The short version
Free, and here is what pays for it
DataTray shares a small amount of your computer’s idle, unused internet bandwidth through a vetted partner. That is what funds it instead of a subscription.
Two things get confused here often enough that it is worth separating them on their own line. Sharing bandwidth means your connection relays somebody else’s ordinary web traffic while you are not using it. It does not mean your files are read, copied, scanned or sent. DataTray does not have a way to upload your data — not to us, not to the partner, not to anyone — because no part of it makes a network request with your data in it.
Why this way
Why not just charge for it?
What usually happens
A free tool means ads, a row cap, a watermark, an account, or a trial that expires the week you need it. Or it means the file goes to somebody’s server and you never find out what happened to it after that.
What happens here
Every keyword this product answers is already served by a free web tool, so a paid desktop app would simply never be found. Free is not a growth tactic here — it is the only position that works, and the bandwidth exchange is what makes it hold.
The bandwidth is shared through Massive, our vetted partner, who operate the network the traffic is relayed for. Their FAQ, licence and privacy policy are linked from the consent screen you see at install, and from Settings.
In plain terms
What this is, and what it is not
The distinction that matters most is the last one on the right.
It is
- A share of your idle, unused internet bandwidth, relaying other people’s ordinary web traffic.
- Disclosed at install, before anything runs, and turned off with one toggle in Settings.
- The reason there is no subscription, no row limit and no advertising.
It is not
- Access to your files. DataTray has no upload path for your data at all.
- Your browsing history, your accounts, or anything you type into the app.
- A cryptominer, an ad injector, or anything that runs while you are using your machine hard.
Good-citizen defaults
How it behaves on your machine
The arrangement is only reasonable if it stays out of your way, so these are the defaults it ships with.
Idle bandwidth only
It uses spare capacity on your connection — the part you are not using.
Visible, not hidden
The status is in Settings, one click from the tray menu, along with the toggle.
Nothing to do with your files
The exchange and the five tools share no code path. One relays traffic; the others read files off your disk.
Your control
Turning it off
The toggle is in Settings, one click from the tray menu. Switch it off and the bandwidth sharing stops — but so does what pays for the tools, so the tools pause while sharing is off.
We would rather say that plainly than describe an arrangement the app does not actually implement. If you would prefer not to take part at all, uninstalling is the clean way to do it, and nothing is left behind.
Privacy
What DataTray knows about your data
Nothing, and it is structural rather than a policy. Every one of the five tools reads your files on your own disk and writes results back to it; not one makes a network request. Your column names, your row counts, your file names and the contents of every cell never leave your machine.
The bandwidth the partner relays is other parties’ web traffic. It is not your files, your browsing, or anything derived from what you open in DataTray.
The diagnostics DataTray does send are a short, fixed allowlist — which tool ran, a coarse size and duration band, and whether it worked. Never a file name, a column name, a row count or a cell. It is all written out in the Privacy Policy.
Open the file that would not open
Free, ad-free, and it never asks for the file. (Windows)
Windows 10/11 (x64) · Free · No account