How long does a transfer link last?

You choose the expiry when you send, and how long it can be depends on your account's plan. On the free plan a link lasts 1–3 days. On Premium you can also choose a link that never expires. The rest of this page is about what happens between those two ends, and about the three things that can end a link before its date.

How long a link can last, by plan

The expiry is a choice, not a fixed value: on every plan you can ask for less than the maximum, and for a sensitive delivery that is the advice. The current settings for each plan are on the pricing page, which reads the same catalogue the server applies.

A hosted transfer above the free size needs a paid plan and keeps that plan's expiry. Which plan fits a large transfer is in the guide on sending files of 20 GB and more.

Three things that end a link before its date

The number of downloads. From the Basic plan you can set how many downloads the link accepts. Once they are used up, the transfer closes even if the expiry still had days to run. It is the simplest way to send something that should be opened only once.

Deleting it yourself. A transfer sent by mistake can be deleted from your account on every plan, the free one included. The deletion applies to the link straight away: whoever opens it afterwards sees the same page as for a link that expired on its own.

Closing the tab, for an instant transfer. Instant transfer does not use an expiry date at all, because there is nowhere for one to live: the files go straight between the two browsers and never reach our storage. The link works for exactly as long as your tab stays open.

What the recipient sees

No browser error and no blank page. The download page tells the situations apart and says which one applies: either the link is no longer available, because its time is up or it was deleted, or the maximum number of downloads the sender set has been reached. Either way it suggests asking you for a new link, which is exactly the right next step.

There is a third case, and a new link does not fix it: your account has used all the downloads your plan includes this month. The page then tells the recipient that you can restore access straight away by moving to a plan with more downloads, and, where the link is still valid by then, that it works again next month.

Nothing else changes for the recipient: they have no account, nothing to reactivate and nothing to extend. Every decision about the life of the link belongs to the sender, as the guide on sending large files without an account explains.

What can be extended, and what cannot

From the Plus plan, the expiry of a hosted transfer that is still live can be pushed further out, up to your plan's maximum, without uploading the files again. On the plans below, the expiry you chose when sending is final for that link. While it is still live, on any plan, you can select its files in the Files tab of your transfers and make a new transfer with them: nothing is uploaded again, and the new link gets an expiry of its own.

Once the transfer has expired, things change. On Free, Basic and Plus, sending again starts from your own copy. On Premium you can switch on Recover after expiry when you send: recovery then keeps the files for 30 days after the link expires, and you can bring the transfer back once, with a link that works until that window closes. The choice is made at the moment of delivery, not afterwards.

How to choose the expiry in practice

1. Start from "when does the recipient need the files", not from your plan's maximum.
2. For a client delivery, add a few days beyond their deadline to cover a delay.
3. For sensitive material, choose the shortest window that works for them, and add a download limit as well.
4. If the handover matters, keep your own copy until you get confirmation that they have downloaded.

Point four is not a formality. On the plans without recovery, your copy is the only safety net, and on the plan with recovery the window is finite. For client deliveries where the expiry is part of the promise, the guide on delivering wedding photos to clients walks through a handover that stretches over weeks. If you are comparing how long other services keep files, see how Transferify compares with SwissTransfer.

What to read next

If the question behind this page was really who can open a link while it is valid, carry on with the guide on how to send files securely: it covers the password on the link, the encryption in each sending mode, and what Zero-Knowledge mode means. Every way to send, side by side, is on the page about how to send large files.

Send a link with the expiry you need. The recipient opens it in any browser, with no account.