Ellty describes itself as a virtual data room and secure document sharing platform built for fundraising and deals. If you are running a raise with an NDA and a data room, that is a real need. Many people searching for Ellty need something smaller: send a deck, a proposal or an update, know it was opened, and see what was read. Ellty facts below come from ellty.com, read on 2 November 2026; its prices are shown in local currency, so check its plans page for yours.
What does Ellty include?
- Per-page analytics, down to seconds per page.
- Link controls on every plan: require an email, a password, an expiry date, allow or block downloads. Email verification and allow or block lists start on the Data Room plan.
- Data rooms on every plan, with room size by plan; NDA and Q&A from the Data Room plan; dynamic watermark and screenshot protection on Data Room Plus.
- Plans: Standard, Data Room and Data Room Plus, priced per user; a 14-day trial of Data Room Plus with no card, and the plans page mentions staying on a free tier afterwards without listing its limits.
Ellty alternatives, ranked
Hostus is first because it is the option we recommend when you send a document, not run a data room. The rest follow with the case where each is the right pick.
1. Hostus. A home for documents you send as web pages, built around the people who read them. Upload the proposal, deck or update as an HTML page (Claude or ChatGPT can turn your draft into one) and it lives at https://your-doc.hostus.page. Set it to Email-gated and the reader types an email before it opens; restrict it to a list of addresses or a company domain, and revoke access at any time. You see which email opened it and when, and how long each reader spent on each section. Readers can ask the document a question and get an answer drawn from it, reply to a specific section (you get an email), and, on public pages, ask for their own version, such as a one-page summary or a translation, published under their name with a link back to yours. Fix a sentence and upload again: the link stays the same, with the last 20 versions kept. Free: 20 documents, 2 MB in total (HTML and media together). Paid: $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
2. Stay on Ellty. Pick it for a raise or a deal that needs a data room with NDA, Q&A, watermarks and screenshot protection.
3. Papermark. Pick it for an open source, PDF-first alternative with page analytics on a free plan of 50 documents. See Papermark alternatives.
4. DocSend. Pick it if your investors expect DocSend links. See DocSend alternatives.
How do the options compare?
| Option | Built for | Reading analytics | Email before viewing | Readers can ask or reply | Data rooms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostus | Documents sent as web pages | By section, per reader when gated | Yes, open, a list or a domain | Ask the document, reply to a section | No |
| Ellty | Fundraising and deals | By page, in seconds | Yes; verification from Data Room | Q&A from Data Room | Yes |
| Papermark | PDF sharing, open source | By page | Optional; verification from Business | Visitor feedback on every plan; Q&A in data rooms | From Business |
| DocSend | PDF sharing | By page | Email authentication from Advanced | Check their plans | Yes |
Which one for an investor update or a deck?
For a monthly investor update, a page usually works better than a PDF: it reads on a phone, numbers can be corrected on the same link, and you see which investors opened it and which sections they read. On Hostus, investors can ask the update a question and get an answer from it, which tells you what to clarify next month; see the investor update guide. For a full raise with diligence documents, NDA and a Q&A log, a data room tool like Ellty is the right category.
Good to know before you switch
Hostus hosts HTML pages, not PDFs, slides or Word files: a PDF that must stay a PDF belongs in a PDF-first tool. There are no data rooms with NDA gates, watermarks or screenshot protection, no e-signature and no team seats. The email gate does not verify the address; it records what the reader typed, and the link is the credential. There is no custom domain (pages live at a hostus.page subdomain), and every page carries a small Hostus badge. Links can be set to expire only through the Hostus connector or API, up to 90 days.