Methodology

How we review virtual data rooms

Every score on this site comes from the same six categories, weighted the same way for all 99 platforms. The inputs are vendor documentation, published pricing, certification records and hands on time in the trial where a vendor offers one.

Scoring weights

Category	Weight	What it covers
Security and compliance	30%	Certification scope, encryption, access controls, audit trail depth.
Permissions and control	20%	Document level rights, watermarking, expiry, revocation, bidder segmentation.
Deal workflow	20%	Index building, bulk upload, Q&A routing, request tracking.
Pricing transparency	15%	Published plans, what is included, overage and per user charges.
Support	10%	Hours covered, onboarding assistance, response times documented by the vendor.
Reporting	5%	Activity exports, engagement analytics, board ready summaries.

What we will not do

(a)

We do not sell placement. Ranking order and the labels on the comparison table are editorial decisions, and no vendor sees them before publication.

(b)

We do not estimate prices. If a vendor quotes per project, the table says On request, because an invented figure is worse than no figure when you are budgeting.

(c)

We do not repeat security claims we cannot trace to vendor documentation. A badge on a marketing page is not a report, and we say when scope is unclear.

Corrections

If a figure here is out of date, tell us what changed and where it is published. We correct the entry, restate the score if the change is material, and update the review date at the top of the page.

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