Ellty9.5 Highest overall score in the line-up, and level or ahead on deal tools, ease of use and value for money. AI tools, Q&A and e-signature are built in.
$149/mo (approx. £115/mo) Read the Ellty reviewThe best data rooms in the UK, ranked
Our full ranking of 14 providers. Each one is scored out of 10 on five criteria with extra weight on security and UK GDPR. Prices are shown in dollars as published, with an approximate sterling figure.
Below the ranking you will find what a UK buyer actually needs to check: how the scores are weighted, which rooms publish ISO 27001 and SOC 2 evidence, what a room costs in pounds once VAT is added, and which rooms suit a takeover, an AIM admission, an SEIS round, a property sale or an administration.
Ellty9.5 
iDeals9.2 Headquartered in the United Kingdom, with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 and 9.6 for security and UK GDPR. Confirm the hosting region in writing.
Quote on request Read the iDeals review
Datasite9.0 Deal tools score 9.5, with structured Q&A, redaction, single sign-on and a full audit trail for multi-bidder processes.
Quote on request Read the Datasite review
Intralinks8.8 9.6 for security and UK GDPR, SOC 2 and ISO 27001, single sign-on and two-factor login, which suits firms that face security questionnaires.
Quote on request Read the Intralinks review
SecureDocs7.8 Published entry price of about £193 a month, value score 7.8 and a free trial. Easy to budget for a short, contained deal.
$250/mo (approx. £193/mo) Read the SecureDocs reviewEach provider appears once. Picks follow the criterion scores and published facts, not payment.
1 
9.5
Ellty Our top pick
Ideal for uK sales, raises and diligence with predictable budgets
Price: $149/mo (approx. £115/mo) Security: SOC 2 Free trial: Yes
2 
9.2
iDeals
Ideal for contested auctions and multi-party corporate deals
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: Yes
3 
9.0
Datasite
Ideal for large adviser-led sales and private equity exits
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: No
4 
8.9
Ansarada
Ideal for sellers preparing months ahead of a process
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: Yes
5 
8.8
Firmex
Ideal for law firms and mid-market advisers running repeat deals
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: Yes
6 
8.8
Intralinks
Ideal for regulated firms and bank-led transactions
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: No
7 
8.5
Drooms
Ideal for commercial property sales and on-premise requirements
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: No
8 
8.5
SmartRoom
Ideal for multi-bidder processes needing tight permission control
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: No
9 
8.3
Box
Ideal for existing Box users sharing with a known counterparty
Price: $15/user/mo (approx. £12/user/mo) Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: Yes
10 
8.3
DealRoom
Ideal for serial acquirers tracking diligence across workstreams
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: Yes
11 
8.0
ShareVault
Ideal for biotech licensing, partnering and IP diligence
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: Yes
12 
7.9
CapLinked
Ideal for asset sales and smaller deals needing API access
Price: $299/mo (approx. £230/mo) Security: SOC 2 Free trial: Yes
13 
7.8
SecureDocs
Ideal for simple raises and single-buyer sales
Price: $250/mo (approx. £193/mo) Security: SOC 2 Free trial: Yes
14 
7.5
Venue by DFIN
Ideal for capital markets projects with existing DFIN ties
Price: Quote on request Security: SOC 2 · ISO 27001 Free trial: No
At a glance
Feature comparison
| Provider | Score | Price from | Security | Q&A | Redaction | SSO | AI tools | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellty | 9.5 | $149/mo (approx. £115/mo) | SOC 2 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| iDeals | 9.2 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Datasite | 9.0 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
 Ansarada | 8.9 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
 Firmex | 8.8 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Intralinks | 8.8 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
 Drooms | 8.5 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
 SmartRoom | 8.5 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
 Box | 8.3 | $15/user/mo (approx. £12/user/mo) | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
 DealRoom | 8.3 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
 ShareVault | 8.0 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
 CapLinked | 7.9 | $299/mo (approx. £230/mo) | SOC 2 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| SecureDocs | 7.8 | $250/mo (approx. £193/mo) | SOC 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes |
 Venue by DFIN | 7.5 | Quote on request | SOC 2 · ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Scores are our editorial assessments, not averages of user reviews. Prices are indicative and may exclude VAT.
Methodology
How we ranked UK data rooms
One framework for every provider, tuned to the problems that come up on British transactions.
The weighting starts from the questions a UK deal team gets asked. A buyer's solicitor wants to know how the employee folder is protected. A bidder's IT function sends a security questionnaire before anyone logs in. The seller's finance director asks why the room is still being billed three months after heads of terms. Security and UK GDPR therefore carry the most weight, followed by the tools that move a transaction from first look to completion.
Each room is set up with a realistic document set for a British share sale (statutory registers, Companies House filings, leases, employment contracts and a disclosure bundle) and used from both sides, as administrator and as an outside adviser. Value is judged on published pricing where it exists; for quote-only providers we look at how clearly the bill is explained. No provider can buy a position, and user review averages play no part in the score.
