A quick Google search reveals there are more than a few virtual data room providers on the market. But you and your clients have varied and specialized needs. With so much on the line, how do you evaluate which data room services best suit your workflow and meet your security and privacy requirements?
To help, we’ve done a comparison of the best data rooms out there. The following chart, demonstrates at a glance how different providers stack up, and shows you why Firmex opens 20,000 new data rooms every year.
A Virtual Data Room Providers Comparison
When comparing virtual data rooms, free trials and pricing plans are a good starting point. Some providers offer per-project pricing and monthly plans, while others, such as Firmex, offer subscription rates with unlimited projects, users, and storage. However, while pricing is an important factor to consider, it is not the only one you should be looking at.
The chart below compares the best data rooms for how they rate, based upon an average score calculated from the following categories: free trial availability, unlimited data room plans, unlimited and non-tiered support, security compliance, industry applications, user experience, and average customer ratings from G2 and Capterra.
Firmex: The Best Data Room Choice
Many providers were strong in a few categories but fell short in others. For example, Intralinks has a low customer satisfaction rating on G2, but scored better on support availability. Ideals does not offer unlimited support or unlimited data room plans, but has a higher customer satisfaction rating from G2.
Firmex scored well across all categories, offering a free trial, unlimited non-tiered service, and unlimited data room plans. Firmex can support workflows across industries, including investment banking, biotech and pharmaceuticals, private equity, renewable energy, and real estate. Firmex is known for its ease of use and seamless user experience, which is reflected in the provider’s high ratings on G2 and Capterra.
One-to-One: Comparing Data Room Service Providers
Different data room software has different user management, collaboration, reporting, and security features. Our head-to-head analysis pits Firmex against other popular data room services to help you make an informed choice. We focus on what differentiates each provider and the balance between cost and features.
Virtual Data Room Comparison: Firmex vs. Intralinks
Intralinks Strengths:
- Multi-project management
- Desktop app
- User/document activity tracking
Intralinks Weaknesses:
- Not user-friendly
- Overcomplicated, unintuitive platform
- Large overage fees
Intralinks users can get set up quickly, but the platform can be difficult to use. Similar to Firmex, users at all tiers can access unlimited support. However, unlike Firmex, Intralinks puts limits on training.
Firmex and Intralinks are competitive on workflow features, with activity monitoring, bulk file upload/download, and reporting with Excel export. Intralinks and Firmex are nearly tied on security, offering bank-level encryption, multi-factor authentication, SSO, SOC 2, HIPAA, and SAS70 Type II certifications. However, Intralinks lacks CSAE3416 compliance.
While Intralinks suits users who prefer à la carte pricing, bulk users should be aware of its pricing limitations. Unlike Firmex, Intralinks restricts the number of users and the number of projects and lacks an unlimited-use, fixed-cost subscription option.
Virtual Data Room Comparison: Firmex vs. ShareFile
ShareFile Strengths:
- Pricing
- Unlimited users and projects
ShareFile Weaknesses:
- Lacks basic VDR features
- Limited support and no training provided
- Security
- Usability challenges
- Upload limitations
ShareFile is a good option for users looking for versatility in a competitively priced and secure data room provider. Its data room software allows unlimited users and projects and offers data at a fixed cost. Security, however, is a serious weakness for Sharefile, with security breaches reported as recently as 2019. Unlike Firmex, only premium plans on Sharefile are FINRA and HIPAA compliant.
Sharefile users often face usability challenges, such as slow export speeds. ShareFile also imposes viewing limitations (PDFs, but no images or text files), file upload size (100GB), and limits folder size to 500 items. With support services limited to weekday hours and no training provided, setup and other challenges can make extra work for internal teams and lead to client frustration.
Firmex users enjoy unlimited training and non-tiered support available 24/7/365 from knowledgeable in-house experts. They also have access to dedicated account managers and customer success teams.
Firmex beats Sharefile on security, usability, and user and digital rights management. For users needing a data room platform that clients in the health, medicine, and pharma sectors can trust, Firmex is the better choice.
Virtual Data Room Comparison: Firmex vs. Onehub
Onehub Strengths:
- Low bar to entry
- Low cost
Onehub Weaknesses:
- Not designed for deals
- Outdated, non-intuitive interface
- Lacks core data room features and limited reporting
- Extremely limited and slow support
As a generic tool, Onehub is a suitable option for users with very basic needs and minimal user management and support demands. It is best for simple projects where low cost and a low bar to entry is the ultimate priority.
