scrt.link vs Firefox Send
Firefox Send was shut down by Mozilla in 2020. scrt.link is built on the same idea — and it is still here.
Firefox Send is gone. Mozilla suspended it on 7 July 2020 and shut it down permanently on 17 September 2020, after — in Mozilla's words — "some abusive users were beginning to use Send to ship malware and conduct spear phishing attacks". The team declined to relaunch it while refocusing the company's portfolio.
It was a genuinely great product: end-to-end encrypted in the browser, the key held in the URL fragment, and — its signature feature — both the expiry time and the download count were yours to set.
scrt.link is built on exactly that model, and it is actively maintained. Files are encrypted in your browser, the key never reaches our servers, and you choose how long a link lives and how many times it can be opened. If you would rather run Send yourself, the community fork at timvisee/send keeps the original alive and is worth your time.
Feature comparison
| Feature | scrt.link | Firefox Send |
|---|---|---|
Still operating | Shut down in September 2020 | |
End-to-end encrypted in the browser | ||
Decryption key never reaches the server | ||
Open source | Yes (MIT) | Yes (MPL-2.0) |
Self-hostable | Via the community fork | |
Max file size | Up to 100 GB | 1 GB, or 2.5 GB signed in |
Configurable expiration | 10 minutes – 30 days | |
Configurable download limit | Up to 1,000 views | |
Password protection | Yes (paid plans) | |
Text secrets (passwords, keys, notes) | ||
REST API | ||
Official CLI | Yes (@scrt-link/cli) | ffsend (community) |
Browser extension | Chrome & Firefox | |
Accounts, teams & audit logs | ||
Custom domain / white-label | Yes (Business) | |
Commercial support / SLA |
Facts about Firefox Send last verified on July 14, 2026. Products change — if something here is out of date, let us know and we'll fix it.
Key differences
What actually happened to Firefox Send
Mozilla took Send offline in July 2020 after it was abused to distribute malware and host phishing payloads — the anonymity and legitimacy of a mozilla.org link made it attractive to attackers. In September 2020, amid a wider restructuring, Mozilla announced Send would not return. The code remains MPL-2.0 and lives on in forks.
The same design, still maintained
Send encrypted files in the browser and put the key in the URL fragment, so Mozilla never saw the contents. scrt.link uses the same approach with AES-GCM, and it is a maintained product with a company behind it — which is precisely what Send turned out not to have.
Send's best feature, kept
Setting both an expiry and a download count was what made Send feel safe: a link that dies after one download and one hour is a very different object from a link that sits in an inbox forever. scrt.link keeps that — expiry from 10 minutes to 30 days, view limits from 1 to 1,000 — and adds text secrets, so the file and the password it needs can travel the same way.
If you want to run it yourself
The community fork at timvisee/send is the real continuation of the project — MPL-2.0, Docker-deployable, with a public instance at send.vis.ee. Worth knowing: that instance is funded and run by one person as a volunteer effort, with a documented wind-down plan, so treat it as a community service rather than infrastructure to depend on.
Which one should you use?
Choose scrt.link if…
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You want the Firefox Send model as a maintained product, not a dead one.
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You need files larger than 2.5 GB — up to 100 GB.
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You also need to send passwords, keys and notes, not just files.
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You want accounts, teams, an API, a CLI and someone to email when it breaks.
Choose the Send community fork if…
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You want to self-host the original Firefox Send codebase, unchanged in spirit.
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MPL-2.0 and a volunteer-run project are exactly what you are looking for.
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You only send files, never text secrets, and 2.5 GB is plenty.
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You are comfortable operating and updating it yourself.
Frequently asked questions
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