7 Best Data Room Software for Investors in 2025
Institutional investors manage $85 trillion in global assets with 70% citing inefficient document management as a top operational challenge, according to Preqin research. Meanwhile, limited partners (LPs) demand more transparent reporting and real-time portfolio access—requiring modern data room infrastructure beyond email and spreadsheets.
Peony provides investor-grade data rooms: organize portfolio company materials, share LP updates securely, track stakeholder engagement with analytics, and manage unlimited data rooms for each investment. Purpose-built for professional investors.
Here are the 7 best data room platforms for investors in 2025.
Quick Comparison
Feature | Peony | Carta | iDeals | Intralinks | DocSend | PandaDoc | Digify |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portfolio mgmt | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ |
Unlimited rooms | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Page analytics | ✅ | ❌ | ⚠️ Basic | ⚠️ Basic | ✅ | ⚠️ Basic | ✅ |
Custom branding | ✅ | ❌ | ⚠️ Logo | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
AI-powered | ✅ | ⚠️ Limited | ⚠️ Limited | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Free plan | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Starting price | $0 | ~$2,800/yr | Contact | Contact | $15/mo | $35/mo | $75/mo |
What Investors Need from Data Rooms
Portfolio management:
- Organize materials per investment
- Track portfolio company updates
- Board materials repository
- Financial reporting aggregation
Due diligence:
- Evaluate new investment opportunities
- Comprehensive document review
- Team collaboration on deals
- IC (Investment Committee) materials
LP communications:
- Quarterly update distribution
- Annual meeting materials
- Capital call documentation
- Secure LP portal access
Compliance and audit:
- Complete audit trails
- Access logging
- Regulatory compliance (SEC, FINRA)
- Document retention policies
1. Peony - Best for Modern Investors
Website: peony.ink
Why investors choose Peony:
Unlimited portfolio organization:
- Create data room per investment
- Organize by fund, vintage, sector
- No artificial limits
Intelligence and analytics:
- Track LP engagement with updates
- Monitor portfolio company activity
- Page-level viewing analytics
- Engagement scoring
- Hot prospect identification
Professional presentation:
- Custom branded domain (yourfund.peony.ink)
- White-label experience
- Mobile-optimized viewing
- Professional impression
Enterprise security:
- Bank-grade encryption (AES-256)
- Dynamic watermarks (identify leaks)
- Screenshot protection
- Email verification
- Two-factor authentication
- Complete audit trails
Collaboration:
- Internal team sharing
- Portfolio company collaboration
- LP secure access
- Advisor materials
Pricing:
- Free: Unlimited data rooms, core features
- Pro: $25/month - Advanced analytics
- Business: $40/month - Custom branding
- Enterprise: Custom - white-label
Best for: VCs, growth equity, family offices needing modern infrastructure at reasonable cost.
2. Carta - Best for Cap Table & Equity
Website: carta.com
Strengths:
- Industry-standard cap table platform
- 409A valuations
- Portfolio management features
- Investor reporting tools
- Fund administration
Limitations:
- Expensive (~$2,800/year minimum)
- Not purpose-built for document sharing
- Limited data room features
- No page-level analytics
- Complex for simple document sharing
Pricing: ~$2,800/year (varies by company size and complexity)
Best for: Investors needing comprehensive equity management, not just document sharing.
3. iDeals - Best for Large M&A
Website: idealsvdr.com
Strengths:
- Purpose-built VDR
- Used by major investment banks
- 14-language support
- 24/7 support
- M&A-specific features
Limitations:
- Very expensive ($600-$2,000+/month)
- Dated interface
- Manual organization (no AI)
- Complex setup
- Overkill for most investors
Pricing: Contact for quote ($600+/month typical)
Best for: Large institutional investors managing $1B+ M&A transactions.
4. Intralinks - Enterprise VDR Standard
Website: intralinks.com
Strengths:
- Handles $30T+ annually in deals
- Enterprise-grade security
- Global infrastructure
- Investment banking standard
Limitations:
- Very expensive ($1,000-$5,000+/month)
- Complex pricing and setup
- Dated user experience
- No modern features (AI, advanced analytics)
Pricing: Enterprise only (contact sales)
Best for: Large institutional investors, Fortune 500 M&A, investment banks.
5. DocSend - Best for Document Tracking
Website: docsend.com
Strengths:
- Excellent page-level analytics
- Good for pitch deck tracking
- Dropbox integration
- Used by many VCs
Limitations:
- Expensive ($15-$300/month)
- No unlimited data rooms
- Limited security features (no screenshot protection)
- No custom branding
- Not purpose-built for investors
Pricing: $15-$300/month (depending on plan)
Best for: VCs primarily needing pitch deck analytics, already use Dropbox.
