Comparison
Firmex vs iDeals
Firmex and iDeals are both established deal rooms with Q&A, dynamic watermarks, view and download rights, redaction, an activity log, 2-step login, SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Firmex is headquartered in Toronto, lists a Canadian hosting region and is a standalone business unit of Datasite since July 2021. iDeals, founded in 2008 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, adds single sign-on and a public API. Both price by quote and both offer a free trial.
Firmex8.4Choose Firmex if
- Your contract or buyer requires a Canadian hosting region
- You want a vendor headquartered in Toronto
- Your guests are occasional users and ease of use comes first
- You run mid-market deals with Canadian law and accounting firms
iDeals8.7Choose iDeals if
- Your IT policy requires single sign-on for every outside system
- You want a public API to sync users or pull activity data
- Your process runs across several time zones and needs strong support coverage
- A European buyer asks for GDPR to be listed among the vendor's certifications
For Canadian buyers
Firmex lists a Canadian hosting region; iDeals does not, so ask where your room would be hosted. Both price by quote, so ask each for a Canadian dollar figure for the same scope and add GST or HST. Raise PIPEDA s. 7.2 business-transaction terms and, for Quebec data, a Law 25 s. 17 assessment. Ask both about French-language interfaces and support in Eastern business hours.
| Firmex | iDeals | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Priced per project | Priced per project |
| Trial | Free trial offered | Free trial offered |
| Canadian hosting | Canadian region listed | Ask the vendor |
| Certifications | SOC 2, ISO 27001 | SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR |
| Head office, founded | Canada, 2006 | United Kingdom, 2008 |
Firmex vs iDeals: cost in Canadian dollars
Choose the deal type, how many people on your side need access, the number of months and where your company is.
| Data room | Pricing | Total with tax |
|---|---|---|
 Onehub | Flat | C$95 |
 Citrix ShareFile | Flat | C$353 |
 Box | Per user | C$759 |
 Digify | Flat | C$768 |
 Ellty | Flat | C$954 |
 SecureDocs | Flat | C$1,600 |
 CapLinked | Flat | C$1,912 |
 DocSend | Per user | C$2,314 |
| iDeals | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 Datasite | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 Ansarada | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
| Firmex | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 Drooms | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 Intralinks | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 SmartRoom | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 DealRoom | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 ShareVault | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
 Venue by DFIN | Estimate | ~C$11,300 to C$33,900 |
Rows marked Flat or Per user start from the price each vendor lists in US dollars, turned into Canadian dollars at the Bank of Canada rate for October 16, 2026 (US$1 = C$1.4154) and taxed at your province's rate. Rows marked Estimate belong to vendors that keep prices private; for them we show the range we see for the kind of project you chose, which is not that vendor's own figure. For planning only.
Verdict
iDeals scores 8.7 overall in our model and Firmex 8.4. iDeals is ahead on privacy and access control inputs, helped by higher security and feature ratings, and it also lists single sign-on and a public API. Firmex is rated 9.0 for ease of use and is the one of the two with a listed Canadian hosting region. Choose by your hard requirements: Canadian residency points to Firmex, an SSO mandate points to iDeals.
Scores by criterion
Firmex iDeals
Overall: Firmex 8.4, iDeals 8.7 out of 10.
Feature differences
Only Firmex
Nothing extra
Both have
- Q&A module
- Activity log
- Dynamic watermarks
- In-room redaction
- 2-step login
- Bulk upload
- View and download rights
Only iDeals
- Public API
- Single sign-on
Place by Canadian use case
| Use case | Firmex | iDeals |
|---|---|---|
| M&A | #7 | #2 |
| Private equity | #7 | #3 |
| Startup fundraising | #5 | #2 |
| TSXV and CSE listings | #5 | #2 |
| CCAA restructuring | #5 | #3 |
| Commercial real estate | #6 | #2 |
| Mining deals | #7 | #2 |
| Life sciences | #8 | #2 |
FAQ
Which has single sign-on?
iDeals lists single sign-on in the vendor documentation we reviewed; Firmex does not. If your company signs in to every outside system through an identity provider such as Okta or Microsoft Entra ID, raise this with Firmex early. Both list 2-step login, which covers many security questionnaires on its own.
Do both offer redaction?
Yes. Both list in-room redaction, so you can black out SINs, salaries or customer names inside the room rather than uploading edited copies. That helps with PIPEDA s. 7.2, which allows disclosure in a prospective business transaction only where the information is needed and protected.
How do I compare quotes?
Give both vendors the same brief: expected months, number of guest users, admin seats and approximate page or gigabyte count. Ask for prices in Canadian dollars, what happens if the deal runs long, and whether archive copies at closing cost extra. Then compare the totals, not the monthly figure.