Entitlements
Learn more about the additional features that Verdocs offers.
What are entitlements?
An entitlement is a record that says your organization is allowed to use a specific Verdocs capability for a given period. Entitlements are attached to an organization, not to individual users, API keys, or brands.
In practice, entitlements answer three questions:
- Can we use this feature? — For example, SMS invitations or SMS-based signer verification.
- How much can we use? — Some entitlements include quantity limits (such as how many white-label brands you can create).
- When is access valid? — Each entitlement has a start and end date.
If you run a multi-tenant SaaS on Verdocs, entitlements also work cleanly with organization hierarchies: child organizations inherit entitlements from their parent. You can grant capabilities once at the parent and have every sub-account benefit, which is much simpler than provisioning each tenant separately.
You can inspect entitlements for your current organization with the Get organization entitlements API (GET /organizations/entitlements). For billing dashboards and pass-through charges, pair that with Get organization usage and the entitlement_used webhook event, which fires when metered activity is recorded.
Entitlements are provisioned by Verdocs (typically as part of your contract or after you contact support). They are not something you toggle on yourself in the dashboard today.
Which features require an entitlement?
Not every Verdocs feature is entitlement-gated. Core workflows—templates, envelopes, email notifications, passcode and email signer verification, webhooks, and the signing experience—work without a special entitlement. The table below covers capabilities that do depend on entitlements today.
| Capability | What it controls | If you're not entitled |
|---|---|---|
| SMS notifications | Text-message invitations and reminders to recipients | SMS is skipped; email notifications still send normally. |
| SMS signer verification | SMS one-time passcode as an auth_method on a recipient (see The Recipient Auth Ladder) | Signers see an error that SMS verification is not available for the document. |
| Custom branding (Brands) | How many distinct Brands you can create for white-label signing experiences | Brand creation is blocked once you reach your limit. Contact support to raise it. |
| SMS Auth | Sends an authentication notification via SMS. | Cannot authenticate over SMS, email authentication is still available. |
| KBA Auth | Use KBA authentication for your recipients. Costs $1 per usage. | KBA authentication is not available. |
| ID Auth | Authenticate recipients via their government-issued IDs. Uses their camera to analyze identity. | ID authentication is not available. |
A few related notes:
- Metered authentication methods (KBA, ID verification, and similar pass-through capabilities) are managed through the entitlements and usage system even when they don't block an API call outright. Usage is recorded so you can monitor consumption and align billing—especially useful with parent/child org setups. See Organization Hierarchies for the monitoring story.
- Custom signing disclaimers are a separate approval path: you can customize the disclosure shown before signing, but Verdocs must approve the change for legal reasons. If you don't see the setting in your dashboard, request access via support (Custom Disclaimers).
Conclusion
Entitlements are Verdocs' way of saying "this organization is allowed to use this capability, in this quantity, during this period." They matter most for add-ons with real cost behind them—SMS, advanced identity verification, and expanded white-label branding—and they inherit down organization hierarchies so SaaS platforms can provision once at the parent.
If something isn't working and you suspect entitlements, check GET /organizations/entitlements first, then your usage metrics. When in doubt, your account team or support@verdocs.com can confirm what's on your contract.