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Compare › Email and shared drives
ZealiD vs email and shared drives
Email and shared drives are how most firms send client files today. Trust Circle is where those files go when you need to know exactly who opened them, and who signed.
In short
Email and shared drives are free and familiar.Every client has an inbox, and nothing needs installing. For day-to-day conversation and files you'd be happy to see forwarded, keep using them.
Trust Circle is for files with a person behind them.IDs, contracts and anything you sign. Only members of the circle can open a file, each member has verified their identity, and clients sign with a qualified signature where the file is.
Most firms use both.Email stays for conversation. Trust Circle sends the invitation by email, and the files live in the circle.
ZealiD and email, side by side
Sources: Microsoft Learn, Overview of external sharing and SharePoint eSignature overview; Microsoft eSignature pricing; ZealiD pricing and secure document sharing. Checked November 2026.
Where they really differ
Once it's sent, you don't decide who sees it
An email with a passport copy attached can be forwarded, auto-forwarded or sent to the wrong address, and you won't know. Criminals know this too. Over 80% of the cybercrime reports the SRA received in 2021 involved email. In 2025, invoice and mandate scams cost UK victims £41.3 million across 2,305 cases, including criminals posing as conveyancing solicitors and intercepting emails (UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2026).
What the regulators and banks report
An email address isn't a person
Anyone who controls an inbox can reply as your client. In a Trust Circle, every member, whether client, counterparty or outside counsel, verifies once in the ZealiD app with an ID document and a face check. The verification stays valid for two years, and it's included in your plan with no fee per check. Your client doesn't pay either.
Test it on your last closed matter
Open the email threads for one matter you closed recently and count four things: how many threads hold its documents, how many versions of the final contract exist, whether you can show who opened the client's ID copy and when, and how many inboxes, including former colleagues', still hold its files.
Then run your next matter in one Trust Circle and count again. Micro costs €40 a year, so the test costs less than an hour of fee-earner time.
Your last closed matter
What each one costs
Email and shared drives usually come with the Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace you already pay for. A qualified signature doesn't: SharePoint eSignature is a simple electronic signature at $2 per request. Trust Circle plans are billed yearly, with identity verification included and no limit on how many clients you verify.
Email and shared drives
Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
See Microsoft pricing →Trust Circle
A month, billed yearly. ID checks included
See pricing →Which one is right for you?
Choose email and shared drives if:
- Your files don't carry client identities, contracts or anything you sign
- You don't need to show who opened a file
- A simple e-signature is enough for what your clients sign
- Your clients can't or won't install an app
Choose Trust Circle if:
- You send clients' IDs, contracts or financial documents
- You need to know, and later show, who is on the other side
- Your clients sign documents that need a qualified signature
- Files from one matter are spread across inboxes and versions
- You verify clients for AML and want that verification next to their files
Use both if: you want to keep email for conversation. Trust Circle invites people by email, and the files, identities and signatures live in the circle.
What Trust Circle doesn't do
Live sanctions and PEP screening, beneficial ownership checks and the risk decision stay with your firm.
It isn't an email client or practice-management system. Conversation stays in email, and matters and billing stay in your own system.
What our customers say
I spend at least an hour a day answering ‘Where is the latest SHA?’ or ‘What is the notice period?’
We’ve searched for a document or client portal for years. SharePoint doesn’t work.
ABN AMROMicrosoftDLA PiperBird & BirdBinderrOyster HRCALIPIA
Verify, share and sign in one place
- Identity verification in every plan, no fee per check
- Verified once, valid for two years
- ZealiD AB is a qualified trust service provider on the EU Trusted List
- Documents stored in Stockholm, EU
Common questions
Is Trust Circle a replacement for email?
No. Keep email for conversation. Trust Circle is where files, identities and signatures go, and it invites people by email. How secure document sharing works.
Can we keep using SharePoint or OneDrive?
Yes, for files inside the firm. Use a Trust Circle when someone outside the firm must open or sign a file and you need to know who they are.
Does my client need to install anything?
Your client verifies once and signs in the ZealiD app on their phone. Your team works in the browser, with nothing to install.
Does identity verification cost extra?
No. It's included in every plan, from Micro to Enterprise, with no limit on how many clients you verify. Your client doesn't pay anything either. See plans.
Where are the documents stored?
In Stockholm, EU. ZealiD AB is a qualified trust service provider on the EU Trusted List, supervised by PTS and audited every year by TÜViT and SRC Security. Certifications and compliance.
What if a file is deleted by mistake?
Deleted documents and circles can be restored for 30 days.