Liscio vs ShareFile for Accounting Firms in 2026

Pick the portal job before the brand

A managing partner who types liscio vs sharefile is trying to pick a client system before the next busy season, not to collect slogans. Liscio is an accounting and tax file product sold on its own pricing page. ShareFile is a secure document platform with four public plans, and only the higher ones behave like a firm portal. A client portal, for this decision, is a login-gated place where the firm and the client exchange files, requests, and signatures outside ordinary email. TL;DR: compare Liscio's Platform or Tax Team plan with ShareFile's Premium plan, and treat both cheapest tiers as file sharing.

ShareFile is no longer sold as a Cloud Software Group business unit. Progress completed that purchase at a Purchase price: $875 million according to Investing.com (2024), and the same report said the business was expected to add over $240 million in annual revenue and more than 86,000 customers. The ShareFile plans page carries a 2026 Progress copyright and says ShareFile is part of the Progress product portfolio. Liscio's about page describes file intelligence built for accounting and tax professionals. The pages opened here do not show Liscio as a Progress product or as a renamed ShareFile plan.

Figures in the tables are the published plan facts. The fit calls after them are a buying read for someone close to signing. This is not a timed test, and it is not a report from a firm we operate.

Key Takeaways

• Match like with like. Liscio's Platform plan and ShareFile's Premium plan are the tiers that add client requests and e-signature. The cheaper tiers are file sharing.

• ShareFile's Advanced, Premium, and Enterprise plans require at least three employee users. A one-person bill is not the per-user rate alone.

• Liscio's Tax Team plan publishes 100 gatherings, 100 deliveries, and 100 eSignatures per user per year, then $5 for an extra organizer or delivery. Monthly Liscio billing is Quote-based.

• ShareFile's Virtual Data Room plan is a different product shape: five-user minimum and 1 GB of storage per license, against a 3 TB start on the other three plans.

• Review stars do not settle the tier. Liscio's public review profile is a 12-review sample. ShareFile's is much larger and still does not tell you which plan includes request lists.

• After either portal receives a file, a person still has to accept the document type before the checklist should close.

Who this is for

This comparison is for a managing partner, or the operations lead that partner trusts, who will sign an order this season. You already know email is a weak file cabinet for source documents. You want the client to send files, answer a list, and sign without a scavenger hunt. You can spare time to read a plan table. You do not need a lecture on what a portal is.

It is also for the firm that already owns one of these tools and is deciding whether to move. The useful question is which jobs the current tier actually performs. Encrypted storage, a branded login, a request list, a signature with an identity check, and a tax-season bundle are different purchases. Firms whose pain is an audit request list, rather than a year-round tax portal, can set this pair beside the Suralink and ShareFile comparison. Firms choosing between a tax-oriented file system and a general file platform can read SmartVault versus ShareFile.

Red flags: you need the portal to prepare the return or post the books; you are treating ShareFile's per-user rate as a one-person bill even though the plans page requires three employee users; you are treating Virtual Data Room storage as if it matched the 3 TB start on the other ShareFile plans.

How we evaluated these portals

The lens is a managing partner close to a signature. Six factors cover the arguments that actually change the order. Weights sum to 100%. They are a buying lens for this reader, not a surveyed industry index and not a score awarded to either vendor.

Seat floor matters because a published per-user rate is not the smallest invoice when the vendor requires three or five seats. Entry price matters for firms that truly need only encrypted sharing. Portal-tier price gets the most weight next to e-signature, because that is the tier where requests and signatures show up. The tax-bundle rate matters because one vendor prints a season package and a per-item overage, and the other does not print a matching package on the page checked. Storage matters because one ShareFile plan starts at a few terabytes and another starts at 1 GB per license. Review-star averages were left out of the weights. A 12-review profile cannot carry a feature decision.

Read the anchor column as published facts, not as points earned. A firm that only stores files should care more about the entry rate and the storage row. A firm that lives in organizers should care more about the $99 bundle and the $5 items. The weights stay fixed so two partners reading this guide argue about their own volume, not about a moving rubric.

