by WPFlat

Mail-Signatures alternative: a free generator versus a team install

Looking for a Mail-Signatures alternative? Compare the free generator at mail-signatures.com with emailfooter for teams: images, locking, platforms and limits.

A Mail-Signatures alternative is worth a look when the free generator at mail-signatures.com has done its job for one person and you now need the same look across a company. The generator makes one signature at a time and costs nothing. emailfooter, which we make, is also free, but it sets one shared design and invites each employee to add their own details.

We make emailfooter, which means this Mail-Signatures alternative comparison has an interested author. Facts about Mail-Signatures are taken from its pages as they stood on 5 October 2026. The site loads and its generator works. The footer of its pages carries a CodeTwo copyright, and the site points to CodeTwo’s company-wide signature software.

A Mail-Signatures alternative in brief

  • The generator is free and, per its FAQ, has no subscriptions or premium plans. It produces a single signature per run.
  • emailfooter is free too, but it needs a WordPress site, or emailfooter Managed (priced on request).
  • Choose the generator for a quick personal signature with nothing to install.
  • Choose emailfooter for a locked company design, invitations and install steps for 16 mail apps.

What the Mail-Signatures generator does

The generator page is titled “Free email signature generator with 100+ pro templates”. You pick a mail platform from a list of eight (Outlook, New Outlook, Outlook 365, Apple Mail, Gmail, Thunderbird, Exchange Server and Microsoft 365), choose a template and fill in your details. It then shows instructions for applying the result.

The manual adds the detail. For Outlook, Gmail and Apple Mail you copy the finished signature to the clipboard. For Thunderbird and the Exchange options you get HTML. With Exchange, a button swaps some fields for Active Directory placeholders, which are filled from the sender’s directory entry when the message goes out.

Other facts from the manual:

  • The form has fields for photo, logo and banner links, a disclaimer text, three font colours and seven fonts the manual calls email-signature safe.
  • At most six social icons are allowed.
  • You cannot upload an image from your computer. You host it somewhere else, such as Dropbox or an image host, and paste a direct link starting with http or https.
  • “Remember my details” stores your entries in your browser’s cookies. Without it, the details disappear when you close or refresh the page.
  • CodeTwo says it does not record, store or use what you type into the generator.
  • The site’s FAQ says the tool is free for personal and business use, with no support for it.

The pages we read describe no accounts, team roster, locked fields or usage numbers. That fits a free personal tool, and it is the gap a team install fills.

A banner on the generator page, read on the same day, says the web location of the template images changed. If you generated a signature before 9 January 2026, you are told to update it or generate it again.

Is emailfooter a good Mail-Signatures alternative?

emailfooter is a GPL plugin for WordPress from Ulrea. The plugin sells nothing and limits nothing; what costs money is the site underneath it, plus a domain and a way to send email.

An admin makes the design a single time, picking from ten layouts and 24 colour themes, then adjusting fonts, logo position, social icons, phone rules and an optional legal footer. Each employee takes up an invitation, changes only their own details while watching a preview in light and dark, and works through the steps for their mail app. Without a site of your own, emailfooter Managed is the same software on our hosting.

Here is a signature drawn by the emailfooter engine, with a logo uploaded in the app rather than linked from another host:

Example only: a compact layout drawn by emailfooter. Firm and person are fictional.

A Mail-Signatures alternative side by side: generator or team install

Mail-Signatures generatoremailfooter
CostFree, per its FAQFree plugin. You pay for hosting, a domain and email delivery
Sign-inNone on the generator pageInvitation and account for each person
Design for the whole companyEach person builds one, or you send an HTML fileSet once by the admin, then locked
ImagesYou host them and paste a direct linkUploaded in the app and served from your site
Install helpInstructions for the platform you chooseSteps for 16 mail apps
Directory fieldsActive Directory placeholders for ExchangeNo directory connection
Where your entries liveYour browser, if you tick “Remember my details”Your own WordPress database
SupportNone for the free tool, per its FAQDocumentation, or Managed for hosted help
LanguageCheck the site (it links a German version)English only for now

Where the Mail-Signatures generator is the better choice

  • You are one person, or a very small team, and a consistent look is easy to keep by hand.
  • You want a signature in ten minutes with no account, no site and no waiting.
  • You use Exchange and want directory placeholders in the HTML.
  • Hosting nothing yourself matters to you.

