Built for ops teams, not IT teams.
The data room freight forwarders, 3PLs, and logistics operations actually use. NDA-gated rate sheets, customer contracts, FMCSA records, and M&A diligence rooms — set up in under 5 minutes by anyone on your team.No developer, no integration setup, no IT ticket.
No credit card required
Why most document-sharing tools fail logistics teams
Freight forwarders, 3PLs, and logistics operators don't have in-house IT or developer time. The tools they end up using either leak rate sheets or require an engineer to operate.
Rate sheets leak via email
Rate quotes sent over email get forwarded to competitors within hours. Your pricing strategy ends up in a competitor's RFP response — with no audit trail of how it happened.
BOLs and customs docs in Dropbox
BOLs, ISF filings, and customs entries live in shared Dropbox folders with no per-viewer tracking, no NDA gates, and no expiry. Anyone with the link can forward it.
Tools built for developers
Open-source toolkits like Papermark optimize for developer extensibility — pop-ups, integrations, self-host config. Ops, dispatch, and account-management teams don't have time to learn another platform.
Datasite priced for $500M+ deals
Enterprise VDRs charge $25K-$60K+ per engagement plus multi-day onboarding — economically indefensible for a $20M-$100M 3PL acquisition.
"For our team, ease of use was the deciding factor. They aren't the most tech-forward, but Peony's UI was the most comprehensive and intuitive we evaluated — no one has had issues setting up a room or checking the analytics. We started on Papermark, but the feedback was that it felt like building a website, with pop-ups and integration prompts that threw people off when all they wanted to do was upload docs. Between a team that was happier to use it and better pricing, switching is the easy call."
David Westrop
Logistics Plus Inc — switched from Papermark, May 2026
Built for how freight, 3PL, and logistics teams actually work
Three controls that matter for logistics: protect rate sheets and customer contracts, run M&A diligence at mid-market prices, and stay usable for non-technical ops teams.
Stop competitive pricing from leaking the moment you send a quote
Peony Business at $40/admin/month gates rate sheets behind NDAs, blocks screen captures, and stamps every page with the viewer's identity and timestamp. If a shipper forwards your rate sheet to a competitor, the watermark traces the leak back to the source — and you can revoke access in one click. Email attachments and basic Dropbox links offer none of these controls.
Screenshot protection
Block screen captures of rate quotes and customer contracts. Available on Peony Business.
NDA gating with built-in e-signatures
Require carriers and shippers to sign your CDA before a single document loads. Every signature is logged with email, IP, and timestamp.
SOC 2-ready, GDPR, HIPAA
AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, full audit trails — the compliance baseline auditors and regulators expect.
Run a $20M-$100M 3PL acquisition without paying Datasite prices
Mid-market logistics M&A — 3PL roll-ups, freight forwarder acquisitions, customs broker consolidation — typically runs 4–6 months from teaser to close. Peony Business at $40/admin/month covers the entire engagement: a 2-admin deal team pays $480 for the whole 6-month deal. Datasite quotes $25K-$60K+ per engagement, Intralinks $1K-$5K+/month, and Ideals $460+/month with $1K-$5K setup fees. Same security baseline (SOC 2-ready, AES-256, audit trails), better team adoption, AI document chat included.
Upload, share, track — without a developer on call
Median Peony first-room setup is 4 minutes 19 seconds — no IT ticket, no integration setup, no developer dependency. Dispatchers, account managers, and acquisitions leads run full data rooms on day one. Papermark, by contrast, is an open-source toolkit built for developer extensibility — its surface area (integrations, self-host config, pop-ups) becomes friction for non-technical logistics teams. This is the exact reason Logistics Plus Inc switched from Papermark to Peony in May 2026.
Three-action UI
Upload, share, track. No integration prompts, no configuration overhead, no developer needed.
AI document chat
Ask natural-language questions across your room — "show me every BOL with a customs hold flag" — and get cited answers in seconds. Available on Business.
4-minute setup
Median first-room time from signup to first uploaded document: 4 minutes 19 seconds. Verified across all Peony rooms.
Logistics M&A data room cost: a $50M deal, 6 months
Typical 3PL or freight forwarder acquisition. Same security baseline. Peony is 95–98% cheaper than legacy enterprise VDRs.
| Platform | Pricing model | Cost over 6 months |
|---|---|---|
| Peony Business (2 admins) | $40/admin/mo, flat | $480 |
| Papermark Data Room | $199/mo, flat | $1,194 |
| Ideals | $460-$1,000+/mo + setup | $3,760-$11,000+ |
| Intralinks | $1,000-$5,000+/mo + uplift | $6,000-$30,000+ |
| Datasite | Per-engagement quote | $25,000-$60,000+ |
Pricing snapshot from /blog/virtual-data-room-cost-guide (May 2026). Peony delivers comparable security (SOC 2-ready, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, AES-256, audit trails) with AI document chat, screenshot protection, and NDA gating included on Business.
Peony vs Papermark for logistics teams
Both have a free tier. The differences that matter for freight, 3PL, and customs operations.
Frequently asked questions
We're a 3PL acquiring a smaller freight forwarder — how do we run due diligence without our ops team becoming IT specialists?
