You have a 4GB video, a folder of RAW photos, or a project archive that has to reach someone today — and your email client refuses to take it. That is the moment most people go looking for a way to send large files free over the internet. The good news: you have more genuinely free options in 2026 than at any point in the last decade, and several of them will move 10GB or more without asking you to create an account. The bad news: the service this article originally recommended, Firefox Send, no longer exists.
This guide covers what actually works now — the free transfer limits that are real as of mid-2026, the cloud storage you are probably already paying nothing for, the offline method that beats all of them for speed, and the security settings you should switch on before you share a link.
Why email can’t send large files
Email was never designed to move big binaries. Attachments are encoded into the message body, which inflates them by roughly a third, and every mail server in the delivery chain enforces its own size ceiling. Gmail caps personal accounts at 25MB per message, and when you exceed it, Gmail quietly strips the attachment and inserts a Google Drive link instead:
Most other mail providers sit in the same 20–25MB range, and even when a sender’s limit is generous, the recipient’s server can bounce the message. That asymmetry is why a dedicated transfer link is almost always the right answer for anything above about 20MB.
What happened to Firefox Send?
Firefox Send was Mozilla’s encrypted, no-account file transfer service, and for a short while it was the best free option available. Mozilla suspended it in July 2020 after attackers began using it to distribute malware and run phishing campaigns, and shut it down permanently on 17 September 2020 as part of a wider product cull. Every file that had been uploaded was wiped from Mozilla’s servers.
If you landed here looking for Firefox Send, the closest replacements in spirit — encrypted, link-based, no account required — are SwissTransfer and Send Anywhere, both covered below. The open-source Send codebase also lives on in community-run instances, though you are trusting whoever operates the server.
Best free services to send large files
These are ranked by how much they let you send without paying or registering. Free tiers change often, so treat the numbers as current-at-publication and check the provider’s page before you plan a workflow around one.
SwissTransfer — up to 50GB, no account
SwissTransfer, run by Swiss hosting company Infomaniak, is the most generous mainstream free option: 50GB per transfer, free, with no registration. Files are stored in Swiss data centres under Swiss and GDPR privacy law, and there are no ads.
- Choose an expiry of 1, 7, 15 or up to 30 days
- Cap the number of downloads (anywhere from 1 to 250)
- Add optional password protection
- Files are deleted automatically after 15 days by default; on day 12 you are emailed an offer to extend to 30
- Recipients don’t need an account to download
One caveat: Infomaniak restricts creating transfers in a long list of countries, though receiving them is unrestricted worldwide. If the upload page tells you the service is unavailable in your location, use one of the alternatives below.
Send Anywhere — 10GB links plus direct device-to-device
Send Anywhere gives free users share links of up to 10GB, which is among the most generous no-cost allowances anywhere. Its signature feature is the six-digit key: the sender uploads, the app generates a short numeric code, and the recipient types that code into the app or website within 10 minutes to pull the file down. No link to paste, no email address to hand over.
It’s the best pick when you’re sending to someone standing next to you or on a call, and it works across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and the browser.
TransferNow — 5GB, no sign-up
TransferNow allows up to 5GB per transfer on the free tier, with a cap on how many transfers you can start per day and no account required. You can send by link or have the service email the recipient directly, and it supports password protection and custom expiry. It is the most WeTransfer-like of the alternatives in look and feel, with a considerably less restrictive free tier.
WeTransfer — the famous one, now the tightest
WeTransfer is still the name most people reach for, but its free plan is now the most restrictive of the major services. Per WeTransfer’s own plan documentation, the free tier allows up to 10 transfers and 3GB of data in any rolling 30-day window — note that the 3GB is a monthly pool shared across all your transfers, not a per-transfer allowance. Hit either ceiling and you are blocked until the window rolls over. Paid tiers (Starter, Ultimate, Teams, Enterprise) raise this substantially, with per-transfer sizes up to 1TB at the top end.
For a single, occasional send it remains perfectly usable. For anything regular, SwissTransfer or Send Anywhere will serve you better for the same price: nothing.
Smash — small free tier, no hard size wall
Smash markets itself on having no maximum file size, but the free plan is metered — roughly 2GB per transfer with a monthly transfer allowance — and larger sends are queued at lower priority. It is worth knowing about as a backup, but it is not the first place to go for a genuinely large one-off file.
Use the cloud storage you already have
Before signing up for anything new, check what you already own. Every major account comes with free storage and link sharing, and for files you may need to re-send later this is often the better choice — the link doesn’t expire in three days.
Google Drive
Every Google account includes 15GB of free storage shared across Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. Upload the file, right-click, choose Share, and set access to “Anyone with the link”. This is what Gmail does for you automatically when you exceed 25MB. The trade-off is that the file counts against your quota until you delete it — which is exactly how people end up with a full Drive and a “storage almost full” email.
OneDrive, iCloud and Dropbox
OneDrive and iCloud both ship a small free tier (5GB each) that is fine for documents and short videos. Dropbox Transfer is the closest thing Dropbox has to a WeTransfer competitor, but the free Basic plan caps a transfer at just 100MB; Plus, Family and Standard raise it to 2GB, and Professional, Advanced and Enterprise plans go up to 100GB. Useful if you already pay for Dropbox, not worth joining for.
