Download This Pricing Guide As a PDF
Pricing is one of the most important factors in choosing any software, especially DMS (document management software).
Some vendors provide transparent pricing information on their sites, while others prefer to give a specialized quote, as companies’ requirements for software tend to vary.
We’ve developed this pricing guide to detail pricing types, additional costs a company needs to consider and pricing examples from popular DMS vendors.
What Is DMS?
Document management software (DMS) is an electronic solution dedicated to storing, tracking and archiving files. It has multiple benefits for companies, including reduced expense of storing paper, improved collaboration among users, better customer service and enhanced compliance with federal or regulatory mandates. In addition to document storage, other features of DMS systems are workflow management, collaboration, imaging/capture, metadata and version control.
DMS Pricing Models
DMS vendors use two popular pricing models: subscription hosting plans (cloud) or perpetual licensing (on-premise). Here’s a look at each.
Subscription plans – When the vendor hosts the software on its servers (also known as Software-as-a-Service), the company typically pays a monthly or annual subscription fee. This is beneficial for companies that don’t want to host and maintain their data. The standard pricing structure is per user, per month, and is usually based on the number of employees who access the software. Most document management software vendors offer scalable subscription plans that are based on the number of users and the types of features that are included in each plan.
Perpetual licensing – With perpetual licensing, the company hosts the data on its own servers, so it only needs to pay for the software upfront. It may pay a recurring cost, typically annually, for maintenance or support. Perpetual licensing is an attractive option for businesses that are concerned with data security or have complex needs (e.g., large organizations).
Open Source Software
Some vendors offer open source software, where the company downloads the vendor’s source code and then installs/modifies that code into their systems. Two notable vendors in the DMS market that provide open source solutions are LogicalDOC and OpenKM. Open source solutions can be a challenge in some cases, since the company bears the cost of hosting the software and there are limited customer support options.
Additional Costs To Consider
Many services are included in the original subscription or licensing price. However, some vendors may provide other services at additional costs, so companies will need to take that into consideration.
Implementation – Prices of implementation services vary by vendor and can include access to a dedicated implementation specialist, installation, software customization, data migration and integration to other software (e.g., project management solutions or accounting systems).
Training – Some vendors may include basic training services for free, while others offer them at an additional cost, especially if the training is done at the client’s site.
Support – Basic support (e.g., knowledge base, email support) is typically included in the price. However, some vendors offer optional advanced support, such as access to a dedicated customer service manager.
DMS Vendor Pricing
We’ve compared pricing for some popular DMS solutions. There are many vendors in the market that don’t publicly provide pricing details, so you’ll need to contact them directly for a quote.
Box – Box has five pricing tiers for businesses (billed annually). The Starter tier accommodates three to 10 users and costs $5 per user, per month. It has a 100 GB file storage capacity, 2 GB file sharing capacity and mobile device management integration. The Business tier costs $15 per user, per month (requires a three-user minimum), and offers unlimited storage, up to 5 GB file sharing capacity, the ability to manage bulk users and the ability to save up to 50 versions of a file.
The Business Plus tier is priced at $25 per user, per month, and includes up to 15 GB file sharing capacity, unlimited external collaborators, full content visibility, full user activity tracking, and metadata and custom templates. The Enterprise tier costs $35 per user, per month and has up to 50 GB file sharing capacity and additional security features, such as password enforcement, restriction of offline access and multifactor authentication.
Finally, the Enterprise Plus tier is a new plan that includes all of the features of the other plans, plus up to 150 GB file sharing capacity, unlimited version history, enhanced support services and access to the Box Platform, Box Shield and Box Governance features. Please contact Box directly for a quote.
Contentverse – This software is available in two pricing packages: Professional and Enterprise. Professional costs $15 per user, per month, and includes mobile functionality, advanced search and team collaboration. Enterprise is priced at $33 per user, per month and boasts additional features, such as annotations and redactions, version control, integration to Microsoft Office and advanced security setup. The vendor offers perpetual licenses. Please contact them for a quote.
Document Locator – ColumbiaSoft offers two annual subscription pricing plans for Document Locator: On-Premise ($41 per user, per month) and Hosted $48 per user, per month).
The example pricing reflects 15 or more users. ColumbiaSoft also provides four licensing options: named user (single user), dedicated desktop, concurrent desktop and concurrent web. Pricing for the options is available by quote.
There are additional fees for implementation and training services. Please contact ColumbiaSoft directly for those prices.
Dropbox Business – Dropbox Business has four plans (billed annually). The Essentials plan is $18 per month for a single user. It includes 3 TB of storage and many basic features. The Business plan costs $20 per user, per month for more than three users and includes 9 TB of storage for the entire team.
The Business Plus plan accommodates 15 TB of storage at $26 per user, per month. The Enterprise plan has customizable storage and number of users. That plan requires a quote. For specific features listed under each plan, head over to our Dropbox Business pricing post.
