Stop paying overpriced SaaS.
Really, please.
Plus they aren't even that good. Read our teardown why DocSend is such a ripoff. Your CFO will thank you. Your runway will thank you.
Before: Multiple Expensive Tools
DocSend
Document analytics
$300/user
per month
Ideals
Secure data room
$450/user
per month
DocuSign
eSignatures
$75/user
per month
WeTransfer
File sharing
$25/user
per month
Dropbox
Document storage
$30/user
per month
Glean
AI document search
$50/user
per month
Total Cost
$940/user/month
$11,280 per user per year
After: One Powerful Tool
Peony
All-in-one file system
$40/admin
per month
Total Cost
$40/admin/month
Save $11,240 per admin per year
"Every now and then, you come across a product that has a massive positive impact on your business. Peony is one such product."
Link expiration dates
Set expiration dates on shared links. Automatically revoke access after a chosen time frame for secure, time-limited file sharing.
Password Protection
Add password protection to any shared file or folder. Ensure only authorized users can access your confidential content.
One click watermarking
Protect documents with dynamic watermarks. Deter unauthorized sharing by marking files with viewer details, timestamps, or your company brand.
Two-Factor Authentication
Add an extra layer of security with 2FA. Require recipients to verify identity before accessing sensitive documents or folders.
Screenshot protection
Block screenshots of sensitive files and folders. Ensure confidential content cannot be copied or leaked through screen captures.
Secure with NDA
Gate sensitive documents behind an NDA. Recipients must digitally sign a non-disclosure agreement before viewing or downloading your files.
File Engagement Tracking
See which files investors are opening, how long they're spending on them, and where their attention is focused.
Page-by-Page Analytics
Go beyond file-level views with detailed insights into which pages of your pitch deck or reports get the most engagement.
Visitor Activity
Track exactly who accessed your Data Room, when they logged in, what device they used, and how they interacted with your documents.
Auto Markup
Let AI automatically add signature, date, and input fields to your agreements. Speed up contract preparation with auto-detected fields.
Vetted Agreement Templates
Start faster with attorney-approved templates for NDAs, sales contracts, and more. Ensure compliance and reduce drafting errors.
Audit Trails
Track every signature, timestamp, and action with comprehensive audit trails. Ensure legal compliance and document integrity.
"Peony is easily the best form factor for sharing client-facing material. At this point, I love hearing, 'Does Sepal AI have a sales deck?'"
Turn documents into AI assistants
Instant answers 24/7. Don't make your recipients dig through dozens of files. Get AI to answer their questions whilst you sleep and make it effortless for them to find exactly what they need.
Track their questions
Monitor what recipients ask most frequently and identify their pain points. Get insights into prospect behavior and close more deals by addressing their specific concerns and questions in real-time.
Chat with files & folders
Talk to your documents and folders like a teammate. Use AI to ask questions, get summaries, and retrieve information instantly without manual searching.
Natural language search
Search through your files using natural language. Find exactly what you need without remembering exact file names or complex search terms.
Generate files & folders
Launch projects faster with AI-generated folder hierarchies and ready-to-use documents. Save time by letting AI create the structure and first drafts for you.
Seamless file collaboration
Work together in shared spaces with comments and feedback tied directly to files. Keep conversations context-rich and organized.
Channel based permissions
Control who can access files with intuitive, channel-based permissions. Simplify access management across your team.
Direct File Sharing with DM's
Send files privately to individuals with simple, secure direct links. Share without creating unnecessary channels.
Auto organize
Keep your digital workspace clean and consistent. AI renames, tags, and sorts files into logical folder structures without manual effort.
Multi-Link File Sharing
Generate unlimited links to the same file or folder. Control access for different audiences with unique settings on every link.
Branded shares
Customize every share with your logo, cover image, and brand colors. Deliver professional, on-brand file sharing experiences for clients and partners.
Personalised shares
Tailor each file link with unique messages, client logos, or custom URLs. Create a personalized experience for every recipient.
Hear the roar of love
Really awesome people love Peony. You should give it a try too. Seriously.
Anish Bharadwaj
Founder & CEO, KiwiQ
Peony is a great example of a customer-obsessed company with a fantastic sense of design and UX. We moved on from Docsend in the first week (that was an easy decision), but what we are really excited about is what all Peony does next - to make document sharing and consumption a lot more delightful.
Rango Ramesh
Founder & CEO, HeySimulate (Techstars)
Peony is the best way to share files. Period. It's way more professional than Google Drive links or email attachments. It also lets me see if my recipients have opened my files and for how long. I'm gonna use this for all my pitches - great to see a product that has as much design and effort in it as my slides.
