QES for LLCs: What Providers Offer and How to Choose a Signature for Your Company

When a company chooses a qualified electronic signature (QES), the first question is usually simple: “How much does a key cost?” But for an LLC with several employees, the price of a single QES is only part of the cost and certainly not the only criterion.

A company needs keys for more than one signatory. They are issued to the director, accountant, and other employees, reissued when staffing changes occur, blocked when someone leaves the company, and renewed when they expire.

That is why an LLC needs to consider more than just obtaining a QES and signing a document. It is equally important to understand how the company will manage the keys used by the entire team.

This article compares popular solutions for LLCs based on price, QES format, issuance process, and centralized key management capabilities.

What LLCs Should Consider When Choosing a QES

Before comparing prices, it is worth evaluating providers against several criteria. For a company, these may be just as important as the cost of an individual key.

• Team administration dashboard. Can the company view employees’ keys in one place, create and block them, and reissue them without managing each key separately?
• Signing convenience. Can documents be signed in an app, or does the process require a key file, password, and specialized software?
• Cloud-based format. Is the key stored in a cloud environment, or must employees work with a key file or hardware token?
• What happens to the license when staffing changes occur? Does the company need to purchase a new QES when an employee leaves, or can it reissue the key to another employee under the existing license?
• Security and control. Where is the QES key stored? How does the employee confirm a signature? What happens if access to the QES is lost?

Centralized QES Management: Why It Matters for Companies

Companies should check whether a corporate dashboard is available for managing their team’s QES keys. Without centralized administration, several difficulties can arise:

1. Managers struggle to track when employees’ QES certificates expire. If a certificate is not renewed on time, work may be interrupted.
2. An employee’s departure creates security risks. Without a corporate dashboard, the company must block keys according to the provider’s procedure: through an application submitted by the key owner, a phone call, an in-person visit, or, with some providers, through the company director listed in the
3. Unified State Register. Until the key is blocked, it can still be used to sign documents.
   There is no centralized recordkeeping. The accountant must maintain Excel spreadsheets to track who has been issued keys, how many QES keys are currently active, and whose keys are approaching their expiration dates.
4. Issuing QES keys to new employees becomes more complicated. When a company hires several employees at once, each person’s QES must be arranged from scratch rather than through a single request for the team.

Overview of the QES Market: Who’s Who

🆓 Free Solutions: When Are They Enough for a Company?

Privat24 QES, Diia.Signature, and QES from the State Tax Service (the Information and Reference Department’s Accredited Key Certification Center, or ACСК IDD) allow users to obtain a QES free of charge for the key or under the terms of the respective service. They may be sufficient for a company with a small number of signatories and no critical need for centralized key management.

• Privat24 QES is a free cloud-based signature for PrivatBank customers that can be conveniently used through the app. It may be a straightforward solution for one or two signatories. As the team grows, however, key administration remains a separate task.
• QES from the State Tax Service (ACСК IDD) is free and well integrated with workflows in the taxpayer’s electronic cabinet. However, obtaining a key requires an in-person visit to a registration office.
• Diia.Signature is designed for obtaining and using a signature through the Diia app. It does not provide a separate administration dashboard for centralized management of employees’ QES keys.

These options may be sufficient for a director or accountant who signs documents independently. If several employees use electronic signatures, however, it is worth assessing how much time the company will spend administering each key separately.

👤 Paid Solutions for Individual Signatories

CSK Ukraine (CloudKey), Masterkey, and Depositsign differ in how their QES keys are stored and used.

• CSK Ukraine is a provider integrated with the M.E.Doc electronic document management service. For companies that use this service extensively, the integration may be an important selection criterion.
• Depositsign is a QES solution that is convenient for working with Checkbox software-based cash registers (PRRO).
• Masterkey is a paid electronic signature available as a file-based advanced electronic signature (UES) or on a secure hardware device, or token, as a QES. If a company needs only a small number of signatories and is prepared to work with a key file or token, this may be a sufficient solution.

For a small number of signatories, these electronic signatures should primarily be evaluated based on price, key format, and signing method. For a team with many QES keys, administration convenience becomes an additional consideration.

👥 Paid QES Solutions with a Corporate Administration Dashboard

These QES solutions differ from most other providers primarily in their tools for centralized management of a team’s electronic signatures. An administrator can manage key statuses, create and block keys, and assign access rights. The administrator can also arrange QES issuance for employees at the company’s expense or delegate key management permissions.

Therefore, companies comparing solutions specifically for corporate use should consider QES products with a corporate dashboard separately from individual-signature solutions.

Provider Comparison

Vchasno QES vs. EDIN ID: What Makes a Difference for Companies?

If a company needs more than a QES for an individual employee and requires centralized management of the team’s signatures, the choice becomes much narrower. In our comparison, Vchasno QES and EDIN ID are the two solutions that offer full corporate tools for this use case.

Both solutions allow companies to manage employees’ QES keys through a corporate dashboard: create and block keys, manage access rights, and organize signature workflows across the team. However, their pricing models differ.

Vchasno QES uses a pay-per-key model. For legal entities, the Start plan costs UAH 780 per year for each key when purchasing between 1 and 9 keys. The Professional plan costs UAH 600 per year per key for 10–49 keys. For 50 or more keys, pricing is negotiated individually. The license belongs to the company, so when staffing changes occur, a QES can be reissued to another employee under the existing license.

EDIN ID uses a subscription model based on user packages. The most affordable plan, START ID, costs €4 per month when billed annually and covers up to 5 users. Only the company director can manage the organization’s dashboard under this plan; a second administrator can be added starting with the LITE ID plan. The next plan, LITE ID, costs €29 per month and covers up to 200 users. This means that a small team must pay for the package even if it needs fewer than five users.

For small and medium-sized businesses, it is therefore worth calculating the total cost for the required number of keys rather than comparing only the price of a single QES. The pricing currency also matters: Vchasno QES charges in Ukrainian hryvnias, while EDIN ID prices its plans in euros.

Which Option Is Right for Your Company?

When choosing a QES, assess your company’s business processes and consider how many employees sign documents.

• 1–3 signatories. The main priority is convenience in everyday signing. Consider whether documents can be signed in an app in a few seconds or whether each signing requires a key file, password, and specialized software. Free solutions may be sufficient. However, it is worth considering in advance what will happen to the key if the accountant changes or another signatory joins the team.
• 4–9 signatories. Staffing changes become a key consideration. Companies regularly need to issue keys to new employees, block them after departures, and monitor expiration dates. It is important to know whether the company can handle these tasks independently through a single dashboard without contacting the provider separately for each key. Also consider whether a new QES must be purchased when an employee leaves or whether the paid license can be reassigned to another employee.
• 10–49 signatories. At this stage, control and workload distribution become the main priorities. The company needs to see all team keys in one place: who has a valid QES, whose key is about to expire, and how many licenses are in use. Bulk issuance and the ability to delegate administration become important so that key management does not depend on a single person. When comparing plans, calculate the total cost for your required number of keys and check whether the necessary features are available under the selected plan.
• 50+ signatories. For large teams, scalability, role distribution among administrators, user activity history, and integration with accounting systems become decisive factors. Compare corporate solutions based on your company’s specific workflows and, where possible, test them in real working conditions.