How the UK ranking is weighted
30%25%20%15%10%
130%
Security & UK GDPR
Certifications, access control, audit trail and how well the room supports UK GDPR duties.
Highest9.6iDeals, Datasite, Intralinks Average9.0
225%
Deal tools
Q&A, permissions, watermarking and reporting for a live transaction.
Highest9.5Ellty, iDeals, Datasite Average8.7
320%
Ease of use
How quickly an administrator and outside parties get productive.
Highest9.8Ellty Average7.9
415%
Value for money
Published pricing, predictable bills and what you get for the fee.
Highest9.7Ellty Average7.9
510%
Support
Responsiveness during UK business hours and mid-deal.
Highest9.7iDeals Average8.7
Security and UK GDPR plus deal tools carry 55% of the score, so a cheap room with weak controls cannot rank near the top.
Full detail on what sits under each criterion is on our methodology page.
Compliance
UK data hosting and UK GDPR
What each provider publishes on security, and what you still need to ask.
A data room for a UK deal almost always holds personal data: payroll exports, service agreements, pension details, sometimes customer or patient records. Under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 the seller remains the controller while the provider acts as processor, so the contract between you needs the processor terms required by Article 28, and you need to know where the data sits.
Hosting outside the UK is not a problem in itself. Transfers to the EEA are covered by UK adequacy regulations, and transfers elsewhere can rely on the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses. The risk lies in not knowing. Our facts data does not record a verified hosting region for any provider, so the matrix below marks it as a question to put to each shortlisted room. The ICO's guidance for organisations sets out what a careful controller should check.
UK GDPR and security evidence across 14 data rooms
11 of 14hold both ISO 27001 and SOC 2
4 of 14name GDPR in their published certifications
6 of 14offer single sign-on for your own staff
2 of 14are headquartered in the UK or the EU
ProviderHeadquarters ISO 27001SOC 2GDPR listedTwo-factorSSO UK hosting
Certificates prove a provider runs a controlled security programme. They do not tell you where your room is hosted, so get the region and the transfer route in the order form.
Questions to put to every shortlisted provider
- In which country, and with which cloud host, will our room be stored?
- Can we choose a UK or EEA region, and does it cost more?
- Which sub-processors can access our data, and where are they?
- Which transfer mechanism applies if data leaves the UK?
- Can we see the ISO 27001 scope or the current SOC 2 report?
- How quickly are files deleted after the room closes, including backups?
Pricing
Data room prices in pounds
Published entry prices converted to sterling, and the providers that only quote.
Only a minority of data room providers publish a price, and those that do mostly quote in US dollars. We convert at an indicative rate of $1 to £0.77, so the sterling figure on your invoice will move with the exchange rate. Quote-only providers usually price per project, by storage or by page volume, and enterprise rooms for a large auction can run to tens of thousands of pounds. Ask for quotes in GBP, with VAT shown separately, before you compare them side by side.
Six-month entry cost in pounds: 4 providers with published prices
Before VATVAT at 20% on top
10 providers price by quote only
Each extra month adds £58 to £230 before VAT at these entry prices, so agree the extension rate before the room opens.
Calculator
Data room cost estimator in GBP
Set how long the room stays open, the seats you need on per-user plans and whether to add VAT. Figures update for every provider with a published price.
Estimated cost for 6 months, excluding VAT
- Ellty$149/mo · flat monthly £688£115 a month
- Box$15/user/mo · per user £347£58 a month
- CapLinked$299/mo · flat monthly £1,381£230 a month
- SecureDocs$250/mo · flat monthly £1,155£193 a month
No published plan uses this billing model.
Indicative, based on published entry plans at $1 = £0.77; confirm with the provider. 10 more providers price by quote: use the deal-type budget calculator for a typical range.
VAT: a UK-registered supplier charges 20% on the invoice. A supplier based abroad usually does not, and a VAT-registered UK business accounts for it under the reverse charge. More detail in our data room costs guide.
By deal type
The right data room for each type of UK deal
What matters differs between a takeover, a listing, a seed round and a sale out of administration. Each card links to the full shortlist.
UK M&A and public takeovers
Private sales run as staged auctions, so you need permission groups per bidder and a Q&A log. On a bid for a listed company the Takeover Code adds pressure: Rule 21.3 expects information given to one bona fide offeror to be shared with a rival on request, and Rule 2.6 starts a 28-day deadline once a potential offeror is publicly identified. Pick a room whose audit trail can prove who saw what, and when.
Shortlist: Ellty, iDeals, Datasite
AIM and Main Market IPOs
An admission brings the nominated adviser, reporting accountants, lawyers and brokers into one room for months. Verification work and the admission document draw on the same files, so look for granular folder permissions, strong indexing and a provider that can hold the room open after admission at a known monthly rate.
