6 Best Digital Vault Software for RIA Networks in 2027

Short answer on the best digital vault software for RIA networks

The best digital vault software for RIA networks depends on whether you need a wealth-specific platform that bundles the client portal, or a general file platform you configure yourself. For a network of several advisors that wants client portals, audit history and custodian document feeds in one system, shortlist FutureVault and Advisor360 first, because both are aimed at wealth firms and both sell on a quote. For a firm that wants per-user list prices before the first sales call, ShareFile is the strongest starting point in this set: it publishes per-user figures for all four of its plans, the most complete published price list here. Box and Egnyte also publish per-user figures, but their pages describe general content management rather than wealth workflows. SideDrawer is built for financial services, but its pricing page does not name RIAs as an audience.

Key Takeaways

A digital vault is a permissioned, audited place to store, share and retain client documents, usually with a client-facing portal.

• Pricing is uneven. Box, Egnyte and ShareFile publish per-user figures, while FutureVault and Advisor360 publish none on the pages checked, so those two need a written quote before any budget comparison.

• Client portals and document requests are where wealth-specific vaults separate from general file platforms. On the general platforms, those features sit in higher tiers or add-ons.

• Retention is a regulatory duty, not a product feature. A vault can store records, but the firm still needs a written retention schedule and a named owner.

• Seat minimums change the real cost for small networks, so ask for the minimum before comparing rates.

• A workflow layer can add intake, reminder and exception steps, but only when the vault exposes an API or export and a named person approves each exception.

• TL;DR: shortlist FutureVault and Advisor360 for a wealth-specific network, ShareFile for transparent per-user pricing, and get retention, export and audit-log terms in writing before you sign.

How we evaluated these tools

This is an informed buyer's guide built from public vendor pages and independent references, not from any hands-on trial. The weights below reflect what an RIA network needs from a system that holds client records. Each criterion is read from the vendor's own page. Where a page is silent, the matrix says "Not shown" rather than assuming the feature exists.

Recordkeeping carries the most weight because the federal rule for investment advisers sets the clock. Retention: five years for most adviser records according to Cornell LII (2026). The rule requires most records to be kept at least five years from the end of the fiscal year in which the last entry was made, with the first two years in an appropriate office of the adviser. It allows electronic storage if records are indexed, duplicated and safeguarded from loss, alteration or unauthorized access. The text I read does not require a non-rewriteable, non-erasable format or an audit-trail feature, so a vault can meet the storage conditions without being a compliance archive by itself. That is why this guide scores audit history and retention controls as separate questions.

Three names were left out of the profiled set. SmartVault's pricing page is written for accounting firms and describes a financial-services page aimed at banks and credit unions; it does not mention RIAs. Docupace and Laserfiche appear on trade-press lists of RIA document tools, but their vendor pricing pages could not be opened during research, so they are not profiled here.

What each vendor's own pages list

The matrix uses only what each vendor's public page states. "Not shown" means the page did not state the feature in text I could read. It does not prove the feature is missing, and it is the first thing to confirm in writing.

Advisor360 and FutureVault make the strongest wealth-specific claims, and both are vendor statements rather than independent audits. Advisor360 says its vault keeps the "complete document history of every client relationship without storage caps," and that it is "designed to support SEC and FINRA recordkeeping requirements." FutureVault describes "a complete, timestamped audit trail for every document." Ask each vendor for a sample audit export before relying on those phrases.

Pricing checked and what the figures mean

Pricing checked November 13, 2026. Only figures read on each vendor's own pricing page appear here. Where a vendor publishes no price, the table says Quote-based.

Business tier: $22 per user per month, billed annually according to Egnyte (2026). Egnyte's Enterprise Lite and Elite plans are listed at $39 and $48 per user per month, and its Snapshot and Recovery add-on is $10 per user per month, according to Egnyte (2026). Egnyte's Ultimate plan is quote-based.

Box's pricing page leads with a "From $5 Per User/Month" headline and lists 50K API calls per month on Business and Business Plus, according to Box (2026). Plan-level figures did not come through in my read, so the headline is a floor, not a plan price.

ShareFile's Advanced plan is listed at $16.50 and $18.15 per user per month, Premium at $26.00 and $28.59, Enterprise at $35.00 and $42.00, and Virtual Data Room at $69.30 and $77.00, according to ShareFile (2026). The page labels each figure only as per user per month, so ask sales which number applies to annual billing before you compare.

SideDrawer's enterprise pricing is a minimum annual fee: $50,000 for its SaaS model, $100,000 for the hybrid model and $350,000 for its PaaS model, according to SideDrawer (2026). Its per-user tiers list minimums of 3, 3 and 5 users, but the per-user figures did not read cleanly, so confirm them on the live page.

