On paper, Ellty ticks the same boxes as rooms that cost several times more to procure: permissions down to the user, a proper question workflow, watermarks, download and print controls, signing, two-step login and an activity record that would satisfy a buyer’s counsel. The difference is in the delivery. The workspace is modern and quick to learn, AI assistance sits next to the documents, and the monthly rate is on the website rather than in a proposal.
The first two days with a live buyer
We judge every room on the scenario sellers actually meet: the letter of intent is signed, the buyer’s team wants in by the end of the week, and the source files sit in a shared drive with a folder logic only one person understands.
Getting from sign-up to an invited buyer in Ellty takes very little. Drag a whole directory in and the nested structure comes across intact, so the index you already built is not lost. Access can be set for one person or for a whole group. Before the invitations go out, spend a few minutes viewing the room as each group would; that habit is what stops a commercial-only bidder from opening the capitalization table.
Watermarks and rights control work from day one, not after an upgrade. Every participant can be asked for a second login factor, and with signing built in, an NDA or side letter gets executed in the same place the documents live.
Questions are where older rooms often show their age. In Ellty, bidders ask inside the room, answers are published there, and nothing leaks into inboxes. Each question, view and download lands in the activity log, and the AI tools are one click away in that same workspace.
Where it scores
| Check | What we found |
|---|---|
| Deal features | Question workflow, user and group permissions, activity log, rights control, signing, AI assistance |
| Security | SOC 2 Infrastructure, two-step login, per-view watermarks, download and print control |
| Ease of setup | Folder trees upload intact; a room can be ready the same day |
| Pricing clarity | Monthly rate shown openly, from $149/mo |
| Support | Quick and to the point in our test requests |
Taken together, the rows describe a room that covers what a contested sale or an acquisition review asks of it, while the screens themselves never slow the deal team down.
What to confirm before you commit
Check a handful of points against your own process. Hosting is cloud only; if your rules exclude any third-party host, look at Drooms, which offers a self-hosted option. Sign-in through an identity provider and a public API are not offered, which matters to firms that provision or script every tool centrally; CapLinked is the API-led alternative in our list. Redaction and a native phone app are also absent. Our data records SOC 2 Infrastructure and no ISO 27001 certificate, so if a counterparty’s questionnaire insists on ISO, raise it with Ellty early.
What it costs in practice
The listed entry rate is $149/mo. Plans and limits change, so verify them with the vendor, but a public number means you can rough out a six-month sale on a spreadsheet the same afternoon.
Most rooms near the top of our ranking work the other way. With iDeals or Datasite you describe the deal, wait for a proposal and negotiate from there. The result can be fair, yet the scoping alone eats days you may need for the deal. See our data room pricing guide for typical ranges across billing models.
Ellty against iDeals and Firmex
Next to iDeals, the diligence basics line up: permissions, questions, watermarks and the activity log. Ellty adds AI assistance, signing and an openly listed rate, and new admins tend to find their way around it faster. iDeals counters with ISO 27001, identity-provider sign-in, an API and native redaction, any of which may be a hard requirement for your process.
Next to Firmex, the gap is less about checklists and more about how the product feels and is sold. Firmex is a veteran subscription room; Ellty matches its diligence depth and layers AI help, signing and a newer interface on top, which suits a one-off sale as well as an advisory practice running deals back to back.
Fitting it to your deal
On a sell-side mandate, most of the requirements are met without add-ons; our M&A shortlist shows how it stacks up against the rest. For a listing with formal filing workflows and many outside reviewers, weigh it against the IPO readiness picks first.
Frequently asked questions
Can Ellty handle the security side of an M&A review?
For most deals, yes. Two-step login, per-view watermarks, control over downloads and printing, and a full activity record are all included, and our data lists SOC 2 Infrastructure. Where a buyer requires ISO 27001 by name, ask Ellty what documentation it can share.
How long is the Ellty trial?
Fourteen days. That is enough to load real files, set up groups and run a question through the workflow before buyers arrive.
What does the AI in Ellty sit alongside?
The AI tools live in the same workspace as the question log, permissions and activity history, so they are part of day-to-day room work instead of a separate product.
Is there a self-hosted version of Ellty?
No, it runs in the cloud only. Teams that must keep files on their own servers can look at Drooms, which offers a self-hosted option.