# Alternatives to Wormhole

E2E encrypted instant links.

Wormhole ranks #5 of 8 in File transfer tools, with an Alt Score of 50. It is free from Free and available on the web. 5 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Anyone who needs to send large files to someone else quickly without setting up an account or a cloud storage share.
- **What you get**: Wormhole lets you send files up to 10 GB via a link, encrypted end-to-end so the service can't read the contents. Links expire automatically after a set time or number of downloads, so files don't persist indefinitely online. There's no account required to send or receive a file.
- **How it works**: Drag files into the browser (or select them) to upload; Wormhole encrypts them client-side and generates a shareable link. You send that link to the recipient, who downloads the files before the link expires.

## Profile

- **License**: ?
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Web
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [croc](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/croc.md) | 73 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 2 | [Send Anywhere](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/send-anywhere.md) | 68 | ? | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 3 | [LocalSend](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/localsend.md) | 64 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 4 | [PairDrop](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pairdrop.md) | 64 | GPL-3.0 | 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 | Wormhole | croc | Send Anywhere | LocalSend | PairDrop | Warpinator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free | Freemium | Free | Donationware | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free | $5.99/mo | Free | Free | Free |
| License | ? | MIT | ? | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | Web | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web, Browser extension | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | 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 | Partial | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | ? | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? |
| Resume interrupted transfers | ? | Yes | Partial | ? | ? | ? |
| CLI | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |

## Sources

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

- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://wormhole.app/faq> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Currently free; a Pro plan is planned but not yet available.
  - Quote: “We're planning to introduce a Pro plan for larger file limits and explore an enterprise version”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://wormhole.app/faq> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “We're planning to introduce a Pro plan for larger file limits”
- **Platforms**: Web — <https://wormhole.app/faq> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “the Wormhole website works great on mobile devices, including iOS and Android.”
- **Status**: active — <https://wormhole.app/faq> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “We're working to make Wormhole the best file sending tool.”
- **Max file size (free)**: Yes — <https://wormhole.app/faq> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Files up to 5 GB are stored server-side; a size cap applies.
  - Quote: “For files up to 5 GB, Wormhole stores your files on our servers for 24 hours.”
- **E2E encryption**: Yes — <https://wormhole.app/security> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Your Wormhole files are end-to-end encrypted, and only you hold the keys to decrypt them.”
- **Local network (P2P)**: Yes — <https://wormhole.app/security> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Sent directly to the recipient via a peer-to-peer WebRTC connection”
- **Expiry controls**: Yes — <https://wormhole.app/faq> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Files are permanently deleted from the server after 24 hours.”
- **Open source**: Partial — <https://wormhole.app/faq> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Only the encryption library is open source; the full app is not.
  - Quote: “The source code for the streaming encryption implementation, based on Encrypted Content-Encoding for HTTP (RFC 8188) is open source. The full client and server code may be open sourced in the future.”

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