WeTransfer's free plan caps out at 3 GB per transfer, limits you to around 10 transfers in a rolling 30-day window, and expires every link after 3 days — fine for a one-off send, tight for anyone doing this regularly. Its paid tiers fix the size problem but start at $8/month for Starter (300 GB storage) and jump to $23/month for Ultimate (2 TB). If you're evaluating whether that's worth it, or just want to see what else is out there, here's how the real alternatives compare.
Quick comparison
| Service | Free plan | Cheapest paid plan | Password protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letshareit | 4 GB, no account needed | $4.99/mo — 60 GB/file, 300 GB storage | Every plan, including guests |
| WeTransfer | 3 GB, 3-day expiry | $8/mo — 300 GB storage | Paid plans only |
| Smash | 2 GB, 7-day availability | Pro (price on request) — unlimited transfer size, 1 TB storage | Every plan |
| Filemail | 5 GB | Personal — 5 GB/file, 250 GB storage | Pro plan and above only |
| TransferNow | Limited free transfers | ~$9.5/mo — 250 GB/file, 1 TB storage | Available on paid plans |
| TransferXL | Limited free transfers | $9.99/mo — 100 GB/file, 6 TB storage/mo | Available on paid plans |
1. Letshareit
Same drop-a-file-get-a-link flow as WeTransfer, built for when you outgrow WeTransfer's limits. The free tier sends up to 4 GB with no account required on either end — already ahead of WeTransfer's 3 GB free cap. Basic ($4.99/mo) goes up to 60 GB per file with 300 GB of storage, and Pro ($16.99/mo) goes up to 500 GB per file with 2.5 TB of storage. Password protection and AES-256 encryption at rest are included on every plan, including guest uploads, and links can be set to expire in 1, 3, 7, or 30 days — or never, on Pro. See the full Letshareit vs WeTransfer comparison.
2. WeTransfer
The service most people are looking to replace, and still a reasonable choice for small, occasional sends. Free transfers are capped at 3 GB with a 3-day link expiry, and you're limited to roughly 10 transfers in a 30-day window. Paid plans remove the size cap and extend link life, starting at $8/month for Starter (300 GB storage) up to $23/month for Ultimate (2 TB storage) — see WeTransfer's pricing page for current numbers. Password protection isn't available on the free plan.
3. Smash
Smash's free tier doesn't cap the number of transfers you can send, but individual transfers are limited to 2 GB, and anything you send above that queues behind paying users' transfers before it processes. Free links stay available for 7 days. Its Pro and Team plans remove the transfer-size cap entirely and add analytics and two-factor authentication, but pricing isn't published on the site — you have to start a subscription to see a number. See the full Letshareit vs Smash comparison.
4. Filemail
Filemail is built more for business-scale transfers, with a free plan that actually beats WeTransfer and Smash on raw size: 5 GB per transfer, no account required. The catch is security features are tiered — password protection only appears starting on the Pro plan, and full encryption at rest is limited to the Business and Enterprise tiers. The Personal plan (5 GB/file, 250 GB storage) sits between free and Pro (250 GB/file, 1 TB storage, permanent file availability). See the full Letshareit vs Filemail comparison.
5. TransferNow
TransferNow is a straightforward, no-frills transfer tool with a paid plan (around $9.5/month) offering 250 GB per file and 1 TB of storage — a similar shape to Filemail's Pro tier at a slightly lower price. It's a solid pick if you want Filemail-level limits without the tiered security features, though it's worth checking its current free-plan limits directly, since those change more often than paid-tier specs.
6. TransferXL
TransferXL's Pro plan ($9.99/month) stands out for total monthly volume — 6 TB of storage per month, more than any other service here — though its per-file cap (100 GB) is smaller than Filemail, TransferNow, or Letshareit's paid tiers. It's a reasonable fit if you send a high number of small-to-medium files rather than occasional very large ones.
Which one should you actually use?
If you're mostly sending occasional small files, WeTransfer's free tier is still fine. If you're hitting its 3 GB cap or want password protection without paying, Letshareit's free tier covers more (4 GB, no account, password protection included) for the same price of $0. If you need real volume — full video projects, large RAW galleries, big project archives — Letshareit Pro goes up to 500 GB per file for less than WeTransfer's Ultimate plan, without gating password protection or encryption behind a higher tier the way Filemail does.
