A full guide to the virtual data room pricing in 2024
How much should you pay?
There are a lot of virtual data room vendors, and each of them sets its own prices for the service. Sometimes, the pricing for two almost identical VDRs will differ greatly, and it’s quite hard to understand the reason for that. However, sticking to the cheapest solution is also not always a good decision since the quality of virtual data room software might be poor.
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So, how do you understand, how much should your data room cost?
First things first, what’s your budget?
Before even diving into trying to understand the virtual data room pricing, you need to know how much money you can spend on this tool. You shouldn’t try to adjust your budget to the price tag of the vendor. Instead, look for a provider whose cost will match your capabilities. Then you will be able to sift out options that are too expensive for you, and the search will become easier.
How much can a virtual data room cost?
The prіce range is really wide. You can find the solution even for $100 per month if you are fine with lesser-known and simpler providers. And there is no top limit for the virtual data room pricing — some experienced business owners tell stories about getting invoices that are way over $100,000. Usually, such high costs are related to virtual data rooms that stick to the per-page pricing. It’s a somewhat outdated approach, but let us take a look at all pricing models and provide you with a virtual data room cost comparison.
Per-page
Quite numerous vendors still use this approach. Depending on the size of your project, the price for one page varies from $0.40 to $0.85. This model might be great for small companies that don’t have that many papers to work with. But if your firm is quite large and has to manage lots of documents, such a virtual data room will cost you a lot, here is more about it.
Per-user
Some virtual data rooms will provide customers with a certain number of user licenses for a set price. And if you need to add more team members to a VDR, you will need to pay an extra fee for each of them. The price for a user differs a lot – the costs vary between $100 and $250 for an administrative user. In our opinion, such a model is also better suited for smaller companies as you might overpay greatly if your team hosts many members.
Pay for the size of the storage
This approach, just like two previous ones, is good for teams with a limited number of relatively small papers. If you need to share large video files or images, such a pricing model will be quite expensive for you. The amount of data storage VDRs offer for a set price is different. And if you exceed the limit, the vendor will charge you for each extra GB that you use. The cost of one gigabyte can reach up to $75, so that’s a rather high price.
Set monthly or yearly fees
This is the approach most trusted and well-known providers use. Often, a virtual data room offers several packages suited for companies of different sizes. A pricing plan provides you with a set amount of data storage space and a certain number of administrative and guest user licenses. The pricing varies greatly from vendor to vendor and can reach up to $1000 per month. However, some virtual data room providers try to keep their prices at an affordable level. For example, Ideals offers 500 MB of storage, 10 guest users, and 2 administrators.
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Free Trial |
Think about pricing
Data room pricing greatly depends on the services a particular virtual data room vendor provides.
So when it comes to the virtual data room pricing comparison, choosing the cheaper solution might be not as reasonable as you think. Let’s define the factors you should consider when comparing virtual data rooms.
Naturally, the pricing structure of the virtual data room will differ depending on whether they’re provided by a particular vendor.
Document management features
A secure data room provider is primarily a file-sharing platform where you can exchange confidential documents in large volumes. The easier it is to manage sensitive data, the higher virtual data room pricing can be.
Reliable VDR vendors provide at least these document sharing and management features:
- Easy upload.
Such processes as due diligence or private equity deals always have lots of confidential information and digital documents involved. Virtual data rooms simplify their management with the help of such file sharing services as drag-n-drop, bulk, and zip upload. They allow for managing multiple deals simultaneously and make the transactions less time-consuming. - Auto indexing.
This document management feature enables the easy upload of thousands of sensitive documents and folders. Such a virtual data room solution automatically numbers all the uploaded files. - Full-text search.
This feature allows all the virtual data room members to easily find concrete info among thousands of documents by entering keywords in the search bar. This is done thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology.
Document security features
Data loss prevention is what all virtual data room users expect when choosing a provider.
Secure document sharing is vital in all the industries where complex financial corporate transactions take place: from investment banking to real estate. That’s also why Google Drive isn’t considered a 100% safe cloud storage.
Before paying for the pricing plans, you need to be sure a particular virtual data room is foremost a secure sharing platform.
Expect at least these document security features from a data room:
- Dynamic watermarking.
You can enable watermarks to appear on top of documents every time someone views them. - Redaction.
This virtual data room solution hides the personally identifiable or sensitive data so that no one can see it. - Full-text search.
This feature allows all the virtual data room members to easily find concrete info among thousands of documents by entering keywords in the search bar. This is done thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology.
Usability
Despite the complexity of the due diligence process happening inside the virtual data room, it has to be easy to navigate.
Popular VDR providers make it possible with the help of many features. These are a few you should expect:
- Bulk user invitation.
It allows you to add unlimited users in just a few clicks. - Easy access.
Virtual data rooms are easy to access because it’s cloud software that doesn’t require any extra plugins. Just follow one secure link via any browser and from any laptop. Virtual data room solutions also perfectly operate on mobile devices. - Integrations.
To streamline the file sharing and deal-making process, data rooms offer various integrations. Some of the most popular are Microsoft Office and Zoom.
Access control features
Despite the complexity of the due diligence process happening inside the virtual data room, it has to be easy to navigate.
Popular VDR providers make it possible with the help of many features. These are a few you should expect:
- Two-factor authentication.
Every time someone enters the virtual data room, they’ll need to confirm their identity by a single-use SMS code they receive. - Permission-based user roles.
The administrator of the virtual data room or account manager decides who can view what documents. This way, no third parties will have access to the sensitive data. - Access control and expiration.
You can set expiration dates for the file access. This is another way to prevent confidential information leaks.
Why do prices differ so much?
Logically, we think that the more advanced the virtual data room is, the higher will be its cost. But in reality, it’s not the case. Some vendors have fewer features and less versatile virtual data room software than Ideals mentioned above, yet their pricing structure is much more expensive. The price of the virtual data room doesn’t display its quality.
If the virtual data room provider is well-known and exists for quite a long time, its prices will likely be very high. For example, Merrill and Intralinks offer rather basic virtual data rooms, but their service is much more expensive than the advanced software Box and Ideals offer, for example. Sticking to such virtual data room providers, you will pay for the name more than for the service. However, in some cases, paying more for a reputable name decades-old is worth the money.
How to check out a virtual data room before paying for it?
It’s possible to see the software in action before you spend money on it, and it’s an important thing to do. Virtual data rooms offer several options:
- A free trial.
Very few vendors allow customers to use the virtual data room for free for several days. Usually, they will let you use all the features, but sometimes, the functions are limited in the trial version. It’s the best option since you get to use software by yourself. - A free demo.
This is also a good way to see the insides of a virtual data room. The provider will show you the interface and all the features on-demand. You just need to schedule the demo – you will find this option on the website if the vendor offers such a service. - A money-back guarantee.
Well, in this case, you will have to pay to use the virtual data room. However, you can get your money back if you dislike the software. It’s better than nothing. Yet, some virtual data rooms might become tricky once you request your money back. Sometimes, they will try to persuade you to stay, and sometimes, you will wait for the funds to arrive in your account for ages.
Bottom line
Before you begin choosing a virtual data room, you need to know your financial capabilities, the number of files you will work with, and the approximate number of users. Also, it’s useful to try to predict the growth of your company to understand how quickly you will grow out of the service you initially choose. Then it will be easier for you to decide which pricing model fits you better. And once you realize it, you will quickly choose a suitable vendor.