The 12 best WeTransfer alternatives in 2026

WeTransfer's free plan now stops at 3 GB and 10 transfers a month, and links expire after three days. Here are 12 alternatives compared on free limits, privacy and price. Full disclosure: I run Smash, one of them.

By Romaric Gouedard-Comte, co-founder and CEO of Smash · Updated September 10, 2026

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Comparison at a glance

Free plans as published by each provider, checked in September 2026. Smash is first on this page and I run it, so every entry further down also says where each service falls short, Smash included.

Service	Free size limit	Free usage cap	Link lifetime	Account needed	Upgrade path
WeTransferFor reference	3 GB	10 transfers and 3 GB per 30 days	3 days	Yes	Starter from about $8/mo, Ultimate about $23/mo
SmashMade by us	No limitPriority up to 2 GB, then queued	None	Up to 7 days	No	Pro: priority on any size, 30-day links
SwissTransfer	50 GB	None published	Up to 30 days	No	No paid plan
Google Drive	15 GBStorage shared with Gmail and Photos	Your storage	No expiry	Google account	100 GB for $1.99/mo
Dropbox Transfer	2 GBOn Dropbox Basic	2 GB of storage	7 days	Dropbox account	Up to 100 GB per transfer on higher plans
TransferNow	5 GB	None	7 days	No	Premium: up to 250 GB per transfer
MASV	15 GBMonthly allowance	15 GB a month	5 days of storage	Yes, with a credit card	$0.25 per GB
Filemail	5 GB	2 transfers per 24 hours	7 days	No	Pro: up to 250 GB per transfer
Proton Drive	5 GBStorage, after setup	Your storage	You choose	Proton account	Drive Plus: 200 GB for $4.99/mo
OneDrive	5 GBStorage	Your storage	No expiry	Microsoft account	100 GB for $1.99/mo
SendGB	5 GB	None	Up to 90 days, less for large files	No	Pay per transfer: 50 GB for €2.99
Send Anywhere	10 GBBy link; 50 GB device to device	10 GB of link downloads a month	48 hours	No	Paid add-on plans
pCloud Transfer	5 GB	None	7 days	NoEmail check	pCloud storage plans

Show all 13 services

Free plans as published by each provider, checked on September 10, 2026. Bar length uses a logarithmic scale. Limit per transfer Account storage or monthly allowance

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Quick picks

If you just want a name:

Sending very large files for free: Smash. No size cap and no sign-up. Free transfers above 2 GB wait in a queue behind paying users.
The biggest fixed free limit: SwissTransfer, with 50 GB per transfer and links that last up to 30 days.
You already work in Google Workspace: Google Drive.
You already pay for Dropbox: Dropbox Transfer.
Professional video and very large deliveries: MASV, billed per gigabyte.
End-to-end encryption: Proton Drive.
Moving files from your phone to your computer: Send Anywhere.

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What changed at WeTransfer

For years, WeTransfer was the default. You dragged a file in, typed an email address and forgot about it. Spend ten minutes on any forum for video editors or photographers today and you'll find the same thread every few weeks: WeTransfer kind of sucks now, what are you using instead? This page is my answer to that thread.

Three things happened in roughly a year.

The owner changed. Bending Spoons, the Italian company that also owns Evernote and Meetup, bought WeTransfer in July 2024. In September of that year it confirmed plans to lay off about 75% of WeTransfer's staff. It's a pattern: Bending Spoons cut Evernote's team after buying it, then restricted that app's free plan.

The free plan shrank. WeTransfer reorganized its plans in December 2024. Today the free tier gives you 3 GB per transfer and 3 GB in total, spread over 10 transfers in any 30-day window. Links expire after three days. Free use is limited to individuals and non-commercial purposes, which matters if you're a freelancer sending work to a client. The first paid tier, Starter, raises the monthly volume to 300 GB but keeps the 10-transfer cap. To lose the caps entirely you need Ultimate, which pricing trackers listed at around $23 a month in mid-2026.

