Smash vs Transfernow: How Do They Compare?
Whether its security, speed, customization options, plugin choice or just ease of use, Smash comes out on top.
IN THIS ARTICLE, YOU’RE GOING TO READ A COMPARISON BETWEEN TRANSFERNOW AND SMASH:
When you’ve got a large file to send and it’s too big to email or drop into a messaging app, what do you do?
For a long time, users had few options when faced with this dilemma. They might try and slice their file into 20MB portions and attach it to a series of emails (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3…) or attempt to wrangle a file storage service like Google Drive into a temporary sharing solution. More recently, though, file sharing services have arisen to meet the needs of users with large files that need to be shared, stat.
Two options in this growing file sharing service market are Smash and Transfernow. Both have emerged from the vibrant French Tech scene and today serve users worldwide with their innovative offerings for individuals, teams, and larger businesses.
But what is the better choice for you: Smash or Transfernow?
In this article we’ll compare the free and paid tiers from both companies, compare their functionality and service, and determine which is the best file transfer service for you.
How to Compare Two File Transfer Services
We’ll compare Smash and Transfernow across the following components:
Their Free Tier offer
Their Paid Tier offers
Their speed, security and personalization options
Their Outlook plugin, user management and API functionality
By looking at all of the different tiers of service plus all the most important functionality for individual and business users, we’ll be able to conclude which of the two is the better bet for transferring large files effectively, efficiently, and without breaking the bank.
Smash vs Transfernow: Free Tier
The good news for anyone wishing to test out Transfernow and Smash is that both services offer a free tier. Thanks to this no-cost offer, you have a chance to see just what the limits to each service are and assess how they might impact your future file transfer needs.
Of course, both services are neck and neck when it comes to price; it’s a free tier after all! They both also offer 7-day availability of files (which means your recipient has a week to download the file you shared) and both offer email notifications when the file has been downloaded. Significantly, both Transfernow and Smash allow free tier users to protect their file transfers with a password, something that some of the competition (looking at you, WeTransfer!) don’t offer.
There’s a big different, though, when it comes to the size of the file that you can share on the free tier. With Transfernow it’s capped at just 5GB and, while generous in comparison to some other services, pales in comparison to the unlimited file size that Smash offers.
There are also differences when it comes to how many people you can share a file with. Smash makes it easy by putting no limits on the number of recipients of a sharing link. Transfernow, on the other hand, caps free users at just 10.
| Smash | TransferNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Max. File Size | Unlimited | 5GB |
| Password Protection | Yes | Yes |
| Recipients | Unlimited | 10 |
| Availability | 7 Days | 7 Days |
| Notification | Yes | Yes |
One other difference to keep in mind is the UI.
Here’s what you get with Smash:
And here’s the ad-laden alternative at Transfernow:
Little surprise that a lot of people appreciate the clean, clear Smash UI over the ads at Transfernow.
No Registration. And Free.
Smash vs Transfernow: Paid Tiers
When it comes to the paid tiers, both companies have three offers: a pro or premium offer for individuals, an offer for teams, and an enterprise offer for 10 or more seats.
Smash and Transfernow offer options for recurring payments on different timescales, either:
every month
every year
every two years
As you might expect, the longer the commitment then the lower the cost with steep discounts for users that choose the one-year or two-year packages.
On pricing, though, there’s a clear advantage for Smash. Whether it’s the Pro/Premium offer or the offer tailored for Teams, Smash is consistently less expensive. This is worth keeping in mind if you are going to be sharing a lot of files.
| Smash | TransferNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Pro/Premium 2 Year | 4.80 | 6 |
| Pro/Premium 1 Year | 6 | 8 |
| Pro/Premium Monthly | 10 | 10 |
| Team 2 Year | 12 | 18 |
| Team 1 Year | 15 | 24 |
| Team Monthly | 25 | 30 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
* prices in Euros
Another significant difference between the two offers comes when considering the size of the files and folders that you’re permitted to send. This is important because the whole reason that you came looking for a file sharing solution is probably because you had a file that was too large to easily transfer by email or instant message. You want a service that is going to be robust enough to handle the file you’re sending, so how do the two services stack up?
With Smash, it’s simple: whether you are paying for the service or not, you can send a file of any size. Period.
With Transfernow, there are a few more conditions. Free tier? You’re limited to just 5GB. Pay a little to join the Premium tier and you’ll be allowed to transfer 250GB at a time. Pay more again for a Team tier subscription and you’ll be allowed to send a 500GB transfer.
In short, if you have large files to share then you’ll have to pick the right plan on Transfernow, while on Smash you never have to think about anything other than what to send and to who – simple, right?
| Smash | Transfernow | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Unlimited | 5GB |
| Pro/Premium | Unlimited | 250GB |
| Team | Unlimited | 500GB |
No Registration. And Free.
Smash vs Transfernow: Functionality
Both Smash and Transfernow offer similar functionality but it’s worth looking at how each stacks up against the other.
Outlook Plugin
Sending a file from the office, through your business, or just via your personal Microsoft 365 account? Both Smash and Transfernow offer an Outlook plugin to allow seamless file sharing from within the Microsoft Outlook application. In both cases, you’ll need a paid subscription to either Smash or Transfernow to access the plugin, but it will work perfectly whether you are on a month-to-month Pro/Premium tier or one of the customized Enterprise tiers.