Proton Drive — for genuinely private sharing
If confidentiality matters more than raw size, Proton Drive’s free plan gives you end-to-end encrypted storage (2GB, rising to 5GB once you complete a few setup steps) and lets you generate share links with a password and an expiry date even without paying. Proton cannot read the contents of what you upload. The ceiling is your storage quota, so it suits contracts and sensitive documents rather than a 40GB video export.
Skip the internet entirely: LocalSend, AirDrop and Quick Share
If the person you are sending to is on the same Wi-Fi network — a colleague across the office, a family member across the room — uploading to a server and downloading it back down is the slowest possible route.
LocalSend is a free, open-source, cross-platform answer to AirDrop. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, transfers over your local network with end-to-end encryption, and works entirely offline — nothing touches a third-party server, there is no file size limit imposed by a provider, and there are no ads, accounts or tracking. For large transfers between devices you control, it is comfortably the fastest option on this list.
Within a single ecosystem, the built-in tools do the same job: AirDrop between Apple devices and Quick Share across Android, Windows and Chromebooks.
Free file transfer limits at a glance
| Service | Free limit | Account needed? | Link lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| SwissTransfer | 50GB per transfer | No | 1–30 days (15 default) |
| Send Anywhere | 10GB share link | No | Link-based, or 10-min key |
| TransferNow | 5GB per transfer | No | Configurable |
| WeTransfer | 3GB / 10 transfers per 30 days | No | Short (days) |
| Google Drive | 15GB total storage | Yes | Until you delete it |
| Dropbox Transfer | 100MB (Basic) | Yes | Configurable |
| Proton Drive | 2–5GB storage | Yes | Set your own expiry |
| LocalSend | No limit (local network) | No | Instant, nothing stored |
How to send a large file for free, step by step
Using SwissTransfer as the example, because it needs no account and handles the widest range of file sizes:
- Compress first if it makes sense. Bundle a folder of many small files into a single ZIP — one big file transfers far faster than a thousand small ones. Already-compressed formats (MP4, JPEG, PNG) won’t shrink meaningfully, so don’t bother.
- Open the transfer page and drag your file or folder onto the upload area.
- Set an expiry. Pick the shortest window that gives your recipient time to download. Shorter is safer.
- Set a download limit. If one person needs the file once, set the limit to 1. This is the single most underused security control in file sharing.
- Add a password if the contents are sensitive.
- Choose link or email delivery. A link you send yourself is more reliable — service-sent emails frequently land in spam.
- Upload, then share the link. Send the password through a different channel from the link.
Security checklist before you hit send
A transfer link is a URL that anyone holding it can open. Treat it accordingly.
- Never send the password in the same message as the link. Link by email, password by messaging app or phone.
- Set an expiry and a download cap on anything that isn’t public.
- Prefer end-to-end encrypted services for contracts, IDs, medical records or client work — that means the provider cannot read the file, not merely that the connection is HTTPS.
- Read the terms if the file is client work. Some consumer transfer services reserve broad rights over uploaded content; if you handle other people’s material, that matters.
- Be suspicious of inbound transfer links. Firefox Send was killed precisely because malware distributors loved it. A link from someone you weren’t expecting a file from deserves the same scepticism as any other attachment.
- Delete the transfer when it’s done rather than letting it sit until expiry.
Also read: How to free up space on your Android device
Frequently asked questions
What is the largest file I can send for free?
Around 50GB, via SwissTransfer, with no account and no payment. Send Anywhere is next at 10GB. If both devices are on the same network, LocalSend has no imposed ceiling at all.
How do I send a 10GB file free?
SwissTransfer and Send Anywhere both handle 10GB on their free tiers. If the recipient is nearby, LocalSend will move it far faster because the data never leaves your local network.
Is WeTransfer still free?
Yes, but the free tier is now capped at 10 transfers and 3GB of total data in any rolling 30-day period, and links stay live for only a few days. It suits occasional one-off sends rather than regular use.
What replaced Firefox Send?
Nothing official — Mozilla shut it down permanently in September 2020 and never revived it. SwissTransfer and Send Anywhere are the nearest equivalents for encrypted, account-free link sharing.
How do I send large video files free?
Video is where free tiers get tested. Don’t ZIP it — MP4 is already compressed and you’ll gain almost nothing. Upload the raw file to SwissTransfer for anything under 50GB. If the recipient only needs to watch rather than edit, uploading an unlisted YouTube or Vimeo video is often more practical than transferring the master file.
Are free file transfer services safe?
Reputable ones are, provided you use the controls they give you: password protection, a short expiry and a download limit. The real risk is not the provider but the link — anyone who obtains it can download the file. For genuinely confidential material, use an end-to-end encrypted service such as Proton Drive, or transfer locally with LocalSend.
The bottom line
For most people, most of the time, the answer is short: SwissTransfer for large one-off sends, Send Anywhere when the recipient is on a call with you, your existing Google Drive when the file needs to stay available, and LocalSend when you’re on the same Wi-Fi. None of those cost anything, and between them they cover almost every scenario email can’t.
Whichever you pick, spend the extra ten seconds on the expiry, the download cap and the password. The file transfer itself is the easy part — controlling who else can grab that link is the part people skip.
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