Guide · Jira

Jira sign off: how to require a sign-off before a work item moves on

Approval Flow for Jira 3.0.0 is the production version (30 October 2026). Last updated 1 November 2026. On the Atlassian Marketplace.

By Bartosz Stankiewicz, founder, Stanki Guild.

A Jira sign off is a recorded yes from a named person before a work item moves on: a release, a purchase, a change, a document. Jira has no single feature called sign-off. What you get depends on your plan, and on whether you need the sign-off to be enforced or only requested. This guide sets out the options, what to check in a sign-off app, and the apps we track with their prices.

The short answer: Jira has no feature called sign-off. On Premium and Enterprise use native approvals. On other plans a required user field with a validator is quick but easy to edit, and a Marketplace app can record the sign-offs and block the transition until they exist (Approval Flow is ours). A sign-off is an audit trail, not necessarily a legally binding electronic signature.

What Jira gives you for a sign-off

Native approvals. Atlassian's support page is explicit: "The approvals feature is only available on Premium editions in Jira" (What are approvals?). Which plans include approvals, product by product, is in Which Jira and Confluence plans include approvals.
Fields and a validator. Add an "Approved by" user field and gate the transition with the built-in Field Required validator. It costs only setup time, but anyone who can edit the work item can edit the field, there is no quorum, and the field says who is listed, not who signed. The recipe and its limits are in Multiple approvers in Jira without Jira Service Management.
An app. Dedicated apps add named approvers, a quorum, a validator that blocks the transition and a log of who signed and when.

What to look for in a Jira sign-off app

Who must sign. Named people, and whether groups or project roles are possible on your licence.
How many. Whether "two of these five" can be set, not just agreed.
Order. Whether one sign-off can wait for another.
Separation of duties. Whether the person who raised the request can sign it.
A gate. A workflow validator that blocks the transition, and what it does when its own check cannot complete.
Absence. What happens when an approver is on holiday.
A record. Who signed, when, and what they were confirming, and whether anything can rewrite it.
Export. Whether the trail leaves Jira as a file for an auditor.
Your Jira plan. Whether the app needs Premium.
The price at your size. Listed below at 10, 50 and 100 users.

Jira sign-off apps on the Marketplace

Our tracked list holds dedicated approval apps as well as sign-off and e-signature apps, so the rows below mix the two kinds. Earlier install counts for the approval apps, read on 12 October 2026, are in Multiple approvers in Jira without Jira Service Management.

App	Installs	Reviews	10 users	50 users	100 users
eSign Signatures for Jira	686	10	$0	$650	$1,300
Herzum Approval	302	17	$100	$500	$1,000
Electronic Signatures (Appfire)	296	23	$0	$545	$1,090
Approval Path for Jira	250	29	$100	$625	$1,250
Group Sign-Off	204	41	$55	$470	$940
Approval Flow (ours)	1	none yet	$0	$450	$900

Read from the Atlassian Marketplace data on 31 October 2026. Prices are the annual list price in USD for the first year at 10, 50 and 100 users. The rows are the 5 most-installed of the 9 approval, sign-off and e-signature apps for Jira in our tracked list, ordered by installs; this is not the order of the Marketplace search results, and apps outside our list are not shown. A blank install figure means the data held none. Star ratings are left out on purpose: the star field in the Marketplace data does not always match the rating shown on the listing, so open the listing for the current rating.

The Marketplace data does not say how each of these apps handles quorum, order or separation of duties, so check each listing against the points above. Approval Flow is ours and is the last row; its listing is Approval Flow on the Atlassian Marketplace.

How our app helps

Approval Flow is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. You list the sign-offs a work item needs and mark which are Required; the Approval sign-off required validator blocks the transition until every required sign-off is in, and if the check cannot be completed, the transition stays blocked. Each requirement can name up to 20 approvers and need from 1 to 10 distinct sign-offs. Requirements can be placed in sequential stages, and out-of-office substitutes sign on someone's behalf with both names on the receipt. With separation of duties switched on, the person who added a requirement cannot approve it. Rejections need a reason. Every sign-off, rejection and change goes into a SHA-256 hash-chained log, exportable as CSV or JSON. Jira groups and project roles as approvers are a paid feature.

Approval Flow is built for Jira Software and business projects and does not need Jira Premium. It is free for up to 10 users with every feature, then from USD 0.90 per user per month for the first 100 users. See the documentation, the approval templates and the comparison with other approval apps.

Common questions

How do I get a sign-off in Jira?

On Premium and Enterprise, with native approvals. On other plans, with a required user field and a validator, which is easy to set up and easy to edit, or with a Marketplace app that records the sign-offs and blocks the transition until they exist.

Can a sign-off block a Jira transition?

Yes, through a workflow validator, which is the enforced path. A field that is merely requested does not stop anyone. Test the exact workflow you plan to use on a sandbox work item.

Which apps add a sign-off to Jira?

The table above lists the approval, sign-off and e-signature apps in our tracked list with their annual list prices; earlier install counts for the approval apps are in the guide linked above. Approval Flow is ours.

Is a sign-off the same as an electronic signature?

Not necessarily. A sign-off in Approval Flow is an audit trail of who approved what and when, not a legally binding electronic signature, and we make no claim of 21 CFR Part 11 compliance. If you need qualified e-signatures, look at e-signature apps.