--- title: "BetterFileTransfer vs Filemail" description: "Filemail has real zero-knowledge encryption, and it is on the Business plan, in the desktop app only. Everywhere else, its own help centre says data at rest is not encrypted at all." competitor: "Filemail" checked_on: "2026-08-22" updated: "2026-08-22T07:56:37.080Z" canonical: "https://betterfiletransfer.com/compare/filemail" --- # BetterFileTransfer vs Filemail > Filemail has real zero-knowledge encryption, and it is on the Business plan, in the desktop app only. Everywhere else, its own help centre says data at rest is not encrypted at all. _Figures for Filemail last checked on 2026-08-22._ ## At a glance | | BetterFileTransfer | Filemail | | --- | --- | --- | | Send without an account | Yes, up to 100 MB | Yes | | Free transfer size | 1 GB | 5 GB, two transfers a day | | Free link lifetime | Up to 30 days | 7 days | | End-to-end encrypted | Yes. End to end, on by default, sealed in your browser before upload | No. In transit; end to end on Business, desktop app only | | Cheapest paid plan | $10 / month, or $100 / year | $4 / month (Personal); cycle not stated | | Paid transfer size | 10 GB | Not confirmed above Personal | | Storage included | 10 GB free, 1 TB on Pro | 250 GB on Personal | Filemail is a Norwegian transfer service with a large free tier: 5 GB per transfer, no registration, seven days on a link. It is also the service on this page whose own documentation contradicts itself most sharply, and the contradiction is worth understanding before you rely on either version. ## What Filemail does well 5 GB free with no account is generous, and unlike most of this category Filemail will genuinely email your recipients with no cap on how many. Business plans let you choose whether your data sits in the EU or the US, which is a real answer to a real procurement question. And Filemail does have proper end-to-end encryption. Their own words: the key is never shared with Filemail. That is the correct architecture and they deserve credit for building it. ## Where the two differ - **Two transfers a day.** The free tier is capped by frequency, not just size, and it is not available in certain regions. - **Password protection starts at Pro.** Not on free, not on Personal. - **The encryption is behind a plan and a download.** More on that below. ## The encryption question Filemail's marketing page advertises AES-256 encryption at rest. Filemail's help centre says, verbatim, that data at rest is _not_ encrypted unless the user asks for end-to-end encryption at the point of sending. Those are opposite claims about the same bytes, published by the same company. The help centre is the one to believe, because it is the one that describes a mechanism. And that mechanism has two conditions attached: end-to-end encryption is a Business plan feature, and it works in the desktop application only, with no browser support. Separately, their Pro plan page describes plain TLS as end-to-end encryption, which it is not. So the honest summary is: Filemail can do the thing properly, for business customers who install software. If you are on the free tier in a browser, which is how nearly everybody uses it, you are not getting it. Here it is the default, in the browser, on every tier including anonymous sends. There is nothing to install, nothing to upgrade to, and the filenames are sealed as well as the files. That is the whole difference, and it is [worth knowing how to check the claim](https://betterfiletransfer.com/blog/end-to-end-encryption-explained) on any service, ours included. ## What it costs Filemail's Personal plan is advertised at $4 a month, though the page does not say whether that is the monthly or the annual rate, and Personal has no password protection. Pro and Business prices we could not confirm: the pricing page does not load its figures without JavaScript and the numbers quoted on third-party sites disagree. Check them yourself rather than trusting a listicle, this one included. ## Which one to use If you are a business, you will install the desktop app, and you need zero-knowledge encryption with a choice of jurisdiction, Filemail Business is a serious product and a fair choice. For a browser send today, on any other tier, the security story is ordinary and the frequency cap will find you. ## When Filemail is the better choice Filemail is the better choice for a business that will install the desktop application. Its end-to-end encryption is the real thing, the key genuinely never reaches them, and being able to choose whether your data sits in the EU or the US is an answer to a question we cannot answer at all. If that describes your procurement form, Filemail Business is a serious product. --- Canonical HTML version: https://betterfiletransfer.com/compare/filemail BetterFileTransfer ยท https://betterfiletransfer.com