What is PDF Verified?

PDF Verified (pdfverified.com) is an online platform to sign, stamp and verify PDF documents. You can send a document for legally binding electronic signatures, add a digital rubber stamp or company seal, and let anyone confirm the finished file is authentic and unaltered through a public QR code and SHA-256 audit trail. It is pay-as-you-go with no subscription required, and eIDAS + ESIGN + UETA compliant across 190+ countries.

Is PDF Verified legally binding?

Yes. PDF Verified signatures comply with the US ESIGN Act, UETA, EU eIDAS regulation, and equivalent eSignature laws in 190+ countries. Every signed document includes a cryptographic SHA-256 fingerprint and a complete audit trail with timestamps and signer hash chain, admissible in court.

How is PDF Verified different from DocuSign?

PDF Verified offers unlimited documents on the $15 Business plan with REST API included. DocuSign charges $40+/user for Business and gates the API behind a $720/month add-on. PDF Verified also includes unique features: public QR verification page on every signed PDF, eStamp designer, AI field auto-detection, and mobile-first signing without requiring an app.

Can I use PDF Verified without a subscription?

Yes. The pay-as-you-go option lets you sign or send one document or envelope for $1.50 without a monthly subscription. Monthly paid plans include a 7-day free trial.

Which file types can I sign with PDF Verified?

Upload PDF, DOCX, TXT, PNG or JPG files. Non-PDF formats are automatically converted to PDF on upload so signers always receive a clean signing-ready document.

How do recipients verify a signed document is authentic?

Every signed PDF includes a QR code on every page. Anyone, even without a PDF Verified account, can scan it to land on a public verification page showing the document status, completion date, SHA-256 fingerprint, and tamper-evidence proof.

Does PDF Verified work on mobile?

Yes, PDF Verified is mobile-first by design. The signing portal uses a native bottom-sheet pattern with touch-optimized canvas signing, sticky CTAs in the thumb zone, and 44px+ touch targets following Apple Human Interface Guidelines. No app download required.

Can I add a company stamp or seal to a document?

Yes. PDF Verified includes a stamp designer for company seals, official seals, approval stamps (APPROVED, PAID, RECEIVED), date stamps, and certified-true-copy marks. Place a stamp on any document like a signature field. On Business plans, the verified stamp library adds auto-incrementing serial numbers, locked metadata, workspace sharing, revocation, and a public QR verification link for every stamp applied.

How do I verify a stamp is genuine?

Each stamp PDF Verified applies mints a unique verification token at /verify-stamp/:token. Scan the stamp's QR code or open the link from the document's audit certificate to see the stamp's name, serial number, the document it was applied to, and whether it has been revoked, so anyone can confirm a company seal or approval stamp is authentic and current.

How do I verify a signature on a PDF is real?

Open the verification page at pdfverified.com/verify and scan the QR code on the signed PDF, paste the verification code, or upload the file. PDF Verified recomputes the document's SHA-256 fingerprint and compares it against the sealed value, if a single byte changed since signing, verification fails. You also see every signer, their timestamps, and the full tamper-evident audit trail. No account is required to verify.

How do I add a digital stamp to a PDF online?

Upload your PDF, open the editor, add a Stamp field, and pick a stamp from your library, a company seal, an APPROVED or PAID approval stamp, a date stamp, or a certified-true-copy mark. The stamp is baked into the sealed PDF with an optional auto-incrementing serial number and a QR code that links to its public verification page. No printer, ink pad, or scanner needed.

Can PDF Verified check if a PDF has been edited?

Yes. PDF Verified can recompute the SHA-256 fingerprint of a signed PDF and compare it with the fingerprint sealed at completion. If the file was edited after signing, the fingerprint changes and verification fails.

Does PDF Verified include a certificate of completion?

Yes. Completed documents include an audit certificate, also called a certificate of completion, with signer identities, timestamps, IP records, document fingerprint, verification status, and the event history needed for legal review.

Does PDF Verified include an eSignature API?

Yes. Business plans include a REST API and webhooks for sending documents, embedding signing, applying stamps, checking status, and building automated signing workflows.

Can I create a company chop or official seal online?

Yes. PDF Verified includes editable company seal, company chop, official seal, date stamp, and approval stamp templates. Verified stamps can include serial numbers, locked metadata, revocation, and a public QR verification page.

What is the best DocuSign alternative for stamps, seals, and verification?

PDF Verified is built for teams that need more than basic eSignature: public QR verification, PDF authenticity checks, serialized stamps, company seals, audit certificates, and pay-as-you-go signing from $1.50.

Detect AI-generated and fake documents

Drop your document here and sign it now. PDF, Word and Excel all work: a .docx or .xlsx is laid out in your browser exactly as it was written, so there is nothing to convert first. Add a signature, a date, a company stamp or a watermark, then download it sealed. Free to start, no account, and the file is never uploaded to open it.

