Capturely vs WeTransfer for delivering client photos

Almost every photographer has sent a shoot through WeTransfer at least once. It is fast, it is familiar, and your client probably already knows what the email looks like. So why would you reach for anything else?

Because sending files and delivering a shoot are two different jobs. Transfer tools are built to move large files from point A to point B. A client gallery is about the experience after the files land: how the photos look, how long they stay, what your client can do with them, and whose name is on the page. This is an honest look at where each tool fits.

What WeTransfer is genuinely good at

Let's be fair, because WeTransfer earned its reputation. It is widely known as a simple way to hand someone a large file. There is typically no account hurdle for the recipient and the upload-and-send flow is famously frictionless, which is why it has become a verb in some studios.

If your only goal is to get a folder of finished files to a single person quickly, a transfer tool does that job well. The questions start when you treat that transfer as the final client deliverable rather than a quick handoff.

The experience your client actually sees

With a general transfer tool, the deliverable is typically oriented around downloading files rather than viewing them. Your client downloads and ends up with a folder on their desktop. That is functional, but it is not really a viewing experience, and it may not feel like the work you spent hours editing. (Confirm WeTransfer's current viewer on their site.)

Capturely is built around the moment the client opens the link. Galleries open on a cinematic full-screen cover that greets the client by name, then flow into a justified-grid viewer with a proper lightbox. Photos keep their shot orientation, so verticals stay vertical and nothing gets awkwardly cropped into a uniform thumbnail. The shoot is presented, not just transferred.

Expiry and privacy: the part people get burned by

This is where a transfer link and a gallery can diverge the most. Transfer links are often time-limited by design. That can be great for a one-time handoff and frustrating when a client comes back weeks later to grab a photo they forgot to save, only to find the link is no longer live and you are re-uploading everything. (Check WeTransfer's current link terms on their site.)

Capturely treats the gallery lifespan as something you decide on purpose. You can set a gallery to self-delete anywhere from 7 days up to a year, choose a custom date, or keep it forever. When a gallery is removed, it is permanently removed, and the client gets a reminder email before deletion, so nothing disappears as a surprise. The result is privacy and lean storage by design rather than an expiry that catches you off guard.

• ·Galleries are not indexed by search engines by default.
• ·Add a password and the gallery is private.
• ·Expired or password-protected galleries are never indexable.
• ·Set deletion from 7 days to 1 year, a custom date, or never.

A transfer link tends to expire on the tool's schedule. A Capturely gallery expires on the schedule you set. That difference is the whole point.

Favorites and proofing: a workflow built into the gallery

Here is the gap a plain file-transfer flow generally leaves open. When a client just downloads a zip, you often have no structured way to know which photos they cared about, short of them replying to your email with a list of filenames, which is exactly the back-and-forth most photographers are trying to escape. (Verify what WeTransfer offers here on their site.)

Capturely turns delivery into proofing. Clients heart the photos they want, and the first time they act the gallery asks for their name, so every selection is attributed. You can set an optional pick limit for package-based shoots, and clients can leave per-photo comments. For you, that means a clean selection comes back instead of a vague "I love them all, can you tell which ones?" email.

1. Client opens the gallery on their personalized cover.
2. They favorite the photos they want and the gallery captures their name.
3. Optional pick limit keeps selections inside the package.
4. Per-photo comments let them ask for tweaks in context.

Downloads, watermarks, and control

A transfer tool typically hands the client everything in the package. Sometimes that is exactly what you want. Often it is not, especially when you are sharing a proofing set before payment.

Capturely lets clients download a single full-resolution file or grab the whole gallery as a zip, and you see per-photo download counts so you know what actually got pulled. If a gallery should be preview-only, you can make it view-only and add an optional watermark, then open downloads later. You control whether the link is a finished delivery or a proofing round.

Branding: whose name is on the page

When you deliver through a generic transfer service, the branding on the screen may be the service's rather than yours. For a quick file handoff that is fine. For the final touchpoint of a paid shoot, it can be a missed chance to look like the studio you are. (Check WeTransfer's current branding options on their site.)

On Capturely's paid plans you can remove Capturely branding entirely, so the gallery reads as your studio. Every account gets a clean yourstudio.capturely.me subdomain, plus a public studio page that lists your active galleries.

Side-by-side comparison

So which one should you use?

If you just need to fling a big file to one person and never think about it again, a transfer tool is the right hammer for that nail. Keep WeTransfer in your kit for exactly that.

But if the link is the final impression of a paid shoot, the math changes. You want a page that presents the work, picks that come back attributed, downloads you control, an expiry you set on purpose, and your name on the screen. That is a gallery, not a transfer. Capturely also brings cookie-free analytics and AI gallery translation on its paid tiers, plus RAW delivery, reviews and photo comments, webhooks, notifications with a daily digest, and twelve built-in gallery languages on every plan.

Every new account starts with 14 days of Pro, no card required, so you can deliver a real shoot before deciding anything.