What the public price pages actually say

Pricing checked October 10, 2026. Liscio's File Intelligence plan costs $19 per user per month, the Platform plan costs $49 per user per month, and the Tax Team plan costs $99 per user per month, all billed annually, and the mid-tier figure is Platform rate: $49 per user according to Liscio (2026). The same page does not print a seat minimum. Monthly Liscio billing is Quote-based. Tax Enterprise, described as higher limits and a dedicated manager, is Quote-based.

Tax Team includes 100 personalized tax gatherings, 100 packaged tax deliveries, and 100 eSignatures per user per year, an organizer is $5, a tax return delivery is $5, and a firm website add-on is $29 per month, with Included gatherings: 100 per user according to Liscio (2026). E-signature past that included count is Quote-based. The page says the $5 rates apply whether you buy a bundle or pay per item, with no overage penalty written on the page. Unlimited files are subject to fair use. Very high volume on a single seat can fall under that clause, and the page says the vendor will discuss it before anything changes. That is not a printed terabyte cap.

On annual billing, ShareFile's Advanced plan costs $16.50 per user per month, the Premium plan costs $26 per user per month, the Enterprise plan costs $35 per user per month, and the Virtual Data Room plan costs $69.30 per user per month, with month-to-month rates of $18.15, $28.59, $42, and $77, a 3-user minimum on the first three plans, a 5-user minimum on Virtual Data Room, a 3 TB storage start on the first three, 1 GB of storage per Virtual Data Room license, unlimited client users, up to 100,000 e-signature documents per month at the account level on Premium, HIPAA marked on Premium, Enterprise, and Virtual Data Room when a business associate agreement is signed, and a 200 GB per user fair-use figure attached to SEC and FINRA archiving on those three tiers, and the rate partners quote most often is Premium annual rate: $26 per user according to ShareFile (2026). Extra 3 TB storage packs are listed without a price, so the pack is Quote-based. The plans page checked for this article lists those four plans and does not print a separate industry-advantage price. Enterprise is marked New on that page.

Annual cost at six users is the annual-billing rate times 12 times 6. ShareFile's six-user Virtual Data Room line uses $69.30. Liscio's six-user lines use the annual rates on its pricing page. The zero e-signature cells mean that tool is not included on that tier. Liscio's Platform plan includes e-signature and does not print a count.

The smallest ShareFile purchase is three seats, not one. Three Advanced seats at the annual rate are 3 × $16.50 = $49.50 per month, or $594 for the year. Three Premium seats are 3 × $26 = $78 per month, or $936 for the year. Five Virtual Data Room seats are 5 × $69.30 × 12 = $4,158 for the year. Liscio's page prices each user and does not print a minimum, so a one-user reading of File Intelligence is 12 × $19 = $228 for the year only if the vendor will sell a single seat. Confirm that on the order. Do not assume it from silence.

Employee users are the paid ShareFile seats. Client users are the people outside the firm, and the plans page includes unlimited client users on every tier. That split matters. A firm with eight staff and four hundred clients is not buying four hundred ShareFile seats. It is buying eight, subject to the three-seat floor. Liscio's pricing page bills per user and does not print a separate client-user rate, so ask which logins count as users before you multiply.

Where each capability starts

Price is the wrong first sort if the cheap tier lacks the job. File Intelligence, at the $19 rate, reads, classifies, and names documents on the way in, keeps the folder structure, connects to SharePoint, OneDrive, and Google Drive, and includes secure exchange, file history, and web and mobile apps. It does not list email integration, client tasks, organizers, e-signature, or custom branding. Those land on the Platform plan, which also says onboarding is included. Tax Team adds unnamed tax-specific integrations, season automation, priority support, and the 100-item allowances.

ShareFile's Advanced plan includes encrypted storage, email plug-ins for Outlook and Google Workspace, co-editing, folder templates, full-text search, file-drop links, a basic client portal, custom branding, multi-factor authentication, and single sign-on. Request lists, the enhanced portal, forms, projects, workflow automation, and e-signature start on Premium. Knowledge-based authentication is on that e-signature tier. QuickBooks, and file export to FreshBooks, Pipedrive, QuickBooks, Xero, and Salesforce, are marked on Premium and above for US control planes only. A developer API is marked on all four plans. File renaming and request-list generation are listed on Premium and above, with a note that usage limits and pricing may change.

