By the ClientBrief Team · Last updated August 2026
ShareFile prices by plan rather than purely per user: the Advanced plan runs about $77 per month on annual billing (around $85 monthly) and the Premium plan about $122 per month annual (around $135 monthly), each including five employee users. Additional employee users cost roughly $15.30-17 per user per month on Advanced and $24.30-27 on Premium. Client users are unlimited on all plans. An accounting-focused Industry Advantage tier is priced around $75 per user per month.
A bundled-seat model: you buy a plan that includes a block of five internal employee users, then pay per additional seat above that. This is structurally different from the per-user pricing used by SmartVault, TaxDome, and Karbon, and it changes the math sharply by firm size — very cheap per head at exactly five users, less efficient at one or two. External client users never count against the seat allowance.
Annual or monthly · includes 5 employee users
Unlimited storage, secure file sharing, custom branding, Office 365 co-editing, encrypted email, and Outlook and Gmail plugins. Unlimited client users.
Annual or monthly · includes 5 employee users
Everything in Advanced plus integrated e-signature and the deeper workflow and compliance features. Unlimited client users.
Per user
Pre-configured accounting workflows, integrated client onboarding, ready-to-use tax templates, a customized tax client experience, and automated engagement letters. Note this tier returns to per-user pricing.
Contract
Custom packaging, advanced governance, and volume pricing.
| Additional employee users (Advanced) | About $15.30 per user / month annual, about $17 monthly |
| Additional employee users (Premium) | About $24.30 per user / month annual, about $27 monthly |
| Client users | Unlimited on all plans, at no cost |
| Firm setup | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| 1-5 employee users, Advanced (annual) | About $924 / year |
| 1-5 employee users, Premium (annual) | About $1,464 / year |
| 8 employee users, Advanced (annual) | About $1,475 / year |
| 10 employee users, Premium (annual) | About $2,922 / year |
| 5-person tax firm, Industry Advantage | About $4,500 / year |
ShareFile is the most cost-efficient option in this category at exactly the size it's designed for — around five internal users needing secure exchange with unlimited clients. Below that it wastes allowance, and the accounting-specific tier throws away the pricing advantage that made it attractive. Firms outside accounting, especially in legal and healthcare, tend to get more from it than tax practices do.
Comparing against ClientBrief: ClientBrief is $7.99/month flat — no per-user pricing, no seat minimums, no annual commitment, and unlimited clients and checklists. It covers document collection only: send a checklist, clients upload without an account, reminders go out automatically. It is not a replacement for ShareFile's wider feature set, and firms often run both.
How much does ShareFile cost per month?
The Advanced plan runs about $77 per month on annual billing (around $85 monthly) and Premium about $122 per month annual (around $135 monthly). Both include five employee users, with additional seats charged separately.
How many users are included with ShareFile?
Five employee users are built into the cost of the standard plans. Client and external users are unlimited and never count against that allowance. Additional employee seats cost roughly $15-17 per month on Advanced and $24-27 on Premium.
Does ShareFile include e-signature?
Integrated e-signature sits on the Premium plan rather than Advanced. That's the main functional reason firms upgrade, and it should be factored in before comparing the Advanced rate to competitors.
Is there a ShareFile plan for accounting firms?
Yes — Industry Advantage, priced around $75 per user per month, which adds pre-configured accounting workflows, tax templates, client onboarding, and automated engagement letters. It's priced per user rather than per bundle, so it's substantially more expensive for a team of five.
Is ShareFile cheaper than SmartVault?
For teams of around five, generally yes: roughly $924/year for five ShareFile employee users on Advanced against roughly $3,900/year for five SmartVault Accounting Pro seats. For one or two users the gap narrows because ShareFile's five-seat bundle goes partly unused.
How much does ShareFile cost for a firm of 10?
Ten employee users on the Advanced plan is roughly $77 per month for the first five plus about $15.30 per additional user per month on annual billing — around $153 per month, or $1,840 a year. On Premium it is about $122 plus roughly $24.30 per additional user, landing near $244 per month. Client users are unlimited and free on both.
How much do you save on ShareFile annual billing?
Roughly 10%. Advanced is about $77 per month annual against $85 monthly, and Premium about $122 against $135. The per-additional-user rate drops too, from about $17 to $15.30 on Advanced and from $27 to $24.30 on Premium.
Are there hidden costs with ShareFile?
The additional-user rate is the one to model. Plans bundle five employee users, and everyone beyond that is charged separately — about $15.30 to $27 per user per month depending on tier and billing cycle. A twelve-person firm pays for seven extra seats on top of the headline price, which changes the comparison against per-seat competitors considerably.
Is ShareFile cheaper for a small team?
Below roughly four employee users, not necessarily — you are paying for five bundled seats whether you use them or not, so a two-person firm may do better on a true per-seat tool. Above five users, ShareFile's bundle plus additional-user rate is usually cheaper than per-seat alternatives like SmartVault. Four to five users is roughly where the crossover sits.
Is ShareFile worth it?
It is worth it when secure exchange is the requirement and users are spread across a team, particularly for firms that are not purely accounting — its compliance posture covers legal, healthcare and financial services alongside professional practices. If you specifically need accounting workflows such as tax-year folder templates and return delivery, the Industry Advantage tier exists but moves you back to per-user pricing around $75 per user per month.
What is the cheapest alternative to ShareFile?
For collecting documents rather than storing and sharing them, ClientBrief is $7.99/month flat with unlimited clients and no client login. For accounting-specific document management, SmartVault is the closer comparison, though it is usually more expensive per head above four users.
Pricing checked against the vendor's public pricing page in August–September 2026. Software vendors change prices, tier names, and included features regularly — always confirm current numbers directly with the vendor before signing.