What to Use Instead of WeTransfer for Photos
Last updated: October 21, 2026
Quick answer: if the files are photos and the people receiving them should be able to look at them later, use a shared album link instead of a transfer. A free WeTransfer transfer stays up for at most 3 days. A Viallo album link stays up until you switch it off, opens as a gallery with no account, and on 2026-10-21 gave a signed-out visitor all 18 photos of an album at full size in one 49.6 MB download.
Updated in October 2026. An earlier version of this page said WeTransfer allows 3 GB per free transfer, compresses photos and stores files on US servers; that Google Photos keeps full resolution only on a paid plan and uses your photos for ad targeting; and it priced MASV and described Ente with figures we could not trace to a source. WeTransfer's own help centre gives a free allowance of 3 GB across 30 days, and Google keeps the original resolution on every account. The rest has been removed, and the page now carries a download test we ran ourselves.
Why look for a WeTransfer alternative for photos?
WeTransfer moves files from one person to another, and it is good at that. The friction starts when the files are photos someone will want to open again next month. Two limits decide most of it, and both are in WeTransfer's own help centre:
- Transfers expire. On the Free and Starter plans, uploads can be kept online for up to 3 days, counted from the moment the transfer is sent. Only Ultimate keeps a transfer up for as long as you want.
- The free allowance is small for photos. Free accounts can send up to 10 transfers or 3 GB in any 30-day period; Starter raises that to 300 GB. A custom expiry is listed with Ultimate.
The 18 iPhone photos in our test below came to 49.6 MB, so at that rate about 1,100 photos use up a free account's 3 GB in 30 days. And the people receiving an album tend to come back to it long after three days, which is the case a shared album is for.
WeTransfer, Viallo, Google Photos and Dropbox compared
Each cell below comes from the service's own pages, from Viallo's code, or from a test we ran. Where we found no source for a feature, the row was left out rather than guessed.
| Question | WeTransfer | Viallo | Google Photos | Dropbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How long does the link last? | Up to 3 days on Free and Starter; your choice on Ultimate | Until you switch it off, or a date you set | Until you stop sharing | Expiry dates on Professional, Essentials and business plans |
| Password on the link | Every plan, free included | No | None documented | Professional, Essentials and business plans |
| Viewer needs an account | Not tested | No (tested signed out) | No (tested signed out) | Not tested |
| Full resolution | Not tested | Full pixel size; iPhone HEIC arrives as JPEG | With Original quality, on any account | Not tested |
| Free allowance | 10 transfers or 3 GB per 30 days | 2 albums, 200 photos, 10 GB | 15 GB per Google Account | 2 GB on Basic |
Sources: WeTransfer's pages on transfer availability and plan limits (linked above) and on password-protected transfers, which says passwords are available on all plans; Google's page on backup quality, which says Original quality keeps the resolution you shot at and counts toward the 15 GB each account gets, while Storage saver resizes photos above 16 MP; Dropbox's page on shared link settings, which names the plans that can set a password or an expiry date; and the Dropbox Basic page for its 2 GB. The Google Photos signed-out result is from our test of a public Google Photos album.
What does someone receiving a Viallo album actually get?
On 2026-10-21 we opened a real 18-photo Viallo share link in a headless Chromium browser that had never signed in to anything. The album is a set of iPhone photos from a trip; we are not publishing the link. This is what happened:
- The gallery opened with no sign-in. There was no password, email or account field. The page grouped the photos by place, under two place names, with Location, Map View and By Date tabs above them. A cookie bar and an Open in app button were also on the page.
- Download All produced one zip. The album menu offered Download All. It produced a 49.6 MB zip about six seconds after the click, on a data-centre connection. The browser builds the zip itself from the stored photos, so nobody waits for a server to package it.
- Every photo came back at full size. All 18 files were JPEGs at the size the phone took them: 3024 x 4032 for the portraits, 4032 x 3024 for the landscapes, and 8072 x 3884 for one panorama. The files ran from 1.9 MB to 7.1 MB.
