Live and ready in 5 minutes.AI-powered search, organization, and Q&A — built to close deals faster.
Sell-side and buy-side data rooms for $1M–$50M transactions — with AI-powered Q&A, multi-bidder permissions, and page-level analytics. Enterprise security at a fraction of legacy VDR pricing. Set up in under 5 minutes.
No credit card required
Close mid-market deals faster — without the enterprise price tag
Legacy VDRs charge $25,000–$50,000 per deal and take days to provision. Peony sets up in 5 minutes at $40/admin/month — with enterprise security, granular multi-bidder permissions, structured Q&A workflows, customizable AI knowledge base, and action-level analytics.
What legacy VDRs charge for one M&A deal
Per-page pricing & add-on fees
$25,000+
per deal
Intralinks
AI document chat, per-MB fees
$25,000+
per deal
Per-GB storage pricing
$25,000+
per project
Sterling
Multilingual deal support
$10,000+
per deal
Mid-market M&A data rooms
$5,000+
per project
Document DRM & watermarking
$500/mo
Typical cost
$25,000–$50,000
per deal
What Peony includes — on every deal
Peony
All-in-one deal room
$40/admin
per month
Total cost
$40/admin/month
No per-deal, per-page, or per-user overage fees
Deal teams and bankers deserve better tools
Legacy VDRs charge thousands per deal, take days to set up, and leave you blind to buyer engagement. Peony eliminates the friction so your team can focus on closing.
Overpriced per-deal licensing
Traditional VDRs charge $5,000–$25,000 per deal room — pricing designed for $1B+ enterprise transactions, not $1M–$50M mid-market deals. Peony gives you unlimited data rooms starting free, with Pro plans from $20/admin/month — no per-page or per-deal fees.
Manual document indexing
Organizing thousands of due diligence files — CIMs, financial models, legal opinions — is tedious and error-prone. Peony's AI auto-indexes documents into logical folder structures.
No visibility into buyer engagement
Which bidders are doing real due diligence? Peony tracks every page view so sell-side advisors and bankers know who is genuinely engaged.
Days to spin up a deal room
When a mandate needs to move fast, waiting days for IT to provision a VDR costs you momentum. Set up a Peony deal room in under 5 minutes — no IT tickets required.
Bank-grade document protection
Control who sees what — down to the page. From CIMs and financial models to board resolutions and legal opinions — every document is secured with dynamic watermarks, NDA gates, 2FA, and screenshot protection. Separate buy-side and sell-side access with granular permissions for multi-bidder processes.
Dynamic watermarks
Mark every document with the viewer's email, timestamp, and IP address. Deter leaks and trace any unauthorized distribution of CIMs or financial models back to the source.
Granular access controls
Separate buy-side and sell-side access with folder-level controls. Grant view-only, download, or print rights per user or group — ideal for multi-bidder CIM distribution.
NDA-gated access
Require all counterparties to sign a non-disclosure agreement before viewing any deal material. Collect legally binding e-signatures without leaving Peony.
Two-factor authentication
Add an extra identity verification layer for the most sensitive phases of due diligence. Ensure only verified participants get access.
Complete audit trails
Every view, download, print, and login is logged with timestamps. Export compliance-ready reports for regulators, legal counsel, and deal teams.
Instant access revocation
When a bidder drops out or deal terms change, revoke document access with one click. No waiting for IT or support tickets.
Bidder engagement scoring
Rank prospective buyers by time spent, pages viewed, and documents downloaded. Focus your deal team's energy where it counts.
Page-by-page insights
Go beyond file-level views. See which pages of your financial model or management presentation each counterparty studied most.
Activity logs
Track who accessed the data room, when they logged in, what device they used, and which documents they viewed — with full export support for compliance and Q&A log management.
Let AI handle the heavy lifting
Auto-index documents. Answer due diligence questions 24/7. Upload your deal files and let Peony's AI organize them into a logical folder structure. Buyers can ask questions directly against the data room and get instant, cited answers.
Auto-index documents
Upload hundreds of files and let AI sort them into standard due diligence categories — financials, legal, HR, operations, and more.
Smart Q&A
Buyers ask questions in natural language and get instant, cited answers from the data room documents. Reduce management calls and speed up diligence.
5-minute setup
Drag and drop your deal files. AI organizes them, applies permissions, and generates share links. Your data room is ready before the call ends.
Syndication-ready sharing
Distribute CIMs and teasers to multiple bidders simultaneously with individualized access links. Track engagement across every party in the syndication.
AI auto-markup
Upload an agreement and let AI automatically detect and place signature, date, and input fields. Reduce contract prep from hours to minutes.
Attorney-approved templates
Start with vetted templates for NDAs, engagement letters, and standard deal documents. Ensure compliance from the first page.