Peony is built for non-technical operations teams. Median first-room setup is 4 minutes 19 seconds — your acquisitions lead uploads customer contracts, rate sheets, carrier agreements, audited financials, FMCSA records, and BOLs into folders, sets NDA-gated access per diligence party (legal, accounting, commercial), and shares branded tracked links. No IT ticket, no developer, no implementation consultant. David Westrop at Logistics Plus Inc switched his team from Papermark to Peony in May 2026 specifically because of this — his team isn't the most tech-forward, but Peony's UI was the most comprehensive and intuitive they evaluated, and no one had issues setting up rooms or reading analytics. Peony Business at $40/admin/month covers the entire deal — unlimited rooms, unlimited viewers, full audit trails, page-level analytics on every document.
I'm a freight forwarder sharing customer contracts and rate sheets with a new carrier — how do I prevent competitors from getting our pricing?
Peony Business at $40/admin/month protects sensitive rate sheets and customer contracts with three layers Papermark and basic file-sharing tools don't include: screenshot protection blocks screen captures (the most common way competitive pricing leaks); dynamic watermarks stamp every page with the carrier's email, IP, and timestamp so any forwarded copy is traceable to the leak source; and NDA gating with built-in e-signatures requires the carrier to sign your CDA before a single document loads. If a carrier shares your rate sheet with a competitor, the watermark identifies them — and link revocation cuts their access instantly. Page-level analytics also tell you which rate sheets they actually reviewed, so you can prioritize follow-ups with carriers who showed real intent.
We're being acquired by a strategic and need to share BOLs, customs docs, customer contracts, and audited financials with 5 different diligence teams — how do we set up data rooms quickly?
Set up the room once, share five different links — each gated separately. On Peony Business ($40/admin/month), upload your acquisition diligence package into folders (operations, finance, customer contracts, FMCSA/DoT records, carrier agreements, customs filings), then create per-team access groups: the buyer's commercial diligence sees customer contracts and rate sheets; their finance team sees audited financials and AR aging; their legal team sees customer agreements and any pending litigation; their HR team sees driver and dispatcher records; their compliance team sees FMCSA and customs audit trails. Each group gets a separate NDA-gated link with its own watermark, expiry, and per-page analytics. Compare to Datasite which typically quotes $25K-$60K per engagement plus multi-day onboarding for the same workflow.
Our logistics team isn't tech-forward — will Peony actually work for them without IT training?
Yes. This is the exact scenario David Westrop at Logistics Plus Inc described when his team switched from Papermark to Peony in May 2026: 'For our team, ease of use was the deciding factor. They aren't the most tech-forward, but Peony's UI was the most comprehensive and intuitive we evaluated — no one has had issues setting up a room or checking the analytics.' Peony's interface is built around three actions — upload, share, and track who's reading — with no integration setup, no developer dependency, and no configuration overhead. Dispatchers, account managers, and ops leads can run a full room on day one without onboarding. Papermark, by contrast, optimizes for developer extensibility (open-source, integration-rich, self-hostable), which becomes friction for non-technical logistics teams.
How do logistics companies share customer contracts and rate sheets securely without leaking pricing to competitors?
Three controls matter for logistics rate-sheet confidentiality: (1) Screenshot protection — Peony Business blocks screen captures, which is how competitive pricing most often leaks from a brokered rate quote shared with a shipper or carrier; (2) Dynamic watermarks — every page is stamped with the viewer's identity and timestamp, so any forwarded copy traces back to the leak source; (3) NDA gating with revocable links — viewers sign your CDA before any document loads, and you can revoke access instantly if the relationship sours. Peony also provides per-page analytics so you see which rate sheets each carrier or shipper actually reviewed, helping you prioritize follow-up with prospects showing real intent. Email attachments, WeTransfer, and basic Dropbox links provide none of these controls.
What does a logistics M&A data room actually cost on Peony versus Datasite or Intralinks?
For a typical $20M-$100M 3PL or freight forwarder acquisition with a 4–6 month diligence cycle: Peony Business at $40/admin/month covers the entire engagement — a 2-admin deal team pays $80/month, or $480 for a 6-month deal. Datasite typically quotes $25,000-$60,000+ per engagement with multi-day onboarding and per-page fees on some plans. Intralinks runs $1,000-$5,000+/month with a 10% annual uplift clause on contracts. Ideals starts around $460-$1,000+/month with $1,000-$5,000 setup fees. For mid-market logistics deals, the economic case for legacy enterprise VDRs is structurally weak — Peony delivers comparable security (SOC 2-ready, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA), AES-256 encryption, dynamic watermarks, screenshot protection, NDA gating, full audit trails, plus AI document chat that Datasite charges extra for.
Can we use Peony for customs broker compliance documents and FMCSA audit records?
Yes. Peony Business ($40/admin/month) is SOC 2-ready, GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliant with AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit, and supports the audit-trail and access-control requirements typical of FMCSA, customs broker license, and DoT compliance workflows. Customs entries, ISF filings, broker bonds, FMCSA biennial updates, drug-and-alcohol testing records, driver qualification files, and BOL/POD archives can all live in NDA-gated rooms with full per-viewer audit logs. Peony provides the secure-distribution layer; your team configures retention policies and PII redaction per your internal compliance program. Tamper-evident audit logs and page-level access records satisfy most external auditor and regulator inquiries.
How fast can we set up a data room for a strategic acquisition meeting next week?
Faster than your calendar. Median Peony first-room setup is 4 minutes 19 seconds (measured from account creation to first document upload). For a strategic acquisition meeting next week, your acquisitions team can upload the diligence package today, configure NDA-gated access for the buyer, brand the room under your company domain, and share a tracked link this afternoon. Compare to Datasite, where onboarding typically takes multi-day provisioning and a sales call before your buyer sees anything. Peony Business at $40/admin/month with no contracts, no setup fees, no per-deal charges. Cancel anytime.