Shortlist: Ellty, Datasite, Intralinks
SEIS and EIS fundraising
Seed and growth rounds involve a handful of angels or a fund, a short diligence window and a modest file set: the articles, cap table, HMRC advance assurance and key contracts. Published monthly pricing, quick set-up and simple guest access matter more here than auction tooling.
Shortlist: Ellty, SecureDocs, CapLinked
Commercial property
Title registers, leases, CPSE replies, surveys and plans add up to large scanned volumes. Choose a room with bulk upload that keeps folders, a viewer that handles big drawings, and pricing that does not charge per page if you are selling a multi-let portfolio.
Shortlist: Ellty, Drooms, iDeals
Administration and insolvency
An administrator selling a business, sometimes as a pre-pack, has days rather than months. Set-up speed, permission templates and an exportable record of what each bidder saw carry most weight, because the process may later be scrutinised by creditors.
Shortlist: Ellty, Firmex, iDeals
FCA-regulated firms
Buyers of regulated firms review compliance files, complaint logs and client data, and many will send a vendor security questionnaire before they log in. ISO 27001 plus SOC 2, single sign-on and a clear sub-processor list make that review shorter.
Shortlist: Ellty, Intralinks, iDeals
Official sources: the Takeover Panel, London Stock Exchange and the Insolvency Act 1986.
Checklist
Choosing a data room in the UK: seven steps
Work through these before you sign an order form.
- Write down who will be in the roomList every outside party: bidders, their solicitors and accountants, lenders, your own advisers. The count decides whether per-user pricing works for you.
- Map the personal data you will uploadEmployee files, customer lists and health records bring UK GDPR duties. Decide what can be anonymised or held back until a later phase.
- Ask where the room is hostedGet the region in writing and, if data leaves the UK, the transfer route the provider relies on, such as UK adequacy regulations or the IDTA.
- Check the evidence, not the badgeRequest the ISO 27001 certificate with its scope or the latest SOC 2 report, and read the data processing agreement before signing.
- Price the whole deal in poundsConvert dollar quotes, add VAT or plan for the reverse charge, and agree the rate for extra months in case completion slips.
- Run a trial with real foldersUpload part of your index and invite one outside adviser. If they need a call to find a document, so will a buyer.
- Agree the archive and deletion termsKnow what you receive at completion, in what format, and when the provider deletes the room and any backups.
Common mistakes UK sellers make
Choosing on the headline price aloneA low monthly fee on a room that stays open for ten months can cost more than a project quote.
Opening the room before it is readyBuyers form a view in the first week. Gaps and duplicate drafts generate Q&A traffic you then have to manage.
Assuming a UK office means UK hostingHeadquarters and hosting region are separate questions. Ask about both, and about sub-processors.
Giving every bidder the same accessCommercially sensitive files, such as customer pricing, usually belong in a later phase or a clean team folder.
Forgetting VAT on an overseas invoiceA dollar invoice from abroad normally means accounting for VAT under the reverse charge.
Leaving the archive until completion dayLawyers want a complete, indexed copy for the completion bible. Check the export works early.
Questions about UK data rooms
Which data room is best for UK deals?
On our UK-weighted scoring Ellty ranks first with 9.5 out of 10, followed by iDeals (9.2) and Datasite (9.0). The right room for you depends on deal size, how many parties need access and whether you need features such as redaction or single sign-on.
Do UK data rooms have to store data in the UK?
No. UK GDPR allows personal data to be hosted abroad if the transfer is lawful, for example to a country covered by UK adequacy regulations or under the International Data Transfer Agreement. What you must do is know where the data is, have a processing agreement in place and be able to explain the transfer route.
Are any of these providers based in the UK?
iDeals is headquartered in the UK in our data. Most others are based in the United States, with Drooms in Germany and others in Canada and Australia. Headquarters do not decide where your files are stored, so ask each provider for the hosting region.
Which certifications should a UK data room have?
ISO 27001 and a SOC 2 report are the two most widely recognised. 11 of the 14 providers we rank list both. Ask for the certificate scope or the report itself, since a badge on a website does not show what was audited.
Do data room prices include VAT?
Usually not. Published prices are mostly in US dollars before tax. A UK-registered supplier adds VAT at 20% to the invoice; for a supplier based abroad, a VAT-registered UK business normally accounts for VAT itself under the reverse charge. Check the treatment with your accountant.
Can I use a data room for a Takeover Code bid?
Yes, and most offers for UK listed companies use one. The target must be able to give equal information to competing bona fide offerors, so a room with a reliable audit trail, per-party permissions and an exportable Q&A record makes compliance easier to evidence.
How long does a UK data room usually stay open?
A private company sale often runs four to six months from opening the room to completion, a seed round a few weeks, and an AIM admission longer once verification is included. Budget for the realistic term plus a margin, and agree the extension rate up front.
Are these rankings paid for?
No provider pays for its position. Some links are affiliate links and are labelled. Every room is scored on the same five criteria, and criterion scores appear on each review so you can re-weight them.