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The Complete Guide to Virtual Data Room Pricing
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Virtual data room pricing can be a complex subject, especially if you are not really familiar with this technology or using a virtual data room for the first time. But why is data room pricing a complex matter?
For starters, virtual data room providers follow different types of pricing models — four of them are very common. These models are very different from each other, and most importantly, they are not suitable for every business. That said, some data room pricing systems favor short-term use while others are suitable for long-term consumption.
The question stands; what should you consider while comparing different pricing schemes, and how much should you expect to pay for using virtual data rooms? You can also read about the best virtual data room providers and their comparison on data-rooms.us/.
What Should You Know about Virtual Data Room Pricing Models?
Further we’ll review and compare the most popular virtual data room pricing models. We’ll discover the average price range offered by each of them as well as their suitability for a specific use case.
1. Data storage based pricing
Data storage-based pricing model is more common in the modern-day virtual data room industry. This pricing system is further classified into two major categories.
That said, some data room companies offer a fixed amount of data storage facility at a specified price, and additional storage consumption will be charged for every GB (gigabyte) consumed. Let’s say the package includes up to 10GB of data consumption. If you exceed that limit, you will pay extra for every GB used. Similarly, some data room vendors charge you for every gigabyte consumed—no packages offered.
The rates, packages, and features vary from vendor to vendor, but you can expect to pay up to $75 per GB.
This pricing model is more suitable if you have to manage a voluminous amount of data. You can use it temporarily (e.g., M&As, fundraising, etc.) as well as on a regular basis. However, make sure that other features offered by the vendor are good enough for your needs.
2. Per-user pricing
Per user pricing model allows you to add a limited number of users to a given package and any additional user added will be charged extra. Apart from that, some virtual data room vendors don’t offer a package system; they just charge a straight monthly fee for the total number of users added to the VDR.
The package also includes the total number of GBs available for all users combined or individually. That said, some vendors allocate data storage space to users individually, and additional consumption is charged extra.
Using the per-user pricing model, you can expect to pay between $100-$250 for every administrative user.
The per-user pricing model is more suitable for business teams, board communications, etc., where there are a limited number of users. Moreover, this pricing option is best for long-term usage as vendors charge the fee on a monthly basis.
3. Per-page pricing
Per-page pricing probably used to be the only model when online data room technology was first introduced. Although this pricing model is becoming obsolete, many modern-day vendors opt for it.
In the per-page pricing scheme, the data room user is charged for uploading every page in the VDR. Here, it should be duly noted that users are charged for every page, not every document. For example, if a document has 50 pages, all of them will be charged separately.
Yes, this pricing system doesn’t make much sense, but it is still followed by many service providers.
You can expect to pay between $0.40 to $1 per page.
Per-page pricing is only suitable for smaller and temporary projects. For example, if you want to share a small number of documents with a potential buyer or client, the per-page pricing model will suit you better.
4. Flat monthly fee
Most modern-day virtual data room vendors sell their services at a flat monthly fee. Again, the type of packages may vary in different vendors, but it is like an all-in-one pricing system.
That said, VDR vendors will provide specified or unlimited data storage and number of users. The best thing about this pricing model is that some data room providers have monthly packages that allow you to add an unlimited number of users and data storage.
Moreover, this pricing plan is suitable for all types of businesses. For example, iDeals offer different pricing packages for small, medium, and large-scale businesses.
The charges are either billed monthly or yearly, and you can expect to pay between $400 per month to $2000 per month.
Flat monthly fee pricing is more suitable for long-term usage, and it suits businesses of all sizes.
Here are some of the best and highly economical data room services for long-term use.
- iDeals virtual data rooms
- SecureDocs data rooms
- Box data room
- Digify data rooms
- Ansarada data rooms
Final Words
Data room pricing can be very confusing for many, especially those who are hiring data room services for the first time. There are different data room pricing models, but the flat monthly fee system is more suitable for long-term usage. Other common pricing models include per-page and per-user pricing.
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About Shane Avron
Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.Top 10 Recommended Documents on MIS
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