A free alternative to Document Library Pro

Document Library Pro by Barn2 is one of the best-known WordPress document library plugins. It’s mature, well supported and has a lot of layout options. But version control, access restrictions and expiring documents are only in its Advanced plan ($199 a year for one site), and the free Document Library Lite doesn’t include them.

DocVault includes all three in its free version. If those are the features you need, it may be all you need.

At a glance

	DocVault Free	DocVault Pro	Document Library Lite	Document Library Pro Essentials	Document Library Pro Advanced
Price (1 site)	Free	$99/year	Free	$149/year	$199/year
Searchable, sortable document table	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Filter dropdowns	Category, tag and file type	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Version history	Up to 5 versions per document	Unlimited	No	No	Yes
Restrict access	Public or logged-in users, site-wide or per document	Adds specific user roles	No	No	Yes
Expiry dates	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
View in browser	PDFs	PDFs and images	No	Yes	Yes
Download tracking	Yes	Adds per-version analytics	Not listed	Yes	Yes
Grid layout and folders	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
File types	13 document types	Adds images, ZIP, AI and EPS	All	All	All
Approval workflow and audit log	No	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed

Document Library Pro details are from Barn2’s published pricing and feature lists, checked 5 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars for a single-site annual licence.

Where DocVault is the better fit

• You need version history. Upload a new version and every existing link serves it automatically, with earlier versions kept for restore. This is free in DocVault.
• Some documents are for members or staff only. DocVault’s free version can limit a document to logged-in users, with a site-wide default and a per-document override.
• Documents go out of date. Set an expiry date and the document disappears from your library when it passes.
• You want a lower price for the extras. DocVault Pro is $99 a year for one site and adds role-based access, unlimited versions, an approval workflow, an audit log and email notifications.

Where Document Library Pro is the better fit

To be fair to Barn2, Document Library Pro does several things DocVault doesn’t:

• Grid layouts and folder views, not just a table
• Any file type, including audio and video with embedded players
• Documents hosted elsewhere, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Office 365
• Downloading several documents at once as a zip file
• Importing documents from a CSV file
• Lead capture before download
• Lifetime licences

If your library depends on any of these, Document Library Pro is the stronger choice.

Switching to DocVault

There’s no automatic importer, so you’d add your documents to DocVault and replace your library shortcode with [trdv_list]. DocVault Pro’s bulk upload helps with larger libraries.