6. PandaDoc - Best for Documents Requiring Signatures
Website: pandadoc.com
Strengths:
- Built-in e-signatures
- Document templates
- Workflow automation
- Good for LP documents requiring signatures
Limitations:
- Not purpose-built for data rooms
- Expensive per-user pricing ($35-$65/month)
- Limited security for sensitive docs
- No custom branding
Pricing: $35-$65/user/month
Best for: Investors managing high volume of documents requiring signatures (subscription docs, side letters).
7. Digify - Budget Document Protection
Website: digify.com
Strengths:
- Document protection focus
- Tracking capabilities
- Affordable pricing
- NDA workflows
Limitations:
- Basic data room features
- Limited analytics depth
- No custom branding
- Smaller feature set
Pricing: $75/month (Pro plan)
Best for: Individual angels or small family offices on budget.
Investor-Specific Use Cases
Venture Capital Firms
Portfolio management needs:
- Data room per investment (10-50+ companies)
- Board materials repository
- IC presentation archive
- Founder update tracking
LP communications:
- Quarterly update distribution
- Annual meeting materials
- Capital call documents
- Performance dashboards
Deal evaluation:
- Diligence materials organization
- Team collaboration on deals
- IC materials and voting
- Post-investment tracking
- Unlimited data rooms (one per portfolio company)
- Portfolio-wide search
- LP portal with custom branding
- Investment analytics
Private Equity
Deal execution needs:
- Comprehensive diligence rooms
- Management presentations
- Financial model analysis
- Operational reviews
Portfolio optimization:
- Operating partner materials
- Portfolio company reporting
- Value creation tracking
- Exit preparation
Investor relations:
- LP quarterly updates
- Annual meeting materials
- Capital call management
- Distribution documentation
Family Offices
Investment tracking:
- Direct investments organization
- Fund investment materials
- Real estate documentation
- Alternative assets
Reporting:
- Consolidated performance
- Asset allocation tracking
- Tax documentation
- Family member access
Angel Investors
Simplified needs:
- Portfolio tracking (5-20 companies)
- Founder update access
- Due diligence materials
- Follow-on decision support
Budget constraints:
- Cost-effective solutions
- Essential features only
- Scalable as portfolio grows
Peony advantage: Free tier supports 10-20 investments with full features.
Pricing Comparison
Annual cost comparison (managing 10 investments):
Provider | Setup | Annual Cost | Per Investment |
---|---|---|---|
Peony | $0 | $0-$480 | $0-$48 |
Carta | Varies | $28,000+ | $2,800+ |
iDeals | Varies | $36,000+ | $3,600+ |
Intralinks | Varies | $60,000+ | $6,000+ |
DocSend | $0 | $1,800+ | $180+ |
PandaDoc | $0 | $4,200+ | $420+ |
Digify | $0 | $900 | $90 |
Value calculation:
- Peony saves $35,000-$60,000/year vs. traditional VDRs
- Same security and features
- Better analytics and AI
- Modern user experience
Selection Criteria for Investors
Must-have features:
- Unlimited or high data room limits
- Granular access controls
- Complete audit trails
- Mobile access
Important features:
- Page-level analytics
- Custom branding
- AI-powered organization
- Fast search across all materials
- Team collaboration tools
Nice-to-have features:
- Integration with cap table tools
- CRM integration
- API access
- White-label options
How Peony Serves Investors
Peony purpose-built for investment professionals:
Portfolio management:
- Create room per portfolio company
- Organize board materials
- Track company updates
- Monitor engagement
Due diligence:
- Evaluate new opportunities
- Team collaboration on deals
- Track diligence completion
- IC material preparation
LP communications:
- Quarterly update distribution
- Annual meeting materials
- Secure LP portal (branded)
- Track LP engagement
Security and compliance:
- Bank-grade encryption
- Dynamic watermarks
- Complete audit trails
- Access revocation
Intelligence:
- Portfolio-wide analytics
- Engagement tracking
- Document effectiveness
- LP satisfaction indicators
Result: Professional investor operations at 90% lower cost than traditional VDRs.
Conclusion
Modern investors require sophisticated data room infrastructure for portfolio management, LP communications, and deal execution. While traditional VDRs like Intralinks and iDeals serve large institutions well, they come with enterprise complexity and costs.
For most investors—VCs, growth equity, family offices, and angels—Peony provides superior capabilities (unlimited rooms, AI organization, advanced analytics) at 90% lower costs. The platform combines professional features with startup-friendly pricing, enabling better investor operations without enterprise budgets.
Modern investor infrastructure: Try Peony