WeTransfer Pro charges $12/month, forever, to move files through their storage. Droplink does the same job from your own $5 VPS or desktop: chunked resumable uploads with no practical size limit, expiring share links with password gates and download limits, and a clean download page for recipients. Your client files never touch a third party.
This is the full pricing breakdown: what WeTransfer actually costs over one, two and three years, what Droplink gives you for $79 paid once, and the honest cases where the subscription is still the right call.
What WeTransfer actually costs you
At $12/mo, one WeTransfer subscription adds up to $144 every year — $432 over a three-year window, for software you stop owning the day you cancel. Droplink is $79 the day you buy it, and the meter never runs again.
| Droplink | WeTransfer | |
|---|---|---|
| Sticker price | $79 once | $12/mo |
| Cost after 1 year | $79 | $144 |
| Cost after 2 years | $79 | $288 |
| Cost after 3 years | $79 | $432 |
Three years in, the gap is $353 — and every year after that adds another $144 to the subscription side of the ledger.
Droplink vs WeTransfer, feature by feature
Price is only half the story — here's how the two line up on the things that decide day-to-day use:
| Droplink | WeTransfer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $79 once | $12/mo ($144/yr, forever) |
| File size limit | None — your disk is the limit | 200GB (Pro) |
| Resumable uploads | Yes | No |
| Where files live | Your own server | Their storage |
| Download limits per link | Yes | No |
| Password-protected links | Yes | Pro only |
| Ongoing cost after year 1 | $0 | $144+/yr |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
What you get for $79, once
Self-hosted WeTransfer — chunked resumable uploads, password links, download limits. The highlights:
- 🧩 Chunked, resumable uploads — Files slice into 5MB chunks with per-chunk retry. Drop your connection mid-upload and it resumes exactly where it left off — a 50GB file is as safe as a 5MB one.
- ⏳ Transfers with real terms — Expiry (default 7 days), optional bcrypt-hashed password, optional max-download count, optional message to the recipient.
- 🔗 Clean share links — File list with sizes, live expiry countdown, password gate, inline preview for images and PDFs, per-file download plus streamed "Download all as ZIP".
- 📧 Email the link — Compose recipients + a note straight from the transfer page using your own SMTP credentials — no third-party mail service.
Pays for itself in 6.6 months versus WeTransfer Pro — and stays free forever after that.
Switching is 3 steps
- Buy once on Whop. One-time $79 for the packaged Windows desktop app plus guided VPS deploy, lifetime updates.
- Run it anywhere. Desktop app for occasional sends, or docker compose up on a $5 VPS with your own domain when links need to be public.
- Upload, set terms, share. Drop the files, set expiry/password/download limit, copy the link or email it via your own SMTP.
When paying WeTransfer is still the right call
Being straight about it: the subscription earns its keep in three situations. If your team is large enough that WeTransfer's collaboration features, permissions and admin controls are genuinely load-bearing; if your workflow is built on its integrations and leaving means rebuilding that plumbing; or if you have enterprise requirements — SSO, audit logs, SLAs, a vendor to call — that a pay-once app doesn't come with. Everyone else is paying $12/mo for a job that runs fine on hardware they already own.
If that's you, Droplink is $79, once. For the deeper dive, read the Droplink vs WeTransfer head-to-head or the full WeTransfer comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — the full source is MIT at github.com/bensblueprints/droplink-mvp, always. $79 buys the packaged installer, guided deploy and lifetime updates instead of building it yourself.
Do I need a server?
For public share links, yes — a $5 VPS with the included Docker Compose setup does it, with Caddy or nginx in front for TLS. Desktop mode runs the identical app in an Electron window for local use. WeTransfer's zero-setup convenience is real; the trade is you rent it forever.
What happens if an upload drops at 90%?
It resumes. The server tracks exactly which 5MB chunks it already has, so a refresh or dropped connection continues instead of restarting — verified in the test suite with a sha256 byte-identical check, not just eyeballed.
What about download speed and bandwidth?
It's your server's bandwidth — a decent VPS handles client-file delivery fine, but a global CDN like WeTransfer's will be faster for recipients on the other side of the world. For freelancer/agency client work, one good server covers it.
Can recipients preview files before downloading?
Images and PDFs preview inline on the download page. Everything downloads per-file or as a single streamed ZIP that's never buffered in memory.
More on WeTransfer pricing
Droplink — product page, demo & full feature list · All OneTimeSuite pricing breakdowns
Try Droplink — $79, once
Self-hosted WeTransfer — chunked resumable uploads, password links, download limits.