SharePoint assumes everyone is already signed in.
SharePoint is genuinely good document management software. But every document lives behind a Microsoft account, and it bills you per user for the privilege. If your documents need to be found by residents, parents, patients or members, that is the wrong shape of tool.
- Per user
- How SharePoint bills
- Your cost rises with every account, which is why a public audience was not going to fit the model.
- Per site
- How a library bills
- $59/yr for one site, $99 for five, $179 for fifty — however many people visit.
- Both
- The correct architecture
- Keep SharePoint internally and publish the public subset to your website. That is not a failure; it is the right answer.
01The mismatch
A login wall is the end of the interaction.
SharePoint’s permissions model is built around your organisation’s identity provider, and that is exactly right for internal files.
HR policies, project documents, anything where “who is this person?” is the first question — SharePoint is the correct tool and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
It is exactly wrong for the other half of the job: the reports, minutes, forms, policies and guidance that need to be found by people who will not have an account with you. A resident looking for last month’s council minutes. A parent looking for term dates. A patient looking for a consent form.
- Most organisations solve this by keeping two systems, and that is the correct architecture.
- The only real question is what the second one should be.
02Side by side
An internal platform against a publishing tool.
They are not really competitors. Most organisations that use both are using each for what it is good at.
| Capability | SharePoint | WordPress document library |
|---|---|---|
| Public access without a login | Only via “Anyone” share links — no browsable library page on your own domain | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per user, per month | Per site, per year |
| Cost as your audience grows | Rises with every account | Flat |
| On your own domain and brand | A separate portal | Yes — part of your website |
| Setup complexity | Rewards a dedicated administrator | An afternoon |
| Where SharePoint wins | ||
| Co-authoring and real-time editing | Yes | No |
| Retention and compliance tooling | Extensive — eDiscovery, DLP, records management | Limited |
| Internal collaboration suite | Yes — Teams, Lists, wikis | No |
| Where the two are level | ||
| Version history | Yes | Yes, in paid tiers |
| Metadata columns | Yes | Yes |
| Search inside document contents | Yes | Varies by plugin; Pro in FileDeck |
03The other side
Where SharePoint is clearly the better answer.
This is not a close call in several situations, and pretending otherwise would waste your time.
Co-authoring
Its home turfTwo people editing the same document at once with a full revision trail. No WordPress plugin does this, and no plugin should pretend to.
Already deep in Microsoft 365
Do not add a second systemIf your staff live in Teams and your identity is already Entra, adding another internal system is a step backwards.
Enterprise compliance
A genuine, audited stackRetention labels, eDiscovery, data-loss prevention, records management. A $59 plugin does not have this.
All of it is internal
The argument does not applyIf your documents are all internal, stay put. And if you have a dedicated administrator, SharePoint rewards that expertise.
04Our side
Where a WordPress document library wins.
For a council with 60,000 residents or a school with 900 families, the per-seat model was not going to work anyway.
The public can reach it
No account, no request-access emailThe document is on your website, indexed by search engines, findable by someone who has not heard of your org chart.
No per-user bill
Per site, per yearHowever many people visit. Your cost does not move when your audience grows.
On your brand
Your domain, your designYour navigation — not a portal that looks like someone else’s product.
Search that fits the job
Scanning 200 policies for oneInstant filtering, category dropdowns and sortable columns are the interaction someone actually wants.
05In practice
What this looks like when an organisation does it well.
Your internal files stay exactly where they are. Only the public subset gets published.
- 05.1Leave the internal files aloneThey stay in SharePoint, or Drive, or wherever they already live. This is not a migration project.
- 05.2Publish the public subsetEither uploaded, or linked from where it already lives — most libraries can point at a file hosted on SharePoint, OneDrive, Drive or S3, so there is one source of truth and no duplicate-file drift.
- 05.3Organise it the way the public thinksCategories like “Planning applications” and “Meeting minutes”, not “Corporate Services > Committee Support”. Anything sensitive keeps a password, role or per-person restriction.
06Before you go
Ask what happens to the file when you protect the page.
This is the question most people do not ask and later regret. In several plugins, protecting the library page leaves the file downloadable by anyone holding the direct URL.
FileDeck Pro moves protected files out of the public uploads directory and serves them through signed links that expire in 15 minutes. The raw path returns 403 whether or not anyone is logged in.
07Questions
What people ask about publishing publicly.
Can SharePoint host a public document library?
Not comfortably. SharePoint is built around organisational sign-in, and public anonymous access is not the shape of the product. Organisations that need public documents generally publish them to their website instead.
What is the cheapest SharePoint alternative for sharing documents publicly?
A WordPress document library plugin, if you already have a WordPress site. Free options exist; paid plans start at $59/yr for one site, $99 for five, $179 for fifty, with an optional AI tier from $119/yr — and no per-user charge.
Do I have to move my documents off SharePoint?
No. Most document library plugins can link to files hosted elsewhere, including SharePoint and OneDrive, so the file stays where it is and the library just points to it.
Is a WordPress plugin secure enough for sensitive documents?
It depends on the plugin. The question to ask is what happens to the file when you protect the page. Look for plugins that move protected files out of the public uploads directory and serve them through signed, expiring links. FileDeck does this; not all do.
What about Google Drive instead?
Drive is fine for sharing a folder with a small group. It is a poor public library: no search on your own site, no branding, no access tiers. Same conclusion, different vendor.
Publishing for residents, parents or patients? See how this looks for local government, schools and healthcare. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners. FileDeck is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any vendor mentioned on this page. Competitor prices and features were last checked in August 2026 and can change without notice — confirm on the vendor’s own site. We build FileDeck, so treat this as a source with a stake in it.