Legally binding audit trails
Every signature event is logged with timestamp, IP address, and signer identity. Export court-admissible records at any time.
"Been using Peony for a few weeks now — it's a standout for the gated file sharing and data room functions. Intuitive, secure, beautifully designed, and an actually working AI, all while being very well priced versus competitors. Highly recommend giving it a try."
Michael Hui
Managing Director at Piton Partners
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!"
Peony vs legacy virtual data rooms
Feature-by-feature comparison for M&A data rooms. Peony delivers enterprise-grade security and AI at a fraction of legacy VDR pricing — 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
What is an M&A data room?
An M&A data room is a secure virtual environment where deal teams, investment bankers, and legal counsel store and share sensitive transaction documents during mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. Peony provides a purpose-built M&A data room with multi-bidder CIM distribution, page-level engagement analytics, AI-powered Q&A for due diligence, and bank-grade security — all deployable in under 5 minutes.
How does Peony handle multi-bidder CIM distribution?
Peony lets sell-side advisors distribute Confidential Information Memorandums to multiple bidders simultaneously with individualized access links per party. Granular folder-level permissions ensure each bidder sees only the documents relevant to their track. Dynamic watermarks and NDA gating prevent unauthorized sharing. Unlike legacy VDRs like Ideals or Datasite that charge per-page fees, Peony includes all distribution features on every plan.
How do investment bankers track which bidders are doing real due diligence?
Peony provides page-by-page analytics showing exactly which sections of your CIM, financial models, and management presentations each prospective buyer studied and for how long. Bidder engagement scoring ranks buyers by time spent, pages viewed, and documents downloaded — so sell-side advisors and bankers focus energy on the bidders who are genuinely engaged rather than just browsing.
Can AI speed up the due diligence Q&A process?
Yes. Peony includes AI document chat on all plans. Buyers ask natural language questions against the data room and get instant, cited answers from your uploaded deal files. This reduces management presentation calls and accelerates diligence timelines. Peony also offers a structured Smart Q&A workflow where buyer questions are submitted, AI drafts responses, and your team reviews before publishing — keeping your deal team in control.
How does Peony protect sensitive deal documents from leaks?
Peony secures deal documents with multiple layers: AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit on SOC 2 Type II compliant infrastructure, screenshot blocking to prevent unauthorized captures of CIMs and financial models, dynamic watermarks that trace any leak back to the specific viewer, controlled redaction to permanently black out sensitive figures or proprietary terms before sharing with bidders, NDA gating, and two-factor authentication. Complete audit trails log every view, download, and print with timestamps for compliance reporting.
How much does an M&A data room cost?
Traditional VDRs like Datasite and Ideals charge $5,000 to $25,000 per deal room with per-page surcharges. For $1M–$50M transactions, that pricing is disproportionate to the deal itself. Peony offers a free plan ($0) with 2 GB of storage, with Pro plans at $20/admin/month (200 GB) and Business at $40/admin/month (1 TB). There are no per-page fees, no per-viewer limits, no per-deal surcharges, and AI-powered Q&A is included on every plan — making Peony the right-sized data room for boutique M&A advisors running sub-$50M transactions.
Does Peony include e-signatures for NDAs and deal agreements?
Yes. Peony includes built-in e-signatures on all plans for NDAs, engagement letters, and closing documents. AI auto-markup detects and places signature, date, and input fields automatically, reducing contract prep from hours to minutes. Every signature event is logged with timestamp, IP address, and signer identity for legally binding audit trails. Unlike legacy workflows that require a separate DocuSign subscription, Peony handles signing natively.
How quickly can a deal team set up a data room for a new mandate?
Peony sets up in under 5 minutes. Upload your deal files and Peony's AI auto-indexes them into standard due diligence categories — financials, legal, HR, operations — while generating a due diligence checklist that tracks which documents are uploaded, which are missing, and which need updating. Assign granular permissions per bidder, enable NDA gating, and generate individualized share links. Your data room is live before the kickoff call ends. While legacy VDRs like Firmex require days of IT provisioning, Peony requires no IT tickets or technical setup.
Is Peony suitable for $1M–$50M M&A transactions?
Absolutely. Peony is purpose-built for mid-market M&A — delivering enterprise-grade security, AI-powered Q&A, page-level analytics, and built-in e-signatures at $40/admin/month instead of the $25,000–$50,000 per-deal fees charged by legacy VDRs like Datasite and Ideals. There are no per-deal surcharges, no per-page fees, and no user caps. Peony includes AI document classification, dynamic watermarks, NDA-gated access, and granular multi-bidder permissions on every plan — making it the right-sized data room for boutique advisors and deal teams running $1M–$50M transactions.