How AI Search Is Recommending eSignature Software: Monthly Trends

Executive Summary

DocuSign remains the category leader in August 2026, holding valid recommendation coverage of 63.7%, but the gap to the second-place brand widened to 6.4 points as PandaDoc slipped to 57.3%. The leader's position is stable: DocuSign's coverage moved down 2.6 points from July 2026's 66.3%, remaining within normal month-to-month variation. Its rank-one recommendation rate improved slightly to 53.4% in August 2026 from 52.8% in July 2026.

The largest upward mover this month is Zoho Sign, which entered the tracked set with 12.9% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, a rise of 12.9 points from no measurable presence in July 2026 — the largest single movement in the category this month. The sharpest decliner is PandaDoc, down 7.0 points from 64.3% in July 2026 to 57.3% in August 2026, a significant decline. Zoho Inventory also declined, from 1.7% in July 2026 to no measured coverage in August 2026.

Across the full July-to-August series, the category shows a mixed picture: one significant riser (Zoho Sign), two significant decliners (PandaDoc and Zoho Inventory), and eight stable brands. The benchmark found no leadership change, but the competitive distance between the top cluster and the mid-tier has shifted as Zoho Sign entered the picture.

Each monthly run begins with 800 prompt-surface observations (421 unique questions in July 2026, 483 in August 2026) across the benchmark's defined AI/search surface universe. Of those, 800 mentioned a tracked brand or competitor in both months; 788 were relevant and 12 were irrelevant in July 2026, versus 793 relevant and 7 irrelevant in August 2026. The public metrics use the 415 qualified observations in July 2026 and 457 qualified observations in August 2026 that survive both qualification stages.

Key Findings

Benchmark Context

The report separates the raw collection universe from the qualified analysis set. Brand-level recommendation percentages are calculated within the qualified benchmark set.

These qualification stages set the denominator used throughout the rest of the benchmark. The table below summarizes the resulting category-level metrics for each month.

Benchmark-Level Metrics

The recommendation-shaped answer share declined from 48.4% in July 2026 to 38.5% in August 2026, while the valid recommendation shortlist share held nearly steady, from 69.9% to 69.4%. This indicates the mix of answer formats shifted even as the share of prompts producing usable recommendation data remained broadly stable.

AI Recommendation Trend

Monthly Coverage by Brand

The category-level change did not come from a single dominant movement. PandaDoc's significant decline was the largest single contributor among the established brands, but the combined effect of Zoho Sign's entry and smaller month-over-month movements at Dropbox Sign and SignNow reshaped the competitive spread more than any one brand's movement alone.

What Changed This Month

DocuSign: Leader Holds, Rank-One Improves

DocuSign's valid recommendation coverage moved from 66.3% in July 2026 to 63.7% in August 2026, a decline of 2.6 points that remains within normal month-to-month variation. The leader's rank-one recommendation rate improved from 52.8% to 53.4% over the same period, and its top-three rate held exactly flat at 59.5%.

DocuSign's presence also strengthened, with raw mention presence rising from 97.4% to 98.7% of observations in August 2026. The brand was present in 451 of 457 qualified observations this month.

The distinction to notice: DocuSign's coverage dipped slightly while its share of first-position recommendations improved. That means the brand is still winning the most prominent placement in AI answers even as the overall frequency of its recommendation mentions softened.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompt families drove the small coverage decline, and did the rank-one improvement concentrate in specific AI surfaces or question types?

PandaDoc: Significant Coverage Decline

PandaDoc fell from 64.3% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 57.3% in August 2026, a decline of 7.0 points that the benchmark classifies as significant. This is the largest single brand movement in the category this month after Zoho Sign's entry.

The decline was broad-based rather than concentrated in one metric. PandaDoc's top-three rate fell from 39.3% to 34.1%, its rank-one rate dropped from 5.3% to 3.9%, and raw mention presence slipped from 80.7% to 79.0%.

The distinction to notice: PandaDoc remains the second-ranked brand by coverage, so this is a repositioning within the top tier rather than a fall from contention. The brand's positive sentiment remained high, at 0.8 net sentiment in August 2026.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which competitor captured the recommendation when PandaDoc lost placement, and did the decline concentrate in specific AI surfaces or buyer-intent prompts?

Zoho Sign: New Entrant with Significant Coverage

Zoho Sign entered the tracked brand set in August 2026 with 12.9% valid recommendation coverage, a gain of 12.9 points from no measured presence in July 2026. The brand was present in 82 of 457 qualified observations, with 59 valid recommendations.

