Top 10 uTorrent Alternatives

Ben Jones
August 19, 2012
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For tens of millions of BitTorrent users, uTorrent is the immediate client of choice. However, a recent decision by its creators to include adware in the client prompted some users to question their loyalty to the product. After numerous reader requests for an overview of other BitTorrent clients, here is a rundown of ten possible alternatives.

Following the announcement last week that uTorrent will become ad-supported (and despite the subsequent change of heart on forced ads), some BitTorrent users have been reconsidering their options.

In response to reader requests for information on other clients, here are ten alternatives to µTorrent for windows (in alphabetical order).

BitComet v1.33

We begin with perhaps the most controversial of all torrent clients. BitComet has been accused of many negative things in the past, but most were without merit.

However, the one universally annoying aspect of BitComet – padding files – is still there, and is the default setting when creating torrents.

For torrent downloads it is an acceptable client but by no means the best. On one of our test torrents BitComet could not find or connect to any peers, so your mileage may vary in everyday usage.

On the plus side, the optional eMule integration could help resuscitate some torrents, assuming you can find a working eMule server that is. On the downside it was one of the heaviest clients on our test system.

BitComet also serves advertising links. Some features (such as VIP mode and anonymous downloading) are pay services, which is not always made clear.

BitComet website

BitLord v2.1.1

Another client that has been around for many years. Older BitLord clients were based on an old version (v0.54) of BitComet but for quite a while now it has been based on Deluge. Installation includes a Conduit toolbar, and the client opens to a browser window containing more adverts (through the integrated Chrome12 browser).

As a modified Deluge, it offers very little in the way of worthwhile additions to the basic Deluge client. In addition to all the adverts it also managed to ignore the global settings and left a Conduit installer behind when removed. A clear case of where the modifications are all for the worse.

BitLord website

BitTornado v0.3.7

A classic client, and the only one that doesn’t handle multiple torrents in a single window.

Despite the age of the client (this version was released in October 2006, and predates TorrentFreak!) it still has a popular following with a certain type of user.

Similar to the original BitTorrent client, BitTornado is an instance-per-torrent client that was responsible for many popular developments, such as the ‘traffic light’ system for port forwarding and super-seeding to maximize the efficiency of initial seeding. However, it has no DHT facility, so magnet links are not usable.

BitTornado is best for power users who release torrents periodically and can make good use of the super-seed function. Various independent front-ends are available for the BitTornado engine (such as ABC and TorrentFlux), but use them at your own risk.

BitTornado website

Deluge v1.3.5

If you’re looking for a simple client with no bells, whistles or extras, then Deluge might be the tool for you.

It covers all the basics and has a clean interface, the simplicity of which is only underscored after seeing how BitLord butchered it. It’s also been remarkably resistant to traffic-shaping in the past; never a bad thing, especially if you’re on a frequently throttled ISP.

If there’s a downside it’s that the settings are perhaps TOO simple, and that the default settings are a little on the high side. There is also currently no support for µTP as the client uses an older version of libtorrent-rasterbar. However, its simple competence coupled with overall lightness on the system means that this is a recommended client for the regular user.

Deluge website

FrostWire v5.3.8

A client aimed at media-oriented users, FrostWire is laid out in a manner more reminiscent of a music player than a BitTorrent client, betraying its LimeWire origins (it’s been BitTorrent-only since June 2011). While there are no toolbars included, RealPlayer is offered during install.

Music is definitely the focus of the client, with featured artists downloads being offered since 2008 along with iTunes integration. Additionally, in tests it was the only client to detect a local peer on the same network, and use it.

On the downside, initial settings are a little high, and the layout is a little cluttered. It also didn’t uninstall cleanly, leaving a number of files behind.

If your torrenting revolves around music and iTunes integration is a bonus, then FrostWire is a good option. Likewise if you torrent on a large local network, the local peer discovery may improve things for you.

FrostWire website

MediaGet v2.01.1595

This client is very popular with Russian users, but has a few issues. The client’s options are limited and documentation – including the FAQ linked in the client – is in Russian.

Also, while the initial installer is uTorrent-sized, it’s a frontend for a web-based installer that can take a while to complete. The overall design of the client is, like FrostWire, aimed towards music users, with an integrated media player.

Despite our optimism last year, it’s currently not one of the best replacements for uTorrent.

MediaGet website

qBittorrent v3.0.0

The Windows version of this popular Ubuntu client is, like Deluge, based on the libtorrent-rasterbar engine. However, unlike Deluge, it uses v0.16 which has support for µTP.

