For paid newsletter operators, research publishers, and content creators who distribute premium PDFs or videos to a subscriber base. Gate access by email, watermark every page with the subscriber's identity, and trace any leak back to the exact person who shared it.

Why Peony for Content Subscriptions

Access you update without re-sharing. An email allow list (add emails one at a time, or load many with CSV import) decides who can open the room. When subscribers join or churn, edit the list and the change applies instantly to all past and present content, with no links to re-share and no one to re-invite.
Every page traces back to one subscriber. Dynamic watermarks burn each subscriber's email and IP into every page they view, from the one document you upload, and page-level analytics show who read what. Patreon, Substack and Memberful have no watermarking, no per-subscriber leak tracing and no page-level engagement data.
Priced per admin, not per subscriber. Viewers are free and unlimited, so a publisher with 5,000 subscribers pays the same as one with 50: no per-subscriber fee, no storage fee, and no file-size fee.

What You Need on Each Tier

An email Allow list (with CSV import) and email verification need Business+, which is enough to gate content to a fixed subscriber list; the leak-tracing stack (dynamic watermarks, Advanced Screenshot protection, granular per-file permissions and domain-level allow entries) needs Data Room+. Prices: Plans and Pricing.

Why a Data Room for Subscriptions

Most newsletter tools protect the email — not the content inside it. Once a subscriber downloads a PDF or forwards a link, you lose control. Peony keeps the content inside a controlled room where every view is tracked, every page is watermarked, and access can be revoked at any time.

Quick Setup

Create a data room for your content. In the top bar, click Create new data room, then upload PDFs, videos, or any files you distribute to subscribers. (Data room creation is Business and above.)
Create a group to hold your subscribers. In the Permissions tab, click Create new group — this opens a two-step wizard: Visitors then Document permissions.
On the Visitors step, choose an access mode. Pick Link access so you can share one link with everyone, then turn on the email gate. Under Allow list, add approved emails with Add, or use CSV import to load your whole subscriber list at once. Only emails on the list can open the room.
Enable dynamic watermarks on the Document permissions step (or in the group's Screenshot protection / watermark controls). Every page renders with the subscriber's email and IP, so any leaked screenshot or photo traces back to the source. (Dynamic watermarks are Data Room and above.)
Share the link in your newsletter, Telegram group, or subscriber portal. Subscribers enter their email to access. Click Save at the bottom right to apply any changes.

What Subscribers See

A subscriber clicks the link, enters their email, and lands in the data room. Every page they view carries a dynamic watermark with their identity. They can read and browse but cannot remove the watermark or (if downloads are disabled) save a local copy.

If someone tries to access with an email not on the allow list, they are blocked automatically. Peony rejects any email that is not on the list.

Tracking and Leak Tracing

Open the Analytics tab to see:

Which subscribers opened the room and when
Which documents and pages each subscriber read
Total view time per subscriber

If a watermarked screenshot surfaces online, cross-reference the watermarked email against your subscriber list to identify the exact person. For teams that need a discrete per-document tracing code, Peony offers an 8-digit content ID for leak tracing — available to accounts with three or more seats on an annual plan. Contact sean@peony.ink to enable it.

Customizing the Watermark

Click Customize watermark to choose what renders on each page, stack it over several lines, or add a footer line with copyright, disclaimer or regulatory text along the bottom of every page; the options, and why position doesn't apply to .docx files, are in Dynamic Watermarks.

Managing Subscriber Access

Adding subscribers. Add individual emails in the Allow list, or run a CSV import to add many at once.
Removing subscribers. Remove an email from the allow list, or re-import a CSV without it. Access stops immediately.
Weekly content drops. Upload new files to the same room. Existing subscribers see them instantly — no need to resend links or re-invite.

Recommended Security Stack

The baseline for a paid newsletter (email verification, dynamic watermark, screenshot protection, downloads off) is in Recommended stacks by use case. For subscriptions, add:

Allow list (Business and up) — only approved subscribers can open the room
Custom watermark footer — copyright and disclaimer text
Advanced Screenshot protection / Screenshield (Data Room and up) — hardens against screen capture, especially on mobile

Screenshot protection is desktop-optimized; mobile screen capture has inherent limits, which is why dynamic watermarking is the strongest all-around deterrent — a second camera can always photograph a screen.

Common Mistakes

Emailing the PDF directly. Once it leaves your server, you cannot revoke, track, or watermark it. Use a data room link instead.
One link per subscriber. Unnecessary for subscriptions. Use one group link with an allow list — far easier to manage at scale.
Forgetting to update the allow list when subscribers churn. Former subscribers retain access until removed.
Forgetting to click Save. Group security settings apply only after you click Save at the bottom right.

Common Questions

Am I charged by the number of subscribers, storage, or file size?

No. Peony charges per admin seat only. Viewers are always free and there are no size fees; storage is unlimited from the Data Room plan.

Does mobile screenshot protection fully block screenshots?

No tool can fully block a phone camera pointed at a screen. Advanced Screenshot protection (Screenshield) makes on-device capture much harder, and dynamic watermarking ties any captured image back to the subscriber — pair them for the strongest deterrent.