---
title: "BetterFileTransfer vs Send Anywhere"
description: "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."
competitor: "Send Anywhere"
checked_on: "2026-08-22"
updated: "2026-08-22T07:56:37.080Z"
canonical: "https://betterfiletransfer.com/compare/send-anywhere"
---

# 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.

_Figures for Send Anywhere last checked on 2026-08-22._

## At a glance

| | BetterFileTransfer | Send Anywhere |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Send without an account | Yes, up to 100 MB | Yes |
| Free transfer size | 1 GB | 10 GB by link, 50 GB by six-digit key |
| Free link lifetime | Up to 30 days | 48 hours |
| End-to-end encrypted | Yes. End to end, on by default, sealed in your browser before upload | No. In transit; they do not claim end to end |
| Cheapest paid plan | $10 / month, or $100 / year | $5.99 / month (Lite) |
| Paid transfer size | 10 GB | 20 GB on Lite, 30 GB on Standard |
| Storage included | 10 GB free, 1 TB on Pro | 10 GB of stored links free, 300 GB on Lite |

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](https://betterfiletransfer.com/blog/send-large-files-from-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.

## When Send Anywhere is the better choice

Send Anywhere is the better choice for device-to-device transfers, and it is not close. Typing six digits into the laptop next to you beats emailing yourself a link every single time, and on Android with Wi-Fi Direct the file never touches a server at all. If the problem is phone to computer rather than person to person, use it and do not think twice.

---

Canonical HTML version: https://betterfiletransfer.com/compare/send-anywhere
BetterFileTransfer · https://betterfiletransfer.com