BetterFileTransfer vs Send Anywhere

Send Anywhere's six-digit key is the best device-to-device idea in this category. Its share links are a different, much smaller product, and its encryption is not what people assume.

Transfer serviceFigures checked Send Anywhere

At a glance

BetterFileTransfer and Send Anywhere, measured the same seven ways.
MeasurementBetterFileTransferSend Anywhere
Send without an accountWhether a first-time visitor can send something without handing over an email address.Yes, up to 100 MBYes
Free transfer sizeThe largest single transfer on the free tier.1 GB10 GB by link, 50 GB by six-digit key
Free link lifetimeHow long a link keeps working before the files are deleted.Up to 30 days48 hours
End-to-end encryptedEnd to end means the provider holds sealed bytes and cannot open them. Encryption "in transit and at rest" is a different, weaker promise: the provider still holds the keys.Yes. End to end, on by default, sealed in your browser before uploadNo. In transit; they do not claim end to end
Cheapest paid plan$10 / month, or $100 / year$5.99 / month (Lite)
Paid transfer size10 GB20 GB on Lite, 30 GB on Standard
Storage includedStorage is what stays on the service; a transfer is what leaves it. A product built for one is rarely the best answer for the other.10 GB free, 1 TB on Pro10 GB of stored links free, 300 GB on Lite

Limits and prices are set by each service and change without telling us, and a figure we could not confirm reads "not confirmed" rather than being estimated. If something here is out of date or simply wrong, email contact@betterfiletransfer.com and we will correct the row. Say where you saw it and we will check it against their own pages the same way we checked the rest.

Send Anywhere does two things that look like one thing. There is a six-digit key transfer, which moves up to 50 GB between two devices with no account and no link, and there is a share link, which is capped at 10 GB, needs an account, and dies after 48 hours.

Almost every comparison you will read merges those two into one row. They are not comparable products and the difference decides whether it is the right tool.

What Send Anywhere does well

The key. Getting a large file from a phone to a laptop that is sitting next to it is a genuinely annoying problem, and typing six digits into the other device is the least annoying solution anybody has shipped. On Android with Wi-Fi Direct it does not touch a server at all. If that is your problem, it is the answer, and our own guide to sending from a phone would recommend it over a link.

Where the two differ

  • 48 hours. The free share link expires in two days, fixed. That is the shortest clock on this page by some distance, and it is a Monday problem for anything sent on a Friday.
  • A monthly download cap. Free accounts get 10 GB of download bandwidth a month, so a popular file can exhaust your allowance rather than just your patience. Nothing here counts downloads against you.
  • Ads. The apps are ad-supported, with a one-off in-app purchase to remove them on iOS. Paid plans drop them.
  • Password protection is paid only. Ours is a different mechanism entirely, and it is on by default and free.

The encryption question

Send Anywhere is careful with its wording, and that care is informative. It says the file is encrypted and transmitted so that its contents cannot be known by others, and that a six-digit key transfer sends files directly between devices without storing them on the server.

Read that second clause precisely: it is a claim about storage, not about routing. Not storing a file is not the same as never being able to read it. Their Google Play data safety declaration says only that data is encrypted in transit. Send Anywhere does not use the phrase end-to-end encryption, and it would be unfair to put words in their mouth, so the table says exactly what they say.

The only genuinely off-server path is Wi-Fi Direct on Android. Everything else is a normal encrypted upload to a server that can read it. Here, the sealing happens in your browser first, which is why the six-digit convenience is not something we can match: a key short enough to read down a phone is not a key.

What it costs

Lite is $5.99 a month and Standard $9.99, both billed monthly, raising transfers to 20 GB and 30 GB and download bandwidth to 200 GB and 500 GB. Annual billing exists but the yearly figure is not published anywhere we could find. Note that the plan names are Lite and Standard: any page still quoting Plus or Pro is describing a product that shut down in 2020.

Which one to use

Phone to laptop, right now, in the same room: Send Anywhere, every time. Anything that needs to survive a weekend, be revoked, or be unreadable to the service carrying it: this one.

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