Relayium

Relayium vs Google Drive for sending files

Last updated: 2026-07-31

Google Drive is a genuinely good product: your files live in one place, sync across devices, stay backed up, and are easy to co-edit with a team. If what you need is a durable home for files you will come back to, Drive is a reasonable default, and this article is not trying to talk you out of that.

But a lot of what people use Drive for is really a one-off hand-off — sending a video to a friend, a contract to a client, a dataset to a colleague — not durable storage. For that specific job, uploading a copy to Google's servers and then configuring who can see it is more machinery than the task needs. Relayium is built for exactly that hand-off: realtime transfer keeps no server-side content copy, using a direct browser path on a LAN or end-to-end encrypted TURN across networks, while an optional stored link can be decrypted only by your recipient.

What Google Drive does well

Drive's strength is permanence and collaboration. A file you upload stays there — synced across your phone, laptop, and the web — until you delete it, which is exactly what you want for a working folder, a shared team drive, or documents you edit together in real time.

It is also generous and frictionless for storage: a solid free tier, automatic backup, version history, and search across everything you have ever saved. None of that is something Relayium tries to replace.

Where they differ: sending isn't the same job as storing

To send one file through Drive, you upload a copy to Google's infrastructure, then decide who can open it — a specific person's Google account, or "anyone with the link." Get the sharing setting wrong and the file is either unreachable or more open than you meant. Either way, a copy now lives on Google's servers indefinitely, until you go back and remove it.

Relayium skips server-side content storage for the common realtime case. On a LAN, browser files move directly between devices; across networks, browser sessions use TURN by design, and the relay carries only end-to-end encrypted ciphertext it cannot read or decrypt. When the recipient is offline and you do want a link, the stored-link mode keeps the zero-knowledge property Drive doesn't have: your browser encrypts the file with a random AES-256-GCM key before upload, and that key lives only in the URL fragment (the part after the #, which browsers never send to a server). Google's servers hold and can technically read your Drive files; Relayium's server, for a stored link, holds only ciphertext it cannot decrypt.

Realtime: no server-side content copy

For the classic case — both people are online right now — realtime transfer sends up to 1,000 files in one batch without storing a server-side content copy. Browser files move directly on a LAN; across networks, TURN carries only end-to-end encrypted ciphertext the relay cannot read or decrypt. Both sides see a matching 6-digit verification code (SAS), each file is checked end to end with SHA-256, and an interrupted transfer resumes instead of restarting.

There's no server-side size cap, so the practical limit comes from the receiving browser: Chrome and Edge stream incoming data straight to disk, comfortably handling tens of gigabytes. Firefox and Safari lack that API, and when no streaming path applies they hold the incoming data in memory instead — Relayium warns above roughly 256 MB, a deliberately conservative estimate rather than a measured hard limit. On the same network, no account is needed at all and the two devices connect directly to each other. Sending across networks uses a pairing code, requires whoever creates that code to sign in, and runs over an encrypted TURN relay by design, so the connection comes up in a second or two rather than waiting out direct-connection attempts that rarely succeed between two networks; the relay only ever forwards ciphertext it cannot read, and the recipient never needs an account on either network setup.

Still want a link? Zero-knowledge stored links

Sometimes a link really is what you need — the recipient isn't online, or you want one URL you can paste anywhere. Relayium's stored-link mode covers that case without giving up the privacy of realtime mode.

You choose an expiry — 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, or up to 14 days depending on your plan — or set the link to burn after the first completed download. Creating a link requires the sender to sign in (it counts against a storage quota on your account), but the recipient just opens the link and downloads, no account required. Because the decryption key never leaves the URL fragment, Google's model and Relayium's stored-link model differ on one core point: Google can technically decrypt Drive-hosted files; Relayium's server, for stored links, structurally cannot.

Feature comparison at a glance

The differences that matter most, side by side:

Frequently asked questions

Does Relayium store my files like Google Drive does?

Not in realtime mode: Relayium keeps no server-side copy of the content. Browser files move directly on a LAN; across networks, TURN carries only end-to-end encrypted ciphertext the relay cannot read or decrypt. A download link does store zero-knowledge ciphertext the server cannot decrypt; it expires (1h/1d/3d/7d, depending on plan) or burns after the first download.

Do I need an account?

On the same network, no account is needed at all. Creating the pairing code for a cross-network send, or creating a stored download link, requires signing in. The recipient never needs an account, in either case.

Is there a size limit?

Realtime transfers carry up to 1,000 files per batch with no server-side size cap — Chrome and Edge stream straight to disk for tens of gigabytes. When no streaming path applies and the browser has to buffer in memory, Relayium warns above roughly 256 MB; that figure is a deliberately conservative estimate, not a hard limit. Stored links count against a quota tied to your account.

Is Relayium free?

Yes. Relayium is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license, with the full protocol and code at github.com/relayium/relayium — no paid tier to unlock bigger or faster transfers.

Send a file by realtime transfer without storing it in anyone's cloud — no server-side size cap, no install, and no account needed on the same network.

Try Relayium now

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