Last updated: 2026-07-09
LocalSend is a genuinely good, well-loved app: free, open source, cross-platform, and built to move files between devices on the same local network with no server and no account, ever. A lot of people rely on it as an AirDrop-like tool for Windows, Linux and Android.
This article compares it fairly with Relayium, which tackles the same same-network problem a different way — no app to install, running right in your browser — and then goes further, reaching across networks and offering a command-line tool LocalSend doesn't have.
LocalSend is a free, open-source app for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Install it once on each device, and it automatically discovers other LocalSend instances on the same Wi-Fi or LAN using an encrypted local transport — no server anywhere, no internet connection required, no account.
It supports drag-and-drop, sending whole folders, and an optional PIN for sending on networks you don't fully trust.
Relayium takes the opposite approach to the same same-network problem: instead of installing an app on every device, you open relayium.com in a browser you already have. Two devices on the same network land in the same room automatically — the server derives the room from the shared network, with no pairing code and no account needed on either side.
That LAN room supports any number of peers at once, not just a pair, and drag-and-drop or folder selection works the same way a native app would — just without the install step.
LocalSend is local-network only by design — it has no way to reach a device on a different network or across the internet. Relayium adds that: create a pairing code (or share the join link it generates), and the other side connects from anywhere, direct peer-to-peer whenever possible.
Creating a cross-network pairing code requires the sender to sign in; the person receiving never needs an account. Every realtime transfer — LAN or cross-network — is encrypted end-to-end at the application layer: an X25519 key exchange derives a key used for AES-256-GCM, a 6-digit SAS code lets both sides confirm no server sits in the middle, and each file is verified with a SHA-256 hash. When a direct connection isn't possible, an encrypted TURN relay carries ciphertext it cannot read.
For anyone scripting transfers to a server, there's also a CLI — push/pull over SSH or daemon-direct, incremental folder sync, and send/receive by pairing code — something a LAN-only app doesn't offer.
If you never want to open a browser at all — say, moving files on a network with genuinely no internet access, or you just want a permanent app icon and OS share-sheet integration — LocalSend's dedicated app is the better fit. It's mature, works fully offline in the strictest sense, and its PIN mode is a nice extra layer on networks you don't fully trust.
The differences that matter most, side by side:
No. Open relayium.com in a browser on both devices while they're on the same network and they see each other automatically — no app, no account, no pairing code.
No — that's one of its strengths. LocalSend works entirely over the local network with no server involved, so it keeps working even with no internet at all.
Yes. Create a pairing code (or share the join link it generates) and the other device connects from anywhere, still peer-to-peer whenever possible. The sender needs to sign in for this; the recipient never does.
Yes, MIT-licensed, with the full protocol and code public at github.com/relayium/relayium — the same kind of openness that makes LocalSend trustworthy.
Both keep same-network transfers off a public server. LocalSend secures its local transport; Relayium adds an independent, application-layer encryption channel with a SAS code both sides can verify, on the LAN or across networks.
See how a same-network transfer feels with nothing to install — just open the page on both devices.
Try Relayium now