The Dispatch

October 2, 2026 · 4 min read

WeTransfer vs Filemail

WeTransfer and Filemail, compared by what happens after the link exists.

A pattern of looping jeepney routes

People ask this as if one of them cheated. They didn’t. WeTransfer and Filemail grew up answering different complaints.

WeTransfer

WeTransfer taught a whole generation that a file could be a link. You drop it in the browser, you get a URL, the other person does not make an account.

The upload is a minute. The afterwards is the product.

Their own pages, as of late 2026, put the free plan at 3 GB per transfer, with 10 transfers or 3 GB total in a rolling month, and links that die after 3 days. Free use is framed as personal, not commercial.

It is still the name people say when they mean “just send the file.” The page is calm. Recipients are not puzzled.

The annoying part: Three days is a rude expiry if your client is on a shoot. Three gigabytes is a short film, not a project. And the free plan is not really for invoices you send every Tuesday.

Filemail

Filemail is the Norwegian one that grew up around offices. Tracking, forms, the feeling of a shipping desk.

Free is about 5 GB, a couple of transfers a day, links around a week.

If you have to prove a file left and a file arrived, Filemail already speaks that language.

The annoying part: The free booth feels like a sample. The personality is corporate on purpose, which is either reassuring or beige, depending on your Tuesday.

Side by side

WeTransferFilemail
Free size3 GB5 GB, few per day
Free expiry3 daysAbout 7 days
Account to sendThey push for oneNo
PasswordPaidPaid
The top endUltimate lifts the capAbout 250 GB on Pro

Which one, then

Open WeTransfer when you already live in their paid plan, your files are under a few gigabytes, and everyone on the thread already knows the orange page. Open Filemail when you are an office that wants logs more than you want a short, loud link.

If both have started to feel like a membership, the smaller idea is a transfer that ends. Pink Jeepney’s free ride is 2 GB and 7 days. The paid plans are 25 GB, 100 GB, and 250 GB. That is a third afterwards, not a verdict on the first two.

Written by

David Krug

Twenty-plus years of building cute little websites, and big ones, with an independent footprint. In the Philippines since 2016. Based in Manila, with two children and one amazing partner.

Follow the build · @realDavidKrug