Draftedly vs PandaDoc: Which Is Better for Freelancers?

PandaDoc is one of the best known names in proposals and document signing. It is a serious product used by thousands of companies. It is also built around sales teams, and that shapes almost everything about how it works and what it costs.

Draftedly is built for the opposite situation: one person sending proposals and wanting to get signed and paid without a pile of tools.

Neither is better in every case. This post walks through where each one wins so you can pick the right one for how you work.

Pricing and features for PandaDoc were checked in October 2026 from publicly available information. Plans change, so confirm current details on PandaDoc's pricing page before you decide.

The short version

Choose PandaDoc if you have a team, you need Salesforce or HubSpot connected to your documents, or you need approval workflows, a shared content library, or compliance features for a larger business.

Choose Draftedly if you are a freelancer or a small studio, you want proposals that look designed rather than templated, you want your client to sign and pay a deposit on the same page, and you would rather pay one flat price than a price per seat.

Side by side

	Draftedly	PandaDoc
Built for	Freelancers and small studios	Sales teams and businesses
Pricing model	One flat price per account	Per user, per month
Paid plans	Pro: $14 a month, or $9 a month billed annually	Starter: $19 a user annually, $35 monthly. Business: $49 a user annually, $65 monthly
Free plan	10 sent proposals, unlimited drafts, payments included	Limited free plan focused on e-signatures
E-signatures	Included on every plan	Included, with a limited free plan
Collecting payments	Stripe deposits and milestone schedules on Free and Pro	Payment collection on Business, with processor fees and some features sold as add-ons
Proposal design	Block editor with eight visual styles and your own branding	Template and editor based, with custom branding on higher plans
Tracking	Open notifications on every plan. Time on page, section views, and device data on Pro	Real-time document tracking
CRM integrations	None	Salesforce, HubSpot, and others on Business
Approval workflows	None	Yes, on Business
Teams and seats	One account, no seats	Built around multiple users

Pricing for a solo freelancer

PandaDoc charges per user. For a team that is reasonable. For one person it means paying for a plan sized for a sales department.

The detail that matters for freelancers is which plan has what you need. Custom branding and payment collection sit on the Business plan. At $49 a month billed annually, that is $588 a year for one seat.

Draftedly Pro is $108 a year billed annually, or $14 a month if you prefer to pay monthly. Collecting payments through Stripe is included on the free plan too. What Pro adds is unlimited sent proposals, PDF export, and deeper insight into how a client read your proposal.

There are no per-proposal fees on Draftedly. Stripe's standard processing fees apply to payments, the same as they would anywhere you use Stripe.

Getting paid

This is the biggest practical difference for freelancers.

With Draftedly, the client opens one link, reads the proposal, signs it, and pays the deposit without leaving the page. Deposits and milestone payments go through Stripe Connect straight into your own Stripe account. Draftedly does not hold your money.

PandaDoc can collect payments inside a document, but that capability is part of its higher tier and works alongside separate processor fees and add-ons. If payment is a core part of how you close work, check carefully which plan includes what you need.

How the proposal looks to your client

PandaDoc gives you a document editor and a large library of templates. It is flexible and it covers a huge range of document types, from proposals to contracts to quotes.

Draftedly is narrower on purpose. You build a proposal block by block, choose from eight visual styles, and add your logo and brand color once so it carries through everything. The goal is that a client opening your proposal sees something that looks like your studio made it, not a generic form.

If you want to see what a strong proposal contains regardless of tool, our guide to writing a freelance proposal that actually gets signed covers the structure.

Where PandaDoc is the better choice

Be honest about this part. PandaDoc is the stronger tool if:

• You work on a team. Multiple users, shared templates, and approval chains are what it was built for.
• You live in a CRM. Native Salesforce and HubSpot integrations mean documents flow from your pipeline automatically.
• You send many kinds of documents. Contracts, quotes, and forms in one place, with a large template library.
• You need compliance features. Enterprise needs such as single sign-on, audit requirements, and notary services are covered.
• You need an API. PandaDoc offers one for building document workflows into other software.

If any of those describe you, Draftedly is not the right fit today.

Where Draftedly is the better choice

• You are one person or a very small studio. A flat price and no seats.
• You want to get paid at the moment of acceptance. Signature and deposit happen on the same page.
• Design matters to your brand. Proposals look considered, in a style that fits your work.
• You want to start without paying. The free plan includes 10 sent proposals, unlimited drafts, e-signatures, and Stripe payments.
• You do not want to manage a sales tool. There is no pipeline setup or CRM to configure before you can send your first proposal.

The verdict

PandaDoc and Draftedly are not really competing for the same person. If you run a sales team, choose PandaDoc. If you are a freelancer, consultant, designer, developer, or small studio sending proposals and wanting the deposit in your account fast, Draftedly is built for exactly that.

The quickest way to know is to try it. You can send 10 proposals free, and a payment is collected the same way on the free plan as on Pro.