What is the difference between Document Vault and Smart Attachments for Jira?

Document Vault is a security-first product. Sensitive files are stored in a separate, configurable repository that only designated groups or project roles can access — they never appear to unauthorised users at all. Smart Attachments is a file-management-first product. It adds custom categories, version history, and approval workflows to existing Jira attachments, with optional restrictions. Pick Document Vault when the primary problem is 'these files should not be visible to most users.' Pick Smart Attachments when the primary problem is 'we have hundreds of files per issue and need to organise them.'

Can Document Vault categorise files like Smart Attachments does?

Document Vault's organising model is the vault itself — files inside a vault are scoped to the access list for that vault. It is not a category/folder system like Smart Attachments. If your need is file organisation rather than file security, Smart Attachments is a closer match.

Can Smart Attachments hide attachments from unauthorised users completely?

Smart Attachments supports access restrictions per category for specific users, groups, and roles, which restricts who can download a file. The Document Vault model is structurally different: unauthorised users do not see the existence of vaulted files at all, including filenames. For strict need-to-know compliance (defence, healthcare, regulated finance), that distinction matters.

Are these apps available on Jira Data Center?

Yes. Document Vault and Smart Attachments both ship Cloud and Data Center editions. Always check the live Marketplace listing for the current supported version range.

Document Vault vs Smart Attachments for Jira — Which Secure-Attachment App Should You Pick?

This comparison is for Jira admins evaluating Document Vault by Redmoon Software against Smart Attachments for Jira by Stiltsoft. Both apps appear regularly on Atlassian admin shortlists for “improve Jira attachments.” They share some features but solve substantially different problems. Pick badly and you’ll spend a year fighting the tool.

The 30-second answer

Document Vault is built around one question: which users should be able to see this file even exists? Sensitive files live in a vault configured per project, accessible only to the groups or roles you specify. Unauthorised users see no trace of the file — not the filename, not the upload timestamp, not the attaching user.

Smart Attachments is built around a different question: how do we organise hundreds of files on a single issue? Custom categories, version history per file, approval flows, drag-and-drop reorganisation. Access restrictions are available but they’re not the centre of the design.

If your driver is compliance — SOX, HIPAA, ISO 27001, defence-grade need-to-know — Document Vault’s invisibility model maps to your requirements. If your driver is operational chaos — “we attach 200 files per RFP issue and can’t find anything” — Smart Attachments is built for that.

Side-by-side

Capability	Document Vault	Smart Attachments
Files hidden entirely from unauthorised users	✓	✗ (restrictions limit download, not visibility)
Group/role-based access lists per vault or category	✓	✓
Custom categories / folders within an issue	✗	✓
Version history per file	Via Jira	✓
File-level approval workflow	✗	✓
Drag-and-drop reorganisation	✗	✓
Multiple vaults per project	✓	N/A
Separate storage repository (isolated from default Jira attachments)	✓	✗
Audit trail of file access	✓	✓
Bulk upload	✓	✓
Pairs with attachment encryption	✓	Via partner apps
Jira Cloud edition	✓	✓
Jira Data Center edition	✓	✓
Designed primarily for security	✓	✗
Designed primarily for file organisation	✗	✓

When Document Vault is the right pick

Need-to-know compliance. If your auditor’s threshold is “unauthorised users must not even be aware these files exist,” Smart Attachments’ restriction-based model is harder to defend than Document Vault’s vault-based model. The vault model is structurally aligned with how compliance frameworks describe access control.
Sensitive document categories. HR investigations, M&A due diligence, signed customer contracts with NDA clauses, security incident artefacts — these belong on a Jira issue (so the workflow has context) but should not be visible to the wider team. Document Vault is purpose-built for exactly this.
Defence in depth. Document Vault stores its contents in a separate, configurable repository — not in the standard Jira attachment area. If an attacker compromises a Jira-admin account, the vaulted files are still gated by the vault’s access list, not just by Jira permissions.
You already run Redmoon Comment Security Default or Custom Fields. Document Vault completes the data-protection trio. One vendor, one support contract, one security review.

When Smart Attachments is the right pick

High file volume per issue. Construction, legal, engineering, RFP-driven sales — issues with dozens or hundreds of files where humans need folders to stay sane. Smart Attachments is genuinely better than Document Vault for this.
File version management. When the same Statement of Work goes through twelve revisions and you need to read v7, Smart Attachments’ file-level version history is purpose-built. Document Vault relies on Jira’s native versioning.
Approval workflows on files. “Legal must sign off on this contract version before it’s the active one” — Smart Attachments has explicit file-approval flows. Document Vault does not.
You already use Stiltsoft tools. If your Confluence stack already runs Stiltsoft apps, staying inside the vendor ecosystem simplifies licensing and support.

Many teams run both

These apps are routinely deployed together because they sit at different layers:

Document Vault holds the small subset of files that must be access-controlled to the role-level. Vaults are configured once per project and forgotten.
Smart Attachments organises the larger pool of files that everyone on the issue can see, but which need categorising, versioning, and approving.

A common pattern: vaulted files for the signed contract, the HR investigation summary, the security incident postmortem; Smart Attachments categories for the working drafts, supporting documents, screenshots, and reference material. Different security posture, different organisational need.

Cost considerations

Both apps are priced on the Atlassian Marketplace, tiered by Jira user count. Current pricing is best read from the live Marketplace listings:

The two apps are not pricing-equivalent — they’re scoped differently. Compare against your primary requirement (security vs organisation) and don’t let “we might use it for both” justify paying for the wrong tool.

Get started

The fastest way to evaluate Document Vault is to install the free trial, create a vault scoped to a single role, upload a sensitive document, then log in as a non-member and confirm the file is invisible.

Start Document Vault free trial ↗ Document Vault overview →