A SmartVault alternative built around what clients still owe you
SmartVault is document management with a client portal attached. If the hard part of your year is getting documents in, rather than filing them, the emphasis is the other way round.
No card and no sales call. Your portal carries your firm's name from the first client you add.
2025 personal return
6 of 9 received1 item overdue — FirmHello is chasing
- W-2 Received 8 Feb
- Charitable receipts Received 8 Feb
- ! Rental statement Overdue
- Childcare receipts Reminder Thursday
- Engagement letter Approved 20 Jan
Pell Harrow's portal, as their client sees it.
We make a competing product, so read this as an interested party's comparison. SmartVault is a mature document management system for accountants, with unlimited clients and storage, a branded portal, and integration with Intuit's tax software that we do not have.
FirmHello starts from the other end: the list of things a client still owes you. Every request is a checklist that chases itself, approvals are recorded against the exact version the client saw, and the firm pays one price however many staff use it.
SmartVault and FirmHello, side by side
SmartVault's side is taken from its public pricing and security pages. Where a feature depends on the plan, the plan is named.
| What you are comparing | SmartVault | FirmHello |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | SmartVault Document management and client portal for accountants, with a mapped drive, versioning and tax software integration. | FirmHello A client portal built around requests: what each client still owes you, and who has approved what. |
| How it is priced | SmartVault Per user: $55 to $85 (USD) per user a month billed annually, or $75 to $110 monthly, with a two- or three-user minimum. | FirmHello Per firm, by storage: from $79 USD a month, with unlimited staff seats on every plan. |
| Clients | SmartVault Unlimited clients and external collaborators. | FirmHello Unlimited client logins on every plan. |
| Automatic follow-ups | SmartVault Through the SmartRequestAI add-on, sold per return on annual accounting plans. | FirmHello Included. Every request chases itself on your schedule. |
| Signatures | SmartVault Through DocuSign: an add-on on the Pro plans, unlimited on Accounting Unlimited. | FirmHello Approvals on the record: who agreed, to which version, when and from where. For e-signatures, bring the signing provider you already use. |
| Client logins | SmartVault An account with a password of at least twelve characters. | FirmHello No account to create. A password or one-time code is optional. |
| Tax software integration | SmartVault Direct with Lacerte, ProConnect and ProSeries; configurable with UltraTax CS, Drake and CCH. | FirmHello None today. Your tax software stays where it is. |
| Where data is held | SmartVault On AWS, across multiple availability zones. | FirmHello United States, Canada, the EU or the UK, chosen by the firm. |
SmartVault details checked against smartvault.com/pricing and its security FAQs on 23 September 2026, in US dollars. SmartVault is a trademark of its owner; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by it. Prices and plans change — check theirs before you decide.
How to choose between them
Start with where your time goes: filing documents, or getting them.
When SmartVault is the better choice
If your practice runs on Lacerte, ProConnect or ProSeries and you want documents to flow between the tax software and the client's folder, SmartVault's integration is a real advantage we cannot match today. The same is true if what you need is a document management system for the office — a mapped drive, print-to-folder, versioning — as much as a portal.
- Your tax software is Intuit's and you want it connected.
- You want the firm's internal filing and the client portal in one.
- You are happy to buy signatures through DocuSign.
When a request-first alternative fits better
If the files are not the problem and the chasing is, pay attention to what the follow-up costs. An automatic reminder that is an add-on is a reminder you will ration. In FirmHello, chasing is the product, and it is included on every plan. How the reminders run across a whole client list is on the client portal for accountants page.
- Most of your season goes on chasing clients for missing items.
- You would rather not pay per user for staff who only look things up.
- You want clients to reach their list without creating an account.
What to check before you switch either way
Moving portals means moving years of client documents. Whichever you choose, ask how you get everything out again, per client and with the structure intact, before you put anything in.
- Can you export every client's documents yourself, without support?
- What happens to client access the day you stop paying?
- Is follow-up included, or charged per return or per request?
What the request-first alternative does
Every featureRequest lists
A named checklist per client, reusable next year, so the request is the same whoever sends it.
Automatic chasing
Included on every plan, sent from your firm's address, until each item arrives.
Approvals on the record
Who approved which version, when and from where, with the approved version locked.
Client vault
Every document per client, versioned, searchable and exportable at any time.
Client documents are the most sensitive thing a firm holds
So the portal is built to hold them properly: encrypted, access granted one client at a time, and every action recorded. Nothing travels as an email attachment.
How FirmHello is built- Encrypted in transit and at rest
- TLS 1.3 on every connection and AES-256 encryption for stored documents, with keys managed separately from the data they protect.
- Access is per client, not per firm
- A client can only ever load their own space. Staff access is granted per client, so a junior can be given three files and nothing else.
- No documents in email
- Notifications tell a client that something is waiting and link them to the portal. The material itself never leaves it as an attachment.
- Complete audit trail
- Views, uploads, downloads, approvals and permission changes are all recorded with actor, time and IP, and the log is exportable.
- Retention you control
- Set how long documents live per client or per matter, and hold or purge on request, so the portal matches the retention policy you already have.
- Hosted in your region
- Choose United States, Canada, the EU or the United Kingdom, and your firm's data stays in that region.
Questions about SmartVault alternatives
Does FirmHello integrate with Lacerte, ProConnect or UltraTax?
Not today. FirmHello does not integrate with tax software, so documents move between the portal and your tax software by download and upload. If that integration matters most to you, SmartVault is the better fit.
Is FirmHello a document management system?
It holds every document a client sends or is sent, per client, with versions, search and retention rules. It is not a replacement for the firm's internal file server or mapped drive.
How does the pricing compare?
SmartVault charges per user with a minimum number of users. FirmHello charges per firm by storage, with unlimited staff seats and unlimited client logins on every plan.
Can clients sign documents in FirmHello?
No — FirmHello handles approvals. A client approves an engagement letter or a set of accounts as an item on their list, and the record captures who approved it, the wording they agreed to, when, from where, and a fingerprint of the exact version they saw, with that version locked. For documents that need a legal e-signature, you can bring your own signing provider and keep using it alongside the portal.
Related
Where to go next
Every page on the site, grouped by the question it answers.
- TaxDome alternative
- SmartVault alternative — you are here
- Liscio alternative
- ShareFile alternative
Ready when you are
Send one client a request list on your own domain and see how much of it comes back without a chase.
No card and no sales call. If you would rather tell us about your firm first, use the longer form.