The entry was accompanied by a 17.9% raw mention presence rate and a 3.3% top-three recommendation rate in August 2026. Zoho Sign recorded one rank-one recommendation out of 457 observations.

The distinction to notice: Zoho Sign replaces Zoho Inventory in the tracked set. The August 2026 capsule tracks Zoho Sign, while July 2026 tracked Zoho Inventory, which declined to no measured coverage. This is a brand tracking change as much as a competitive one.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompts surfaced Zoho Sign, and does the 12.9% coverage reflect genuine recommendation behavior or a narrow set of question types?

Zoho Inventory: Coverage Disappears

Zoho Inventory declined from 1.7% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to no measured coverage in August 2026, a drop of 1.7 points that the benchmark classifies as significant, though the finding rests on a small observation count of 7 in July 2026. The brand was present in 7 of 415 observations in July 2026, with 7 valid recommendations.

No supporting metrics are available for August 2026 because the brand had no measured presence in the current month. The July 2026 data showed a 1.7% raw mention presence rate and net sentiment of 1.0 on that small count.

The distinction to notice: this movement carries a small-count caveat. Seven observations in July 2026 is a narrow base, and the disappearance in August 2026 may reflect prompt-set variation rather than a meaningful shift in AI recommendation behavior.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Did the underlying prompts shift away from Zoho Inventory, or did the brand's absence reflect a change in which Zoho products AI systems associated with eSignature queries?

GetAccept: Presence Declines While Coverage Holds Steady

GetAccept's valid recommendation coverage moved from 2.9% in July 2026 to 2.6% in August 2026, a decline of 0.3 points that is within normal month-to-month variation. Raw mention presence dropped further, from 5.5% to 2.6%, a decline of 2.9 points on a small observation base of 12.

GetAccept was present in 12 of 457 qualified observations in August 2026, with 12 valid recommendations. The brand's net sentiment moved from 0.5 to 1.0 on this small count.

The distinction to notice: GetAccept's coverage held nearly flat while its broader presence in AI answers fell by more than half. The brand is being mentioned less often, but when it is mentioned, it is still being recommended.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which surfaces stopped mentioning GetAccept, and did the remaining mentions cluster in specific prompt types where the brand holds stronger recommendation strength?

Buyer-Intent Interpretation

In both July 2026 and August 2026, all qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class. No qualified observations were recorded in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes, so the public benchmark cannot yet answer questions about how AI systems frame cost, value, or head-to-head trade-offs in this category. The 71 comparison-analysis responses and 22 pricing-analysis responses in August 2026 exist in the raw response-type distribution, but none qualified as valid recommendation shortlists in the comparison or pricing clusters.

Brand Opportunity Summary

The benchmark identifies where attention is warranted; a company-level analysis is needed to explain why.

Evidence Behind the Benchmark

The aggregate metrics are built from prompt-level observations (query, surface, recommendation outcome, rank, sentiment, and citations where exposed). Company-level analysis can go deeper into prompt, competitor, surface, and evidence patterns. Source presence is not automatically treated as proof of causation.

About This Benchmark

This report is part of the LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery research program.

• AI Industry Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Industry Market Discovery Metrics
• AI Industry Market Discovery Standards

Report-Specific Interpretation Notes

• Qualified observations grew from 415 in July 2026 to 457 in August 2026, and the public benchmark uses this qualified set rather than the 800 raw prompt-surface observations for all brand-level percentages.
• Small-count movements, such as Zoho Inventory's disappearance and GetAccept's presence decline, should be read with caution given the narrow observation base.
• This analysis identifies changes worth investigating; it does not by itself establish the cause of those changes.

Next Step

The Public Benchmark Shows Where a Brand Is Winning or Losing. A Company-Level Audit Shows Why.

The aggregate percentages in this report sit on top of specific questions that matter for commercial action: which high-intent prompts a brand wins, which competitor takes the recommendation when a brand loses, what attributes AI systems associate with each option, and which external sources shape those answers. A brand that knows its coverage rate still needs to know which prompts drive that rate and which surfaces favor or penalize it.

A company-specific AI visibility audit maps those prompt, surface, competitor, ranking, sentiment, and evidence-source patterns into a prioritized visibility strategy. The benchmark shows the scoreboard; the audit shows the game film.

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