Mark Petrov
Loop, Head of Financials
Peony is by far the simplest and most intuitive way to populate and share data rooms/materials with investors and partners. All the key analytics and features integrated into a sleek interface!
Anthony Gale
Founder & CEO, PromoLens
Not often I make recommendations, but I started using Peony to share presentations etc with external people. It works so well & makes us look really organized. We looked at DocSend etc. but the cost & clunkiness just put us off.
Ed Harris
Founder & CEO, Ligo Bio (YC S24)
Peony has been great for sharing documents with investors, employees, and customers. It's easy to use, good value, and new features are constantly being added. Definitely recommend!
Germain Brion
Founder, Veritai
The team at Peony put craft into everything they do; from the product to their support, they shine through how much they care.
Akash Ghavalkar
Co-founder & COO - Third Space
We'd been searching for a solution like Peony for ages, and it has completely transformed our workflows. What used to take hours every week is now effortless—Peony saves us so much time that we were finally able to move away from Dropbox Sign. It's been a total game changer!
Michael Hui
Managing Director at Piton Partners
Peony is a standout for data rooms and gated file sharing — intuitive, secure, and beautifully designed. The AI actually adds value, not just a checkbox feature. Highly recommend.
Robi Lin
Founder & CEO, Sepal AI (YC S24)
Peony is easily the best form factor for sharing client facing material. It lets us stand out by embedding custom booking and website links into secure deck shares - DocSend and PDFs require 3 extra clicks to book a meeting. At this point, I love hearing "does Sepal AI have a sales deck?".
Peony vs legacy VDR providers — feature-by-feature
See how Peony compares to the most common virtual data room providers. Enterprise-grade security and AI at a fraction of the cost — with no per-page, per-deal, or storage-based fees.
| Feature | Peony | Datasite | Intralinks | Ideals | Sterling | Firmex | Digify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free ($0) | $25,000+/deal | $25,000+/deal | $25,000+/project | $10,000+/deal | $5,000+/project | $500/mo |
| Per-page fees | None | Yes | Yes | None | — | None | None |
| Storage-based fees | None | — | Per-MB | Per-GB | — | — | None |
| Setup time | Under 5 minutes | Days | Days | 30+ minutes | Hours | 20+ minutes | 15+ minutes |
| AI document chat | Included | Add-on | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Structured Q&A workflows | Included | Basic | Basic | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Unlimited storage | Up to 1 TB | Limited | Per-MB fees | Per-GB fees | Limited | Limited | Limited |
| Unlimited users | Included | Per-user fees | Per-user fees | Add-on | — | Included | Per-user fees |
| Built-in e-signatures | Included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Screenshot protection | Included (Screenshield) | Add-on | Not included | Add-on | — | Not included | Included |
| AI file organization | Included | Add-on | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Automatic NDA | Included | Not included | Not included | Add-on | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Dynamic watermarks | Included | Add-on | Not included | Included | Not included | Included | Included |
| Custom domain & branding | Included | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on | Not included | Add-on | Add-on |
| Ease of use (public rating) | 9.4/10 | 7.5/10 | 7.2/10 | 8.7/10 | 7.4/10 | 8.5/10 | 6.9/10 |
| Average user satisfaction | 9.7/10 | 7.5/10 | 7.2/10 | 8.9/10 | 7.3/10 | 8.8/10 | 7.5/10 |
Frequently asked questions
I'm a VP at a boutique M&A advisory running $50M-$200M sell-side mandates. How quickly can I stand up a data room for a new engagement?
Your data room is live in under 5 minutes. Upload your CIM, financial model, and management presentation, set folder-level permissions per bidder group, and share a link — no onboarding calls, no IT tickets. On the Business plan ($40/admin/month), Peony's AI auto-indexes every file for full-text search and OCR, generates a due diligence checklist with completeness scoring, and organizes your room into standard M&A folder structures so your buyer groups see a polished, institutional-quality room from first access. Datasite typically takes days to provision and charges $25K+ per engagement. Firmex has no AI features at all. Your team saves setup time on every mandate.
We're a PE fund manager preparing a $100M exit. How does Peony handle buyer Q&A during the diligence process?
On the Business plan ($40/admin/month), Peony includes Smart Q&A — a structured 4-step workflow where your buyers submit diligence questions, AI drafts answers sourced directly from your CIMs, financial models, and deal documents, your deal team reviews and edits each draft, and approved responses publish to the buyer. Your team stays in full control while cutting response time significantly. Business also includes auto-indexing so buyers can search across every file in the room, plus AI-assisted room setup with completeness scoring that flags gaps before buyers notice them. Datasite charges $60,000+ per year for a comparable setup, and DocSend lacks structured Q&A entirely.