The terms of service scared people. In July 2025, an update to WeTransfer's terms granted the company a perpetual, sub-licensable license to use the content people uploaded, including to improve machine learning models. Designers, photographers and filmmakers read that as permission to train AI on their work. After several days of backlash, WeTransfer rewrote the clause on July 15, removed the references to machine learning and said publicly that it doesn't use AI to process files. It fixed the wording. It didn't fully fix the trust.

None of this makes WeTransfer a bad product. It's still simple and well designed, and your clients know the name. But if the free plan no longer fits the way you work, there are better options. For the full detail on the current caps, see WeTransfer limits in 2026. For a head-to-head, see Smash vs. WeTransfer.

The 12 best WeTransfer alternatives

1. Smash: best free option for very large files

We started Smash in Lyon, France, in 2017 because we kept running into the wall everyone runs into: the file is too big for email, and the free transfer tools stop at a few gigabytes. So Smash has no size limit, even on the free plan, and you don't need an account to send anything.

There's a catch, and I'd rather explain it than have you find out halfway through an upload. Other comparison sites point it out, and they're right to. Free transfers up to 2 GB are processed with priority. Above 2 GB, your transfer joins a queue behind transfers from paying users. It still goes through. It just doesn't skip the line. Typical wait for free transfers above 2 GB, e.g. In practice, most start within 16 hours. If you can't wait, Pro skips the queue.

Free links last up to 7 days, and you can pick a shorter expiry, customize the link, add a password and let recipients preview images, video and audio before they download. Paying users get priority on every transfer whatever the size, 30-day links, 1 TB of storage, file requests, branded download pages and an Outlook add-in. More than 8 million people use Smash, and it's rated 4.9 out of 5 across over 59,000 reviews on Trustpilot and Google.

Good for: video, photo and design files that are too big for other free plans; people who don't want yet another account.
Watch out for: the queue on large free transfers, 7-day links on the free plan, and no file requests unless you pay.
Free plan: no size limit (priority up to 2 GB), links up to 7 days, no sign-up.
Paid: Pro from $4.80 a month on a two-year plan. See all plans.

2. SwissTransfer: the most generous fixed free limit

SwissTransfer is run by Infomaniak, a Swiss hosting company, and it's free with no account. You get 50 GB per transfer, ten times what most free tools allow, and links can stay live for up to 30 days. Files are stored in Switzerland, there are no ads, and there's no paid tier. Infomaniak pays for it through its other products.

The limits are the flip side of that model. 50 GB is a hard ceiling with nothing to upgrade to, and you can't use it to request files from someone else.

Good for: one-off large deliveries and privacy-conscious senders.
Watch out for: the fixed 50 GB ceiling, no file requests, no paid plan.
Compare: Smash vs. SwissTransfer.

3. Google Drive: best if you already use Google Workspace

Drive isn't a transfer service. It's storage with sharing, and that difference matters. You upload the file to your own Drive, then share a link. The free 15 GB is shared with Gmail and Google Photos, so on a lot of accounts the space you actually have is much smaller. The upload limits are generous (750 GB a day, files up to 5 TB), but the file has to fit in your storage.

Drive wins when the file needs to stay around, get edited or live next to the rest of a project. Shared links don't expire on their own, which is handy for ongoing work and bad for housekeeping. A year later, that client folder is still open to anyone with the link unless someone remembers to close it.

Good for: collaborating in Docs and Sheets, ongoing projects, teams already on Workspace.
Watch out for: storage shared with Gmail, links that never expire, a clunkier experience for one-off deliveries.
Paid: Google One, 100 GB for $1.99 a month.

4. Dropbox Transfer: best if you already pay for Dropbox

Dropbox Transfer is Dropbox's answer to WeTransfer. You send a copy of your files through a link, it doesn't use up your storage, and recipients don't need a Dropbox account. On the free Basic plan it's modest: transfers up to 2 GB, on an account that only has 2 GB of storage to start with. Transfers from Basic, Family and Plus accounts expire after 7 days.

It gets more useful on Dropbox's professional and business plans. Transfers go up to 100 GB (250 GB with an add-on), and you can set passwords, custom expiry dates and your own logo.

Good for: people already paying for Dropbox.
Watch out for: limited value on the free plan.
Compare: Smash vs. Dropbox Transfer.

