ShareAndGo vs Google Drive

Drive is built for collaboration. ShareAndGo is built for confidential sharing, with the audit trail, recipient controls, and Sydney document storage a tax audit, M&A deal, or legal disclosure actually needs.

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Feature	ShareAndGo	Google Drive
Australian Data Residency	YesDocuments stored in Sydney (Google Cloud australia-southeast1)	NoNo Australian data region (US or Europe only)
Tamper-Evident Audit Trail	YesSHA-256 hash-chained	Not advertisedActivity log of views and downloads, kept 6 months
No-Download Enforcement	YesPDFs served as images, Ctrl-S blocked	PartialCan block download, print and copy for viewers; no per-viewer watermark
NDA / NCNDA Gating	YesRequired signature before access	Not advertisedNo accept-terms step before opening
Watermarking	YesPer-recipient email + timestamp	PartialFixed text or image watermark in Docs; not per recipient
Access Expiry	YesPer-link auto-expiry	YesExpiry per person, up to a year; 'Anyone with the link' does not expire
Per-Recipient Permissions	YesViewer / Viewer No Download / Editor / Admin	YesViewer / Commenter / Editor
Email-First Access (no Google account)	YesOTP to any email address	If enabledVisitor sharing with a PIN, if an admin enables it
Structured Data Room (folders + Q&A)	YesBuilt-in due-diligence structure	Not advertisedNo built-in Q&A
AI OCR + Search	YesGoogle Cloud AI, full-text search	PartialOCR by converting a file to a Google Doc, files up to 2 MB
AI PII detection	YesPersonal and bank details	Not advertised
Bulk Recipient Invites	Yes50+ at once with contact management	YesShare a folder or many files with people or a Google Group
Free to Start	Yes14-day trial, no card	Yes15GB shared with Gmail/Photos
File Collaboration	NoView-only by design	YesReal-time co-editing
Suitable for SMB Tax Audits	YesBuilt for it	General-purposeGeneral-purpose storage

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

A tax audit can turn on a clear record of what was disclosed and when. Google keeps Drive activity logs for 6 months and admins can't extend that, so the record may be gone before anyone asks for it.

M&A due diligence

Buyers expect a structured data room with Q&A workflows, NDA gating, and per-document view logs.

Privacy Act obligations

Google Workspace data regions are the United States or Europe. ShareAndGo stores documents in Sydney (Google Cloud australia-southeast1).

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 don't need controlled external disclosure

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Google Drive as a data room?

You can. Drive shares folders with people or Google Groups, sets per-person expiry and can stop viewers downloading, printing and copying. It doesn't advertise an accept-terms step before opening, a per-recipient watermark or built-in Q&A. ShareAndGo adds those, with a SHA-256 hash-chained audit trail.

Is Google Drive data stored in Australia?

Google Workspace lets Business Standard and higher editions choose a data region, and the options are the United States or Europe. There is no Australian data region. ShareAndGo stores documents in Sydney (Google Cloud australia-southeast1).

Does Drive have an audit trail?

Google Workspace Business Starter and higher editions log Drive views and downloads. Google keeps those log events for 6 months and admins can't extend that. ShareAndGo's audit log is SHA-256 hash-chained and can be exported.

Can I prevent a Drive recipient from downloading?

Yes, in part. A Drive owner can stop viewers and commenters downloading, printing and copying a file. Drive doesn't add a per-recipient watermark. ShareAndGo's no-download role converts PDFs to images server-side, blocks right-click and Ctrl-S, and can watermark every view with the recipient's email.

Try a real data room

Start a free trial. No credit card. Set up your first data room in under 5 minutes, and feel the difference from a shared Drive folder.

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