Foldr vs ShareFile

Connective layer, or destination platform.

ShareFile is a destination platform aimed at external collaboration and e-signature. Foldr is a connective layer: files stay on the storage you already run, and Foldr sits in front.

Below is a fair, structural comparison. ShareFile is a strong product for the estates it suits; the question is whether yours is one of them. See how Foldr compares across destination platforms for the same argument across vendors.

Topic

Foldr

ShareFile

Where files live

Wherever they already do. SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Google Drive, S3, Azure Blob, SMB, Box, Dropbox. Foldr is a layer in front.

In the platform’s own cloud. Files are uploaded into it and managed from there.

Migration

None. Connect existing storage in minutes; disconnect just as fast.

Required. Files move into the platform to be governed and shared from inside it.

Permissions

Inherited from the source storage on every query. SharePoint says yes or no. AD says yes or no. Foldr asks.

Native ACLs inside the platform. Permissions are reissued there; existing source-of-truth ACLs in SharePoint, AD or S3 don’t carry across.

Identity

SAML, Microsoft Entra, Google Workspace, LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos.

SAML, Microsoft Entra, Google Workspace. LDAP and Active Directory support varies by vendor.

AI assistant

Grace. Reads only what each user is allowed to see, on every query. No shadow indexes. Can also build and run automations on demand.

ShareFile AI features are scoped to document workflows; deeper AI typically comes via integrations.

Document capture

Captur. Intelligent extraction by default, templates for high-volume layouts. Native positional reading of text PDFs; OCR fallback for scans. MaSH routes the result.

E-signature, secure file requests and ShareFile Workflows.

Automation

Three surfaces, one engine. Mashup is the visual block editor; MaSH is the plain-text script checked into source control; Grace is the verbal route via the AI assistant. Switch between any of them on the same workflow. Bundle with shares and fields into a Foldr Flow file.

ShareFile Workflows.

Deploy

Self-hosted virtual appliance for your own datacentre, your own cloud account, or an air-gapped network, or fully managed SaaS in the UK and EU. Same product surface either way; move between them at any time.

SaaS-controlled for the major vendors today. Some still expose customer-managed storage zones or local caches, but the platform itself runs in the vendor’s cloud.

Pricing model

SaaS per-seat tiers, or a fixed annual licence on the appliance. Disconnect Foldr at any point and your files are still in the storage you already had; no extraction project.

SaaS per-seat tiers, often with separate per-external-user pricing for collaboration features. Leaving means a migration project; your files have to come back out.

Best fit

Estates that don’t want vendor lock-in, that need to keep files on their own storage for privacy or compliance, or that need a self-hosted option. Existing SharePoint, S3, SMB or mixed estates that don’t want to migrate.

Greenfield deployments where the storage destination is open. Teams that want a single vendor for the whole stack and are happy to put their data inside it.

Why teams pick Foldr over ShareFile

Four reasons a connective layer wins.

No vendor lock-in

Disconnect at any point and your files are already where they should be.

Foldr is a layer over the storage you already run. Switch it off and your SharePoint, S3, SMB and Drive estate is untouched. No migration in, no migration out. With ShareFile, leaving means a project to extract your data.

Your data, your storage

Files never copy into our cloud just to be searched, shared or governed.

Permissions are inherited from the source on every query, so the source of truth stays the source of truth. For regulated and privacy-sensitive estates, that’s the difference between “our files in ShareFile” and “our files on our storage.”

Self-host if you need to

Same product on your infrastructure, in your cloud account, even fully air-gapped.

The Foldr Appliance is a virtual machine you run in your own datacentre, hypervisor or cloud account, with a fixed annual licence and no per-seat billing surprises. Air-gapped installs are supported. SaaS and Appliance share the same product surface; configuration travels between them via Foldr Flow. ShareFile is SaaS-controlled. StorageZone Controllers let you keep bytes on your own infrastructure, but the management plane runs in ShareFile’s cloud.

Build automation your way

Visual, code, or verbal. Same workflow, three surfaces.

Mashup is the visual block editor. MaSH is the plain-text script you can check into source control. Grace is the verbal route via the AI assistant. Pick whichever way of thinking suits the task; switch between them on the same workflow.