In contrast to Firmex, Onehub’s interface and capabilities are inappropriate for complex, mission-critical projects. Lacking advanced document protection and detailed reporting, Onehub doesn’t enable the kind of oversight necessary for sensitive diligence projects and M&A transactions. On Firmex, you get a purpose-built, intuitive UX/UI that simplifies onboarding and accelerates the deal process. Advanced document protections and permissions give you full control over how documents are viewed, managed, and shared. Detailed activity reporting and Q&A management give you the insights you need to stay on top of the deal.
Project administrators should think carefully about the image that generic virtual data room providers such as Onehub project to data room visitors. Onboarding problems, support response delays, and large file restrictions could reflect badly on your organization and your stakeholders. When intuitive permissions, high-level security, and ample storage capacity are critical for your project, Firmex is, hands down, the preferred option.
Virtual Data Room Comparison: Firmex vs. Dropbox DocSend
Dropbox DocSend Strengths:
- Low cost
- Easy to collaborate widely
Dropbox DocSend Weaknesses:
- Low security, high breach risk
- Minimal to no access control
- Minimal support
- Generic offering
Dropbox DocSend is another generic, entry-level data room for low-stakes collaborative projects. However, its lack of access control, activity tracking, and easy sharing via links make it unsuitable for transactions with higher-level security and confidentiality demands.
On the surface, Dropbox DocSend is a low-cost option. However, Dropbox DocSend charges per user per month – fees that can add up quickly as projects grow and add additional users. Firmex, while starting at a different price point, has no additional cost for unlimited users, so you know exactly what you’re paying when you begin. For busy dealmakers, Firmex’s unlimited-use subscription lets users open as many projects as needed at no additional cost.
When it comes to support, Dropbox DropSend’s service is limited and slow, with response times of up to one business day. Responses to queries are sent through email by operators with little to no industry expertise. Scripted help pages are available online, but these are difficult to navigate. Solutions that are challenging to use and troubleshoot risk frustrating and deterring clients, wasting their time, and potentially harming your deal. With Firmex, all service tiers enjoy full customer support – all day, every day – with real-time access to real human beings with incomparable knowledge about the platform and deep industry experience.
Professional transactions demand purpose-built solutions, like Firmex, especially when your main objective is to handle sensitive documents. Dropbox DocSend may be a risky choice for security-conscious companies as a Dropbox product. A quick online search shows that Dropbox has experienced numerous security breaches over the years, including one as recent as 2024. In contrast, Firmex complies with all major security standards and protocols, including GDPR, SOC 2, and HIPAA, and has advanced security features to keep your data safe.
With Firmex, you get banking-level security, an intuitive interface, and flexible pricing tailored to your professional needs. Its elevated suite of power features and full-time service support lets you build your room to suit your project exactly the way you want to.
Virtual Data Room Comparison: Firmex vs. Ideals
Ideals Strengths:
- Advanced Q&A
- Analytics
- User and document tracking
Ideals Weaknesses:
- Strict limits on the number of users and projects
- No file versioning
- Lack of training and support
- Limited security features on Basic plan
The Ideals VDR is a secure data room with a fixed cost option for single projects, but the platform limits the number of users and projects.
Busy dealmakers need to buy the most expensive tier to access many basic data room features. Dynamic watermarks and expire/revoke access, for instance, are excluded from the Ideals Basic plan. Some plans are self-onboarding with no live training. Even the Pro plan only offers a one-hour training session.
Ideals users report interface limitations that make project management difficult, slow, and frustrating for clients. Users can’t edit the automatic numbering schema or reorder subfolders, nor can they email files into the data room.
In contrast, Firmex’s intuitive interface and comprehensive set of tools bring efficiency, flexibility, and professionalism to every project. Firmex users enjoy full control over their documents and have the option to bring on unlimited users and launch unlimited projects in their data rooms.
Firmex is the clear winner for subscription flexibility, deal room features, and security. Whitelisted by major financial institutions, Firmex offers 24/7/365 support and unlimited training for all service tiers.
Reviewing the Best Data Room Services
- What is a Virtual Data Room?
A virtual data room is an online repository used to store and distribute documents securely. The first data rooms were purpose-built to support diligence processes. However, when users discovered they could securely share documents beyond the corporate firewall, data rooms became useful for a variety of additional purposes, such as investor reporting, audits, board reporting, and client extranets.
To meet the needs of these various activities, the best data room software offers security and usability features that support the secure and seamless disclosure and sharing of confidential documents with third parties.
When you’re running large projects that involve sensitive information, such as intellectual property, financial information, or litigation case files, you need a secure place to share and collaborate. Data room services provide a secure digital space that replaces the physical spaces and containers formerly used for in-person due diligence review, such as the conference room, the boardroom, and file boxes.