- The files carried no location or camera data. None of the 18 had EXIF fields: no GPS position, no capture time, no phone model. All of them were saved at JPEG quality 92.
Why the files were JPEG at quality 92
When a HEIC photo is uploaded, Viallo converts it to a JPEG at the full pixel size, at quality 0.92, and the converted file is the one viewers download. That is a re-encode, so the download is not the byte-for-byte file from the phone, and it does not keep the photo's EXIF block. The 18 files in our test match that conversion. A JPEG you upload is stored as it arrived. If someone needs the untouched HEIC files, for editing or for an archive, send those files separately rather than through an album.
How do the alternatives differ in use?
Viallo, for albums people come back to
A Viallo link opens a gallery. Viewers can browse it, open single photos and download one photo or the whole album. Each link is a random 128-bit address. It has no expiry unless you set a date, and you can switch it off at any time. You can also turn downloads off for a link and choose whether visitors can view only or add photos too. Switching a link off stops new visits. It does not reach copies people already downloaded, or viewers who saved the album to their own account. More on sharing with people who have no account.
The free plan holds 2 albums, 200 photos and 10 GB. Plus is $6.99 a month for 20 albums, 5,000 photos and 200 GB, and Pro is $17.99 a month. Viallo does not run AI scanning on your photos or train on them. See Viallo pricing for the annual prices.
Google Photos, if the album already lives there
If the photos are already backed up in Google Photos, a shared album link costs nothing extra and opens without a Google account. Two things to know: Google's sharing help says anyone with the link can view the album and add to it, and in our signed-out test the downloaded files kept their EXIF, with a GPS position on some of them. Choose Original quality if resolution matters, since Storage saver resizes anything above 16 MP.
Dropbox, if the photos are files in a folder
A Dropbox shared link can point at a folder, so it suits a delivery that is really a set of files. Passwords and expiry dates on links need a Professional, Essentials or business plan, per Dropbox's help page linked above.
WeTransfer, for a one-off handover
For sending a batch of files once, to someone who will download them that day, WeTransfer is still a reasonable choice. The 3-day window only matters when the recipient needs the link to keep working.
How do you send photos without WeTransfer?
There is nothing to migrate, because a transfer is not stored anywhere you would move it from. With Viallo:
- Create an album and upload the photos from your phone or computer.
- Create a share link. It is view-only unless you choose to let people add photos, and it has no expiry unless you set one.
- Send the link by email or message. The person opening it does not need an account.
- When the album has done its job, switch the link off or set an expiry date for it.
For very large sets, see how to send large photos, and for what each method does to image quality, see full-resolution photo sharing.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good WeTransfer alternative for photos?
For photos that people should be able to browse and come back to, a shared album link fits better than a transfer. A Viallo link opens a gallery with no account, stays up until you switch it off, and gave a signed-out visitor every photo of an album at full size in one zip in our 2026-10-21 test. Google Photos shared albums are the free option if your photos are already there.
How long do WeTransfer links last?
WeTransfer's help centre says Free and Starter transfers can be kept online for up to 3 days from the moment they are sent. On Ultimate you can keep a transfer active for as long as you want.
Does WeTransfer have password protection on the free plan?
Yes. WeTransfer's page on password-protected transfers says password protection is available on all plans, including the free one. A password does not change the 3-day limit on a free transfer.
Do photos keep full resolution in a Viallo album?
Yes, at full pixel size. In our test all 18 iPhone photos downloaded at 3024 x 4032 or larger. iPhone HEIC photos are converted to JPEG at quality 0.92 on upload and carry no EXIF data in the download; JPEG uploads are stored as they arrived.
Can I stop someone opening a shared album later?
Yes. Switch the link off, or give it an expiry date, and new visits stop. Photos already downloaded stay with whoever downloaded them, and someone who saved the album to their own Viallo account keeps access, because switching the link off does not reach them.