# Alternatives to croc

Encrypted terminal file transfer.

croc ranks #1 of 8 in File transfer tools, with an Alt Score of 73. It is licensed under MIT, free from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 7 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/croc/
Category: File transfer tools

## Where croc stands out

- **Self-hostable** — 2 of 4 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Developers and technically comfortable users who need to send files between two computers over a network — for example, across a LAN, over the internet, or between servers via SSH — without setting up file sharing infrastructure.
- **What you get**: A command-line tool for secure, peer-to-peer file and folder transfer with end-to-end encryption via PAKE (password-authenticated key exchange). It works without port forwarding, supports resuming interrupted transfers, handles multiple files or entire directories, and works cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux) with optional relay/proxy (including Tor) support.
- **How it works**: The sender runs `croc send [file]`, which generates a short one-time code phrase; the receiver runs `croc [code-phrase]` on another machine to establish an encrypted connection and pull the file, relayed through a public or self-hosted relay server if the two machines can't connect directly.

## Profile

- **License**: MIT (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Send Anywhere](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/send-anywhere.md) | 68 | ? | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 2 | [LocalSend](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/localsend.md) | 64 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 3 | [PairDrop](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pairdrop.md) | 64 | GPL-3.0 | Web |
| 4 | [Wormhole](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wormhole.md) | 50 | ? | Web |
| 5 | [Warpinator](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/warpinator.md) | 46 | GPL-3.0 | Linux |
| 6 | [Smash](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/smash.md) | 37 | Proprietary | macOS, iOS, Android, Web |
| 7 | [WeTransfer](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wetransfer.md) | 37 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| File transfer tools checklist | croc | Send Anywhere | LocalSend | PairDrop | Wormhole | Warpinator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Free | Donationware | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | $5.99/mo | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| License | MIT | ? | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 | ? | GPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web, Browser extension | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Web | Web | Linux |
| Max file size (free) | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| E2E encryption | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| No account needed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Local network (P2P) | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Expiry controls | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| Password protection | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
| Resume interrupted transfers | Yes | Partial | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| CLI | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |

## Sources

Sources for croc. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: MIT — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “MIT License”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of the software”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of the software”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Enables easy cross-platform transfers (Windows, Linux, Mac)”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/schollz/croc/releases> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “v10.4.13 · 09 Jul 15:28”
- **E2E encryption**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Provides end-to-end encryption (using PAKE)”
- **No account needed**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Uses a one-time code phrase; no account or sign-up.
  - Quote: “croc is a tool that allows any two computers to simply and securely transfer files and folders.”
- **Password protection**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “The code phrase is used to establish password-authenticated key agreement (PAKE) which generates a secret key for the sender and recipient to use for end-to-end encryption.”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “MIT License”
- **Self-hostable**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “You can run your own relay: `croc relay`”
- **Resume interrupted transfers**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Allows resuming transfers that are interrupted”
- **CLI**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schollz/croc/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “$ croc send [file(s)-or-folder]”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/