hash of the final document and signs it — a digital signature, often called a seal.
4. The evidence record lists each step and is itself chained with hashes, so removing or editing an entry is detectable.
5. Anyone can later recompute the hash and check the seal, without trusting the vendor's word.

What to ask a provider

• Is the completed document sealed with a digital signature, or is the signature only an image?
• Can I verify the seal myself, offline, with standard tools?
• Does the certificate of completion claim anything the seal does not cover?
• If you claim an eIDAS advanced or qualified signature, which mechanism and which trust service provider produce it?

Every document completed in Pactlyra is sealed, and the evidence package includes the verifier, so the check runs on your own machine. Verification is free on every plan.

Last reviewed 2026-09-26. Pactlyra produces a detailed evidence record for every completed document. Electronic signature validity depends on your jurisdiction, the document type, and how the transaction is carried out; nothing here is legal advice.