"Not printed" means the pricing page opened for this article does not state it. It is not a claim that the feature is impossible after a sales call. If a security questionnaire or a tax-software connector is the reason you are buying, get that item in the order. A conversation is not a plan row. Firms that want the wider set of accounting portals, because neither column fits, can use the Liscio alternatives guide.

Security claims on the public pages

ShareFile's compliance page lists SOC 2 type 2, ISO 27001, and ISO 27701, and it states an Encryption ceiling: 256-bit according to ShareFile (2026). That page also names TLS for transfer and says e-signature is designed to address the ESIGN Act and UETA. Those are vendor statements of design and certification names, not a law firm's opinion that your firm is compliant because you subscribed. HIPAA eligibility on the plans page still requires a signed business associate agreement, and it is not marked on Advanced. SEC and FINRA eligibility on Premium and above requires a signed addendum. The 200 GB per user figure belongs to that archiving note, not to the 3 TB starting storage.

Liscio's pricing page says exchange and storage are secure and does not print a SOC, ISO, or HIPAA certificate list. Do not fill that blank from memory or from an old directory. If your questionnaire needs a report name, ask Liscio for the current letter and keep it with the order. Fair use on storage is a commercial clause, not a control. Multi-factor authentication is printed on every ShareFile tier in the plan table. It is not printed as a line item on the Liscio pricing page opened here, so confirm it in the admin settings before you rely on it.

A portal does not, by itself, satisfy a firm's duty to protect taxpayer data. The practical test is narrower. Can a client send a file without using open email, can staff see who opened it, and can you turn a leaver off? ShareFile prints activity logs, link expiration, and remote wipe on the plan table. Liscio prints file history per client on File Intelligence. Neither line replaces a written security program, a leaver checklist, or a decision about where the tax software itself stores the return.

What still sits with a person after the upload

The portal pain is not storage. It is the unnamed PDF that arrives in a general folder, and the request that stays open while the client thinks they already sent it. A proposed workflow from US Tech Automations can start when ShareFile calls a webhook the firm has subscribed on a client folder. The prerequisite is a ShareFile API credential allowed to create that subscription, plus a folder list the firm exports and checks. The action reads the event, and when Event.OperationName is Upload it writes the file id and parent folder onto a review queue. The output is one checklist line. A staff accountant accepts the document type or sends it back, and the workflow does not mark the request complete on its own.

A second proposed US Tech Automations configuration runs after a due date the firm stored on the request list. The prerequisite is an export of open requests, because neither pricing page promises a shared task record inside the tax program. The action lists items still open and prepares the chase note the firm already uses. The output is a list a manager reads before anyone is nudged again. Fee changes, filing dates, and signature sends stay in that review and are not released by the workflow. The collection pattern beside either portal is the same problem described in automating tax document collection.

Zapier, Make, and n8n can keep a run history, retry a failed call, branch on an error, and store an audit note when the firm builds those paths. The buyer still designs idempotency, escalation, access control, and maintenance, and still watches the connection when a portal changes a field. A proposed US Tech Automations design can place the human review and the exception route in the configuration, but only after the API credential or the export exists, and only with a named reviewer. That is a different split of upkeep. It is not a claim that either portal already prepares the return.

Six seats of list-price math

Take six employee users and only the annual rates already cited. ShareFile's Premium plan at $26 per user per month costs 6 × $26 × 12 = $1,872 for the year. Liscio's Tax Team plan at $99 per user per month costs 6 × $99 × 12 = $7,128 for the year. The gap is $5,256 before storage packs or the $29 website add-on. Those six Tax Team seats include 600 gatherings, because the page allows 100 per seat. At the published $5 organizer rate, 600 gatherings have a $3,000 face value. That does not by itself cover the $3,600 difference between Tax Team at $7,128 and the Platform plan at 6 × $49 × 12 = $3,528. Count the same 600 deliveries at $5 and the face value becomes $6,000, which is $2,400 more than that $3,600 gap. The webhook reference documents Event.OperationName on ShareFile's webhook subscription page. An Upload value is a file event, not a finished organizer. This arithmetic is illustrative list-price math for a six-seat team. It is not a measured client result.

