Proton Drive vs WeTransfer
Proton Drive is a European alternative to WeTransfer: same cloud & hosting use case, headquartered in Switzerland and governed by Swiss FADP + GDPR for EU users, while WeTransfer (Bending Spoons) is based in the Netherlands.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Securely store, back up, and share your files with end-to-end encrypted cloud storage from Switzerland. Access your data anywhere, with privacy as a priority.
- Jurisdiction
- Switzerland / EFTA
- Primary privacy law
- Swiss FADP + GDPR for EU users
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
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WeTransfer made sending a large file as simple as a link, with no account needed at either end, and that simplicity is the whole product. The free tier now caps transfers at 3 GB with a three-day expiry, tightened since 2024, and paid plans lift it to 200 GB. It is Dutch, registered in Amsterdam and owned since 2024 by Bending Spoons of Milan, so it already sits under European law.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
Proton Drive vs WeTransfer at a glance
| Proton Drive | WeTransfer | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Switzerland | Netherlands |
| Data jurisdiction | Switzerland / EFTA | EU / EEA |
| Primary privacy law | Swiss FADP + GDPR for EU users | EU GDPR |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | No |
| Best for | Teams looking for a different cloud & hosting trade-off on price, openness and features | Teams already invested in the Bending Spoons ecosystem |
Choose Proton Drive if…
- You want to start free and scale up later
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with WeTransfer if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Bending Spoons ecosystem
- Migration costs outweigh the feature and pricing gains for now
About Proton Drive
Proton Drive is the end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service from Proton, the Swiss privacy company behind ProtonMail. Every file is encrypted on your device before upload (not even Proton can access your data), and shared links can be password-protected with expiry dates. It includes Proton Docs and Sheets for encrypted real-time document and spreadsheet collaboration.
Available on web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, Proton Drive syncs files automatically via a desktop folder. 5 GB of free storage is included with every Proton account, with upgrades that bundle Mail, Calendar, VPN, and Pass. An open-source codebase allows independent cryptographic verification by any researcher.
Key benefits:
- Client-side E2E encryption that encrypts files before they leave your device
- 5 GB free storage with every Proton account, no credit card required
- Password-protected sharing with configurable expiry on shared links
- Automatic mobile photo backups with encrypted collaborative album sharing
- Proton Docs and Sheets for encrypted real-time collaborative document editing
- Desktop sync folder on Windows and macOS for automatic file synchronisation
- Open-source code for independent cryptographic audit by the community
Proton AG is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, which operates under some of the world's strictest privacy laws, outside U.S. and UK jurisdiction. The service is GDPR-compliant, holds ISO 27001 certification, and is audited by independent security researchers. Switzerland's constitutional privacy protections and absence of mandatory data retention laws provide a legal framework stronger than most EU alternatives.
Part of the Proton ecosystem trusted by over 100 million users worldwide, from journalists and activists to enterprises requiring sovereign data storage.
Why choose Proton Drive over WeTransfer?
Jurisdiction is not the argument here: WeTransfer is headquartered in the Netherlands, so both products answer to European data-protection law. What separates them is pricing, openness, feature depth and how much of the European ecosystem you want to back.
Proton Drive sits on the same side of that line. As a Switzerland-based provider, it operates under Swiss FADP + GDPR for EU users, and data stays in Switzerland, which the European Commission recognises as offering an adequate level of protection. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.