5. TransferNow: a solid all-rounder with no monthly cap

TransferNow is a French service that has been around since 2013. The free plan sends 5 GB per transfer with no sign-up and, unlike WeTransfer, no cap on how many transfers you make or how much you send in a month. Links last 7 days, password protection is free, and you can create a drop link so other people can send files to you.

Paid plans raise the limit to 250 GB per transfer (500 GB on the Team plan) and keep files available for up to a year.

Good for: regular senders of medium-sized files, and receiving files without paying.
Watch out for: 5 GB fills up fast with raw video.
Compare: Smash vs. TransferNow.

6. MASV: best for professional video and very large files

MASV is built for post-production houses and broadcasters who move terabytes on a deadline. Single files can reach 15 TB, transfers are accelerated, and it connects to tools like Premiere Pro, Frame.io and cloud storage buckets.

Understand the pricing before you sign up. You get 15 GB of free transfers a month, then pay $0.25 per GB. MASV charges for data leaving its network, downloads included, so a file that gets downloaded three times is billed three times. You'll also need a credit card to open an account, even for the free allowance.

Good for: studios and editors with big, time-sensitive deliveries.
Watch out for: costs that grow with every download; more than most people need for occasional use.

7. Filemail: fast uploads, strict free quota

Filemail is a Norwegian service with a good reputation for speed, especially through its desktop app, which uses UDP acceleration. Free users can send 5 GB per transfer without an account, files stay up for 7 days, and downloads are unlimited.

The free quota is the tightest on this list: two transfers every 24 hours. Password protection is reserved for paid plans. Pro goes up to 250 GB per transfer, and Business removes the size limit.

Good for: people who send a few big files a week and care about upload speed.
Watch out for: two free transfers a day and no free password protection.
Compare: Smash vs. Filemail.

8. Proton Drive: best for end-to-end encryption

If the WeTransfer terms episode made you uneasy, Proton Drive takes the question off the table. Files are end-to-end encrypted, which means Proton itself can't read them. Share links can carry a password and an expiry date.

It's storage rather than a transfer tool, and the free plan is small: 2 GB when you sign up, 5 GB once you finish a short setup checklist. Sharing files larger than 5 GB requires a paid plan. Drive Plus gives you 200 GB for $4.99 a month, or $3.99 a month billed yearly.

Good for: contracts, financial documents and anything confidential.
Watch out for: a small free plan; not designed for large one-off deliveries.

9. OneDrive: the easy choice on Microsoft 365

OneDrive is to Microsoft users what Google Drive is to Google users. The free plan includes 5 GB of storage, and individual files can be up to 250 GB. Microsoft 365 Basic gives you 100 GB for $1.99 a month. If your company already runs on Microsoft 365, you probably have 1 TB of OneDrive space you're not using, which makes it the path of least resistance for sharing with colleagues.

Good for: Microsoft 365 users and sharing inside the same organization.
Watch out for: a very small free plan; password and expiry options depend on your subscription.

10. SendGB: the longest free links

SendGB lets you send up to 5 GB free, without an account and without a limit on the number of transfers. What sets it apart is how long files stay online: smaller transfers can stay available for up to 90 days, which helps when a client takes weeks to get around to downloading. Larger free transfers get a shorter window. Password protection is free.

For bigger files, it sells one-off passes instead of pushing a subscription. At the time of writing, 50 GB costs €2.99.

Good for: files that recipients will download later, and the occasional big send without a subscription.
Watch out for: prices in euros and a 5 GB free limit.
Compare: Smash vs. SendGB.

11. Send Anywhere: best for phone-to-computer transfers

Send Anywhere's trick is the six-digit key. Pick files on one device, type the code on another, and the transfer goes straight across, up to 50 GB. It can also create links for sharing with other people, capped at 10 GB on the free plan and valid for 48 hours. Free accounts get a monthly download allowance on those links, and the free apps show ads.

Good for: moving photos and videos between your own devices.
Watch out for: 48-hour links, ads, and free limits that are tighter than they used to be.
Compare: Smash vs. Send Anywhere.

