Snapdrop vs tosstome
If you used Snapdrop a few years ago, the site at snapdrop.net is not the same tool any more. It now uploads your file to LimeWire storage and gives you a link. The original peer-to-peer Snapdrop still exists, at a different address. Here is what changed and how tosstome compares.
What snapdrop.net does today
The page at snapdrop.net says, in its own FAQ, that "Snapdrop is part of LimeWire now and transfers run through LimeWire storage instead of a direct browser-to-browser connection." The receiving link opens on limewire.com. Without an account, the page lists these limits:
- Up to 4 GB per transfer, and up to 20 files and 4 GB of uploads per day
- A share link stays alive for 3 days, then the file is removed
- A file can be downloaded 10 times a day, and one link serves 12 GB in total
Source: snapdrop.net, checked 2026-10-28.
That is a reasonable design if you want the other person to pick the file up later. It is a different product from the old Snapdrop, which never stored anything.
Where the original Snapdrop lives now
The open source Snapdrop project on GitHub (RobinLinus/snapdrop) lists snapdrop.me as its homepage. That site is the familiar "open Snapdrop on other devices to send files" page: devices on the same network discover each other and send peer to peer.
Side by side
| snapdrop.net (LimeWire) | snapdrop.me (original) | tosstome | |
|---|---|---|---|
| File stored on a server | Yes, up to 3 days without an account | No | No |
| Both devices online at once | No | Yes | Yes |
| Same Wi-Fi needed | No | For discovery, yes | No, a 6-digit code works across networks |
| Size limit | 4 GB per transfer without an account | Not stated | None set; very large files are best received with the CLI |
| Always-on inbox on a computer | No | No | Yes, with tosstome listen |
| Account | Optional, raises limits | No | No |
When snapdrop.net is the better choice
When the other person is not online right now. A stored link can be opened an hour or a day later, from any network. tosstome cannot do that: if nobody is on the other end, nothing is sent.
When tosstome is the better choice
- You do not want a copy of the file sitting on someone else's server, even for 3 days.
- The two devices are on different networks and you still want a live, device-to-device transfer.
- You send from your phone to the same computer every day. Run
tosstome listenonce and keep the link on your phone's home screen.
What tosstome does
- Runs in the browser. Nothing to install on the sending side.
- Devices on the same network see each other automatically. On different networks, one device shows a 6-digit code and the other types it in.
- Files go device to device over WebRTC when the networks allow it. If a direct connection does not come up within a few seconds, they go through a relay on Cloudflare that forwards the bytes and keeps nothing.
- An optional command line tool,
tosstome listen, keeps an always-on inbox on a computer. It prints a link and QR code; open it on a phone and files land in a folder on that computer, with no browser open on the computer side. - Nothing is stored. If the receiver is offline, nothing is sent.
What tosstome does not do (yet)
- The relay is protected by TLS between each device and Cloudflare, but it is not end-to-end encrypted yet. Direct WebRTC transfers are encrypted end to end by the browser (DTLS).
- A receiving browser keeps the file in memory until you save it, so very large files are better received with the command line tool, which writes straight to disk.
- Both sides must be online at the same time. There is no "upload now, download tomorrow".
- It is new. Browser-side device pairing and end-to-end encryption on the relay are still being built.
Last checked 2026-10-28.