Getting Started
Online Notary vs Traditional Notary
Same duties, different mechanics
A traditional notary sees you across a desk and checks your ID by eye. An online notary sees you over video, has your credential analyzed, and asks identity-proofing questions. Both must confirm you are signing willingly and knowingly, and neither may explain your document to you.
What you get at the end
Traditional notarization gives you paper with an inked signature and an embossed or stamped seal. Online notarization gives you a sealed electronic document whose integrity can be verified digitally. Printing that electronic document may lose the verification features a recipient wants.
Records and accountability
Online sessions are recorded and journaled electronically. Traditional notarizations may involve only a paper journal, and no recording exists. If a signature is ever disputed, the online record is a meaningful advantage.
Where traditional still wins
Certain recipients, recording offices, and document types still expect paper. Signers without suitable devices, or whose identity cannot be verified electronically, are better served in person.
A note on legal advice
This article is educational. Notaries are not acting as attorneys and cannot provide legal advice, select legal documents for you, or advise you on a document's legal effect. We also cannot guarantee that any court, recorder, lender, title company, agency, embassy, consulate, or foreign authority will accept a specific electronically notarized document — confirm that with the organization receiving it.
FAQ
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Where to go next
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Try the online route
Skip the drive. Start your online notarization request from wherever you are.