A data room administrator controls the repository. They organize, share, and track the documents and control access, viewing, and download permissions to suit the security and confidentiality requirements of the given project. The best data rooms provide detailed activity tracking that shows administrators what users have accessed which documents.
Virtual data rooms emerged with the advent of cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). They’ve made document management easier and less costly for organizations across sectors, including M&A and investment banking.
- How to Choose the Right Data Room Software
With so many options to choose from, making the right choice among the data room service providers can be challenging. Pricing often hinges on the number of projects and the length of time you need the data room. Key questions to ask as you research available options include:
- How long will you need the room for?
- Are you setting up one or multiple projects?
- What type of documents will you store? How many?
The best data rooms offer maximum flexibility across the board. They’re the most cost-effective for corporations that have multiple large-scale deals happening at once. Despite planning, it’s impossible to know how long an M&A deal might take. Our research shows that 40-50% of deals lasted twice as long as original estimates. Those kinds of uncertainties are best met with a data room that doesn’t place limits on the number of projects and users, or timelines and storage capacity.
The more complex the deal and the more documents you manage, the more you benefit from advanced organizational features such as bulk uploading, auto-indexing, and search functionality. With Firmex software, you can easily drag and drop every file size directly into rooms with industry-leading storage capacities of up to 50GB.
Data rooms purpose-designed for complex transactions also include robust security features, such as branded watermarks and advanced reporting and auditing functions. For example, Firmex virtual data room software has intuitive, built-in controls that let administrators choose which users or user groups can see projects, folders, and documents, as well as disable save, print, and text copy functions. Admins can also check the security settings by “viewing as” each data room visitor. Having an advanced set of easy-to-use security tools ensures all documents are tracked, protected, and under your control.
Here are more tips for choosing the best data room software for your industry, your project, and your workflow needs.
- Consult Virtual Data Room Reviews
You’re not the only one doing a virtual data room comparison. Project administrators before you have gone through the process and shared their experiences online. Accessing this knowledge can save you a lot of groundwork.
G2 and Capterra are websites that aggregate user reviews of data room software, providing ratings of different services alongside lists of features and pricing options. Scroll through written reviews left by current and past users to understand what they like best about a specific data room, what problems they’ve had, and what support is available.
- Find a Secure Data Room Provider
The whole purpose of a virtual data room is security. The more sensitive your transactions, the more you need to prioritize security in your data room.
Compliance certifications demonstrate that data room service providers deploy up-to-date security protocols and observe data privacy regulations. Stakeholders and clients rely on you to protect their documents and their interests. Selecting a tool that observes industry security standards ensures their protection against cyberattacks, data breaches, theft, and even natural calamities like fire and flood.
A provider like Firmex stands out. It’s not only whitelisted by major banks; it holds all major security certifications and stores data in SO/IEC 27001:2013 certified data centers. Beware generic file-sharing tools. Ease of access can mean skilled cyberhackers easily breach a service. Generic platforms serve wide-ranging needs, but don’t have the compliance record necessary for high-stakes projects like due diligence and M&A.
A secure data room provider offers the same security as the world’s top financial institutions. Here are the compliance certifications and security protocols to look for:
- 256-Bit AES SSL/TLS encryption
- SOC 2 compliance
- GDPR
- CSAE 3416
- HIPAA
- SAS70 Type II compliance
- SSO
- Multi-factor authentication
- Understand and Compare Data Room Pricing Models
The search for a virtual data room provider often starts with price. But in the data room market, as with any other service, you get what you pay for. A rock-bottom price for a virtual data room may seem attractive, but it masks deficiencies such as clunky, non-intuitive interfaces, slow upload speeds, lack of functionality, minimal support, and loose security.
Any price survey needs to balance the cost of the room with your specific needs, including:
- security
- storage size (consider document type, e.g., text/PDF vs. audio/video)
- number of rooms or project workspaces needed
- number of admins and users
- feature range, specialized features
- customization capability
- customer and user support
Low-cost providers usually impose user, project, timing, and storage limitations on low-priced rooms, and users ultimately pay the price through expensive overage fees.
If your project is of limited scope, a low-priced option might work for you. To limit costs, you need to know exactly when your project will start and end, how many users will need access to it, and what type of documents are involved (e.g., text documents use far less storage than video and audio files).
If your project is large and complex, timelines are uncertain, and you anticipate running multiple projects simultaneously, a monthly or flat rate may be preferred. Some data room providers impose limitations on these rooms too, so it’s important to carefully review all terms before signing up.