Installation is simple and quick, with no adverts or premium options. System resource usage was the lowest of all clients tested, and handled all standard torrent tasks with quiet competence.

On the downside, initial settings are again rather poor and will need to be corrected on installation.

Like Deluge, this is a worthy alternative client to uTorrent.

qBittorrent website

Tixati v1.91

A client that has garnered a small, but vocal following in our comments section, it’s a client clearly aimed more towards the BitTorrent stats junkie than the casual user.

The layout is clear and uncluttered, with bold primary colors evoking memories of WinMX but getting the job done. It was easy to set up and run and is more customizable than most.

On the downside the homepage has some misleading adverts and you have to agree to the license twice, once when installing and again when first run, which can be annoying.

If you know what you’re looking for the additional information the client provides can be a benefit, but serious stats junkies will probably go for the plugin-flexibility of Vuze. In many ways it’s a midpoint between the heavy details of Vuze and the simplicity of Deluge and qBittorrent. Worth a try, but may not be for everyone.

Tixati website

Tribler v5.9.27

The Tribler client has been around for many years now, and we’ve covered it several times. Developed at the Delft University of Technology, it’s been promoted as the only true decentralized BitTorrent client, allowing content searches independent of websites.

The downside is that the installer is massive in comparison to the other clients listed here, and it also ends up being the most system-intensive, with some functions taking several seconds to respond.

It is one of the least configurable of the clients tested and the ‘channels’ are not as well implemented as they could be.

While it has its niche, Tribler doesn’t quite make it as a mainstream replacement for uTorrent. It’s still actively being developed and brough many innovations to BitTorrent over the years, so keep an eye on this client.

Tribler website

Vuze v4.7.1.2

Vuze is uTorrent’s main challenger. While uTorrent prides itself on its small size and speed, Java-based Vuze focuses on capability and the sheer breadth of supported devices.

It was the first client to feature DHT, albeit on its own network (a plugin is available to use the mainline DHT network) and with the enhancements offered by the plugin system it gives power users the ability to do things not possible with any of the other clients listed here.

On the downside, the client is Java-based and so is one of the heaviest consumers of system resources, and the layout is not intuitive to those coming from other clients. Additionally, the installer contains not one, but three pieces of software – a toolbar, WinZip registry optimizer, and WinZip driver updater.

However, for power users who can spare the system power, or who really want the intricate details or the flexibility of the plugin system, it’s hard to beat.

Vuze website

Conclusion

If you are looking for a straight alternative to the uTorrent client, there are a few alternatives. For the simple/everyday user the two libtorrent clients (Deluge and qBittorrent) are good options. If you are a torrent releaser, working on one or two torrents at a time, then BitTornado may be for you. For those that want more details, Tixati would be a good alternative, and for the ultimate power user, there’s always Vuze.

The Tribler client offers promise for the future and is certainly one to keep an eye on.

Did we miss a good client? Do you disagree with the above? Feel free to add a comment!

UPDATE: Before any more go on about ‘transmission’, we only covered official released clients FOR WINDOWS. There is only an unofficial port abandoned in 2010 for windows, hence we didn’t look at it and are not going to. Likewise with rTorrent, not available for windows. We will be checking out clients for other operating systems soon.

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Follow @torrentfreak

http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes

Great work Ben, and very much appreciated too my friend – but until the fools now in charge of our beloved uT come to their senses I’ll be sticking with my beloved and trusted v2.2.1

And we can all d/l it FREE of course – with fecken ads – here:
http://www.oldapps.com/utorrent.php?old_utorrent=38
- Richard Stallman
  
  That software doesn’t respect your freedom.
  https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
  http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/
  http://www.qbittorrent.org/
  http://deluge-torrent.org/
  - http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes
    
    I’ve given your post a “Like” Richard despite the fact you didn’t summarise or even specify how uTorrent “doesn’t respect” our freedom.
    
    Care to explain please?
    
    I’m in no mood to read the magnum opus you link to at gnu.org, but I am grateful for your 3 other links to Ben’s list of Top 10 (assuming he hadn’t included them already!!).
    