Upload a PDF and the free checker scans it for the evidence AI tools leave behind, C2PA Content Credentials, machine-readable "trainedAlgorithmicMedia" declarations, AI-tool metadata and Stable Diffusion traces, even inside compressed streams. Paired with tamper forensics and SHA-256 sealed-record verification. In your browser, no account.

Check a document now →

What the AI-origin scan finds

C2PA / Content Credentials provenance manifests (DALL·E via ChatGPT, Adobe Firefly and other AI tools)
Explicit IPTC digitalSourceType declarations, "trainedAlgorithmicMedia"
AI-tool fingerprints in embedded EXIF/XMP or PDF producer fields, and Stable Diffusion prompt blocks
Producer classification: scanner / office system vs HTML-to-PDF generator (the most common origin of fake statements)
Structural tamper forensics: edits after saving, changed file IDs, content appended after a signature
SHA-256 sealed-record verification for documents signed or stamped with PDF Verified

How to check a document, step by step

Upload the document. Drop the PDF into the free checker at pdfverified.com/verify. It is analysed entirely in your browser, the file is never uploaded to a server.
Read the AI-origin signals. The checker scans the file, including its compressed internal streams, for C2PA / Content Credentials manifests, IPTC "trainedAlgorithmicMedia" declarations, AI-tool metadata (ChatGPT/DALL·E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Firefly) and generation-parameter blocks.
Weigh the forensic report. Alongside AI markers you get structural forensics: edits after signing, changed file IDs, editing-software metadata, a producer classification (scanner vs HTML-to-PDF generator), and a conservative risk band.
Confirm against the sealed record. If the document was sealed with PDF Verified, its SHA-256 fingerprint is checked against the signing record, the definitive answer, independent of any metadata.

The honest limits

A found marker is hard evidence baked into the file itself. But finding nothing proves nothing, metadata can be stripped, and many AI tools leave none. The reliable end-state is provenance: documents sealed at signing with a SHA-256 fingerprint and a public verification record can be confirmed genuine forever. That is what PDF Verified issues with every signed or stamped document.

Frequently asked questions

How can I tell if a document is AI-generated?

Upload it to the free PDF Verified checker. Many AI tools leave concrete, machine-readable evidence inside the files they produce: C2PA / Content Credentials provenance manifests (DALL·E via ChatGPT, Adobe Firefly and others), IPTC digitalSourceType declarations that literally state "trainedAlgorithmicMedia", tool names in embedded metadata, and Stable Diffusion prompt blocks. The checker finds these, even inside compressed PDF streams, and shows exactly what it found.

Can you detect a fake bank statement or payslip?

The checker surfaces the signals that expose most fakes: AI-generation markers, editing-software metadata, edits made after the original save, and a producer classification, genuine statements come from banking systems or scanners, while fakes are overwhelmingly rendered from HTML by tools like wkhtmltopdf or headless Chrome. No tool can promise 100% detection; for high-stakes decisions the issuer records remain the authority, and documents sealed with PDF Verified can be confirmed cryptographically.

Is AI-document detection 100% accurate?

No, and be wary of tools that claim it is. A found marker is hard evidence baked into the file itself. But finding nothing proves nothing: metadata can be stripped, and many AI tools leave none. That is why PDF Verified pairs the AI scan with structural forensics and, for sealed documents, a SHA-256 fingerprint match that is definitive regardless of origin.

What are C2PA Content Credentials?

C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) is an open standard for cryptographic provenance manifests embedded in images and documents. AI generators like DALL·E and Adobe Firefly attach one that records the tool that produced the content. If a C2PA manifest is present, the checker reports it and whether it declares AI generation.

Is the AI document checker free?

Yes. Upload and analysis are free with no account, and the file is processed locally in your browser, it never leaves your device. Verifying against the PDF Verified sealed-record database is also free and anonymous.

How do lenders and insurers use this?

Intake teams run uploaded statements, payslips and supporting documents through the checker to triage: explicit AI markers or post-signing edits escalate to manual review, while documents sealed with PDF Verified are confirmed cryptographically in seconds. The REST API supports bulk verification for KYC and onboarding pipelines.

What PDF Verified is, and what it is not

These checks are a screen, not a verdict. A clean result means nothing was found by the checks that were run, which is not the same as proof that a document is genuine, and a flagged result can have an innocent explanation such as a re-save or a scan. Read the findings rather than the headline, and where a decision carries real consequences, confirm the document with the party that issued it. It is a tool for examining a document, not for producing a forged or altered one.

PDF Verified is a tool for preparing, signing, stamping and checking documents. It is not a law firm, a compliance service or a forensic examiner, and nothing here is legal, financial or compliance advice. Requirements differ by country, by document type and by the party asking, so check what applies to your document before you rely on it, and take advice where the document matters. You are responsible for the documents you create, sign and send, and for having the authority to do so: signing or stamping in somebody else name, or as an organisation you do not represent, is forgery whatever tool is used. To the extent the law allows, we accept no liability for how a document made with this tool is used or relied on. The full position is in our terms of service.