6 Best WeTransfer Alternatives Compared (2024): Make the Switch
WeTransfer has been the go-to file transfer service for many people for a long time. Increasingly, though, consumers and professionals are searching for file transfer service alternatives that are faster, less expensive, more reliable, and less likely to blast advertising at users.
IN THIS GUIDE, YOU’RE GOING TO READ THE 6 BEST WETRANSFER ALTERNATIVES:
1. Smash
2. 4Shared.com
5. pCloud.com
6. FileMail
Six WeTransfer Alternatives You Should Know
WeTransfer built a reputation as the place to go when you needed to send a large file. With a simple, drag-and-drop interface and accessible across browsers and mobile devices, WeTransfer made it easy to send a file that was too big to attach to an email or drop into an instant message.
But as the saying goes, a reputation only means you used to be good. Today there are several competitors to WeTransfer that not only transfer large files faster but do so without the file size limits that WeTransfer enforces on free accounts. Some of these services offer options that WeTransfer only offers for its paid premium tiers, and all make it just as easy to get a large file where it needs to go.
In this article we’ll present six alternatives to WeTransfer that you should know:
The basis of our comparison will be the metrics and features that creatives and professionals that want to transfer large files find most important. For the free tier, these include:
Individual transfer size limit
Transfer availability
Password protection
Link customization
File previews
Advertising free
How the WeTransfer Alternatives Compare
| Individual Transfer Size Limit | Transfer Availability | Password Protection | Link Customization | File Previews | Advertising Free | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WeTransfer | 2 GB | 7 days | No | No | No | No |
| Smash | Unlimited | 7 days | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 4Shared | 2 GB | 180 days | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| TransferNow | 5 GB | 7 days | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send-Anywhere | 10 GB | 2 days | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| pcloud | 5 GB | 7 days | No | No | No | Yes |
| FileMail | 5 GB | 7 days | No | No | No | Yes |
1. Smash: The Best WeTransfer Alternative
If you are sick of running into file size limits or paying big money to send big files with WeTransfer, then Smash is your best bet.
What makes Smash the best alternative to WeTransfer?
With Smash, there are no file size transfer limits even on its free account tier. Transfers are fast, robust, secure, and environmentally friendly, too! Smash offers a browser interface as well as dedicated apps for iOS, Android, and Mac, and they’ve recently opened their API for developers who can integrate Smash into file transfer workflows with just five lines of code. With the capacity to generate personalized links for every transfer and upload speeds twice as fast as WeTransfer, it’s little surprise that Smash is a popular WeTransfer alternative.
How Smash measures up:
Individual File Transfer Size: Unlimited
Transfer Availability: 7 days
Password Protection: Yes
Link Customization: Yes
File Previews: Yes
Advertising Free: Yes
What makes Smash not-so-good for transferring large files?
If your file is larger than 2GB you may be subject to some queueing for transfers. Smash describes this queueing like taking a flight: an ‘economy class’ ticket gets you to the destination just as fast as the ‘business class’ ticket does, but ‘business class’ passengers get priority boarding and deboarding. If you want to be first in line, you’ll need to step up to a Smash premium plan.
Try Smash for free: fromsmash.com
2. 4Shared
4Shared offers a file transfer service with 15GB of space per account. Users must register (for free) before uploading their large files and are free to send as many files as they can within their 15GB limit.
What makes 4shared the best alternative to WeTransfer?
4Shared stands out when it comes to the time that your shared file is going to be available. Leaving the industry standard 7-day availability window behind, 4Shared keeps files available for 180 days. If your recipients are slow on the uptake or even just away on vacation when your email or instant message link arrives, at least with 4Shared you can be sure they’ll still be able to get the file that you sent them.
How 4Shared measures up:
Individual File Transfer Size: 2GB
Transfer Availability: 180 days
Password Protection: Yes
Link Customization: Yes
File Previews: Yes
Advertising Free: No
What makes 4Shared not-so-good for transferring large files?
Like WeTransfer, 4Shared’s free tier tops out at only 2GB transfers. If you are sending a file larger than that you’ll either need to break it up or upgrade to one of the paid plans. As well, you’ll enjoy (or probably not enjoy) the free tier’s advertising-supported service, something you’ll need to pay to avoid by upgrading your 4shared plan.
3. TransferNow
TransferNow offers a file transfer service with a free tier and various paid plans.
What makes TransferNow the best alternative to WeTransfer?
Sending a file is simple with a clear click-select-send workflow and free tier users can send files up to 5GB in size. TransferNow offers URL customization options and will alert you when your file is downloaded by the recipient, though it limits the number of recipients for each transfer to 10 for the free plan. TransferNow is a solid file transfer service and compares well as an alternative to WeTransfer, but you’ll probably need to step up to a paid plan if you regularly send large files.
How TransferNow measures up:
Individual File Transfer Size: 5GB
Transfer Availability: 7 days
Password Protection: Yes
Link Customization: Yes
File Previews: Yes
Advertising Free: Yes
What makes TransferNow not-so-good for transferring large files?
