ShareAndGo vs Google Drive
Drive is built for collaboration. ShareAndGo is built for confidential sharing — with the audit trail, recipient controls, and Australian residency a tax audit, M&A deal, or legal disclosure actually needs.
| Feature | ShareAndGo | Google Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Data Residency | GCP Sydney, guaranteed | No residency guarantee |
| Tamper-Evident Audit Trail | SHA-256 hash-chained, immutable | Activity log, not tamper-evident |
| No-Download Enforcement | PDFs served as images, Ctrl-S blocked | 'View only' is bypassable |
| NDA / NCNDA Gating | Required signature before access | Not supported |
| Watermarking | Per-recipient email + timestamp | Not supported |
| Access Expiry | Per-link auto-expiry | Manual revocation only |
| Per-Recipient Permissions | Viewer / Viewer No Download / Editor / Admin | Viewer / Commenter / Editor |
| Email-First Access (no Google account) | OTP to any email address | Requires Google account |
| Structured Data Room (folders + Q&A) | Built-in due-diligence structure | Generic folders |
| AI OCR + Search | Gemini 2.0 Flash, full-text search | Limited image OCR |
| AI PII Redaction | TFN, ABN, BSB auto-detection | Not supported |
| Bulk Recipient Invites | 50+ at once with contact management | Share dialog per file |
| Free Tier | 1 room, 1GB | 15GB shared with Gmail/Photos |
| File Collaboration | View-only by design | Real-time co-editing |
| Suitable for SMB Tax Audits | Built for it | Possible but unprofessional |
When Google Drive isn't enough
Drive works fine for everyday team collaboration. It falls down when the recipient is external, the documents are confidential, and you need to prove who saw what.
Tax audit document requests
The ATO expects a clear audit trail of what was disclosed and when. Drive's activity log isn't tamper-evident and won't satisfy a legal hold notice.
M&A due diligence
Buyers expect a structured data room with Q&A workflows, NDA gating, and per-document view logs. A Drive folder makes the deal look amateur.
Privacy Act / APP 8 obligations
Storing personal information on infrastructure that doesn't guarantee Australian residency triggers cross-border disclosure obligations. ShareAndGo's Sydney-only data path keeps you compliant by default.
ShareAndGo or Google Drive: who should choose what
Choose ShareAndGo if…
- You need real VDR controls, audit trail, NDA gating, view-only, expiry and watermarking
- You are sharing confidential documents for due diligence, audits or board reporting
- You need to prove who accessed what, and when
Choose Google Drive if…
- You only need everyday team file storage and collaboration
- You do not need controlled external disclosure or an audit trail
See also
Explore ShareAndGo
What a VDR is & how ours works
Due diligence, audits & M&A
Honest 2026 comparison
Free forever, no credit card
Send confidential files with control
Audit trails, NDA gating, AI search
Flat AUD plans, from free
Other comparisons
The enterprise VDR alternative
Lower cost, same security
Self-serve signup, Sydney residency
Transparent pricing, Australian residency
Australian-built, AI PII redaction included
Flat pricing vs per-user, bring-your-own-AI
No IT setup, external-share without licences
Per-document access logs and watermarking
AI-native, flat AUD pricing, Sydney-hosted
Flat pricing plus AI and a free tier
A true VDR, AU-hosted, AI included
AU residency, flat AUD, built-in AI
AU-hosted M&A rooms, flat pricing
Use cases
Try a real data room
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