SwissTransfer is the most generous free file transfer service in the category — 50 GB per transfer, no account, run by Infomaniak — and for occasional sending there is no reason to use anything else. People look for alternatives for three specific reasons: files disappear after 15 days, big archives have to be downloaded one file at a time, and Switzerland is not in the EU.
Every figure below is from the company's own documentation, with the date I checked it.
What SwissTransfer states
From Infomaniak's own documentation, checked 18 October 2026:
- Transfers up to 50 GB, free.
- Up to 250 downloads per transfer (the sender picks 1, 20, 100 or 250); unlimited downloads need a paid plan.
- Files are deleted after 15 days. An extension to 30 days is offered to the sender by email on the twelfth day and stays available for three days.
- Above 10 GB, an archive is downloaded one file at a time rather than in one piece.
15 days
Infomaniak is a Swiss company with a serious reputation on privacy and infrastructure. Nothing here is a criticism of it — this page exists because three specific limits send people looking.
The three reasons people leave
Files vanish after 15 days
The extension helps, but it is opt-in, offered late, and depends on the sender noticing an email. If your client comes back to the work months later, a 15-day default is the wrong shape — you will upload the same files again and again. Decide retention on purpose rather than inheriting one.
The 10 GB archive limit
The one that surprises people. Under 10 GB, one download. Over 10 GB, your recipient fetches files one by one. For one big video that is irrelevant. For a wedding gallery of six hundred images it is unusable — exactly the case where 50 GB free looked most generous.
Switzerland is outside the EU
Swiss data protection is widely treated as adequate, and usually this is a non-issue. But if your requirement is written as "data must remain within the EU" — which is how a lot of procurement and public-sector rules are worded — a Swiss service does not meet it on its face. The European services comparison is about exactly that.
The alternatives
Yungle, for delivering rather than sending
Mine, so weigh it accordingly. Free is 10 GB per transfer, as many as you like, 7 days, no account, no ads — a fifth of SwissTransfer's ceiling, so on size alone it is a step down, and I will not pretend otherwise.
What it is for is the case SwissTransfer is not built for. On a subscription, work lives in collections where nothing expires unless you set a date. Folders stay exactly as you uploaded them, and a client can download everything as one zip. Clients browse a gallery and pick favourites; request links let them send files to you; delivery can happen on your own domain.
It is run by an EU business, on servers in Germany, with a published data processing agreement. Every file is always encrypted with its own key. Yungle vs SwissTransfer has the side-by-side.
And to repeat the concession, because it is the one that matters: if your files fit in 50 GB and you only need them sent, SwissTransfer does that free and does it well.
Filemail, for bigger single transfers
From Filemail's own plan comparison, checked 1 August 2026: Pro sends up to 250 GB per transfer with 1 TB of storage and lists availability as permanent; Business lists "Any Size". The free account sends up to 5 GB.
The only option here that goes well beyond SwissTransfer's 50 GB. If your files routinely clear it, this is the direct upgrade.
Smash, for no wall on a free account
From Smash's own pricing page, checked 21 September 2026: 2 GB free with priority, then a queue rather than a refusal; paid plans list transfer size as unlimited. A much smaller free tier, but very large free transfers are possible if you can wait. Smash dedicates the free version's upload and download screens to advertisers (checked 1 October 2026).
WeTransfer and Dropbox Transfer
WeTransfer (checked 1 October 2026): 3 GB or 10 transfers across a rolling 30 days, and a free transfer expires after 3 days. Dropbox Transfer (checked 1 October 2026): 2 GB free, 7 days, no ads, an account to send. Both far below SwissTransfer on size.
Choosing
- Occasional sending, under 10 GB, nothing sensitive? Stay on SwissTransfer. It is the best free tier there is.
- Single files over 50 GB? Filemail.
- Recipients struggling with the file-by-file download? That is the archive limit, and it needs a service that delivers the whole set in one piece.
- A hard EU-residency requirement? Start with the European list, and check the company's country, not just the data centre's.
- Delivering client work again and again? The limit you will hit is expiry, not size — and that is what paid plans exist to solve.