Even if the size of free file transfers is higher than WeTransfer’s 2GB, it’s still going to present challenges for creatives and professionals who need to send large files. 4K video, RAW images, and large audio and video packages will overwhelm the free tier offer TransferNow and force users into problematic compression options or TransferNow’s own premium paid plans.
4. Send-Anywhere
Since launching in 2012? Send Anywhere has established a reputation for reliable file transfers. By 2022, Send Anywhere had powered more than 50 million downloads both within its homebase of South Korea and around the world.
What makes Send-Anywhere the best alternative to WeTransfer?
Send Anywhere has a strong focus on secure transfers and their 1-to-1 direct transfers with a 10-minute timeout and a six-digit security key is evidence of commitment to that particular use case. While this is welcome for some, others might baulk at the focus on one-time transfers when they need to share to a wider group; in such cases, Send Anywhere only offers a ‘share a link’ option. The transfer size limit is 10GB, significantly larger than the 2GB that WeTransfer offers free users.
How Send-Anywhere measures up:
Individual File Transfer Size: 10GB
Transfer Availability: 2 days
Password Protection: Yes
Link Customization: No
File Previews: No
Advertising Free: Yes
What makes Send-Anywhere not-so-good for transferring large files?
Send-Anywhere specializes in secure, instant 1-to-1 direct transfers. As a result, a file is only retained on the Send-Anywhere server for 48 hours. This is well below the industry average of 7 days, and months behind competitors like 4Shared. It’s easy to imagine sharing a link with a colleague late on a Friday afternoon and having it expire and the file disappear before it’s clicked on Monday morning.
5. pCloud
pCloud is a cloud storage and sharing platform that some have embraced as a file transfer service, too. Users create an account, upload their files, and share via a link in an email, an instant message, or a webpage.
What makes pCloud the best alternative to WeTransfer?
Free plans can transfer 5GB files without needing to sign up for a plan with pCloud, and that’s more than twice as much as the same user can transfer at WeTransfer. Files are available for 7 days – the industry standard for file transfer services offering a free tier – and the minimalist interface is advertising free both for the sender and the recipient. Files can be encrypted during the transfer, but there is no password protection for downloads.
How pCloud measures up:
Individual File Transfer Size: 5GB
Transfer Availability: 7 days
Password Protection: No
Link Customization: No
File Previews: No
Advertising Free: Yes
What makes pCloud not-so-good for transferring large files?
While pCloud offers password protection for file transfers made by paying customers, free tier users are not so lucky. There are also no link customization options for free users and no way for recipients of a pCloud link to preview the file being shared.
6. FileMail
FileMail is an alternative to WeTransfer for transferring files rapidly via a shareable link. Unlike some other file transfer services, FileMail allows for transfers without registration, even on free accounts.
What makes FileMail the best alternative to WeTransfer?
Users can send files up to 5GB for free and without registration. Sending a file is simple on the web with a straightforward choice between sending as an email attachment or generating a shareable link. There are also dedicated apps for Android, iOS, Mac and Windows, a plugin for Microsoft Outlook, and an API for developers, too. Downloads can be tracked, even on the free plans.
How FileMail measures up:
Individual File Transfer Size: 5GB
Transfer Availability: 7 days
Password Protection: No
Link Customization: No
File Previews: No
Advertising Free: Yes
What makes FileMail not-so-good for transferring large files?
Like WeTransfer and pCloud, FileMail does not offer password protected file transfers for free tier users. There are also no opportunities to customize shareable links or preview the file that is being transferred, though paid plans with the FileMail service do offer these options for a price. 5GB is more than what WeTransfer will transfer on a free plan, but it still falls short of what many creatives, professionals, and even consumers demand.
Conclusion: The Best Alternative to WeTransfer is Smash
There’s only one alternative to WeTransfer’s file transfer service that ticks all the boxes: Smash.
With Smash there are no file size limits, even for free users. Smash offers apps for mobile devices, for Mac, an API for developers, and there’s a Microsoft Outlook plugin coming soon, too!
Like other alternatives to WeTransfer, Smash has paid tiers. However, even on the free tier, Smash never limits you in terms of file size, the number of files transferred, or the speed of the upload. Every transfer URL can be personalized to make it easy for the recipient to identify the file or keep the URL on brand.
Smash is available at fromsmash.com – try it right now for free and understand why it’s the best alternative to WeTransfer.
Time to Try Out a WeTransfer Alternative
Test, test, test Smash! It’s no file size limits, simple, fast, secure and free.
Frequently Asked Questions
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There are lots of things to consider but among the most important are limits on individual file transfers (higher is better), transfer availability (longer is better), password protection (better to have), link customization (better to have), file previews (better to have), and an advertising-free interface.
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There’s no standard for the consumer offer, but you should look for at least 2GB file transfers, at least a 7-day availability windows, and an ad-free, password protected, and customized URL service.
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In a word: Smash.
Check out a full head-to-head comparison between Smash and WeTransfer and understand why the French startup has it all over the longtime leader in the domain.
