A transfer is an event. A client relationship is not.

The difference in one sentence

WeTransfer is built around the transfer. Droplana is built around the client.

That sounds like marketing, but it is the whole practical difference. In WeTransfer, the unit of work is a single send: you pick files, you enter an address, it goes, and the job is done. In Droplana, the unit of work is a client who has a space that persists — so the fifth thing you send them sits alongside the first four, and the document they send back sits there too.

Where WeTransfer genuinely wins

Being honest about this matters, because for some jobs it is the better answer.

• Zero setup for a one-off. No client to create, nothing to configure. You want to get a file to someone once and never think about them again — that is exactly what it is for.
• Sending to someone who is not a client. A journalist, a printer, a venue, a one-time collaborator.
• Very large single handoffs. If you routinely move files bigger than Droplana's per-file ceiling, a transfer service handles that shape of problem more simply.
• Familiarity. Almost everyone has received a WeTransfer link before.

If your work is genuinely a series of unrelated one-off sends, you do not need a portal, and we would rather say so.

Where it stops working

The complaints that push people to look for something else are consistent:

The link expired. Free transfers stop working after a set window. The client comes back a month later, clicks the old email, and gets nothing. You re-upload the same files. This is the single most common reason people search for an alternative.

There is no "place" for a client. Ten transfers to the same client over six months leave ten unrelated links in ten emails. Nobody — you or them — can answer "where is everything for this project?"

It only goes one way. Collecting documents back is where most service businesses actually lose time: chasing signed forms, IDs, and receipts through email replies and blurry phone photos. A transfer tool does not help with that at all.

No comments, no status, no sign-off. Feedback happens in a separate email thread, detached from the file it is about. There is no record that the client approved anything.

Side by side

WeTransfer's own paid tiers add longer retention and branding options; check wetransfer.com for what is current.

The numbers, plainly

Add-ons on Pro: Storage at €25/mo adds 500 GB and raises the per-file limit to 5 GB (stackable); Team at €20/mo unlocks unlimited team members. In-browser PDF signing, per-client encryption, and data export are included on every plan, including Free.

Who should choose which

Stay with WeTransfer if most of your sending is one-off, to people you will not deal with again, and nobody needs to send anything back.

Move to Droplana if you have clients rather than recipients — the same people, over months, who need to find things again and send you documents in return. Accountants and legal practices collecting paperwork, agencies delivering rounds of work, photographers whose galleries should still open next year.

Plenty of people keep both: a transfer tool for the occasional stranger, Droplana for the client list.

If you are weighing this up more broadly, how to share files with clients covers the general problem, and Droplana vs WeTransfer goes deeper on the direct comparison.

Check our simple pricing (or start free)

Need more? Add the Storage addon (€25/mo stackable) or Team addon (€20/mo).
Security, per-client encryption, isolation, in-browser PDF signing, and data export are the same on every plan.
No per-client fees. Tax calculated by Creem at checkout.

See who uses Droplana