By the ClientBrief Team · Last updated October 2026
ShareFile has replaced its old bundled-five-seat plans with straight per-user pricing: Advanced starts at $16.50 per user per month, Premium (e-signature plus the full client portal) at $26, and Enterprise (Premium plus security administration) at $35, all per user per month on annual billing with a 3-user minimum per plan. Monthly billing runs about 10% higher on Advanced and Premium and 20% higher on Enterprise. The accounting-specific Industry Advantage tier no longer appears on ShareFile's pricing page as of October 2026. A separate Virtual Data Room tier for confidential deal work starts at $69.30 per user per month with a 5-user minimum. Client (external) users remain unlimited and free on every tier.
Only need clients to upload documents? ShareFile starts at $16.50 per user / month annual; ClientBrief is $7.99/month flat — unlimited clients and checklists, no per-user or per-request pricing, no client login.
ShareFile now prices per employee (internal) user per month, with annual billing about 9-10% cheaper than monthly on most tiers and about 17% cheaper on Enterprise. Advanced, Premium and Enterprise each carry a 3-user minimum; the separate Virtual Data Room tier requires 5. This replaces the previous model, where a flat plan price bundled in five employee users and extra seats cost more on top — ShareFile has dropped bundling entirely in favor of the same pure per-seat structure SmartVault, TaxDome and Karbon already use. External client users are still unlimited and free on every tier and never count toward the seat minimum.
Annual or monthly · 3-user minimum
Encrypted file storage and sharing, secure email integrations, real-time co-editing, granular access controls, basic reporting, and a basic client portal. Unlimited client users. No e-signature, workflow automation, or compliance certifications — those start on Premium.
Annual or monthly · 3-user minimum
Everything in Advanced plus integrated e-signature, the enhanced client portal and Client Hub, workflow automation, rapid client onboarding, and AI document tools (3,000 AI credits per license/month), plus HIPAA, SEC and FINRA compliance eligibility. Marked 'most popular' on ShareFile's own pricing page.
Annual or monthly · 3-user minimum
Everything in Premium plus automated user provisioning and access management, integrations with security monitoring tools, data-loss protection, unusual-activity detection, and centralized security monitoring. Listed as new on ShareFile's pricing page in October 2026; the accounting-specific Industry Advantage tier ($41.66) no longer appears there.
Annual or monthly · 5-user minimum
A separate confidential-deal product for M&A, audits and litigation — click trails, folder Q&A, dynamic watermarking and visibility analytics. Capped at 1GB of account storage per license, versus effectively unlimited storage on the other three tiers. Not aimed at typical accounting-firm document collection.
| Monthly vs annual billing | Monthly costs about 10% more per user on Advanced, Premium and Virtual Data Room and 20% more on Enterprise, and ShareFile does not support downgrading from annual or multi-year billing back to monthly once you've upgraded |
| AI credits (Premium and above) | 3,000 AI credits per license per month included; overage pricing beyond that isn't published |
| Client (external) users | Unlimited and free on every tier — only internal 'employee' users are billed and count toward the seat minimum |
| Firm setup | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Solo practitioner, Advanced (3-user minimum, annual) | $594 / year |
| Solo practitioner, Premium (3-user minimum, annual) | $936 / year |
| 5-person firm, Premium (annual) | $1,560 / year |
| 5-person firm, Enterprise (annual) | $2,100 / year |
| 10-person firm, Premium (annual) | $3,120 / year |
ShareFile has moved from a bundled five-seat model to straightforward per-user pricing with a 3-user minimum, and for most accounting and bookkeeping firms that's a lower, more transparent floor than before — three Premium seats at $26/user/month annual runs $936/year, well under what the old five-seat Premium bundle cost regardless of how many of those five seats you actually used. The catch is that the cheapest advertised rate, Advanced at $16.50/user, doesn't include e-signature, workflow automation, or compliance eligibility — the plan most firms actually want is Premium. Enterprise, at $35/user, is worth it only if you need centralized security administration — automated provisioning, data-loss protection and activity monitoring — and the accounting-specific Industry Advantage tier is no longer on the price list. Ignore the Virtual Data Room tier unless you're running M&A or litigation deals; despite being the most expensive line on the page, it isn't a bigger version of the portal, it's a different product with less storage.
