These three get recommended interchangeably, which is odd, because their free tiers are almost nothing alike. One requires an account and caps you tightly. One hands out 50 GB to anonymous strangers. One takes any size but makes you wait.
Picking the right one takes about thirty seconds if you know which trade-off each is making. Here is the breakdown.
Key takeaways
- SwissTransfer wins on raw size: 50 GB free, no account at all
- Smash has no size cap but queues free transfers over 2 GB
- WeTransfer is the most restricted free tier of the three and now requires an account
- For anything under 3 GB, a no-signup link is faster than all of them
The Short Answer
| WeTransfer | SwissTransfer | Smash | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free size | 3 GB | 50 GB | No cap |
| Monthly allowance | "10 transfers or 3 GB / 30 days" | None stated | None stated |
| Account needed | Yes | No | No |
| Link expiry (free) | Fixed 3 days | Up to 30 days | 7 days |
| Password (free) | No, paid | Yes | Yes |
| Speed on free tier | Full | Full | Queued over 2 GB |
| Ads | Yes, full-page | No | Limited |
WeTransfer
The famous one, and the most changed. After Bending Spoons acquired it in July 2024, the free tier tightened considerably.
You now need an account to send anything - the drag-drop-done flow that made it famous is gone. The free plan is described in WeTransfer's own documentation as "up to 10 transfers or 3 GB in any 30-day period," so there is a rolling monthly allowance sitting behind the per-transfer number. Links expire after a fixed 3 days with no way to extend, and password protection is a paid feature.
The free tier also shows full-page wallpaper ads, and so does the entry-level paid plan.
Use it if: you are already inside it, or you specifically want its recipient-notification flow, which is still nicely done.
Skip it if: you send occasionally and do not want an account, or 3 days is too short for your recipient.
SwissTransfer
The most generous free tier on the internet, and it is not close.
50 GB per transfer, free, with no accounts - accounts do not exist on the service at all. It is run by Infomaniak, a Swiss hosting company, essentially as a showcase for its infrastructure, with files stored in Switzerland. Links last up to 30 days, passwords are free, and there are no ads.
The catch is that there is barely a catch. What you do not get is any kind of dashboard, history, or control after the fact - you send it and it is gone from your hands. There is no way to delete a transfer early or see whether anyone downloaded it.
Use it if: the file is large. Anything from 3 GB upward, this is the answer.
Skip it if: you want to manage or revoke links after sending.
Smash
The interesting middle option. Smash puts no size limit on free transfers at all - a 40 GB project will upload.
The trade is speed. Free transfers over 2 GB get queued behind paying Pro customers, so a large free send can take considerably longer than the raw upload time suggests. Free links last 7 days; Pro extends that to 30 days for around €10/month.
It is an honest model - they are explicit that free users wait - and it works well if you are sending overnight or are simply not in a rush.
Use it if: the file is enormous and the deadline is not tight.
Skip it if: you need it delivered in the next hour.
Where a Plain Link Beats All Three
For the very common case of a file under 3 GB, all three of these add friction that is not buying you anything.
ShareIt.onl sends up to 100 files / 3 GB with no account at all, and gives you control none of the three offer on their free tiers: you pick the expiry (1 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours, 3 days, or 7 days), and every download extends a live link by another 24 hours, so a share people are actively using does not expire mid-use. Password protection and delete-after-first-download are both free. Every share gets a QR code, browser previews, and a download-all-as-ZIP button for multi-file shares up to 512 MB.
A free one-click Google sign-in - no forms - adds 30-day links, a dashboard where you can see downloads and delete shares early, and upload-inbox links for collecting files from other people. It also comes with 50 GB of live storage and 100 GB of downloads a month pooled across your shares.
It does not compete with SwissTransfer on size, and it does not try to. What it competes on is not making you sign up, letting you control the link afterwards, and giving you far more monthly room than WeTransfer's free tier does - 100 GB of downloads a month against an allowance WeTransfer states as "up to 10 transfers or 3 GB in any 30-day period".
Use it if: the file is under 3 GB and you want it sent in the next thirty seconds.
Skip it if: the file is bigger than 3 GB - go to SwissTransfer.
Picking in Thirty Seconds
Work from the file size:
- Under 3 GB - a no-signup link. Fastest path, most control, nothing to create.
- 3 GB to 50 GB - SwissTransfer. Free, no account, generous expiry.
- Over 50 GB - Smash if you can wait, or split the file into parts and send it in batches. See how to split a large file into parts.
- You already pay for WeTransfer - use what you are paying for.
One Thing They All Share
Every service here deletes your files on a schedule. That is the point of a transfer service and it is a genuine privacy benefit, but it means none of them is storage. Download what matters, keep your own copy, and do not treat a share link as an archive - when it expires the file is gone, on all four.
Send up to 3 GB free with no sign-up, or compare in detail: vs WeTransfer, vs SwissTransfer, vs Smash.