I'm at a law firm managing 8 concurrent M&A matters ranging from $40M to $120M. Can Peony handle that volume with proper access controls?
Yes. Each of your matters gets its own data room with independent permissions, audit trails, and access controls — there is no cross-contamination between engagements. On the Business plan ($40/admin/month), you can set NDA gates per bidder group, restrict access with approved-email lists, apply dynamic watermarks that embed each viewer's identity on every page, and enable screenshot protection on privileged documents. Your team gets per-page analytics showing exactly which sections each counterparty reviewed and for how long. Peony is GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliant with SOC 2-ready infrastructure. Ideals charges hundreds per user per month with annual contracts. Peony has no per-viewer or per-page limits, so your costs stay predictable across all 8 matters.
I'm an independent sponsor with a $30M deal closing in two weeks. I need a data room by Monday — is Peony realistic for that timeline?
Your data room will be ready in minutes, not days. Peony's median setup time is 4 minutes 19 seconds from account creation to first document upload. Upload your deal files, set permissions per investor, and share a link — no procurement process, no vendor onboarding. On the Business plan ($40/admin/month), AI auto-indexing makes every document searchable immediately, and completeness scoring flags missing diligence items before your buyers do. The Pro plan ($20/admin/month) gives you built-in eSignatures so your co-investors can sign subscription agreements without a separate DocuSign contract. Datasite and Firmex often require multi-day provisioning and annual commitments — not viable when you need a room by Monday.
We're PE operating partners running a $150M continuation vehicle. How does Peony's completeness scoring help us stay organized for LP elections?
On the Business plan ($40/admin/month), Peony's AI rooms analyze your uploaded documents against a due diligence checklist and flag exactly what is uploaded versus missing — so your team sees a completeness percentage before sharing the room with LPs. This is critical for continuation vehicles where ILPA guidance recommends parity of information and a minimum 30-day LP election window. Your LPs, secondary buyers, and legal counsel each get separate links with independent permissions, NDA gates, and audit trails. Dynamic watermarks on the Business plan embed each LP's identity on every page of your fund documents. DocSend lacks folder-level permissions entirely, and Firmex has no AI-powered completeness scoring.
I run a boutique advisory and I'm comparing data room costs across 10 deals per year. How does Peony's pricing work versus Datasite?
Peony's Business plan is $40 per admin per month with 1 TB of storage and no per-bidder, per-page, or per-link limits — your costs stay flat whether a deal has 5 buyers or 50. Across 10 deals per year, your total spend is roughly $480/year per admin. Datasite typically charges $25K-$60K+ per engagement, meaning 10 deals could cost your firm $250K-$600K annually. Ideals and Firmex charge hundreds per user per month with annual contracts and per-project fees. Peony includes everything on Business — AI-powered Q&A, auto-indexing, dynamic watermarks, screenshot protection, NDA gating, and full audit trails — with no security add-ons or enterprise upsells. That is a 99% cost reduction versus Datasite with feature parity.
I'm a fund CFO managing a $200M fundraise. Can Peony track which LPs are actively reviewing our PPM and financial statements?
Yes. Peony provides per-page analytics on every plan — including the Free tier — showing exactly which fund documents each LP opened, how long they spent on every page of your PPM or financial statements, and where they dropped off. Your team gets real-time email notifications when an LP enters the data room, so you know which prospects are actively diligencing the fund versus which ones have gone quiet. On the Business plan ($40/admin/month), you also get aggregate dashboard views, visitor location and device info, and multi-file analytics across your entire room. DocSend provides basic link tracking but lacks folder-level permissions and structured data room features. Peony gives your fundraise institutional-quality analytics at a fraction of the cost.
We're a boutique M&A firm migrating off Datasite. How painful is the transition to Peony?
Your team can migrate in a single afternoon. Upload your existing deal files via drag-and-drop or bulk upload, and Peony's AI auto-indexing on the Business plan ($40/admin/month) instantly makes every document searchable with full-text search and OCR — no manual tagging required. Your folder structure carries over, and you can set granular permissions per bidder group, apply NDA gates, and enable dynamic watermarks before sharing new links. Built-in eSignatures on Pro ($20/admin/month) replace your separate DocuSign subscription. The interface is intuitive enough that your associates and paralegals will not need training. Datasite locks you into annual contracts at $25K+ per engagement with slow provisioning. Peony gives your firm the same enterprise-grade controls at $40/admin/month with no annual commitment.
Related features
E-Signatures
Collect legally binding signatures on NDAs, contracts, and agreements without leaving Peony.
Team Collaboration
Invite your team, assign roles, and manage documents together from a shared workspace.
Enterprise Security
AES-256 encryption, SOC 2 readiness, and granular access controls to protect every document.