Where emailfooter is the better Mail-Signatures alternative

  • Consistency without policing. Colours and layout are locked, so nobody ends up with a different font.
  • One logo, one place. The logo is uploaded once in the app, not linked from each person’s file host.
  • Invitations and progress. The admin sees who has been invited and who has copied or installed the signature.
  • Agencies. Turn on Agency mode for several client companies in a single install.

The trade-off of this Mail-Signatures alternative is that you must run something. A WordPress site needs hosting, updates and email delivery, and the generator needs none of that. emailfooter also cannot install signatures for people: each employee copies theirs.

Five checks before choosing a Mail-Signatures alternative

  1. How many people need the same signature? Under five, the generator is hard to beat. Over ten, the differences start to show.
  2. Who will keep the images online? With the generator, the link you paste must keep working. Its January 2026 banner shows what happens when the hosting changes.
  3. What happens when the logo changes? See the worked example below.
  4. Do you need Active Directory placeholders? If you run Exchange and want them, the generator offers them and emailfooter does not.
  5. Does anyone here run WordPress? If not, ask about Managed or keep the generator.

A worked example: the logo changes

Say a 12-person firm gets a new logo. With the generator, each person opens it, swaps the image link, copies the new signature and pastes it into their mail app. The manual says details vanish on refresh unless the browser kept them, so each person re-enters their own. Or one person builds twelve variants and sends the HTML files.

With emailfooter, the admin uploads the new logo once. Everyone still copies the new version into their mail app, because emailfooter does not push to mailboxes. What disappears is the work of rebuilding twelve signatures and the risk of someone choosing a different file.

Neither route is automatic. If you want the signature to change without anyone touching their mail app, you need a managed service, and the free versus paid comparison explains what those add.

Choosing a Mail-Signatures alternative or staying

If your team is small and the generator works, stay with it. A Mail-Signatures alternative earns its place when the work of keeping many people consistent starts to cost more than a hosted site would. For a wider view, see the free generators we compared, the free signature generator guide and the NewOldStamp alternative page. Check Mail-Signatures again before you decide, because a free tool can change.

Frequently asked questions

Is mail-signatures.com really free?

Its FAQ, read on 5 October 2026, says the generator and templates are free with no subscriptions, no hidden costs and no premium plans. It also says the free tool comes without support.

What is the best Mail-Signatures alternative for a company?

It depends on whether you need automation. emailfooter is a free option where staff install their own signature, while managed services push signatures for a fee. Our other comparisons list those.

Who runs Mail-Signatures?

The footer of its pages carries a CodeTwo copyright, and the tools page promotes CodeTwo’s Email Signatures 365 for company-wide management. The generator’s FAQ points to CodeTwo’s commercial (paid) solutions for anything beyond the free tool.

Is emailfooter a free Mail-Signatures alternative?

Yes. No part of the plugin is paid; the cost is your own hosting, domain and email sending, or a Managed quote if you want us to host it.

Does the Mail-Signatures generator store what I type?

Its FAQ says CodeTwo does not record or use the information you enter. If you tick “Remember my details”, your browser’s cookies keep it locally.

Keep reading

Make every signature in your company match

emailfooter is a free WordPress plugin. You design the signature once, and each person adds their own details and installs it in their mail app. Prefer not to run a website? emailfooter Managed is the same software, hosted for you.

Written by the Ulrea team. We build and look after emailfooter, a free WordPress plugin for company email signatures. These guides come from setting it up for real mail apps and real teams. Found something out of date? Tell us. Made by Ulrea.