Smash and WeTransfer do the same basic job — upload a file, send a link — and differ mainly in how their free tiers limit you. According to each company's own pages, WeTransfer's free plan allows 3 GB or 10 transfers per 30 days, counted across the month, while Smash's free plan sends 2 GB with priority and queues anything larger instead of refusing it. If you send big files occasionally, Smash's queue is kinder; if you send small files often, WeTransfer's monthly count is the thing to watch.
I run Yungle, a third option, so I am not a neutral referee. Every competitor fact here comes from that company's own documentation, dated, and I say where each is the better choice.
The short comparison
| WeTransfer | Smash | |
|---|---|---|
| Free limit | 3 GB or 10 transfers per 30 days | 2 GB with priority, larger files queued |
| How long files last | Indefinitely on the top tier only | 7 days; up to 30 days on paid plans |
| Your own domain | No | Subdomain on paid plans; own domain on Enterprise |
| Ads on the free tier | Ad-supported | Not stated on the page checked |
WeTransfer facts checked 31 July 2026 (the free limit re-checked 21 September 2026); Smash facts checked 21 September 2026. No prices — they change faster than anyone can keep up with.
How the free tiers really differ
WeTransfer counts across the month. Its free plan is a rolling 30-day allowance: 3 GB or 10 transfers. The practical effect is that a busy week can use up your month, and the eleventh transfer waits.
Smash queues instead of refusing. Above 2 GB on the free plan, Smash does not stop you; your transfer goes into a non-priority queue. For a single big file sent now and then, that is a genuinely friendly design.
Which is better depends on your pattern: many small sends favour Smash; a few big sends a month favour either, depending on how long you can wait.
Where both stop
Both are transfer services: a link that works for a while, then ends. That is right for a one-off hand-over. It is the wrong shape for work a client returns to — a gallery, a project archive, a set of brand assets — because the link you sent in March is dead by June, and someone has to find and resend everything.
Neither lists client proofing on the pages checked: a place where the client favourites and comments on individual files. And neither offers a developer API, CLI or MCP server on the pages checked, which matters if sending is a step in an automated pipeline.
A third option, briefly
Since you are comparing: Yungle sends up to 10 GB per transfer free, as many transfers as you like, no account and no ads, on servers in Germany. On a subscription, nothing expires unless you give it a date, and collections give clients one place to come back to, with favourites and comments.
When each is the better choice
WeTransfer, if your recipients already know its download page and you would rather not introduce anything new — familiarity is a real feature.
Smash, if you send a large file now and then on a free account and can wait for the queue.
Neither, if files need to stay reachable for months, or if you want to see who downloaded what — that is where a service built for collections and receipts earns its place.
The short version
- WeTransfer free: 3 GB or 10 transfers per rolling 30 days.
- Smash free: 2 GB with priority, bigger files queued.
- Both expire links; neither lists client proofing.
- Pick by your sending pattern, and by whether files need to last.
Full sourced detail is on Yungle vs WeTransfer and Yungle vs Smash. For the whole field, see the best WeTransfer alternatives.