Virtual Data Room Reviews
Each write-up explains which teams a vendor fits, its weak spots, its price range and its marks across our five scoring criteria. Below you will find every review, a one-screen summary table, how the scores spread, and a short guide to reading a review page.
On this page: All reviews Summary table Score spread How we review How to read a review Close rivals FAQ
Ellty review
Best for full-featured deal rooms with a modern, AI-assisted workflow
iDeals review
Best for multi-bidder M&A with heavy Q&A
Datasite review
Best for large sell-side processes with many bidders
Ansarada review
Best for teams that want structured deal preparation
Intralinks review
Best for regulated, high-value cross-border transactions
Firmex review
Best for advisers opening many rooms each year
Drooms review
Best for european real estate and on-premise needs
SmartRoom review
Best for strict, permission-heavy M&A processes
DealRoom review
Best for buy-side teams and serial acquirers
Box review
Best for teams already standardised on Box
Citrix ShareFile review
Best for professional firms exchanging and signing client documents
CapLinked review
Best for teams automating recurring data rooms
ShareVault review
Best for life sciences licensing and IP-heavy partnering
SecureDocs review
Best for small sales and fundraises on a fixed budget
Onehub review
Best for low-budget sharing and simple diligence
Venue by DFIN review
Best for IPO preparation and capital markets work
Digify review
Best for protecting shared files on a small budget
DocSend review
Best for sharing pitch decks and tracking investor interest
All 18 reviews at a glance
Score, entry price, trial and certifications for every provider, in ranking order. Tap a name for the full review.
Ellty 95/100 $149/mo Yes, 14 days SOC 2 Infrastructure Full-featured deal rooms with a modern, AI-assisted workflow Datasite 90/100 Quote only No, demo SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR Large sell-side processes with many bidders Intralinks 88/100 Quote only No, demo SOC 2, ISO 27001 Regulated, high-value cross-border transactions Drooms 85/100 Quote only No, demo SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR European real estate and on-premise needs Box 82/100 $15/user/mo per seat Yes SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA Teams already standardised on Box Citrix ShareFile 81/100 $55/mo Yes SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA Professional firms exchanging and signing client documents ShareVault 80/100 Quote only Yes SOC 2, ISO 27001 Life sciences licensing and IP-heavy partnering Venue by DFIN 75/100 Quote only No, demo SOC 2, ISO 27001 IPO preparation and capital markets work DocSend 70/100 $45/user/mo per seat Yes SOC 2, GDPR Sharing pitch decks and tracking investor interest Prices are starting points published by each vendor and change often; quote-only vendors price per project. Scores are editorial, not user-review averages.
A few patterns stand out once the whole list sits on one screen. 10 of the 18 vendors never show a price, and they cluster near the top of the ranking: enterprise suites sell to banks and law firms who expect a scoping call. The 8 that do publish range from $15/user/mo to $299/mo, but that spread mixes flat monthly plans with per-seat billing, so line them up only after you count your users. 12 providers hold both SOC 2 and ISO 27001, and 5 list built-in AI tools. Only 5 lack a Q&A module, which is the one gap we would check first before a sale with several bidders.
How the scores spread
Where each reviewed room lands on the 100-point scale, grouped into five bands.
How the scores spread across every reviewed room
- 1 90 and above 3 rooms
Complete deal toolkits with strong marks on every check.
- 2 85 to 89 5 rooms
Full rooms with one clear soft spot, usually setup or price.
- 3 80 to 84 5 rooms
Capable rooms that trade depth for focus or price.
DealRoom 83Box 82Citrix ShareFile 81CapLinked 80ShareVault 80 - 4 75 to 79 3 rooms
Good for simpler raises, client sharing or a niche.
- 5 Below 75 2 rooms
Narrow tools; check the gaps before a contested deal.
Ellty leads at 95 and DocSend closes the list at 70, a gap of 25 points. Most of that distance comes from deal features and security, the two heaviest checks. Inside a band, the totals are close enough that your own priorities should break the tie. A room five points lower can still be the right buy if it scores higher on the one check your deal depends on.
