What Canadian buyers should know
iDeals quotes in its own terms, usually in US dollars; ask for the quote in Canadian dollars or convert at the current Bank of Canada rate, then add GST or HST. A Canadian hosting region is not listed, so ask the vendor where your room would sit. For files with personal information, raise PIPEDA s. 7.2 and, for Quebec data, the Law 25 s. 17 assessment. Ask whether the interface and support are available in French.
| Starting price | Priced per project |
| Six months, before tax | Quote on request |
| With Ontario HST (13%) | Quote plus tax |
| Canadian hosting | Ask the vendor |
| 9 of 12 features | Q&A module, Activity log, Dynamic watermarks, In-room redaction |
What it does well
- SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR listed
- Single sign-on and a public API for enterprise IT
- In-room redaction alongside watermarks, view rights and Q&A
- Support rated 9.7 in our ratings
- Free trial available before a quote is signed
Not in the product
- No built-in e-signature listed
- No native mobile app listed
- No AI tools shown in the vendor documentation we reviewed
Cost in Canadian dollars
iDeals prices each project on request. The calculator below shows our market range for quote-only vendors by Canadian deal type, not a quote from iDeals.
iDeals cost estimate 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.
The product in brief
iDeals dates from 2008, with its head office in the United Kingdom. It is a common choice for investment banks, corporate development teams and law firms running multi-bidder processes. The control set is wide: Q&A, dynamic watermarks, view and download rights, an activity log, 2-step login and in-room redaction, so a team can black out salaries or customer names without uploading edited copies.
Enterprise IT teams tend to look at the single sign-on and public API, which let a bank or a large company tie the room into its identity provider and pull activity data into other systems. Security paperwork is broad, with SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR listed. Support is rated 9.7 in our ratings, which matters on a deal that runs across time zones and needs answers at odd hours.
Pricing is quoted per project rather than published, so the cost in Canadian dollars depends on room size, users and term, and is only known after a conversation with sales. A free trial is offered, which lets a team look at the interface before the quote arrives. No AI tools, e-signature or native mobile app appear in the vendor documentation we reviewed, which a team may care about if it wants summaries or NDA signing inside the same product.
Feature check
| Feature | iDeals | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Q&A module | Yes | Bidders post questions inside the room; counsel or the CFO drafts the reply, someone approves it, and every exchange stays on file. |
| Activity log | Yes | Per-user history of opens, prints and downloads with timestamps, which you can export for the closing binder. |
| Dynamic watermarks | Yes | The reader's identity and the date are printed across every page, which discourages screenshots and identifies the source of a leak. |
| In-room redaction | Yes | Hide social insurance numbers, pay figures or client names on the platform itself, without keeping two versions of the file. |
| E-signature | Not listed | Confidentiality agreements and closing papers can be executed on the platform. |
| Mobile app | Not listed | An installable phone or tablet app, beyond the responsive web view. |
| Public API | Yes | Programmatic access for creating rooms, adding users or exporting activity to other systems. |
| Single sign-on | Yes | Staff log in with the company directory (Okta, Microsoft Entra ID and similar) instead of a separate password. |
| 2-step login | Yes | Logins need a one-time code or authenticator approval on top of the password. |
| Bulk upload | Yes | Upload an entire set of nested folders at once, with the index numbers kept as they were. |
| View and download rights | Yes | Choose, document by document, whether a guest may only read, may print or may download, and change it later. |
| AI help | Not listed | Vendor-listed automation such as sorting uploads into the index, summarizing long agreements, searching the room or proposing answers. |
Rating breakdown
How the iDeals rating breaks down
Each bar is out of 10; the dark tick is the mean across the 18 rooms we rate.
Canada Data Rooms
Deals it fits in Canada
Redaction, Q&A and fine permissions suit a multi-bidder sale with many advisers on both sides.
#3 for cross-border dealsSSO and broad certifications help when a foreign buyer's security team reviews the room before granting access.
#2 for law firmsRedaction and an exportable activity log support the closing record a Canadian firm keeps after the deal.
Security and compliance
iDeals lists SOC 2 and ISO 27001 and GDPR, 2-step login and single sign-on. For a Canadian deal, ask for the latest SOC 2 report or ISO certificate, a data processing agreement that covers PIPEDA, and for Quebec personal information, the details you need for a Law 25 privacy impact assessment.
Getting started and help
A free trial is offered, and a sales contact prepares the quote and helps set up the room structure. Bulk upload carries existing folder trees into the index. SSO can be connected for enterprise users. Support is rated 9.7 in our ratings; confirm the hours and languages covered for your team before the room opens to bidders.
What to check before you sign
- Upload a real folder tree (minute books, financials, contracts) and check the numbering survives.
- Create two bidder groups and confirm neither can see the other's files, questions or activity.
- Open a watermarked PDF as a guest and print it: is the name, email and time on every page?
- Ask the vendor in writing where data is hosted and who the sub-processors are.
- Check whether invoices can be in Canadian dollars and how GST/HST is charged.
- Run one question through the Q&A workflow from a bidder to an expert and back.
- Export the activity log and check it is complete enough for a closing file.
Other rooms to look at
Head-to-head: Ellty vs iDeals, Firmex vs iDeals.
FAQ
How much does iDeals cost in Canadian dollars?
iDeals does not publish a price; it quotes per project. Use our calculator for a market range by deal type, and ask for the quote in Canadian dollars.
Does iDeals host data in Canada?
iDeals does not publish a Canadian hosting region that we could find. If your deal needs Canadian residency, ask the vendor in writing before you sign.
Does iDeals have a free trial?
iDeals offers a free trial. Use it to run the checklist on this page with real files.
What is iDeals's score?
iDeals scores 8.7 out of 10 in our Canadian rating, rank 2 of 18. The score combines privacy and security, deal workflow, access control, ease of use and cost in Canadian dollars.