Firefox Send alternatives in 2026: what still works like it

Firefox Send went offline in July 2020 after it was abused to spread malware, and that September Mozilla announced it wouldn't bring it back. The best Firefox Send alternative depends on the job: Wormhole or a public copy of the community Send fork for an encrypted link that works later, the fork itself if you want to host it, and a live tool like Beamaroo if the other person is online now and you'd rather nothing was uploaded at all.

What happened to Firefox Send?

Firefox Send, also known as Mozilla Send, began in 2017 as a Test Pilot experiment and launched properly in March 2019 (Mozilla). The encryption that protected ordinary users suited attackers too: organisations trusted Firefox links by default, and encrypted files were harder for malware scanners to catch (TechRadar).

Mozilla's end-of-life post says abusers were using Send “to ship malware and conduct spear phishing attacks”, and that cost and strategic focus decided the rest (Mozilla).

What people miss about Firefox Send

It's worth being specific, because no single alternative keeps all of it:

• Real end-to-end encryption. Files were encrypted in your browser with 128-bit AES-GCM before upload, and the key rode in the part of the link after the #, which browsers never send to a server (Send's encryption notes).
• No account for everyday files. Up to 1 GB without signing in, and recipients never needed an account.
• A link that cleaned up after itself. You chose when it expired and after how many downloads, with an optional password.
• Nothing to install. It ran in any browser.

Upload-and-link alternatives keep the link that waits. Live tools keep the encryption and the no-account part and skip the upload, but the other person has to be there.

Firefox Send alternatives compared

The Send fork: Firefox Send's own code, still maintained

Mozilla released Send as open source, and Dutch developer Tim Visée forked its last publicly hosted version. The fork calls itself “a community effort to keep the project up-to-date and alive”: Mozilla's branding is removed so anyone can host it, dependencies are kept current, and it still works with the ffsend command-line tool (GitHub). Its latest release, 3.5.0, came out on 24 October 2026 (GitLab), so this Mozilla Send fork is the most direct way to keep using Send.

Use a public instance

Individuals and organisations run public copies, each with its own size limit, expiry and download cap, listed on the send-instances page, which makes no promises about their security or reliability. Most list a 7-day time limit. The maintainer's own instance, send.vis.ee, lists 2.5 GiB, 3 days and 10 downloads, but it didn't respond when we checked on 31 October 2026, while several other listed instances did. The community status page shows which are up right now.

Host your own

The fork ships a Docker image, runs on Node.js with a Redis server, and can keep files on disk or in S3-compatible storage. Out of the box it allows files up to 2.5 GB, links of up to 7 days and up to 100 downloads, all adjustable (config). It's licensed MPL-2.0. This is the route if you want Firefox Send exactly, on a server you control.

Wormhole: the closest hosted match

Wormhole works the way Firefox Send did, and its homepage even uses Send's old tagline, “Simple, private file sharing”. Files are encrypted in your browser with 128-bit AES-GCM, the key sits after the # in the link, and the link expires (Wormhole security). It takes up to 10 GB. Files up to 5 GB are stored on its servers for up to 24 hours, so you can close the tab; bigger ones go peer-to-peer and you keep the page open (Wormhole FAQ).

When we tried it on 31 October 2026 it made a link without asking us to sign in, with expiry choices from 1 hour to 24 hours, or after 1 to 100 downloads. It says it has no ads or trackers. Only its encryption library is open source, so you can't host it yourself.

Thunderbird Send: the nearest thing to an official replacement

There's no official replacement from Firefox. The nearest thing is Thunderbird Send, from Thunderbird, which is part of the Mozilla family. Thunderbird calls it “the rebirth of Firefox Send – well, kind of” (Thunderbird, April 2025) and says it's “built on the foundation of the original Firefox Send project” (Thunderbird, December 2025). Like Send, it's end-to-end encrypted: you upload a file and share a link, or send it as an attachment from Thunderbird Desktop, with files up to 20 GB (Thunderbird Send).

The catch is access. Thunderbird Send comes with the paid Thundermail subscription, and invites have been going out in waves from a waitlist (Thunderbird, June 2026); its page still said “Join Waitlist” when we checked on 31 October 2026. An independent audit by OSTIF and 7ASecurity found one critical and one high-severity vulnerability, and Thunderbird says both were fixed (Thunderbird).

Beamaroo: end-to-end encrypted, nothing uploaded

Beamaroo keeps the privacy side of Firefox Send and drops the upload. Files go straight from one browser to the other over an encrypted WebRTC connection, and no copy sits on any server; if a network blocks a direct connection, an encrypted relay forwards data it can't read. Like Send's links, a Beamaroo link keeps its secret after the #, so the code words never reach our server.

1. Open beamaroo.com on both devices, or use the tool above. Any modern browser, phone or computer, with no account.
2. Pick your files and tap Get a code. Share the code (like beam-7-otter-quartz), the QR or the link.
3. They enter the code and tap Accept. The files stream across, and you get “Delivered — verified on their device” once their device has checked every file.

The trade-off is one Firefox Send never had: there's no link that waits. Both devices stay online until it finishes, phones are comfortable up to a few hundred MB and computers to about 1–2 GB, there's no resume, and folders need zipping, or you pick the files inside. Beamaroo isn't open source or self-hostable either. How Beamaroo works covers what our server sees.

Which Firefox Send alternative should you use?

• A link they'll open later, with no sign-up: Wormhole for up to 24 hours, or a public Send instance, most of which keep links for up to 7 days.
• Firefox Send itself, on your own server: the Send fork.
• You live in Thunderbird: Thunderbird Send, once you're off the waitlist.
• They're online now and you'd rather nothing was uploaded: Beamaroo for one person with a delivery receipt, or FilePizza when several people need the same file (how FilePizza compares). More on sharing files without uploading.
• Huge files, and end-to-end encryption isn't a must: an upload service such as SwissTransfer, which takes 50 GB but says “This is not end-to-end encryption”. See sending large files.