    So, can you please explain IN BRIEF and WITH EXAMPLES exactly how uT 2.2.1 doesn’t respect our freedom.
    - http://twitter.com/Brandiet4 Brandiet
      
      Connie implied I cannot believe that anyone able to profit $8880 in four weeks on the network. have you look this(Click on menu Home)
    - http://twitter.com/Brandiet4 Brandiet
      
      ….
      goo.gl/abuqh
    - Stallmans mate
      
      In brief,
      
      It’s not free and open source software.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BitTorrent_sites
      
      BTW a few others that should of made list (that also are Stallman friendly)
      
      http://www.ktorrent.org/
      
      http://www.transmissionbt.com/
      
      http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/ + http://code.google.com/p/rutorrent/ if you wanna
      share like a boss ;)
    - Stallmans mate is drunk
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BitTorrent_clients
- chronoss chiron
  
  its not just freedom he is regarding its cheatng and oterh issues ask yourself which of these clients listed above are not most often banned.
  
  and that list above is nearly 80%….
  - BJonesTF
    
    As I said earlier, we’ll be covering the absurd and baseless ban claims at a later date. But the 1-line summery is ‘the claims are mostly made up, and the problems are usually because of the tracker being set up wrong, by people who don’t know what they’re doing, or how bittorrent actually works; then the rumour is spread around and becomes ‘fact’. Chinese Whispers, as it were.
  - Anonymous
    
    So if one is going to post then give an alternative and why …Who the 20 percent that don’t band,that don’t have ad wares ?? and what are you using ?
- John
  
  I’m sticking to 2.2.1 as well. uTorrent for downloading, TorrentRover for finding, PeerBlock for protection. That’s how I roll.
  - TixatiUser
    
    ”I’m sticking to 2.2.1 as well.” Enjoy being behind the times.
    
    What’s torrent rover? torrent site? never heard of it.
    - DaveCrawford606
      
      behind the times?so u like the new utorrent versions with ads and shitty apps?
    - jrau18
      
      @7e0f36393ec6460cf05265a126773b7b:disqus
      He doesn’t use uTorrent. He uses Tixati. And the new uTorrent is still behind the times.
    - Guest
      
      Hey, nothing too wrong about being behind the times. My first client was bit tornado, and I loved it. Lightweight and simple, I used it until DHT became popular, and i moved to using almost exclusively magnet links. Simple is frequently better.
    - Welp
      
      Behind the times? uTorrent 2.2.1 is complete. There are no more huge features to add to uTorrent that are related to torrenting. That’s why Bittorrent, Inc. is moving toward making it a full-blown media platform.
    - Back2Future
      
      behind the times says he who doesn’t know of Torrent Rover *pfft
  - BJonesTF
    
    I wouldn’t use utorrent 2.2.1, not with the bugs and exploits in it (not even on a VM, as we did with these 10)
    I’ve never heard of TorrentRover
    And if you think peerblock protects you, I’ve got a string of sausages that protects against Lions I’ll sell you. (peerblock has not and will not ‘protect’ you, it’s actually impossible for it to do so)
    - Na
      
      reference for exploit details?
    - xpmule
      
      ya i’d like to see some real world exploits or backup for these bold claims.
      and Peerblock DOES protect you.
      It’s simple to prove too.
      If i can provide one example of an IP address that it blocks
      that can be verified as a bad source you *should not be connected to
      then then that is more enough proof. I have never seen or heard of anyone across the net EVER claim that PB offers *complete protection
      and the authors of the program have stated clearly what it does and does NOT do.
      The problem lies with the experts trying to put words in peoples mouths basically.
      By making it seem like if its used you are now going to be safe..
      But who is making this claim ? Only the people bashing PB that’s who..
      
      Bottom line is I see a TON of traffic being avoided going to or from
      sites that i SHOULD NOT be downloading or uploading to.
      
      The flawed mentality exhibited here amounts to telling people
      not to use a condom because they are not fool proof.
      
      You want to send traffic to Microsoft while downloading a windows iso then go ahead.. have fun with that lol
    - ANoi
      
      The most danger in utorrent is in version 2.0.3 and below.
      Not saying version 2.2.1 is any more safe(doubt it), but the most available exploits are for 2.0.3 and below. Run those versions and your pc is an open door for anyone who wants to come etc….hijack session etc….
      
      Peerblock….magical sausage string…… protection from lions…… I lol’d
    - Block the web
      
      @83c80944a96da97f2096543dd7a07331:disqus
      It’s like a condom with billions of holes in it.
      If gives people a FALSE sense of security. Implying that all bad nodes are know and all ip’s are static and in range.
      
