You can send large files without creating an account on several services: upload the file on the service's home page, copy the link it gives you, and send that link however you like. On Yungle that works for up to 10 GB per transfer, as many times as you like, with no sign-up and no ads; the link lasts 7 days. Your recipient does not need an account either — they click and download.
I run Yungle, so I have a stake in the answer. The rest covers what "no account" actually gets you, and where it stops being enough.
How it works without an account
The flow is the same almost everywhere:
- Open the service's home page.
- Drop in your files or a whole folder.
- Wait for the upload to finish.
- Copy the link, or have the service email it to your recipient.
Nothing to install and no password to remember. For a one-off — sending a video to a relative, a set of photos to a friend, a document to someone you met once — it is the right amount of ceremony.
What you usually give up
"No account" is a trade, and it is worth knowing what is on the other side:
Time. Anonymous links expire. On Yungle it is 7 days; elsewhere it varies. That is deliberate — a public link that works forever is a risk left lying around — but it means the recipient has to download within the window.
History. Without an account, there is no list of what you sent, so you cannot find or revoke a transfer next week unless you kept the link.
Limits. Free anonymous tiers cap size. Some count transfers across a month rather than per transfer, which is easy to miss.
What to check before you rely on one
Not every "no account needed" service is the same. Four questions:
- Is the limit per transfer or per month? A monthly count runs out mid-project.
- Does the upload resume if the connection drops? For anything over a few gigabytes, this decides whether it arrives.
- Are there ads on the download page? Fine for a friend, less fine for a client.
- Where are the files stored? For anything personal, it is worth knowing.
Your recipient does not need an account either
This is the half people forget to check. Some storage services let you share without fuss but ask the recipient to sign in, or push them towards an app. A proper transfer link opens in any browser and downloads straight away.
When it is time to make an account
No account is perfect for occasional sending. Three signs you have outgrown it:
You resend things. If clients ask for files again after the link expired, you need links that last — which is what a collection is for.
You want to know it arrived. Download receipts, telling you who downloaded what and when, need somewhere to live.
You send from a script or a pipeline. That needs an API key, which needs an account — though on Yungle the API is available on the free plan for transfers.
A note on security without an account
Anonymous does not have to mean careless. On Yungle, a free transfer can have a password, which you should send separately from the link, and every file is always encrypted with its own key on servers in Germany. For the few files that justify it, there is an opt-in end-to-end encrypted transfer too. Password-protecting a download link covers how to do that well.
The short version
- Upload on the home page, send the link — no account for you or the recipient.
- Expect an expiry and a size limit; check whether the limit is per transfer or per month.
- Make an account when you start resending files or need receipts.
For more ways to move big files, see how to send large files.