FutureVault's Independent, Growth and Enterprise plans publish no price. Its pricing page says the final cost depends on the number of advisors and client households, your integrations, and the services you need, according to FutureVault (2026). Advisor360's document vault page lists no prices and routes buyers to "Talk to Sales," so its cost is quote-based (Advisor360's document vault page).

Worked example, illustrative only: a nine-seat firm on the $22 Business rate cited above pays 9 × $22 × 12 = $2,376 a year before add-ons. If the $10 Snapshot and Recovery add-on applies to the plan it chooses, add 9 × $10 × 12 = $1,080, for $3,456 a year. If the same firm picked Box instead, the proposed design would subscribe to the FILE.DOWNLOADED trigger shown in Box's webhook guide. Assuming one API call per download, 1,200 downloads a month would use 2.4% of the 50K monthly calls listed for Business. Confirm whether webhook deliveries count against that allowance before you build anything.

Vendor profiles

Each profile separates the vendor's stated facts from this guide's judgment. Read the limitations as the questions to ask before signing.

FutureVault

Best fit: a wealth firm with several advisors that wants a firm-branded client vault, document requests with reminders, a timestamped audit trail and CRM or custodian connections. The page names Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics as CRMs and lists custodians including Schwab and Fidelity Clearing Canada. Limitations: pricing is custom and scales with advisors and households, and add-ons such as Vault Insights AI have no listed price. RIAs appear mainly in the navigation menu, so confirm that the features you need fit an RIA structure. Implementation: schedule a scoping call and ask for a written list of which custodians and CRMs are live versus planned. Evidence: FutureVault's pricing page and FutureVault's wealth segment page.

Advisor360

Best fit: multi-advisor wealth firms, including RIAs, that want the vault to sit inside an existing client portal and custodian feed. The page describes the vault as "Scalable across RIA, broker-dealer, and bank wealth management environments," and its Custodian Document Ingestion pulls statements, tax documents and trade confirmations. Limitations: the page does not mention e-signature, pricing is sales-led, and the vault sits inside an ecosystem that includes planning software, which raises lock-in questions. Implementation: confirm that your custodians are supported by Custodian Document Ingestion, and ask for the audit-trail export format in writing. Evidence: Advisor360's document vault page.

SideDrawer

Best fit: a financial-services firm that wants a standalone vault with encrypted storage, document requests, role-based permissions and audit trails, plus an API and CRM integrations. Its page says the product works alongside existing e-signature tools rather than replacing them. Limitations: the enterprise tiers carry minimum annual fees in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, which may be out of reach for a small network; the page does not explicitly target RIAs; and the free plan is for individuals. Implementation: confirm the retention controls and whether the audit log can be exported before you consider an enterprise plan. Evidence: SideDrawer's pricing page.

ShareFile

Best fit: a firm that wants published per-user tiers, activity logs on every plan, and a Premium tier that adds document requests, an enhanced client portal and e-signature. On seats, the floor is three users on Advanced, Premium and Enterprise, and five on Virtual Data Room. On e-signature, Premium, Enterprise and Virtual Data Room can "send up to 100,000 documents for e-signature per month, applied at the account level," according to ShareFile (2026). Limitations: the page does not name RIAs; retention appears as archiving, not a retention policy; its HIPAA row is inconsistent, marking Enterprise and Virtual Data Room while the text says Premium only; and its on-premises storage statements conflict. Its SEC and FINRA terms require a signed SEC Addendum. Implementation: choose Premium if you need requests and the enhanced portal, sign the addendum before go-live, and confirm which billing cycle each figure uses. Evidence: ShareFile's pricing page.

Box

Business tiers: minimum of 3 users according to Box (2026). Best fit: a firm that wants a general cloud content platform with unlimited Box Sign requests from the Business tier, a published API allowance and external collaboration on higher tiers. Limitations: retention policies, disposals and legal holds sit in the optional Governance add-on, and the page's audit and activity-tracking rows did not show plan values in my read. Its external-collaborator wording on the Business tier also conflicts with its plan card. Implementation: decide early whether Governance is needed for your retention schedule, and confirm audit export before you commit. Evidence: Box's pricing page.

Egnyte

Best fit: a firm with an IT owner that wants a governed file platform, AI document Q&A included in every plan, and content lifecycle controls from Enterprise Lite up. The page lists ransomware detection on Enterprise Lite and a Snapshot and Recovery add-on for restoring files and permissions after an attack or accidental deletion. Limitations: the page does not name RIAs, does not clearly show an audit log for each plan, and prices its Document Portal add-on through sales. Implementation: choose Enterprise Lite or higher if content lifecycle management is required, and confirm audit-log access for your plan before purchase. Evidence: Egnyte's pricing page.