      REALITY: ALL NODES should be considered bad.
      Peerblocks solution, completely block the internet.
    - John Spartan
      
      @83c80944a96da97f2096543dd7a07331:disqus PG DOES NOT protect you, It is a simply matter for anyone trying to track you to just choose an IP that isnt in PG’s block this, and it isnt like their block list is any secret. ANYONE can view it.
    - Qoaa
      
      there are zero exploits with 2.2.1, this is misinformation utorrent current devs spread to try and trick noobs into getting their new adware/malware version of utorrent 3+
      
      Do NOT use newer utorrent, do not go past version 2.2.1, the old devs made 2.2.1 when utorrent people partnered with Gyre they laid off a lot and the 3.0+ versions came out with adware, malware toolbars and other crap.
      
      Anyone who claims 2.2.1 has an exploit is a disinformation moron or a utorrent admin spreading lies.
      
      Fuck what utorrent has become, the old devs who made 2.2.1 made the best torrent client out there. And although they were laid off after the Gyre partnership they still have alternate forums where they support version 2.2.1 and the full source code has already been leaked for 2.2.1 by an ex dev anyhow that utorrent has been spamming dmca’s about lately.
    - Anonymous
      
      No, Peerblock, or any other IP blocking software or method, can absolutely offer you a useful degree of protection if you configure it appropriately by feeding it a valid IP list. There is nothing complicated about that – it’s about as basic as it gets.
      
      The big problem lies in knowing what addresses are, or are not, friendly. Huge blocklists like those commonly recommended for use in applications like Peerguardian/Peerblock tend to block massive amounts of perfectly valid peers because the lists have been allowed to grow to ridiculous heights over the years by paranoid maintainers who invariably devolve into seeing almost everything as a threat – corporations, businesses, schools, universites, government agencies, military, you name it… – resulting in ridiculously over-the-top lists that negatively affect innocent users and are completely unmanagable.
      
      But the vast majority of people who use these lists tend to have absolutely no idea about how to identify hostile addresses for themselves, so they come to rely on their use. They will, in many cases, offer most peers a useful degree of protection from a fair number of the well-known hostiles out there, but they are never perfect, and do often have that associated collateral damage cost.
      
      If you want to avoid some of these problems, learn how to cook your own (impractical for most).
      
      tl;dr – blocklists can offer some protection – they are not perfect:do not rely on them – they can cause damage
      
      And FAO Ben Jones: I bet you have an IP blocklist in use here for these forums, don’t you? Is it perfect? Is it useful?
  - xpmule
    
    This site is blocked by Peerblock LOL
    i had to turn off TCP blocking on the tray icon to get in ;)
    
    and v2.2.1 DHT patched by me all the way :)
    With no Apps ofcourse.. people never mention that about the
    older versions of it. do people use some of those app things ?
    i block the apps.uttorent domain with a hosts file entry so even
    if i accidently click on find apps etc i wont see crap in there.
    i also made some apps related stuff in the config folder read-only.
    and while i’m at it i might as well ad that i removed the shit from the ui
    including the category list which i open rarely if i wanna use labels for a while (most of the time i don’t use labels)
    
    many ways to use 2.2.1 but no one ever says anything detailed
    - Na
      
      can you please me where to get the dht patch or what bytes to change?
      
      i’ve not been able to find any details about the supposed dht exploit in 2.2.1
  - Lonnie
    
    utorrent, no matter what version, sucks. just switch to tixati already and be happy.
- ton
  
  “but until the fools now in charge of our beloved uT come to their senses I’ll be sticking with my beloved and trusted v2.2.1″
  
  beloved? trusted? how can that be? they want to trace and track you with the ads they are gonna be implementing and they’ve been trying for many versions now to install crap along with their program. Is that trustworthy? No. Very loving? No.
  
  Transmission, which didn’t make onto the list but should have, is a pretty good alternative, as is vuze, but the best is Tixati. The channels alone make it worth a look.
  - rebeka
    
    I can understand why transmission didn’t make it, it doesn’t have an active windows version, even though it says nothing anywhere about an available windows version. It seems many people here are non windows users since there was much outcry for missing transmission. vuze is ok, as is deluge, but Tixati is best.
  - Life
    
    how can I set the scheduler in Tixati for all torrents as I do in Utorrent? That is the only reason I have not migrated to Tixati. Thanks.
    - Anon
      
      Look here for some help on how to use the scheduler:
      http://support.tixati.com/Scheduler+View
      or here:
      http://forum.tixati.com
      
      The forum is especially helpful. And an easier place to get specific help. The scheduler is pretty easy to set up. just add task and run. There is also a help channel in the program where you can ask for help.
- JimmyKhan
  
  Do some homework TorrentFreak. Correct your facts please.
  
