DocSend alternative: pitch deck tracking without the Dropbox price tag

If you're here, you probably hit one of two walls. Either DocSend's free "Send & Track" tier disappeared on you, or you priced out the paid plans and realised they're built for a sales team of twenty, not a founder raising a seed round.

This page is an honest comparison. DeckCP is our product, so we'll tell you where it's better and where it isn't yet. We've also included Papermark, Peony, and the plain Google Drive link, because for some people those are the right answer.

Import the deck you're sending now → tracked link out

Why founders are leaving DocSend in 2026

DocSend was the default for years, and for good reason: it invented the tracked-link category. Three things changed.

The free tier is gone. Dropbox, which acquired DocSend in 2021, retired the free Send & Track plan in March 2025. If you were using it to send your deck, you were moved to a paid plan or cut off.

Pricing is per seat, aimed at sales teams. Plans run from roughly $10 to $45 per user per month depending on tier, and the data room add-on costs several hundred dollars a month on top. For a two-founder company that sends one deck to forty investors, that's a lot of money for a link.

It stopped being a founder tool. After the acquisition, DocSend's roadmap pointed at enterprise sales and document workflows. The founder use case — one deck, one raise, a few dozen investors — is no longer what it's designed around.

None of this makes DocSend bad. It makes it the wrong shape for most founders.

What to look for in a replacement

Before comparing tools, be clear about what you actually need from a tracked link during a fundraise:

• Who opened it, by name. An anonymous "3 views" tells you nothing. You need to know that the partner at Meridian opened it, not just that someone did.
• Slide-by-slide time. "Opened" is not the same as "read". The useful signal is that an investor spent two minutes on your traction slide and ten seconds on your team slide.
• Forwarding visibility. If one link gets three different viewers, your deck was forwarded inside the firm. That's good news, and you want to know.
• A link that stays current. When you fix a typo on slide 4, every investor who already has the link should see the fixed version.
• A way to act on the signal. Tracking is only useful if it leads to a follow-up. Ideally that happens from the same place, not by copying names into a spreadsheet.
• Pricing that fits a raise, not a sales org. You're one person sending one deck. Per-seat pricing penalises you for nothing.

DeckCP: the deck, the reads, and the follow-up in one place

DeckCP started from a different premise than DocSend. DocSend tracks a file you made somewhere else. DeckCP is the editor the deck lives in, so the link, the read data, and the follow-up are all attached to the deck itself.

Here's what that looks like when you're raising:

You send one link. Import your existing PowerPoint or PDF, or build the deck in DeckCP (or have Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini build it — DeckCP speaks MCP, so your AI assistant can write slides directly into it). Either way, you get one link: deckcp.com/v/your-deck.

Gate it with an email when it matters. Share it publicly for a demo day, or ask for an email at the door when you're sending to investors. With the gate on, every viewer is a named lead, not an anonymous hit.

See the read as it happens. The moment an investor opens the deck, you see who it is and which slide they're on. After they close it, you get the full picture: which slides they read, how long on each, whether they came back, and whether they reached the ask.

Follow up from the same screen. Every deck you send becomes a small pipeline: opened, read it all, follow up, replied. When someone sits on your traction slide for over a minute, DeckCP drafts the follow-up with that context in it and you send it from there. No Zapier, no CRM import.

Edit without re-sending. Fix a number on slide 6 and the link every investor already has shows the new version. No "v7-final-FINAL.pdf".

Export when an investor insists on a file. PowerPoint or PDF, any time. Send the link when you want to know what happens after you hit send; send the file when they ask for one.

What DeckCP doesn't do yet. There's no full virtual data room with folder structures and per-document permissions. If you're at the stage where a lead investor wants a 200-document diligence room, DocSend's data room (or Papermark's) is the right tool for that part, and DeckCP is the right tool for the deck.

Pricing. DeckCP is free for everyone in early access — the whole product, no card. At launch, the Free plan (3 decks, share links, PDF export) stays free forever; Pro is $16 per person per month and includes read tracking, PowerPoint export, and your brand kit; Team is $24. Your AI assistant is included on every plan, not sold as an add-on.

Get early access — free while we build

Other DocSend alternatives worth knowing

Papermark is open-source document sharing with tracking, and it's the closest thing to a like-for-like DocSend replacement. Strong on data rooms and custom domains. Best if you want self-hosting or need a full data room today. It tracks a file you uploaded; it doesn't edit the deck or draft follow-ups.

Peony is a polished DocSend-style sharing tool aimed squarely at founders, with tracking, data rooms, and a generous free tier. Best if you want the DocSend experience with better pricing and nothing more.

Ellty and OpenVC Decks are lighter-weight tracked-link tools. Good for a quick raise with minimal setup; fewer features once you need email gating or slide-level detail.

A Google Drive link is free and every investor can open it. You'll know nothing about what happened after you sent it, and the moment you update the file you have to hope nobody cached the old one. Fine for a friends-and-family round; not fine once the answer to "did they read it?" affects what you do next.

DeckCP vs DocSend vs Papermark vs Google Drive

Competitor pricing is from public pages at the time of writing and changes often; check their sites before deciding.

Frequently asked questions

Is DocSend still free?

No. Dropbox retired the free Send & Track plan in March 2025. All current DocSend plans are paid, billed per user.

Can people download my deck from DocSend?

DocSend lets you disable downloads, but viewers can still screenshot or use browser extensions to capture pages. That's true of every web-based viewer, including DeckCP. The honest answer is that download controls stop casual copying, not determined copying. The better protection is knowing who has your deck, which is what the email gate gives you.

What is the cheapest DocSend alternative?

A Google Drive link is free but blind. Among tracked-link tools, DeckCP is free in early access and keeps a free plan at launch; Peony and Papermark also have free tiers. If you need slide-level tracking and named viewers, compare the paid tiers: DeckCP Pro is $16 per person, which is at the low end of the category.

Is DocSend worth it for a pre-seed startup?

Usually not. DocSend's pricing and roadmap are built for sales teams. At pre-seed you need to send one deck to a few dozen people and know who read it. Any of the founder-focused tools above will do that for less, and DeckCP will also let you edit the deck and follow up without leaving the page.

Does DeckCP replace a data room?

Not yet. DeckCP is the tool for the deck and the first conversation. Once an investor moves to diligence and wants documents, use a dedicated data room alongside it.

Send the deck you're working on as a tracked link

Bring your current PowerPoint or PDF. DeckCP turns it into a link that reports back who opened it, which slide they sat on, and when to follow up. Free while we're in early access.

Import your deckTry the sandbox, no signup