Use the bundle when the firm will actually consume both gatherings and deliveries near the included caps, or when the unnamed tax integrations and priority support are worth the residual. Use Platform plus $5 items when volume is well below those caps. Use ShareFile Premium when the $1,872 six-seat bill buys the portal, the request list, knowledge-based e-signature, and the account-level signature allowance, and you do not need Liscio's per-return packaging. Do not compare the $19 tier with the $26 tier and call them the same product. One names files. The other, on ShareFile, is the first tier with the enhanced portal and e-signature.

E-signature counts are not interchangeable. ShareFile's 100,000 documents per month is an account cap on Premium, not a per-user cap. Six seats do not multiply it by six. Liscio's 100 eSignatures are per user per year on Tax Team, so six seats include 600 for the year. Platform includes e-signature without a printed count, and the extra unit price is Quote-based. A firm that signs a few hundred engagement letters can fit inside either published allowance. A firm that cannot see a count on the tier it wants should treat the overage as Quote-based until the order says otherwise.

Mistakes that make the cheap tier look complete

• Comparing File Intelligence at $19 with Premium at $26 as if both included requests, branding, and e-signature. They do not.

• Quoting $16.50 as a solo invoice. The minimum is three employee users, so Advanced is $49.50 per month on annual billing, or $594 for the year.

• Assuming Advanced includes a request list or e-signature. Those start on Premium. The basic portal on Advanced is file and folder access.

• Treating Virtual Data Room as the accounting plan. It starts at five users and 1 GB per license, and it is aimed at confidential deals, audits, or litigation.

• Reading "unlimited files, fair use" on Liscio as a stated terabyte number. The page does not print one.

• Buying Tax Team because 100 sounds generous, without doing the six-seat math against Platform plus $5. The caps pay off when both gatherings and deliveries are used.

• Expecting either product to replace tax preparation, time entry, or the ledger. The pages describe files, requests, signatures, and, on Liscio's higher tiers, organizers and delivery.

A partner who inherits an older ShareFile quote under a plan name that is not on the current page should re-map the features to Advanced, Premium, Enterprise, or Virtual Data Room. This article does not claim that older name was formally retired. It claims the page checked on the research date does not print it. Sign the plan that is on the page.

Which firm should buy which product

Choose Liscio when the firm wants documents classified and named on arrival and is willing to start at the $19 File Intelligence rate, then step up. Choose the Platform plan when email integration, tasks, organizers, e-signature, branding, and included onboarding are the job, at $49 per user per month billed annually. Choose Tax Team when the firm will use a large share of the 100 gatherings and 100 deliveries per seat and wants that work inside one rate. The $5 organizer and $5 delivery prices make the alternative visible, which is better than a surprise overage. Liscio's limits are real. Monthly pricing and Tax Enterprise are Quote-based. Tax integrations are not named. A developer API and a QuickBooks export are not printed. The public review profile is thin: reviewers score Liscio at a G2 score: 4.6 out of 5 according to G2 (2026), across 12 reviews, and that profile says no one has managed it for over a year. Use the pricing page, not that profile, for what the product sells in 2026. Implementation, from the pricing page, includes web and mobile apps on the entry tier and onboarding on Platform. No day-count for go-live is printed. Primary pages are the pricing page and the about page.

Choose ShareFile when the firm has at least three employee users and wants a lower published seat price, unlimited client users, and a plan table that names compliance and an API. Premium is the accounting-portal tier for most firms in this search: enhanced portal, request lists, tasks, forms, e-signature, knowledge-based authentication, and the US-plane exports. Advanced is the right buy only when encrypted sharing, drop links, and a basic portal are the whole job. Enterprise is the buy when provisioning, security-monitor exports, and data-loss controls on the plan table are required, at $35 per user per month on annual billing, and those controls should be confirmed because the page marks the plan New. Virtual Data Room is the buy for a transaction or a contentious file set, not for a stack of individual returns. Reviewers score ShareFile at a G2 score: 4.2 out of 5 according to G2 (2026), across 1,535 reviews. That sample is large enough to show broad satisfaction and too blunt to prove a tax organizer. The plans FAQ says standard cloud use does not require an install, and on-premises or hybrid storage is tied to Enterprise. Dedicated support is marked on all four plans. Primary pages are the plans page and the compliance page.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations

Stay with the portal alone when the only job is a client upload and someone already checks that folder every day. Stay with a spreadsheet when one coordinator can see every open request through a short season. Stay inside the practice system you already pay for when it already chases documents, stores the file, and records the signature. A second status list would only disagree with the first. Add a workflow layer when the portal event or the export exists, a named person reviews exceptions, and the firm is willing to own the credential and the folder map.

