Comparison
WeTransfer sends. An event has to be gathered.
WeTransfer does one thing very well: sending a heavy folder to somebody. Collecting the photos of a wedding from fifty guests is the opposite problem: fifty sends, fifty links, all of them on a countdown.
A shared album replaces the lot: one link, where each person uploads and takes everything away, with no account and no expiry date.
Where WeTransfer gives way at an event
Free links last three days
Their help centre says it plainly: on the Free and Starter plans, a transfer stays online for up to three days. The guest who sends their photos on the Monday, you away the week after: the link is dead, and the photos with it.
A one-way send
WeTransfer goes from one person to others. An event is everyone towards everyone: each person brings their photos and leaves with everybody else's.
As many transfers as there are guests
Every guest has to remember to send, type your address in and wait for the upload to finish. The known outcome: three transfers received, forty-seven people to chase. And the free plan is itself capped, at ten transfers or 3 GB over a rolling thirty days.
Nothing to show during the party
No album to open, no QR code for the tables, nothing to pass round on the night. Collecting never starts as well as it does during the event itself. And a transfer only carries files: nobody leaves a word inside one, where a guest book takes a written note just as happily as a voice or a few seconds of video.
What changes, point by point
Life of the link
- WeTransfer
- Free and Starter plans: online for up to 3 days
- Medley
- The album is kept at least until December 31, 2026. Nothing is removed without notice.
Ceiling of the free plan
- WeTransfer
- Up to 10 transfers, or 3 GB, over a rolling 30 days
- Medley
- One album, as many uploads as there are guests
Direction of sharing
- WeTransfer
- One sender towards recipients
- Medley
- A shared album: everyone uploads and everyone downloads
Collecting from guests
- WeTransfer
- One transfer to be created per guest
- Medley
- A single QR code or link for the whole room
File quality
- WeTransfer
- Preserved (a raw transfer)
- Medley
- Preserved, with an album to browse on top
Guest book
- WeTransfer
- Out of scope: a transfer moves files, it does not collect a message
- Medley
- A written note, a voice message or a short video, left in the same place as the photos
Sources, checked on 7 August 2026WeTransfer: how long a transfer stays available · WeTransfer: plan limitsPlans change: check their current terms before you decide.
When WeTransfer is still the right choice
For sending one heavy folder to one person (the photographer delivering the gallery to the couple, for instance), WeTransfer is simple and effective, and file quality is preserved end to end. Collecting from many people, over weeks, is simply not the job it was built for.
Frequently asked questions
- How long does a WeTransfer link stay valid?
- According to their help centre (checked in August 2026), a transfer on the Free and Starter plans stays online for up to three days. After that the files can no longer be downloaded. The album is kept at least until December 31, 2026. Guests upload at their own pace, you download whenever you like, and nothing is removed without notice.
- How do I collect photos from every guest without a pile of separate transfers?
- With a shared album: one link or QR code that each person opens to upload their photos and videos. Nobody has to create their own transfer any more, and nobody needs your email address.
- Does WeTransfer compress photos?
- No, files are transferred as they are, and that is its strong point. The trouble at an event lies elsewhere: links that expire after three days, a one-way send, and a collection that depends on the goodwill of every single guest.
- Where do the files end up in each case?
- A transfer service is an international one, and its terms are where you find out what applies. Medley hosts in the European Union, in France with OVH, under the GDPR, with no facial recognition and no advertising: the album is reachable by its link and by nothing else.
Read on
Wedding photo sharing
A QR code on the tables, and every photo your guests took, gathered in full quality.
Company and team event photos
Collect your teams' photos through a QR code, on a service hosted in the European Union.
An alternative to the WhatsApp group
WhatsApp compresses photos and videos and drowns your memories in the thread. There is better.
Getting the wedding photos your guests took
The 6 methods compared honestly, from the USB stick to the QR code: before or after the day.
A link that gathers, not a link that expires.
Create the album, share the QR code, and the collecting happens on its own.
Create an album