The Best Data Room Software by Industry
Some data rooms, like Firmex, are purpose-built for mission-critical transactions like diligence, compliance, and litigation. Make sure you match the needs of your use case with the features of your virtual data room.
- Best Data Rooms for M&A
Sell-side M&A transactions need to move swiftly and assuredly. Virtual data rooms for M&A need quick and easy setup, advanced user permissions, and always-on support. Granular document activity tracking helps gauge the interest level of bidders and investors, since you can see what documents are being reviewed and for how long.
Choose a virtual data room with activity monitoring and full-time, “live” customer support. Online articles and outsourced help with long wait times and limited service hours won’t cut it for M&A transactions. Opt for a data room with premium support and expert advice available to all users at all times.
Choose: Firmex
- Best Data Rooms for Investment Banking
Investment banks and advisors rely on virtual data rooms for IPOs, capital raising, and other transactions. They use purpose-built data rooms that offer maximum security against cyberbreaches and full compliance with privacy regulations. Investment advisors need data rooms with advanced controls to make it easy to set access permissions and share documents with the right users at the right time.
Choose: Firmex
- Best Data Rooms for Litigation
Legal firms use data rooms to share privileged documents with their clients, legal teams, and third parties for business transactions and litigation. They need banking-level security, 24/7/365 support for clients on tight deadlines, and high-level control features, such as document download protections and user access permissions.
Choose: Firmex
- Best Data Rooms for Corporate
When corporations need to share confidential documents beyond the firewall, they trust data rooms to enable document sharing with security and ease. Data rooms that provide advanced indexing capabilities and bulk upload/download, site branding, and premium service for all users make the most sense for corporate workflows and are the most cost-effective.
Choose: Firmex
- Best Data Rooms for Funds & Private Equity
Funds and private equity (PE) firms use virtual data room providers to communicate and collaborate with limited partners, auditors, and portfolio companies. They need maximum security and control over document sharing and storage. Service support is also key. When transaction timelines are tight, guaranteed 15-minute response times can make a huge difference.
Choose: Firmex
- Best Data Rooms for Biotech/Pharma
Biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms depend upon data rooms to securely share intellectual property and clinical trial data with third parties without having to worry about the risk of security breaches or leaks. HIPAA compliance is a must-have. Pharmaceutical and biotech documentation is often extensive and maintained in complex file structures required by regulators. Advanced data room software gives administrators the flexibility and control to move files in bulk without changes to the underlying structure.
Choose: Firmex
- Best Data Rooms for Mining & Energy
Mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy companies must routinely share large documents for financing, joint ventures, environmental audits, impact assessments, and bid management. A virtual data room simplifies these mission-critical financial and regulatory processes.
Choose: Firmex
- Best Data Rooms for Due Diligence
Whatever the sector, any major legal or financial decision will involve due diligence. And while due diligence is often a highly structured process, there are a lot of documents to juggle and manage. As project administrator, you’re the gatekeeper. You’re setting various user permissions, monitoring versions of different documents, protecting them with branded watermarks, and overseeing print and download permissions for each stored file.
Generic and legacy data room providers aren’t up to this range of advanced tasks. For due diligence to run smoothly and efficiently, look for discrete user access control and permissions, automatic indexing, advanced document protections, customizable activity notifications, and Q&A management as core capabilities.
Choose: Firmex
Why Firmex is the Most Trusted Among Data Room Service Providers
With 20,000 data rooms opened annually and 4200+ customers across 110 countries, Firmex has a clear advantage over other providers. The Firmex advantage is having all the features you need and none you don’t. If you need power features for your transaction, like dynamic watermarks or expire/revoke access privileges, they’re available. If you need a streamlined approach to minimize distractions and get the job done, Firmex software is easy to customize, so you only use what you need to use.
User experience speaks volumes when it comes to data rooms. Not only do user ratings consistently rank Firmex as the most preferred, it’s also the top choice of 89% of the AM Law 100.
Purpose-built for high-level transactions, Firmex combines the highest level of data privacy and security with an intuitive interface that conveys professionalism and inspires confidence. Administrators and users value its award-winning, 24/7/365 support, provided by real, expert human beings with response times of one minute or less.
Firmex: Top Choice of Any Best Virtual Data Room Providers Comparison
With transparent pricing, an unlimited-use subscription option, easy setup, and advanced features, Firmex offers the right balance between value and features in a purpose-built data room with bank-grade security. As the go-to virtual data room for thousands of organizations, Firmex gets more deals done than anyone else.