Decision checklist

• Name the job in one line: store files, chase a list, sign, or package a return. Buy the cheapest tier that contains that job.

• Count employee users who will administer the account. If the count is one or two, price ShareFile at three seats before you compare.

• Ask which logins are billable. Separate staff seats from client logins on ShareFile.

• For Liscio, estimate gatherings and deliveries. Compare Tax Team with Platform plus $5 per item, using the six-seat pattern above as the template.

• If a questionnaire requires SOC 2 type 2, ISO 27001, or a business associate agreement, use the ShareFile pages that name them, and get Liscio's letter separately if you lean that way.

• If the file must land in QuickBooks, Xero, or Salesforce, confirm the US control plane on ShareFile. Do not assume the same export on Liscio from a page that does not print it.

• Write down who accepts a document type before a request can close. If that person does not exist, neither portal will invent one.

• Re-read the order against the plan table on the day you sign. Pricing checked October 10, 2026, and both vendors can change a row after that.

Questions partners ask before they sign

Is ShareFile still a Citrix product?

No. Progress completed the purchase from Cloud Software Group, and the 2026 plans page places ShareFile in the Progress portfolio. The price and customer figures for that deal are in the opening section. Older staff habits may still use the earlier company name. The order should use the plan names on the current page.

Which tiers should a tax firm compare?

Compare Liscio's Platform plan or Tax Team plan with ShareFile's Premium plan. The cheaper tiers do not include the same request and signature tools. File Intelligence is a naming and storage tier. Advanced is a secure-sharing tier with a basic portal. Using those two as the whole shortlist answers a different question than the one a managing partner usually typed.

What is the smallest ShareFile bill?

Three employee users on Advanced, Premium, and Enterprise, and five on Virtual Data Room. The per-user rate is not a one-seat invoice. Three Advanced seats at the annual rate come to $594 for the year. Three Premium seats come to $936 for the year. Quote a solo price only after the vendor confirms an exception in writing. The public page does not show that exception.

Does the cheapest plan include e-signature?

No. E-signature starts on ShareFile's Premium plan and on Liscio's Platform plan. Knowledge-based authentication is printed on ShareFile's e-signature tier. Liscio's pricing page includes e-signature on Platform and a count of 100 per user per year on Tax Team. It does not print a per-signature dollar amount, so that unit price is Quote-based.

Is the virtual data room the right ShareFile plan for a 1040 season?

No. Virtual Data Room is built for confidential deals, audits, or litigation, with a five-user minimum and 1 GB of storage per license. A 1040 season that needs request lists and a client portal belongs on Premium unless a transaction is the actual project. The storage gap between 1 GB per license and the 3 TB start on the other plans is large enough to reject the wrong tier on that fact alone.

Will either product prepare the tax return?

No. Both products move documents, requests, and signatures around the work. Neither pricing page is tax-preparation software. Liscio's Tax Team plan packages gatherings and deliveries. ShareFile's Premium plan can request files and send a document for signature. The return is still prepared in the tax program the firm already licenses.

Can Zapier, Make, or n8n replace the portal?

No. Those tools can connect steps you design, including retries and error branches, but they are not the client login, the request list, or the signature pack. A firm that already has the portal can use them, or a configured review flow, to watch for new files. The portal remains the place the client sees. The connector remains the firm's responsibility to monitor.

Settle the tier, then the workflow

Decide the job, then the tier, then whether a person still has to bless each file. Liscio's public math is kind to firms that want a named file on arrival and a visible $5 alternative to the season bundle. ShareFile's public math is kind to firms with three or more staff who want Premium's portal, a large account-level signature allowance, and a plan table that security questionnaires can point at. Neither page is a practice suite. The ShareFile plans page and Liscio's pricing page remain the sources for the rates in this guide.

Price the tier you would turn on, confirm the seat minimum on the order, and see how US Tech Automations configures this only where a person still reviews the file before the checklist closes. The configuration needs the portal's API or a file export, and it needs that reviewer. Without both, the portal you just chose is the whole system, and that may be the right outcome.