WeTransfer Portals is gone. If you had an active Portal and your files disappeared, that was not a bug.
WeTransfer shut down Portals permanently on December 22, 2025. All content was deleted. All links stopped working. No export tool. No migration path. One email warning.
What was WeTransfer Portals?
Portals was WeTransfer's organized delivery feature. Instead of sending individual file links that expired in a few days, you could create a named workspace for each client. One persistent URL. All deliveries for that client in one place. Reviewers could leave comments without logging in.
For creative professionals delivering ongoing work to brand clients, it was the most useful thing WeTransfer had ever built. A videographer could keep all campaign exports in one place for the brand team. A design studio could organize identity files, campaign assets, and revision packages under one client URL. The client bookmarked one link and always knew where to go.
Portals shut down in December 2025. For the studios that had built their delivery workflow around it, that was not a simplification. It was a platform-level loss.
When did WeTransfer shut down Portals?
The shutdown happened in three stages with roughly two months of total notice:
October 22, 2025: No new Portals could be created. Existing ones still worked and could still receive uploads.
November 22, 2025: No new uploads or actions inside existing Portals. You could still view content that was already there, but nothing new could go in.
December 22, 2025: All Portal content deleted. Every file, every link, every comment thread. Gone permanently.
Two months sounds like enough time. In practice, many studios had Portals that still appeared to work through November because viewing was still active. A lot of clients were still accessing files through October and November, which made the deletion on December 22 feel sudden even for people who had read the notice.
Why did WeTransfer shut down Portals?
WeTransfer's official reason: "only a tiny fraction of users were creating reviews and adding comments."
The real context: Bending Spoons acquired WeTransfer in July 2024. Bending Spoons is known for acquiring software tools and aggressively cutting features and headcount to reduce operating costs. Portals required review infrastructure: comment systems, version tracking, notification pipelines. That infrastructure is expensive. It was cut.
At the same time, WeTransfer doubled its pricing. The plan that was $12/mo became $23/mo. Studios were paying more and getting less. For many, the combination of the price increase and the Portals shutdown was the moment they started looking for a different tool.
What do Portals refugees actually need?
Before picking a replacement, it helps to be precise about what Portals was actually providing.
The delivery layer. A clean page where the client could download files. No account required. Your studio name on the page. A persistent URL that did not expire after seven days. This is the core thing most studios used Portals for.
The organization layer. One URL per client, with multiple deliveries inside. Instead of a pile of individual links, one workspace the client could bookmark.
The light review layer. Clients could leave comments without logging in. Not timecoded video annotation, not approval workflows, just a comment box next to each file. For many studios, this was used occasionally rather than as a core part of the workflow.
Most studios that used Portals primarily used the delivery and organization layers. The comment feature was a bonus. That distinction matters when choosing a replacement.
What TrunkTransfer replaces today
TrunkTransfer replaces the full delivery and feedback layer that Portals provided.
Your client gets a clean download page with your studio name, not TrunkTransfer branding. The link stays active for 30 days on Starter. Password protection keeps unreleased work private. You get an email the moment your client downloads the file, so you know delivery is confirmed without following up.
On Starter at $9/mo, you can connect your own domain. Every delivery link goes out from files.yourstudio.com instead of trunktransfer.com. Your client sees your domain in the browser bar, your name on the page, and no third-party platform at any point. See how branded file delivery works.
TrunkTransfer client portals are live on Starter. Each portal is a named workspace for a client with a single persistent URL. Inside, clients can leave comments on individual files and mark files as approved. Both features are toggleable per portal in settings. Your client does this without creating an account. You control whether comments and approvals are enabled for each portal independently.
Files go up to 200 GB per transfer. No client account required at any step.
What replaces the timecoded review layer?
For timecoded video review, where clients need to leave frame-level comments at specific moments in a video during production, the honest answer is Frame.io. It is more expensive, but it is purpose-built for that workflow. TrunkTransfer is not a video annotation tool and does not try to be.
For general file feedback and approval on delivered work, TrunkTransfer covers this. Clients can leave comments on any file in a portal and mark it as approved. No account required. Most delivery feedback falls into this category: "looks good," "use version 2," "approved for launch." You do not need a video annotation platform for that.
Which tool covers what WeTransfer Portals covered
| What you need | Tool |
|---|---|
| Clean download page, no client account | TrunkTransfer (from $9/mo) |
| Branded delivery with your own domain | TrunkTransfer Starter, $9/mo |
| 30-day link expiry | TrunkTransfer Starter |
| Download notification when client picks up files | TrunkTransfer Starter |
| Per-client organized workspace (like Portals) | TrunkTransfer Starter (live) |
| Client comments on delivered files | TrunkTransfer Starter (live) |
| Per-file approval by client | TrunkTransfer Starter (live) |
| Timecoded frame-level video annotation | Frame.io |
The honest comparison with WeTransfer today
WeTransfer without Portals is a basic file transfer tool. You get a link that lasts up to 3 days on the free plan, a download notification on paid, and no branding. The Ultimate plan is now $23/mo after the Bending Spoons restructuring.
TrunkTransfer Starter is $9/mo. You get a 30-day link, your own domain, your studio name on every delivery page, download notifications, and password protection. Your client never sees TrunkTransfer branding. If you were on WeTransfer's paid plan before the price hike, you are getting more for less.
See the full comparison: TrunkTransfer vs WeTransfer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did WeTransfer give users enough time to export files?
Two months of warning was given between October 22 and December 22. Whether that was enough depends on the situation. Studios with dozens of active client Portals containing years of deliveries had a harder time than studios with a handful. There was no official export tool. Files had to be downloaded manually before December 22.
Can I still use WeTransfer for basic file transfer?
Basic file transfer still works on WeTransfer. The feature that was cut was specifically Portals: named workspaces, persistent client URLs, and review comments. Standard transfers and links still work.
What happened to review comments and feedback left in Portals?
All review comments, client feedback, and file metadata were deleted on December 22, 2025 along with the files. There was no export option for comment history.
Why did WeTransfer raise prices at the same time as shutting down Portals?
Bending Spoons restructured WeTransfer's pricing after acquiring it in July 2024. The plan that cost $12/mo rose to $23/mo. The combination of a higher price and fewer features prompted many studios to look for alternatives.
Is WeTransfer still safe to use for client files?
WeTransfer attempted to introduce an AI training clause for uploaded files in July 2025, then reversed it after public backlash. For studios delivering unreleased brand work, campaign footage, or confidential client assets, that episode raised trust questions that have not fully gone away. TrunkTransfer does not and will not train AI on uploaded files.
What is the closest replacement for WeTransfer Portals right now?
TrunkTransfer. Branded download pages, your own domain, 30-day links, no client accounts, per-client workspaces, client comments, and per-file approval. All of this is live on Starter at $9/mo. For timecoded frame-level video annotation specifically, Frame.io is the right tool. But for the delivery and feedback workflow that most studios used Portals for, TrunkTransfer covers it today.
