10 file-sharing options: Dropbox, Google Drive and more

RapidShare

RapidShare
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What RapidShare lacks in paid features it makes up for with few restrictions on its core product. The biggest limitations are on download bandwidth and file retention, not storage, so it's a handy way to quickly throw big files somewhere and distribute them to a broad audience on short notice.

Its desktop manager app, though, leaves something to be desired. It runs on Java and requires that you manually launch the installer as an administrator (most app installers do this automatically). Once set up, though, it makes uploading easy via an Explorer right-click context menu.

The "RapidSave" tool allows you to repackage your already-uploaded files for download as a single item. There's no apparent limit to how many files can be repackaged this way. However, while you can use RapidShare to send file links to multiple parties via email, there's no apparent way to import lists of contacts. (You can quickly access the names of previously emailed people, but that's not as useful.)

ShareFile

ShareFile
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ShareFile is clearly aimed at corporate customers rather than consumers. There's no free plan, although there is a 30-day free trial for all account tiers; the 10GB-and-up tiers include access to desktop widgets and Outlook plugins. Files can be assigned an automatic expiration period, from one day to two years after uploading.

The Windows desktop-sync application is written in Adobe Air, so it doesn't have built-in amenities like a right-click context menu to Windows Explorer (although a tool can be downloaded separately, as can a number of other tools), but at least the app gives you the ability to generate a download link for each file or folder. In addition, distribution lists for mass mailings can be created from an Excel spreadsheet.