Roomi or DocSend: which should you use to share your work with a client?

DocSend is built for documents and data rooms; Roomi for live, working demos. What each shows, what each tells you, what each costs, and when to choose which.

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By Kaz Kato · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 12 October 2026

Choose DocSend when you are sending documents: it times each visit, alerts you as it happens, and can gate a file behind an NDA on its higher plans. Choose Roomi when you are sending something that works: each viewer uses the live app with a guided tour, and you see what each person did.

This guide sets the two side by side: what the viewer sees, what you learn, where each is stronger and what each costs. We make Roomi, so the section on where DocSend is stronger stays in. The content tracking comparison puts DocSend beside similar tools, and pricing has every plan. The DocSend alternatives for a live demo are ranked in a guide of their own.

DocSend Roomi
What you send A document, a deck or a data room, or a tracked link out to a website A live, working demo in a room, with a guided tour and your pages beside it
What the viewer does Reads the file Uses the product, on mock data
Who each visit belongs to The visitor, by their device and location The person the link was made for, or whoever said they are someone else
Time DocSend counts only the time a visitor spends with a document in front of them, and pauses the timer when they switch to another tab. Seconds on each app and page, counted only while the tab is visible
Alerts DocSend can alert you by email the moment someone opens one of your links. The alert gives their device, their location, how much of the document they viewed and their time on it. In the app and by email: a first open, a return, a comment or a yes, and a weekly summary every Monday
A website or an app DocSend can track a link to a website on its Standard plan and above, but not on a trial. For each visit it records only the visitor’s device and operating system, their location and the time. The app runs in the room, so every visit, click and minute is recorded against the viewer’s name
Gating On DocSend’s Advanced and Advanced Data Rooms plans, a link can require the visitor to sign an agreement, such as an NDA, before they see anything. On DocSend’s Advanced and Advanced Data Rooms plans, a link can be limited to chosen email addresses or domains, or closed to them. A private link per person, which can expire and be revoked at once; a room can also require an email before it shows anything
Feedback Not compared here Comments pinned to the screen they mean, and six next steps, from booking a meeting to “Not for me”
Price to start DocSend’s Personal plan is $10 a user a month, billed yearly. Free at no charge; Pro at £4 a month billed monthly, or £40 a year, before VAT

What is the difference, in one line?

DocSend is a tracked link to a file. Roomi is a tracked room around a running app. With DocSend, your client reads about the work and you learn how long they read. With Roomi, your client uses the work, and you learn what they did, what they said and what they want next.

What does each one show the viewer?

DocSend shows the files you uploaded, in its own viewer, or sends the visitor on to a website. Roomi shows the app itself on a stage in a device frame, with a guided tour, your pages under Read more, and a panel asking what happens next.

The tour is a few steps, each with a line on what to notice, so the viewer sees the part that matters when you are not there. Writing the tour shows how one is made. On a container demo, each viewer link gets its own copy of the app, so nobody sees what someone on another link typed.

Your brochure or proposal can sit in the room too. A PDF in the room opens in its own reader, a page at a time, and never leaves the room for another site.

What does each one tell you afterwards?

DocSend tells you who opened a link, from which device and place, how much of the document they saw and for how long. Roomi tells you each named viewer’s visits, their time on each app and page, how far through the tour they got, who they passed it to, and their answer.

On Roomi, you read it like this:

  • Each visit, in order: what they opened, which demo controls they ran, what they read and where they left.
  • The tour’s drop-off: how many people reached each step, so you see where interest fell away.
  • Who it reached: anyone the link was forwarded to, by the name they gave.
  • Their answer: book a meeting, yes, get back to me, bring in a colleague, a question, or not for me.
  • A pipeline: each viewer as a card, in a stage worked out from what they did. Counts, never a score.
  • Who to call first: one line, with the evidence. “Call Sarah today. Seen today, back on Pricing, shared it with someone new.”