Easy. Secure. Responsible.
Storage
Both services offer storage to their paid users but there’s a significant difference in the amount of storage between the two. With Smash, Pro users get 1TB of storage and Teams users get 2TB each. At Transfernow, though, their Premium users have access to just 500GB of storage and only their Teams users have the 2TB that Smash offers.
Speed
Both Smash and Transfernow are fast.
The only real limit on the speed of both services is the upload speed of the user. If you’re uploading a large file over a 3G connection you’re going to find things slow, while a high-speed fiber connection is going to have you feel like you are flying. Once a file is uploaded, Smash and Transfernow servers take over and rapidly serve that file to the recipient, and there’s little appreciable difference between the two services.
Personalization
For the free tiers, Smash and Transfernow allow users to customize the URLs that are generated for sharing files. Hence, instead of sharing a file with the URL fromsmash.com/zihn7ofdy5r4d you can share fromsmash.com/ImportantPPTforWork. Neat, huh?
On their paid tiers both Smash and Transfernow offer personalization and customization options for users. Custom logos, custom backgrounds, promotional messages – everything can be customized from the Pro/Premium tier on up.
User Management
Smash offers granular management of users for Team and Enterprise accounts. With Smash, there are three different roles for users within a team, in basic terms being:
Collaborator: can send files and access their own transfer history
Marketer: can send files and access their own transfer history, plus manage the account design customization and control settings for ‘waiting messages’ for communication purposes
Analyst: can send files and access the history of ALL users on the Team or Enterprise account
Transfernow reports that users on the Team and Enterprise plans have user management and user permissions management tools available, but neither are explained beyond this on the website.
Security
No surprise, but both services take security seriously.
We’ve already mentioned the password protection options that Smash and Transfernow offer but perhaps more important is the end-to-end encryption that they offer. SSL/TLS during transfer, AES 256 encryption while stored – your files are as safe as they can be. What’s more, both services explain on their websites that they regularly test their services for vulnerabilities and make security a priority for every user, free or paid.
API
Smash offers an API so developers can easily integrate Smash file sharing into their workflows. Just five lines of code and ten minutes of work is all that it takes to integrate the API, and Smash offers a 100GB, 14-day free trial so that developers can test it out for themselves.
Transfernow also offers an API for developers wishing to integrate the service into their own app or website workflow. It offers the same 100GB, 14-day free trial that Smash does, but its website notes that there is an individual file size limit (5TB per file) on their service, a limit that Smash’s API doesn’t have.
Conclusion: The Better File Transfer Service is Smash
Assess the two services head-to-head and there’s only one conclusion you’ll reach: as much as Transfernow tries to equal the offer that its competitor has brought to market, Smash is way out in front where it counts.
If you want to be able to send a file of any size without worrying about your subscription, Smash is the best choice. There are no limits on the size of the file that you can share even on the free tier with Smash. Transfernow, on the other hand, puts barriers up at every tier: free, premium, or team. Smash offers more storage space for Pro users than the comparable plan at Transfernow, and even the free tier doesn’t limit how many people can receive the file that you share.
It also costs you more to use Transfernow: Smash is better value on the Pro tier and less expensive on the Team tier, too. You’ll save tens, hundreds, even thousands over the course of your subscription with Smash compared to the same subscription on Transfernow.
| Features | Smash | Transfernow |
|---|---|---|
| Max File Size (Free) | Unlimited | 5GB |
| Max File Size (Pro/Premium) | Unlimited | 250GB |
| Max File Size (Team) | Unlimited | 500GB |
| Cost | Pro: from €4.80/month Team: from €12/month |
Premium: from €6/month Team: from €18/month |
| Outlook Plugin | Yes (paid tiers) | Yes (paid tiers) |
| Speed | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Storage | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Personalization | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| User Management | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ |
| Security | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| API | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ |
While there’s some parity on features and functionality, when it comes to the heavy lifting and the lower cost Smash is simply the best. You can try Smash for free today on the Smash web portal, on one of their dedicated apps for Android and iOS, or using the native Mac app. Want to try the API? It’s also free to get started – no credit card required! – and you’ll be up and running in minutes. For sharing large files there is no better choice than Smash – get started today!
Frequently Asked Questions
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Both Smash and Transfernow offer Enterprise plans for teams that are larger than 10 users. If your team is bigger than this and you are transferring large files regularly then the Enterprise plan might be for you. If your team is smaller, though, the unlimited transfers, high speed, and lower cost of the Smash Teams offer is probably your best bet.
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Yes! Other file transfer services put hard limits on the size of the file that can be transferred on a free tier but, at Smash, there are no limits. You can try Smash for free today and send a file of 10GB (or even bigger!) with all the bells and whistles: password protection, customized URL, download notifications, and speedy service!
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Any type of file! Each day thousands of people use Smash to send videos, music, images, documents, PowerPoint presentations for a client and photo albums for grandma. If you can upload it to Smash, you can send it. It’s fast, secure, and unlimited – that’s the Smash way!