Score breakdown: every provider on every check
How we write each review
The same four rules apply to every provider, from the largest enterprise suite to the smallest sharing tool. The full scoring model is on the rating methodology page.
Facts first
Price, trial, certifications, hosting, founding year and twelve feature flags come from one shared fact file. Every review, table and chart on this site reads from it, so a correction made once shows up everywhere.
Five checks, fixed weights
Each room gets a mark out of 10 on deal features, security, ease of setup, pricing clarity, support. Weights run from 30% down to 10%, and the weighted total becomes the score out of 100.
Sources we can cite
We work from vendor documentation, published price pages, security and trust pages and help centres, and ask the vendor in writing when a page is unclear. No vendor pays for a review or approves it.
Fit before features
A review closes with who should pick the room and who should not. Two short lists, written for a reader with a real deal on the calendar, matter more than a long spec sheet.
Two limits are worth stating. We do not run penetration tests or audit a vendor's infrastructure, so security marks reflect published certifications and documented controls rather than our own audits. And vendor pages change quietly; if you spot a price or feature that no longer matches what a vendor sells today, tell us through the contact page and we will recheck it. Read more on our editorial policy.
How to read one of our reviews
Every review page follows the same layout, so once you know where things sit you can compare two vendors in a couple of minutes.
The score box
A star figure out of 5 sits beside the heading. It is the score out of 100 divided by 20, so 4.5 stars equals 90 points. It is our editorial mark, not a crowd average.
Bottom line
One paragraph that states the trade-off in plain words. If you only have a minute, this and the score box are enough to decide whether to keep reading.
Pros and cons
Built from the facts, not from opinion: a published price, a trial, both certifications or a Q&A module count as pros; a missing API, SSO or mobile app count as cons.
Good fit / look elsewhere
Two lists of concrete situations. If your deal matches a line on the second list, move on to an alternative rather than hoping the gap will not matter.
Rating breakdown
Five bars, one per check. A room with a high total and one short bar may still be wrong for you if that bar is the thing you care about most.
Key features and specs
Twelve features shown as included or missing, then a side box with price, trial, hosting and head office. Use it to confirm nothing on your must-have list is absent.
Close rivals worth reading side by side
Neighbours in the ranking with the smallest gap between them. When two scores are this close, the check where they differ most is the real decision.
Not sure which review to open first? Answer four questions and get a shortlist for your deal.
Take the quizData room reviews: FAQ
How many data room providers have you reviewed?
18, from full enterprise deal suites to lighter document sharing tools. Every one is scored on the same five checks so the reviews can be compared directly. The summary table on this page lists all of them in ranking order.
Are these ratings averages of user reviews?
No. They are editorial scores from our own five-check model, built on public vendor material and a shared fact file. We do not collect or republish star ratings from review platforms.
Which providers publish their prices?
8 of 18: Ellty ($149/mo), Box ($15/user/mo), Citrix ShareFile ($55/mo), CapLinked ($299/mo), SecureDocs ($250/mo), Onehub ($15/mo), Digify ($120/mo) and DocSend ($45/user/mo). Box and DocSend bill per seat, so multiply by your team size. The other 10 quote per project.
Which data rooms let me try before buying?
13 of 18 offer a free trial; Ellty's runs for 14 days. Datasite, Intralinks, Drooms, SmartRoom and Venue by DFIN work through a sales demo instead.
Which providers hold both SOC 2 and ISO 27001?
12 of 18: iDeals, Datasite, Ansarada, Intralinks, Firmex, Drooms, SmartRoom, DealRoom, Box, Citrix ShareFile, ShareVault and Venue by DFIN. Box and Citrix ShareFile also list HIPAA, which matters for health data.
Do lower-scored rooms still make sense for some deals?
Yes. DocSend scores 70/100 because it lacks parts of a full diligence toolkit, yet its "best for" line describes a job it does well. Read the fit lists before ruling anything out.
How often are the reviews updated?
When a vendor changes pricing, certifications or features, we update the fact file and every review, table and chart follows. The latest review update on this page is dated October 9, 2026.
Can a vendor pay to change its score?
No. Some links on this site are affiliate links, as stated in our disclosure, but scores come only from the five checks and the facts behind them.