Which DSC do I need? A 2-minute decision guide

Buying the wrong Digital Signature Certificate is the most common (and most avoidable) mistake we see. Here's the whole decision in plain English.

Start with what you'll sign

| You need to… | Buy this | | --- | --- | | File GST/ITR/MCA for yourself or your proprietorship | Class 3 DSC — Individual | | Sign as authorized signatory of a company, LLP or firm | Class 3 DSC — Organization | | Bid on e-tenders (GeM, CPPP, railways, state portals) | Class 3 Combo (Sign + Encrypt) | | Transact on the DGFT portal as importer/exporter | DGFT DSC | | Automate signing of invoices or PDFs at scale | Document Signer Certificate |

The three questions that decide it

1. Individual or organization? If the certificate represents you personally (your PAN), it's individual. If it binds you to a company as its signatory, it's organization — the org's documents get verified too.

2. Do you need encryption? Only if a portal has to decrypt something you submit — which in practice means e-procurement. Every tender portal we know requires the sign + encrypt pair. Buying sign-only and discovering this at bid time is a painful, deadline-shaped lesson.

3. How long? Validity comes in 1, 2 or 3 years. Longer is cheaper per year and means fewer renewals. Most buyers pick 2 years.

Don't forget the token

Class 3 certificates must live on a FIPS-certified USB token (ePass 2003 or ProxKey) — it's a CCA requirement, not an upsell. If you already own one with a free slot, you can usually reuse it.

Still unsure? The advisor on our home page asks these exact questions and drops the right bundle straight into your cart.