Two ways to know your document landed.
Papermark tells you who opened your document and what they read. LiveDocument shows them what it means while they read it. This page gives you the honest version of both.
Papermark
Two good tools, one real question
Pick Papermark if you need a data room. Fundraising, M&A, due diligence, anything where multiple documents, granular permissions, NDAs and watermarking matter. Papermark is built for exactly that, it is open source, and it carries HIPAA and dynamic watermarking on top of the SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certs we both hold. The free tier is generous too.
Pick LiveDocument if you send one document at a time and need it understood, not just opened. LiveDocument puts your recorded walkthrough on the document itself, with highlights that jump the video to the section the reader clicks. Papermark tracks attention. LiveDocument closes the comprehension gap.
Side by side, told straight
| Feature | LiveDocument | Papermark |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Video walkthroughs on PDFs, one link | Secure document sharing and data rooms |
| Video walkthrough on the documentPapermark can share video files as separate assets (Pro and above), not recorded onto the page. | Yes, on the PDF itself | Separate asset |
| Clickable highlights that sync the video to sections | ||
| Page-level analyticsPapermark has page-by-page analytics on every plan, including free. | ||
| Viewer identityPapermark adds email verification on Business and above. | Email capture on view | Email capture + verification |
| Virtual data rooms | Unlimited (Data Rooms plan) | |
| Security and complianceBoth hold SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001; Papermark adds HIPAA. | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR |
| NDA gating, watermarking, screenshot protectionLiveDocument access controls are link expiry only. | Yes, plan-gated | |
| Open source / self-hosting | Yes, on GitHub | |
| Custom domain and branding | Yes, from Business up | |
| Free tier | Yes, free tier | 50 documents, 50 links, 1 user, page analytics |
| PricingPapermark prices are the annual-billed rates. | Free tier, then $20/mo (Pro) | From ~€24/mo billed annually (Pro); Business €59; Data Rooms €99 |
Papermark details checked against papermark.com in July 2026, prices billed annually. Tell us if something's out of date and we'll fix it. See LiveDocument pricing, how video walkthroughs work, or how LiveDocument compares to DocSend, the tool Papermark first set out to replace.
Sent isn't understood.
I spent years in growth sending decks and proposals into inboxes. Open tracking told me people looked. It never told me the pricing page confused them or that they skipped the one section that mattered. That gap is the whole reason LiveDocument exists.
Your walkthrough lives on the document
Not in a separate tab, not as a second file in the room. Papermark can host a video file alongside your document; LiveDocument records you explaining the document while the reader reads it, on the page itself. You record once and every reader gets you walking them through it.
Highlights that answer their clicks
A reader clicks the clause or the chart and the video jumps to you explaining exactly that part. Their curiosity drives the explanation, so the person who only cares about page seven hears what you'd say about page seven. No scrubbing, no second tab.
Analytics about comprehension, not just attention
Papermark shows you what was opened and read. LiveDocument shows you which pages held attention and which parts of the walkthrough they replayed, so you know what landed and what didn't. A replayed section is a question forming, and you only see it when the video and the document are the same thing.
Where Papermark is the safer pick
Papermark is a genuinely good product and for some jobs it is simply the right one. Here's where I'd pick it over LiveDocument without hesitating.
Data rooms
Fundraising rounds, M&A, diligence. Multiple documents, folder structures, granular file permissions, Q&A modules, audit logs. LiveDocument doesn't do rooms and doesn't pretend to.
Deeper document controls
We both hold SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, but Papermark goes further: HIPAA, dynamic watermarking, NDA gating and screenshot protection. If your recipients are lawyers or LPs, that depth matters.
Open source and self-hosting
The code is public and you can run it on your own infrastructure. For teams with strict data residency rules, that ends the conversation.
A properly generous free tier
Fifty documents with page-by-page analytics for nothing is a strong offer. If all you need is plain tracked links, you may never pay Papermark a cent.
Make the call
Choose Papermark if
- You're raising a round or running a deal and need a data room.
- Compliance, NDAs and watermarking are requirements, not nice-to-haves.
- You want open source or need to self-host.
- You only need plain tracked links, free.
Choose LiveDocument if
- You send proposals, reports or decks one at a time.
- The document needs explaining, not just protecting.
- You want to know it was understood, not just opened.
- You'd rather record one walkthrough than book ten calls.
Plenty of people will use both: Papermark for the deal room, LiveDocument for the documents that need a voice on them. That's a sensible setup, not a compromise.
Create your first LiveDocument today.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, and honestly it's a good free plan: 50 documents, 50 links and page-by-page analytics for one user. Paid plans start at around €24 a month for unlimited links, more file types and branding.
Not onto the document itself. Papermark can host video files as separate shareable assets on paid plans. LiveDocument records the walkthrough over the PDF, with highlights that jump the video to the section a reader clicks.
For the data room itself, Papermark. It's built for diligence: permissions, NDAs, watermarking, audit logs. For the pitch deck you send before the room opens, LiveDocument lets investors hear you walk the deck without booking a call.
No. Papermark is open source and can be self-hosted, which is a real advantage if your organisation requires it. LiveDocument is a hosted product focused on video walkthroughs and comprehension analytics.
Yes, and it's a reasonable pairing. Run your deal room in Papermark and send the individual documents that need explaining, proposals, decks, reports, through LiveDocument.
LiveDocument has a free tier to get started, and Pro is a flat $20 a month. Both let you put a video walkthrough on a PDF and share it as one tracked link.