A FileInvite alternative for small accounting practices

FileInvite and ClientVault both collect documents from clients. Beyond that they are barely the same category. FileInvite is enterprise lending software sold on an annual contract; ClientVault is a $19-to-$79-a-month tool a solo bookkeeper buys on a card.

If you got here because a quote came back at five figures and you only have twenty bookkeeping clients, you are probably in the right place. If you are a lender, or you need SOC 2, e-signature and SSO, you are not — and we would rather say so on the first screen than waste your afternoon.

At a glance

Most of this table goes FileInvite's way on capability. That is what you are paying for. The question is not which product is bigger — it is which one matches the work you actually do.

Where FileInvite is genuinely better

This is not a close-run comparison on capability. FileInvite is a serious enterprise product and it does several things we cannot do at all.

• Compliance you can hand to a procurement team. SOC 2 Type II, multi-factor authentication, roles and permissions, audit trails, virus detection on uploaded documents. ClientVault has none of the certifications and no MFA yet. If a security questionnaire is part of your buying process, we will fail it.
• The full lending workflow. PDF form fill, digital signing, a borrower portal, and on Enterprise, email intake with AI document matching, automatic file renaming, SSO and an API. We collect files against a checklist. That is the entire product.
• It is built for a regulated, high-stakes transaction. A mortgage or commercial loan file has a different risk profile from a month of bank statements. FileInvite is designed around that, and the price reflects a product that has to hold up under it.
• It scales past a small team. Teams, assignees, custom domains, connected workflow integrations, management reporting. ClientVault tops out at three seats.
• Someone will pick up the phone. An annual enterprise contract comes with a point of contact and an implementation path. We are one person and an email address.

What ClientVault does not have

The complete list, so nothing is a surprise after you have signed up:

• No SOC 2 and no ISO 27001 certification.
• No e-signature and no PDF form fill.
• No SSO, no Active Directory, no granular roles.
• No integrations library and no public API.
• No two-factor authentication on accounts yet.
• Nothing lending-specific. No loan pipeline, no borrower workflow.
• One person building and supporting it, brand new in 2026, and no customers yet. There are no case studies on this site because there is nothing true to put in them.

Our security page sets out what we do and do not do with your data. Read it before you put client financial records anywhere, including here.

Buy FileInvite instead if…

• You are a lender, broker or mortgage team. That is what it was built for and it will fit better than anything on this page.
• You need SOC 2 Type II, MFA, SSO or formal audit trails to satisfy a client, a regulator or your own policy.
• You need signing and PDF form fill in the same flow as the collection.
• You have a team large enough that roles, assignees and permissions actually matter.
• You need it wired into SharePoint, your LOS, or your own systems through an API.
• You have a procurement process, a security review, and a budget where $9,900 a year is not the deciding factor.

Their pricing page is at fileinvite.com/pricing. If you fit the description above, go and get a quote — you will not be better served here.

ClientVault suits you if…

We are built for one buyer: the solo-to-five-person bookkeeping or accounting practice with 10 to 60 recurring clients, where the owner does the chasing personally and there is no admin hire.

• Your document problem repeats every month, it is not a transaction. Lending software is built around a file that opens, completes and closes. Bookkeeping is the same request to the same client, forever. ClientVault is built around the repeat: set a request to recur monthly, quarterly or annually and it re-sends itself.
• Your clients will not tolerate a portal login. One link, no account, no password. This is the single biggest adoption objection in a small practice and it is designed away rather than trained around.
• Clients send documents in piles. One checklist item takes as many files as they want to attach. "Q3 bank statements" is one line, not nine.
• You want to buy it this afternoon, on a card, without a call. No sales process, no annual commitment, no minimum. Cancel any month.
• The five-figure quote was the problem. If FileInvite would solve your problem and the only obstacle is money, be honest with yourself about which compromise you are making — you are trading compliance and capability for price. For a two-person bookkeeping practice chasing bank statements, that is usually the right trade. For a regulated lender it is not.
• You are comfortable being early. Direct access to the person who builds it, and the risk that comes with a brand-new one-person vendor.

Try it on one real client

The free plan covers 3 clients with no card and no expiry. Set up one recurring request, send it to a client you would otherwise chase by email, and see whether it comes back filled in. That is the only test worth running.

No credit card · Set up in 2 minutes · Free for up to 3 clients