Envelope

**Why the envelope model matters for pricing**

DocuSign charges per envelope. If you send one document to one person, that's one envelope. If you send five documents to three people in the same transaction, that's still one envelope. This means the cost structure favours batching multiple documents into a single envelope — but it also means sending a simple one-page NDA costs the same as a complex multi-document package.

At DocuSign's API pricing, each envelope costs approximately $2.50-$25 depending on your plan tier. Signbee doesn't use the envelope model — each API call sends one document to one recipient at $0.50, making the cost structure simpler and more predictable.

**Envelope lifecycle**

A DocuSign envelope goes through several states: created → sent → delivered → signed → completed. Each state change can trigger a webhook (DocuSign calls them 'Connect' notifications). The envelope ID is the primary key for tracking document status throughout this lifecycle.

**The Signbee alternative**

Signbee doesn't use envelopes. Each API call is one document, one recipient, one transaction. There's no envelope management, no recipient routing logic, and no field placement coordinates. This simplicity is intentional — for most developer use cases, the envelope abstraction adds complexity without value.