Invite Your Team (Admins vs Viewers)
Inviting a team admin adds a paid seat. Inviting a viewer is free. Here is the exact distinction so you avoid surprise charges.
Last updated April 10, 2026
Peony has two different "invite" flows with very different pricing.
- Invite Team Member (admin) — adds a paid seat. $20/month on Pro, $40/month on Business.
- Invite Viewer — free and unlimited on every plan, including the free tier.
Admins are people on your team who manage data rooms. Viewers are counterparties who read the rooms you share. If you just want to send a pitch deck to 20 investors, they are viewers.
Read this before clicking any "Invite" button.
The Full Comparison
| Role | Who They Are | What They Can Do | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admin | Someone on your team (co-founder, analyst, assistant) | Create and manage data rooms, upload files, invite viewers, see analytics, manage billing | Paid seat: $20/month on Pro, $40/month on Business, per admin |
| Viewer | Your counterparty (investor, buyer, client, lender) | Open the link, read files under whatever protections you set, upload files back if allowed | Free and unlimited on every plan |
Admins sign in with their own Peony account. Viewers never need one — they just open the link.
Where Each Invite Button Lives
Invite a Viewer (free)
- Inside a data room, go to Permissions (or Links)
- Click Invite Viewer
- Enter the email and send
- No billing impact
This is the flow you use 95% of the time. See Invite Viewers.
Invite an Admin (paid seat)
- Go to workspace Settings (top-right, outside any data room)
- Click Team > Invite Member
- Enter the email, select the Admin role
- On Pro or Business, this triggers a pro-rated per-seat charge
Use this flow when a colleague joins your company and needs to help manage rooms.
Persona Examples
Founder sharing a deck with 20 VCs. All 20 are viewers. Free. The free tier works — upgrade only for paid features like advanced watermarks or custom domains.
M&A advisor with an analyst helping manage the room. The analyst is an admin — they upload files, answer Q&A, manage links. Two admins on Business is $80/month.
Sell-side deal with 5 buyer firms, 3 people each. All 15 buyer-side reviewers are viewers. Zero seat impact. Create one link per buyer firm and invite each individual on that link.
Assistant who uploads files but not billing. Still an admin — role scoping controls what they touch, but the seat cost is the same.
Solo consultant sharing with one client. Your client is a viewer. You are the only admin needed. Free tier works.
"Why Was I Charged for an Extra Seat?"
The most common billing confusion. If you see a surprise seat charge:
- You clicked Settings > Team > Invite Member (instead of the viewer invite)
- You added a colleague with the Admin role
- Peony pro-rated the charge for the rest of the billing period
The fix: Go to Settings > Team, remove the extra admin, contact support. Peony refunds the charge every time.
To prevent: If the person is a counterparty, invite them from the data room's Permissions tab — never from workspace Settings.
Admin Seats Per Plan
- Free — 1 admin (you)
- Pro — $20 per admin per month
- Business — $40 per admin per month
- Enterprise — custom
Viewers are always free and unlimited.
Common Mistakes
- "Pro limits viewers to 3." No. Pro includes 3 admin seats. Viewers are unlimited.
- Test admin left running. Even test admins trigger the seat charge. Remove them.
- Assuming viewer count affects billing. It never does.
- "Upgrade to Business" prompt when inviting. That means you hit the admin-seat limit, not a viewer limit. If the person is actually a counterparty, cancel and use the data room Permissions tab instead.