12. pCloud Transfer: simple, with optional encryption

pCloud, a Swiss cloud storage company, runs a separate free transfer tool. You can send up to 5 GB without an account, and links last 7 days. You'll need to confirm your email address before the link goes out. There's an encryption option: set a password and the files are encrypted in your browser before upload, although each individual file is then limited to 200 MB.

Good for: small and medium transfers where you want encryption without creating an account.
Watch out for: the 200 MB per-file limit in encrypted mode and the 5 GB ceiling.

How to choose

You edit video. Raw footage is where free plans break. For occasional deliveries, Smash (no size cap) or SwissTransfer (50 GB) will cover most projects without paying. If you deliver to broadcasters on deadline every week, MASV's acceleration and pay-per-gigabyte model are built for that job.

You're a freelancer or an agency sending work to clients. Read the terms, not only the limits. WeTransfer's free plan excludes commercial use, so check that whatever you choose covers work use. If the download page is part of how clients see you, a paid plan with your own branding (Smash Pro, TransferNow Premium, WeTransfer Ultimate) is worth the money.

You handle confidential files. Proton Drive's end-to-end encryption means the provider can't open what you send. pCloud Transfer's encrypted mode is a lighter option for a one-off send.

Your team already lives in Google or Microsoft. Use what you're paying for. Drive and OneDrive work well for sharing inside a company. They're less convenient for one-off sends to people outside it, and links that never expire need regular cleanup.

You need to send something big, once. Don't sign up for anything. Smash, SwissTransfer, TransferNow and SendGB all work without an account.

How I put this list together

Every figure on this page comes from the providers' own pricing pages, help centers and terms, checked in September 2026. Where a company doesn't publish a number, I say so or leave it out. Prices are in US dollars when the provider publishes them that way. Plans change often in this market, WeTransfer's more than most, so I review this page every quarter and date each update at the top.

About the ranking. Smash is first because it's the only free option here without a size limit, and that's the problem most people leaving WeTransfer are trying to solve. If 50 GB is enough for you, SwissTransfer is excellent and costs nothing. If you spot something out of date, email me at romaric@fromsmash.com and I'll correct it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. In 2026 it allows 3 GB per transfer, with a total of 3 GB and 10 transfers per 30 days. Links expire after three days, and the free plan is limited to individual, non-commercial use.
WeTransfer restricts its free plan to personal, non-commercial use. If you send files to clients, you'll need a paid WeTransfer plan or an alternative whose terms cover professional use.
They do different jobs. Drive is storage: files stay until you delete them and count against your 15 GB, which is shared with Gmail and Photos. WeTransfer and the transfer services on this list send a temporary copy that expires. For collaboration, Drive is better. For a one-off delivery, a transfer service is simpler.
Only if you already pay for it. Dropbox Transfer on the free Basic plan is limited to 2 GB, while Dropbox's professional and business plans handle transfers of up to 100 GB.
SwissTransfer handles up to 50 GB for free. Smash has no size limit on its free plan, but transfers over 2 GB wait in a queue. MASV gives you 15 GB free each month and charges $0.25 per GB after that.
WeTransfer says it doesn't. In July 2025, a clause in its updated terms suggested it could use uploaded content to improve machine learning models, which caused a backlash. The company rewrote the clause on July 15, 2025, removed the references to machine learning and stated that it doesn't use AI to process files shared through its service.
Among free plans, Smash is the only one on this list without a size cap. On paid plans, Smash Pro and Filemail Business also remove the limit, and MASV handles single files of up to 15 TB.
Not with any of the transfer services on this list. Recipients of Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive links don't need an account either, as long as the link is shared with anyone who has it.

Reviews from Smash users who left WeTransfer

Every day, new users choose Smash for its ease of use, speed, and longer file availability. They appreciate a smooth experience, whether they’re sending files for free or using Smash for professional needs.

Here’s a snapshot of reviews left by users on Trustpilot.

« Clear simple interface. Simple use of code to verify sender. Fast. Well done
Longer time to recipient to download compared with competitor (WeTransfer)
I am a new fan..! »

— Trustpilot

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