Evernote Teams – Evernote Teams costs $24.99 per user, per month ($20.83 per user, per month if billed annually) and requires a minimum of two users. It includes unlimited collaboration spaces and other Evernote features.
FileCenter – Companies can choose from three plans: Standard ($100), Pro ($200) and Pro Plus ($300). The Standard edition includes basic document management features, while the Pro edition adds on email file sending, single-click conversions to PDFs and tech support. The Pro Plus provides more additional features, such as automatic page cleanups and barcode support.
The pricing above reflects a single license. For multilicense opportunities, please contact the vendor for a price quote. The price includes the first year of maintenance, but annual maintenance renewals cost $25 (Standard), $50 (Pro) and $75 (Pro Plus).
Fluix – The Fluix Core plan is $30 per user, per month, and requires a minimum of 10 users. It includes many features, such as annotations, workflows, digital signature, document activity tracking and access to a dedicated Customer Success Manager. Fluix offers a range of add-on features, such as Power Analytics ($10 per user, per month) and Conditional Logic ($5 per user, per month).
GoCanvas – Users can sign up for a 10-day free trial and then select any of the two pricing plans. The Essential plan costs $125 per month and accommodates up to three users (more can be added for an additional cost). It includes features, such as unlimited forms/submissions/data storage, real-time collaboration, autofill with preexisting data, the ability to capture and upload photos, offline access, one free demo form, priority tech support and a self-paced online onboarding program. GoCanvas offers analytics and integrations for an additional cost.
The Elite plan costs $375 per month and accommodates up to seven users (more can be added for an additional cost). It includes all of the features of the Essential plan, plus customer facing forms, analytics, integrations, API, single sign-on, two free demo forms and a dedicated customer onboarding program.
Google Drive – Google Drive is free for individual use. However, business can choose from Google Workspace’s four pricing plans that include Google Drive and other Google tools. The Business Starter plan costs $6 per user, per month for up to 30 GB of storage, video conferencing, and phone, email and online support. The Business Standard plan is priced at $12 per user, per month for up to 2 TB of storage, video recording and up to 150 participants in video meetings. The Business Plus plan costs $18 per user, per month for up to 5 TB of storage, attendance tracking and up to 250 participants in video meetings, eDiscovery, data retention and advanced endpoint management. The Enterprise plan’s pricing is available by quote only, and includes additional features, such as enhanced support, unlimited storage, noise cancellation and in-domain live streaming within meetings and enterprise endpoint management.
PaperPort – Kofax offers two PaperPort desktop software products with core document management features like PDF encryption, shared network folders and a Microsoft SharePoint connector. PaperPort 14.7 Professional is geared toward small businesses and costs $199 per unit. PaperPort 14.7 Enterprise supports larger departments and organizations, but its pricing is not available publicly. Please contract Kofax for a quote.
pCloud – This software has two pricing tiers: Premium and Premium Plus. The Premium tier costs $49.99 a year and includes all of pCloud’s features, such as 500 GB of storage. The Premium Plus tier is priced at $99.99 a year and includes 2 TB of storage. pCloud offers a lifetime subscription where users can pay a one-time fee of $199 for Premium and $399 for Premium Plus and use the account for a lifetime. There’s also a new custom lifetime plan with 10 TB of storage for $1,190.
Pricing for pCloud Business starts at $9.99 per user, per month (monthly) or $7.99 per user, per month (annually). Please contact their sales team to learn more.
Zoho WorkDrive – Zoho WorkDrive has a 15-day free trial, and there are three plans. The Starter plan costs $2.50 per user, per month, has a 1 GB file upload limit and storage starts at 1 TB per team for up to 10 users. It includes many features, such as team folders, granular access controls, the Zoho Office Suite, mobile access, desktop sync, universal content search, an admin dashboard and follow updates.
The Team plan costs $4.50 per user, per month, has a 5 GB file upload limit and storage starts at 3 TB per team for up to 10 users. It includes all of the features of the Starter plan, plus unlimited file versioning, a file activity timeline and groups.
The Business plan costs $9 per user, per month, has a 50 GB file upload limit and storage starts at 5 TB per team for up to 10 users. It includes all of the features of the Team plan, plus custom branding, team folder activity timeline, advanced admin controls, custom data retention, full content visibility, domain verification, two-factor authentication and IP restriction.
Bottom Line
The majority of the vendors that we’ve listed deploy the per-user/per-month pricing strategy with different tiers that offer specific features. For companies, the key is to decide how many users will access the software, what features are necessary versus nice to have and how the software will be implemented (cloud versus on-premise). It’s also important to consider any additional fees for implementation, training or support.
If you’re looking for more information on document management software or want to compare different vendors, we’ve reviewed more than 25 solutions.