WeTransfer vs Google Drive.

The short answer

• Use WeTransfer for a one-off handoff, like a batch of photos for a friend, where the link can expire.
• Use Google Drive when you want to keep the file, control who can open it, or send something bigger.

Side by side

• Free limits. WeTransfer: up to 10 transfers, or 3 GB in total, in any rolling 30 days. Drive: files up to 5 TB, but your Google Account has 15 GB of free storage, shared with Gmail and Google Photos.
• How long it lasts. WeTransfer: on the free plan, a transfer stays up for at most 3 days. Drive: the file stays shared until you change the sharing or delete it.
• How they get it. WeTransfer: it emails them a download link, or gives you a link to paste anywhere. Drive: add their email address, or set General access to “Anyone with the link” and copy the link.
• Accounts. WeTransfer: you need a free account to send, but they don’t need one to download. Drive: with “Anyone with the link,” they can open it without signing in to a Google Account.
• What they can do with it. WeTransfer: download it. Drive: you pick Viewer, Commenter or Editor.
• Folders. WeTransfer: zip a folder first if its structure matters. Otherwise WeTransfer flattens it into one zip file. Drive: you can upload and share a whole folder.
• Work use. WeTransfer says free transfers are for non-commercial use. Drive: work or school accounts may limit sharing outside the organization.

What about speed and quality?

WeTransfer says upload and download speed is the same on free and paid plans, and depends on your connection. It also says files arrive exactly as you uploaded them, without compression. Google’s help pages don’t give a speed figure, and we haven’t tested either, so we won’t call a winner.

How to send each from a Mac

• WeTransfer: go to wetransfer.com, click + to add files, enter the email addresses (or switch to a link transfer), then click Transfer.
• Google Drive: go to drive.google.com, click New > File upload, select the file, then click Share and add people or copy the link.

In Gmail you may not need either: attach the file, and if it’s over 25 MB Gmail swaps in a Drive link for you. See File too large for Gmail? and Send large files from your Mac.

Where Sendoff fits

Sendoff is a Mac app that lives in the notch, for the people you send to most: your accountant, your teammate, your mom. It sends by Gmail or iMessage, not a transfer link. Drop the file, pick the person, press Send off. It remembers how you reach each person and routes around what won’t work: a 48 MB video for someone you usually email goes by iMessage instead. For more options, see the best file sharing apps for Mac.

Try Sendoff

Sendoff is not out yet. Join the waitlist below, and tick the beta box if you want to test it first.