ShareFile Alternative for Law Firms

Most small law firms evaluating a ShareFile alternative want three things: a client portal under their own brand, a logged record of who accessed which files, and pricing that does not charge per client. ShareFile Advanced starts at $16.50 per user per month billed annually, with a three-seat minimum. A three-person firm pays $49.50 per month; a five-person firm pays $82.50. ProjectSend Cloud Pro starts at $19 per month and includes 25 active client accounts with no charge per client.

Why Law Firms Outgrow ShareFile

ShareFile is built around seats. Every person on your team counts toward the monthly bill, and so do clients who need portal access. For a law firm managing dozens of active matters, the cost compounds. A five-person firm on ShareFile Advanced pays $82.50 per month billed annually. That is more than four times the price of ProjectSend Cloud Pro for the same team size.

The deeper issue is the billing model. Law firm file sharing is organized around client matters, not around the number of people on your payroll. Per-seat pricing penalizes you as you take on more clients - even when those clients never touch your firm's admin tools, never log into your billing system, and never need to be on your internal workspace. And when a client relationship ends, what happens to the files depends on the vendor's export process, not yours.

What Legal File Sharing Actually Requires

Law firms need more than a shared drive with password protection. The requirements that come up in every evaluation are consistent: precise access controls by matter, a timestamped log of who downloaded what, and a portal that carries the firm's name instead of the file-sharing vendor's.

• Audit trail per matter: A timestamped record of every download, upload, and preview, organized by client and exportable on demand.
• Granular permissions: 45 permission levels mean you assign exactly what each team member and each client can see and do - not just 'viewer' or 'editor.'
• No charge per client: Your clients should not need a seat or a paid subscription to access documents you send them.
• Your branding on the portal: The login page your clients see should carry your firm's name and logo, not a third-party vendor's.
• Revocable access: If a client relationship ends or a file goes to the wrong contact, you should be able to cut access to that link immediately.
• Enforced 2FA: Two-factor authentication as a mandatory policy, not just an optional toggle for individual users.

ShareFile vs. ProjectSend Cloud for a Small Law Firm

For a five-person firm with 20 active client accounts, here is how the two products compare on the factors that matter most. Prices are as of October 2026.

• ShareFile Advanced, 5 users, annual billing: $16.50/user/month = $82.50/month. A three-seat minimum applies. Per-seat pricing applies to staff; the total scales with every person added.
• ProjectSend Cloud Pro, 5 users: $19/month base (includes 3 seats) + 2 extra seats at $4 each = $27/month. 25 active client accounts included; clients never pay.

The difference for a five-person team: $55.50 per month, or $666 per year. Both give you a branded portal and client file delivery; the entire gap is the pricing model. For a full breakdown of how per-seat and per-client pricing compare across the market, see per-seat vs. per-client pricing. For more alternatives in this category, see the Alternatives section on this blog.

What ProjectSend Cloud Offers Law Firms

ProjectSend Cloud is a client file portal, not a practice management platform. It does not handle billing, intake, or calendaring. What it does: receive and deliver files for every client matter, under your brand, with a complete access record. See our plans page for full details on what each tier includes.

• 45 granular permission levels: Set precisely what each team member and each client can upload, download, and preview - by folder, by file, or across the account.
• Full audit trail: Every file action is logged with a timestamp. Business plan users can export the complete log as a CSV file.
• SSO via OIDC (Business plan): Connect to your existing identity provider for single sign-on across all staff accounts.
• Enforced 2FA (Business plan): Require two-factor authentication as a mandatory policy for everyone in the portal.
• Dedicated database (Pro and Business): Your data is not shared with other organizations. Each firm gets its own isolated database.
• Resumable uploads up to 5 GB: Large document sets upload reliably even on slower connections, picking up where they left off.
• Clients pay nothing and need no software: Access is through a browser link. Clients authenticate with a password you configure.

For how law firms configure client access in practice, and what most firms set up in the first week, see Client Portal for Law Firms and How Law Firms Share Documents Securely.

Security, Confidentiality, and What You Can Actually Claim

The ABA's Formal Opinion 477R advises attorneys to take reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized disclosure of client information when transmitting files electronically. What counts as reasonable depends on the sensitivity of the matter. Here is what ProjectSend Cloud provides and what it does not yet offer.

• Encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest
• 2FA enforceable as a firm-wide policy (Business plan)
• Daily backups of your portal and all stored files
• Dedicated database per firm (Pro and Business) - your files are not co-mingled with another firm's
• Revocable links: stop access to a specific file at any moment, instantly
• Audit log with CSV export for matter-record documentation (Business plan)

ProjectSend Cloud does not currently hold SOC 2 certification or HIPAA compliance, and does not publish a Data Processing Agreement. If your engagement letters, your state bar's rules, or your clients require any of these, consult compliance counsel before signing up. For guidance on the standard you are working to meet, consult your bar association's guidance on confidentiality in electronic communications - including ABA Formal Opinion 477R.

Open Source and Your Exit

ProjectSend Cloud runs on ProjectSend, the open source file portal project (GPLv2). If you decide to move to your own server at any point, the migration is free, completes in under 48 hours, and leaves you running the same software on your own infrastructure. The code is open. So is your exit.

That matters for law firms. Matter files may need to remain accessible for years after a case closes, on your terms. You are not dependent on a vendor's pricing changes or platform decisions. For how CPA firms make the same evaluation, see ShareFile Alternative for Accountants.