BetterFileTransfer vs SwissTransfer

SwissTransfer gives away 50 GB per transfer, with no account, no ads and no paid tier at all. It is the most generous free offer in this category, and it is worth being straight about that.

Transfer serviceFigures checked SwissTransfer

At a glance

BetterFileTransfer and SwissTransfer, measured the same seven ways.
MeasurementBetterFileTransferSwissTransfer
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 GB50 GB
Free link lifetimeHow long a link keeps working before the files are deleted.Up to 30 days15 days, extendable to 30
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 and at rest; Infomaniak holds the keys
Cheapest paid plan$10 / month, or $100 / yearNo paid tier
Paid transfer size10 GBNot applicable
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 ProNone; transfers only

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 If something here is out of date or simply wrong, email contact@betterfiletransfer.com and we will correct the row.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.

Most comparison pages get uncomfortable at this point. SwissTransfer, run by the Swiss hosting company Infomaniak, will move 50 GB for you, for nothing, without an account, without advertising, and with password protection included. There is no upsell because there is no paid tier.

That is five hundred times our anonymous limit and fifty times a free account here. If raw free size is what you are shopping for, stop reading and go and use it.

What SwissTransfer does well

The size, obviously. But the part worth more attention is the funding model: it is paid for by Infomaniak's hosting and kDrive business rather than by advertising or by data. That is a rare and durable answer to "how is this free", and a better one than most free tiers can give.

Jurisdiction is the other real feature. Swiss data centres, Swiss law, the Federal Act on Data Protection alongside GDPR, and an explicit statement that it is not subject to US or Chinese jurisdiction. For some organisations that sentence is the entire procurement decision, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Where the two differ

  • Size, and it is not close. 50 GB free against 100 MB anonymous and 1 GB on a free account here. Our 10 GB Pro ceiling is still a fifth of what they give away.
  • The clock. Their homepage says up to 30 days; their own support documentation says the default is 15 days, with an offer by email on day 12 to extend to 30. Treat 15 as the number you will actually get. Ours runs from a day to never, chosen when you send.
  • No account, no dashboard. There is nothing to sign in to, which is the point, and it also means no record of what you sent, no download counts, no revoking a link early, and no delivery receipts.
  • No paid tier means nothing to escalate to. What is there is what there is.

The encryption question

This is the one place where the difference is categorical rather than a matter of degree.

SwissTransfer describes an ultra-secure AES-GCM tunnel in transit and "double locking" with LUKS and AES-256 at rest. LUKS is full-disk encryption: the disk is encrypted, and the server that mounts it holds the key. Infomaniak does not claim end-to-end encryption anywhere, and they are right not to, whatever third-party listicles say about them.

Here, the files and their names are sealed in your browser before upload, and the key travels in the link fragment or in your own message, never to us. Swiss jurisdiction is a promise about who can be compelled to hand over your files. End-to-end encryption is an arrangement where there is nothing readable to hand over. Those protect against different things, and the second one does not depend on trusting a legal system.

What it costs

Nothing, ever. That is the honest headline and there is no asterisk on it.

Which one to use

Sending a 40 GB folder of footage to somebody once, and it is not confidential? Use SwissTransfer, and do not feel clever about paying us instead. Sending something you would not want a provider to be able to read, or something you need to revoke, track, or keep alive past a fortnight? That is what this is built for.

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