Ellty vs Firmex: pricing clarity and AI vs track record

Firmex is the quiet professional of the data room market. Based in Canada and running since 2006, it built its name on reliability for mid-market transactions and legal matters rather than on headline features. Ellty, founded in 2020, aims at the same transaction work with a broader feature set and a more modern experience. The comparison matters most to advisers, law firms and corporate teams who run several deals a year and want a room they will not have to think about.

Security posture

Firmex 9.0, Ellty 9.4. That may surprise readers who expect the ISO-certified vendor to win, and Firmex does hold both SOC 2 and ISO 27001 where Ellty lists SOC 2 (infrastructure). But our security criterion also weighs in-room controls, and here Ellty is at least as complete: dynamic watermarks, document rights control, two-factor login and a full audit trail on both, with neither offering single sign-on. Firmex adds native redaction, which Ellty lacks.

If a client’s security questionnaire names ISO 27001, Firmex answers it directly. If the questionnaire asks how documents are protected once a reviewer opens them, both answer it well.

Deal workflow

Ellty 9.5, Firmex 8.3. Both have structured Q&A, permissions by group, bulk upload and activity reporting. Ellty pulls ahead through built-in AI features and native e-signature, and through tooling that keeps a busy auction organized with many bidders at once. Firmex covers seven of our twelve checklist features, Ellty eight. Firmex’s extra is redaction; Ellty’s are AI and e-signature.

For a single buyer and a straightforward share purchase, the gap narrows. For a contested process with several bidder groups and a heavy Q&A load, Ellty’s workflow score shows.

Everyday usability

Ellty 9.8, Firmex 9.0. Both are approachable; Firmex scores well for an established room. Ellty’s lead comes from self-serve setup, a free trial you can start without a sales call and a deliberately uncluttered viewer, which matters most when reviewers have never used a deal room before.

Pricing

Ellty’s flat rate starts at $149 a month, and the first 14 days are a free trial. A four-month legal matter comes to about $596 at entry rate. Firmex prices on request and also lists a free trial. Its pricing clarity score is 8.5 against 9.7 for Ellty. Whatever the quote turns out to be, you need a conversation with sales to get one.

Firms that open many rooms a year should ask both vendors about multi-room or annual arrangements. Our pricing guide covers how to compare a flat rate with a per-room quote.

Service and support

A tie at 9.2. Firmex positions itself on reliability, and Ellty earns the same mark on our service criterion. For a law firm already used to working with one Firmex account manager, that existing relationship has real value.

How a law firm might weigh them

Law firms buy data rooms differently from corporates. They open many rooms a year, often for clients who have never used one, and they answer client security questionnaires constantly. That pattern favors a vendor that is easy to explain, simple to bill back to the client and certified in ways the questionnaire expects. Firmex fits that pattern well, which explains its following in legal work.

Ellty fits a different part of the same firm’s work. On transactional matters where the client wants speed, a known monthly cost and documents signed inside the room, Ellty removes several steps. Its AI features sit in the same workspace, which is useful for associates working through large folders without exporting files to another tool.

Some firms keep both: one for litigation and regulatory matters where redaction and ISO 27001 matter most, another for transactions where workflow depth and speed matter more.

What to check in each trial

Both vendors offer a free trial, so test them on a realistic matter. Upload a folder with nested subfolders and check that numbering survives. Invite a guest from outside the firm and ask them to find a specific document without instructions. In Firmex, redact a page and confirm the original cannot be viewed by guests. In Ellty, send a document for e-signature and confirm the signed copy files itself back in the right folder. Finally, export the audit trail from each and check it would satisfy a client asking who saw what, and when.

Three matters, three choices

Consider a mid-market share sale run by a corporate finance boutique, with five bidders and a two-round timetable. Both rooms carry the structured Q&A and group permissions the process needs. Ellty’s AI features help the sell-side team answer questions faster once the log passes a hundred entries, and the purchase agreement and ancillary documents can be signed in the same room. On that profile Ellty is the stronger fit.

Now take a regulatory investigation where a client must produce several thousand emails and HR files to an opposing party, with names and personal details masked. In-room redaction is the feature that saves time here, and Firmex has it while Ellty does not. Ellty users would redact in a separate tool before upload, which works but adds a step and a second copy to manage.

A founder-led company preparing for a minority investment sits between the two. The documents are lighter, the questions fewer, and the founder wants to know the cost up front. Ellty’s published entry rate and self-serve setup suit that buyer; Firmex suits it too if the company’s law firm already runs its rooms there.

Security: what to verify, not assume

Firmex holds SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Ellty lists SOC 2 (infrastructure) and does not list ISO 27001, which is a plain gap if a client questionnaire asks for that certificate by name. Ask Ellty for its SOC 2 documentation under NDA, and Firmex for its SOC 2 report, ISO 27001 certificate and statement of applicability; for each, confirm the entity, scope and period covered.

Neither vendor lists single sign-on, so a firm whose policy requires SSO for every external system will need an exception for either one, with mandatory two-factor login as the compensating control. Both log every view and download; check that the audit export includes the timestamps and user identities your client would expect in a dispute.

Contract questions before you sign

For Firmex, ask whether the quote is per room or a subscription covering several matters, what the minimum term is, how storage overruns are billed and what the archive costs at closing. For Ellty, confirm what the $149 entry rate includes, how the bill changes as storage or users grow, and how to keep read-only access after the matter closes. Firms that bill the room back to the client should ask both for invoices that can be allocated per matter.

Switching from one to the other

A firm moving from Firmex to Ellty, or the reverse, should pilot on one live matter rather than migrating everything at once. Keep existing matters in the old room until they close, export each audit trail at closing, and rebuild index templates in the new platform before the first client sees it.

Which one for which team

The scores favor Ellty for most new purchases. Firmex remains a sound choice where certification and redaction outweigh workflow depth and AI.