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?
Advanced is $16.50 per user per month on annual billing ($18.15 monthly), Premium is $26.00 per user per month annual ($28.59 monthly), and Enterprise is $35.00 per user per month annual ($42.00 monthly). All three carry a 3-user minimum. A separate Virtual Data Room tier runs $69.30 per user per month annual with a 5-user minimum.
Does ShareFile have a minimum number of users?
Yes — this is the biggest change from ShareFile's old bundled pricing. Advanced, Premium and Enterprise all require at least 3 employee users, and Virtual Data Room requires 5. A solo practitioner can't buy a single seat; the practical floor on Advanced is about $49.50/month billed annually for three seats.
What's the difference between ShareFile Advanced and Premium?
Premium adds integrated e-signature, the enhanced client portal and Client Hub, workflow automation, rapid client onboarding, AI document tools with 3,000 AI credits per license per month, and HIPAA/SEC/FINRA compliance eligibility. Advanced only includes a basic client portal and none of those — it's file storage and sharing, not a full client workflow tool.
Is there a ShareFile plan for accounting firms?
Not as a separate tier anymore. Industry Advantage, the accounting-specific plan at $41.66 per user per month, no longer appears on ShareFile's pricing page as of October 2026. Accounting firms now choose between Premium ($26/user/month annual), which has e-signature, document requests and the enhanced client portal, and Enterprise ($35), which adds security administration rather than accounting features. If you relied on Industry Advantage's tax-engagement templates, ask ShareFile what replaces them.
Does ShareFile charge for client users?
No. Client (external) users are unlimited and free on every plan, including Virtual Data Room. Only internal 'employee' users are billed per seat and count toward each plan's minimum — ShareFile's own pricing FAQ describes employee users as the ones who manage the account and request files, with clients only uploading and downloading.
How much does ShareFile cost for a firm of 5?
Five users on Premium annual billing is $130/month, or $1,560/year. On Enterprise it's $175/month, or $2,100/year. On Advanced it's $82.50/month, or $990/year, but without e-signature or the enhanced portal most firms end up needing anyway.
How much do you save on ShareFile annual billing?
About 9-10% per user on Advanced and Premium — Advanced drops from $18.15 to $16.50, Premium from $28.59 to $26.00 — and about 17% on Enterprise, from $42.00 to $35.00. The tradeoff is commitment: ShareFile allows upgrading from monthly to annual at any time but does not support downgrading back to monthly.
What is ShareFile's Virtual Data Room plan?
A separate product from the accounting/portal tiers, priced at $69.30 per user per month annual with a 5-user minimum — the highest per-seat price ShareFile publishes. It's built for confidential deal work like M&A, audits and litigation, with click trails, folder Q&A and visibility analytics, but it actually caps storage at 1GB per license where the other tiers offer effectively unlimited storage. Most accounting and bookkeeping firms don't need this tier.
Are there hidden costs with ShareFile?
The main one is the seat minimum: three users on Advanced, Premium and Enterprise means even a one-person firm pays for three seats. The second is tier gating — the $16.50 Advanced rate looks cheap until you realize e-signature and compliance eligibility require Premium at $26/user. AI features are also capped at 3,000 credits per license per month, with no published overage rate.
Is ShareFile cheaper than SmartVault now?
Generally yes, and more consistently than before. Both now price per user with a seat minimum, but ShareFile Premium at $26/user/month annual undercuts SmartVault's Accounting plans at $65-85/user/month at almost any firm size. The old 'bundle crossover point' between the two tools no longer applies now that ShareFile has dropped its five-seat bundle in favor of straight per-user pricing.
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, unlimited users and no client login required. For accounting-specific document management priced similarly to ShareFile's new per-user model, SmartVault is the closer comparison.
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.
Verified against ShareFile's official pricing page →