AES provider from Germany

The advanced electronic signature (AES) is a digital signature that uniquely identifies signatories and protects against manipulation. It meets the requirements of the European eIDAS Regulation and is legally binding for most business contracts.

Unlike the QES, the AES does not require a qualified signature certificate issued by a trust service. This makes AES faster and more cost-effective than QES and sufficient for around 8/10 of all contracts.

Learn more about the different levels of digital signatures directly from the Federal Printing Office.

In less than 5 minutes. You create an account, upload your first document, and you're ready to go. For more complex workflows with multiple signers, you'll need about 10 minutes to set up.

All of our plans include an onboarding session with a product expert. Video tutorials and German-language support are also available.

The most important difference lies in identity verification and legal status:

Advanced electronic signature (AES):
- Secure authentication
- No video identification required
- Legally secure for approx. 8/10 of all business contracts
- Faster and more cost-efficient
- Perfect for B2B contracts, offers, NDAs

Qualified electronic signature (QES):
- Complex identification (e.g., video identification) required
- Legally equivalent to a handwritten signature
- Mandatory for employment contracts, real estate purchase agreements, loan agreements
- Highest legal certainty according to the eIDAS Regulation

AES is ideal for contracts without a legal written form requirement. For contracts that must comply with the written form requirement under Section 126 of the German Civil Code (BGB), QES is required.

Tip: Start with AES for your standard business contracts. Add QES if required by law.

AES offers a high level of evidential value for business contracts, even though it is legally inferior to QES. In practice, AES is perfectly adequate for most companies:

AES is sufficient if:
- The contract does not require written form by law
- The business relationship is B2B- Both parties have agreed to the electronic form
- An audit trail documents the signing

QES becomes important if:
- Written form is required by law (§ 126 BGB)
- Maximum evidential value is required in court
- The contracts are particularly sensitive (employment contracts, real estate purchase agreements, loan agreements)

Three key differences:
‍
-> Unlimited users in all plans: You pay based on document volume, not per user. Your entire team can use Paperless without costs skyrocketing.

-> 24/7 German-speaking support: Phone, live chat, and email. No offshore call centers with days of waiting times. Real people who understand and solve your problem.

‍-> Made & Hosted in Germany: Developed in Frankfurt, hosted exclusively in German data centers. No US dependency, no GDPR compromises. Your data stays in Germany.

The Basic Plan starts at €149/month and includes 600 documents/year (AES included). QES is available as an add-on if you need it.

All prices are transparent and there are no hidden costs. Talk to us personally about your use case or try it out for 14 days free of charge.

Yes, you can try out the advanced electronic signature free of charge during your trial period. Our product experts will be happy to assist you with onboarding.

Start free trial now ->

When choosing a QES provider, you should pay attention to this key criteria:

‍→ Server location & data protection:
Check where the servers are hosted. Providers with hosting in Germany or the EU offer stronger data protection than U.S.-based vendors. Make sure the provider is truly GDPR-compliant — not just on paper.

‍→ Support quality & availability:
Good providers offer German-based support within 24 hours via phone, email, and live chat. Offshore call centers with long waiting times are a red flag. Ensure you can reach real experts who understand your issue.

‍Bonus tip:
Test the provider for at least 14 days using real documents. This is the best way to see whether the software truly fits your processes.

Want to try Paperless? Start your free 14-day trial — no credit card, no auto-renewal.

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Yes, AES is legally binding and recognized in all 27 EU countries. Important: AES cannot replace the legal written form (§ 126 BGB) and has less evidential value in court than QES.

AES is perfect for business contracts that do not require the legal written form (§ 126 BGB). This applies to around 8/10 of all B2B contracts. These include service contracts, offers, NDAs, framework agreements, and internal agreements. You can find more information on this directly at the BSI.

The QES is only required by law for specific types of contracts (employment contracts, real estate purchase agreements, loan agreements).

High security level according to EU standards. AES includes email authentication, unique signature certificates, and cryptographic encryption. All servers are located exclusively in Germany and are 100% GDPR-compliant.

AES protects against subsequent manipulation and creates a complete audit log of all actions.

Yes, and in some cases that makes sense. For around 80% of all contracts, an advanced electronic signature (AES) is sufficient. This is faster and more cost-effective than a QES. A QES is only required for employment contracts, real estate purchase agreements, loan agreements, and notarized documents. You can choose the appropriate signature level for each document yourself.

Learn more about the different levels of digital signatures directly from the Federal Printing Office.

Yes, completely. Paperless supports industry-specific solutions such as SAP, Propstack, Cobra CRM, enaio, and Microsoft SharePoint, among others. In addition, over 7,000 integrations are available via Make and Zapier.

A fully documented REST API is also available for custom connections. The typical process: Create a contract in CRM → send it automatically to Paperless → AES process starts → signed document returns automatically to CRM. Our technical support team will be happy to assist you with implementation.