Where a workflow layer fits

A configurable workflow is the piece most RIA networks lack: a way to move a document from intake to checklist without re-keying it. US Tech Automations could configure the following as a proposed design, not a description of a live deployment. The trigger is a client upload through the vault's portal, or a new file in a designated folder. The action reads the file name, document type and household folder, matches the file to that household's onboarding checklist, and creates a CRM task. The output is a task that links back to the vault record. Prerequisites are API or export access from the vault, which ShareFile lists on all four plans and FutureVault connects to named CRMs; CRM API credentials; and an agreed checklist mapping. The human review point is an operations person who approves any document the workflow cannot classify with confidence. Nothing is filed under a retention category without that approval.

The second proposed workflow is a weekly exception report. The trigger is a fixed weekly schedule. The action pulls the vault's activity export for the week, flags records whose retention window is approaching the firm's written schedule, and flags access by users who are no longer on the team. The output is a queue for the chief compliance officer. The prerequisite is an activity export: ShareFile lists activity logs and reports on all four plans, while Box's activity-tracking rows did not show plan values on its pricing page, so that needs confirming before you rely on it. The human review point is compliance sign-off on every flagged item. The workflow never deletes a record, because deletion stays a manual decision under the written schedule.

The real alternative for many firms is a stack of Zapier, Make or n8n flows, or an in-house build. Those tools can keep run histories, retry failed steps and branch on errors when they are configured that way, and they can produce audit evidence if the builder sets it up. The buyer still designs and owns the observability, the idempotency that stops a retried step from filing a document twice, the escalation path, the access controls on stored credentials, and every maintenance change. A proposed US Tech Automations design could configure run history, retry rules and an escalation queue as part of the workflow specification rather than as separate build work. The prerequisites are the same vault API access and a named reviewer, and the firm would still review every change to the design before it runs.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations

Skip a workflow layer when the vault already covers the task. If a small team's intake is a portal upload plus a ShareFile Premium e-sign request, a workflow adds a maintenance job without a clear gain. Skip it when the vault offers no API or export, because there is nothing for the workflow to read. And skip it when recordkeeping needs a certified archive from day one, since a workflow routes records and cannot replace an archive.

Who this is for and what to check

Who this is for

Choose FutureVault or Advisor360 if several advisors share client households, you want one client-facing system with custodian feeds, and you can accept a quote-based budget. Choose ShareFile if you need published per-user tiers, activity logs on every plan and an SEC addendum you can sign. Choose Box or Egnyte if the vault is one part of a general content program with an IT owner. Choose SideDrawer if you want a standalone financial-services vault and can accept enterprise minimums or a platform that does not target RIAs specifically.

Red flags: the vendor will not put retention, audit-export and seat-minimum terms in writing; you cannot see a sample audit trail before signing; or nobody at the firm owns compliance review of the vault.

Decision checklist

• Ask for retention terms in writing, including who can change them.

• Request a sample audit-trail export before signing.

• Confirm which billing cycle each published figure uses.

• Confirm seat minimums and whether add-ons such as governance, portal or e-signature are included.

• Confirm SSO, MFA and role-based access for advisors and staff.

• Confirm the custodian or CRM connectors you need, or the API you will use.

• Name one owner for compliance review of the vault.

Glossary of terms

• Digital vault: a permissioned, audited store for client documents, usually with a client portal.

• Books and records: the documents an adviser must keep under the federal recordkeeping rule.

• Audit trail: a timestamped log of who accessed or changed a document.

• WORM storage: write-once, read-many storage that prevents alteration; the rule text reviewed here does not require it.

• Client portal: a branded area where clients upload, view or sign documents.

• Document request: a checklist sent to a client that tracks what has been returned.

• Seat minimum: the smallest number of users a plan will sell.

• API: an interface that lets another system read or write records, usually subject to call limits.

Questions buyers ask

Is there a free digital vault for an RIA network?

No free option in this set fits a firm-wide RIA network. SideDrawer's pricing page describes a free plan for individuals, which is not a substitute for a firm-wide vault.

Does a digital vault satisfy SEC recordkeeping on its own?

No. The rule sets the retention period and storage conditions, so the firm still needs a written schedule, access controls and an owner for compliance review.

Which vault should a small RIA team shortlist first?

Start with ShareFile if you want published per-user tiers, or with Box or Egnyte if you already run a general content platform. Move to FutureVault or Advisor360 if you need wealth-specific portals and custodian feeds.

Why do two of the vendors show no price?

FutureVault and Advisor360 both route buyers to sales, and FutureVault says its final cost depends on advisors, client households, integrations and services.

Do I need an API before I buy?

Only if you plan to automate. Without an API or export, a workflow has nothing to read, so confirm the export route before you sign.

Can a Zapier build replace a vault?

No. Automation tools route and move records; the vault still provides storage, permissions and retention.

Final pick and next step

For most RIA networks with several advisors, shortlist FutureVault and Advisor360 for wealth-specific features, and choose ShareFile if published per-user prices and an SEC addendum matter more. Get written answers on retention, audit exports and seat minimums before you compare quotes. If you want a configured workflow on top of the vault you choose, see how US Tech Automations configures this for a proposed design and its review points.