The room keeps no IP address, no browser version and no location for a viewer. Analytics and the pipeline lists everything it records, and what it does not. How to tell if a client looked at your proposal says what to look for in either.

Where is DocSend stronger?

DocSend is stronger whenever the thing you send is a document. It times each visit to a document and alerts you by email as it happens. Its Advanced plans add NDAs before viewing, allow and block lists and watermarks, and data rooms have a plan of their own.

  • On DocSend’s Advanced and Advanced Data Rooms plans, a link can require the visitor to sign an agreement, such as an NDA, before they see anything.
  • On DocSend’s Advanced and Advanced Data Rooms plans, a link can be limited to chosen email addresses or domains, or closed to them.
  • On DocSend’s Advanced and Advanced Data Rooms plans, a link can stamp its documents with a watermark, including the visitor’s own details.

Roomi has no data rooms, no agreements to sign before viewing and no watermarks. If your deal needs those, use DocSend for that part.

Where is Roomi stronger?

Roomi is stronger whenever the thing you send works. The viewer uses the product rather than reading about it. Each person has their own link, and the tour shows them what matters. They can comment on the screen they mean, book a meeting or say yes without writing to you.

  • The real product. A prospect who has used it can judge it for themselves.
  • Feedback on the screen. A comment is pinned to the place it is about, and the viewer reads your reply in the room.
  • A meeting from the room. “Book a meeting” books from your weekly hours in the room, or opens your own booking page.
  • A follow-up from the evidence. Your own Claude drafts a follow-up from exactly what that person did, through the connector. You send it yourself.
  • Deploying from a chat. With the connector added, say “deploy it to roomi” in Claude, and it checks the demo, rehearses and publishes only when you say yes. Deploying from Claude covers it.

What each costs

Plan Price, as each is billed What it gives you
DocSend Personal DocSend’s Personal plan is $10 a user a month, billed yearly. Tracked documents. Website links start on its Standard plan
Roomi Free No charge Static demos, as a draft only you can open or a public listing with total views. No private links
Roomi Pro £4 a month billed monthly, or £40 a year billed yearly, before VAT A private link per viewer, live app demos, analytics in full and the pipeline
Roomi Team £5 a seat a month billed monthly, or £50 a seat a year billed yearly, before VAT 2 to 5 seats, all history kept, and the whole room themed as your own

The two are priced in different currencies, so compare what each plan does rather than the figure alone.

Can you use both?

Yes. Keep the contract or the data room in DocSend, and send the demo in a Roomi room. Or keep everything in one place. A proposal PDF can sit in the room beside the demo, and the “Yes — send the proposal” step can open a link to the document.

Sharing a private link shows how each person gets theirs, and how a link ends.

When you send a link, tell the person who you are and that the room records what they do there for you to see. Say how they can reach you about their data, or point them to the privacy policy.

Questions people ask

Is Roomi a DocSend replacement?

For live work, yes: a demo, a prototype or an app your client should try. For contracts, data rooms and documents that need an NDA before anyone reads them, no. Use DocSend for those.

Can I put a PDF in a Roomi room?

Yes. Add a PDF or an image on the project’s Room tab. It opens in the room’s own reader, a page at a time, and you see which pages each viewer read and for how long.

Does Roomi have data rooms or NDAs?

No. A room holds one demo and its pages, for the people you send it to. For gated documents, data rooms and agreements signed before viewing, DocSend’s Advanced plans are built for the job.

Each private link carries the name of the person you made it for. Every browser that opens it is asked whether it is them, so if they forward it, the newcomer gives a name and appears under the same link.

Does DocSend track what someone does inside a demo?

DocSend can track a link to a website on its Standard plan and above, but not on a trial. For each visit it records only the visitor’s device and operating system, their location and the time.

Sources

About the author

Kaz Kato, Co-founder & CTO, Roomi. Kaz co-founded Roomi with Tesh, whom he has built with since 2017: two startups that failed, one venture studio that didn’t, and an exit.

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