Where consumer sharing links run out
The pattern is the same in a lab, a hospital, an engineering practice, a games studio or a print house. A per-transfer size cap that the paid tier raises but never removes. Expiry games: a link that dies in a week unless someone pays. No receipt beyond “opened” and no checksum, so nobody can prove what arrived. Nothing for inbound work beyond inviting an outsider into a folder. Upgrades priced per gigabyte or per seat, so the people who move the most pay the most.
And the mechanics: uploads run in a browser tab over TCP, which slows with distance and stalls on lossy Wi-Fi, with no watch folder, no command line and no agent for a server. No audit log says who downloaded what, which matters the first time a client asks.
The two side by side, by category
By category, naming nobody:
- Transfer size: capped per transfer. Boita: no per-transfer cap; the storage quota is the limit
- Expiry: fixed and short unless you pay. Boita: an expiry you set, a reminder before it lapses, one-click extend
- Proof: an “opened” notice. Boita: who viewed and downloaded, a checksum verified on every download, PDF and CSV on Studio and above
- Inbound: an invitation into a folder. Boita: portals with a form, file rules, deadlines and review
- Upload path: browser only, over TCP. Boita: browser too, plus a desktop app, agent and CLI on the fast path
- Resume: restart from the top. Boita: checkpoints; completed files never re-sent
- Controls: a password at best. Boita: download limits, recipient verification, passphrase encryption, embargo, view-only, instant revocation
- Records: none. Boita: an audit log of logins, links, downloads, deletions and admin actions
- Price: per gigabyte or per seat. Boita: flat plans, no per-GB fee, downloads free
Links that survive terabytes
A Boita share link carries a file or a whole folder tree, whatever the size, with an expiry, a download limit and an email when it is downloaded; a password and recipient verification from Pro. Recipients open a page and download in the browser with nothing to install, or at full speed with resume in the free app. Transfers run through an accelerated transfer engine over UDP with its own rate control, at your line rate whatever the distance, in parallel sessions sized to your plan: a 1 TB delivery on Pro takes about 4.9 hours over a 1 Gbps line, plan-limited at 450 Mbps.
Receipts, portals and the tools behind the link
The server records a checksum for every file at transfer time. The receipt shows who viewed and downloaded, when, with the integrity check on every completed download; a delivery note as PDF is on every plan, and Studio and above export the receipt as PDF with a CSV verification report. A portal turns the direction round: a link a supplier, a referring clinic or a subcontractor uploads into, with a form, file rules, a size cap, a deadline and reminders, each upload in its own inbox folder for review before it goes anywhere.
Behind the link, from Pro: the desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux with upload and download watch folders; the headless Linux agent and boita CLI; scoped API keys, signed webhooks and SDKs; Zapier, Make and n8n through REST hooks. Studio adds Slack and Teams, automations, review and approval, branding and your own domain.
What it costs
Plans are flat: Free ₹0 with 10 GB, Pro ₹499 with 1 TB, Studio ₹7,999 with 10 TB, Enterprise custom, in USD, EUR, GBP, AED, SGD or AUD outside India. No per-GB fee, no charge for downloads or re-downloads, GST invoices in India. Data is held in AWS Mumbai.