  The unofficial transmission port for Windows in live and kicking fine. It has been updated periodically keeping sync with official versions. The developer of the port is a really nice man. He answers all queries and tries to fulfill features requests made by the USERS.
  
  It compiled from latest source available at official Transmissionbt.com website. Plus
  the developer has also added some nice feature for Windows builds.
  
  You can find out the latest version here:-
  
  *Official site of unofficial version * is here https://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/files/Transmission-Qt/2.6x/
  
  *Download latest version * here:- (Fast and lightweight)
  https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/trqtw/Transmission-Qt/2.6x/Transmission-Qt-2.61-Setup.exe?r=https%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fprojects%2Ftrqtw%2Ffiles%2FTransmission-Qt%2F2.6x%2F&ts=1345487121&use_mirror=ncu
  - Qoaa
    
    Torrentfreak did their homework, the last updated version is dated 2010, there has been no updates to it since 2010.
    
    thats why it is not listed, the windows version is dead atm, even if the guy supports it, it’s no longer had any updates.
    - Skwebdev
      
      That’s funny because the latest version available at sourceforge is compiled from Transmission V2.6 which is the latest version available for *any* platform. There have also been 4 other releases since 2010, one for each point release (2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5).
    - optimismprime
      
      The latest Version of Transmission for Windows is:
      Transmission-Qt Win 2.72, released 2012-10-17
      
      looks pretty current to me…
      
      http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/
Donkey Hoty

I like Transmission. It’s not feature-rich but it’s easy to use and it gets the job done. It comes with Ubuntu Linux and I think Mac users have access to it. I don’t know if there is a Windows version.
- eatroffles
  
  Here is the Windows version: http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/
  - Richard Stallman
    
    This software respects your freedom and is a good choice for Windows.
    - Davecrawford606
      
      thanks for the explanation
  - guest280
    
    I see now Transmission for Windows is a good client. Last time I tried it about year ago and it won’t work for me.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UPA3QUTTS2QNIZVRTI2MWUWZJE Rascalina
  
  Have used Transmission for many years now, and I love it’s minimalist features. Does only what I need to do. Wouldn’t switch it for anything. Great Client.
  - someone
    
    “minimalist features.” That’s not for me. I like to play with my program and tweek the setting, and use it to its fullest. And I want it to be a bit like a community and some fun. The Tixati channels give me this. The channels are the main reason I use tixati, the fact that the rest of it works great is just the icing on the cake.
    - Trdasfdhcvaefs
      
      how can I set the scheduler in Tixati for all torrents as I do in Utorrent? That is the only reason I have not migrated to Tixati. Thanks.
- Justaguy
  
  I was quite surprised that Transmission didn’t make the top 10.
  A great little torrent client.
  - pointer
    
    Transmission should have definitely made the top 10. It’s not this best mind you. Tixati’s the best. But definitely top10 and maybe even to 5.
    - homina
      
      Tixati is definitely tops for me , and transmisssion, vuze and deluge are ok clients.
    - Troubling Emotions
      
      Hey Pointer, May you please let me know how I can set the scheduler in Tixati for all torrents as I do in Utorrent? That is the only reason I am stick stuck with Utorrent v3.2. Thanks.
    - http://www.facebook.com/ai.khan.33 Ai Khan
      
      tixati is certainly the best one.
  - piere
    
    transmission ok, should be on list. tixati better. transmission top 5 tixati #1
- bee jesus i’m feckin’ angry
  
  exactly wot i faut m8, its de bolox
- Mortem Dei
  
  For some reason VPNcheck in linux can’t shut down transmission for me, I’m using qBittorrent.
- Anyone
  
  I have transmission running on my NAS with a GUI on my main machine and on my phone
  
  it’s excellent
- Bobb
  
  I’ve used the Mac version of Transmission for years and find it works very well. One of the best interfaces on free software out there. Very clean yet has lots of advanced features and well supported.
Simon

None come close to the power and simplicity of Utorrent v2.2.1.

Clicking a little button that turns off ads is much easier than setting up a new client, working out all its settings, and migrating hundreds of torrents across.
- roadkill
  
  Hey where can I get 2.2.1?
  - FakeElections
    
    http://www.filehippo.com/download_utorrent/9859/
    
    uTorrent 2.2.1 Build 25302
    - roadkill
      
      Thanks mate!
- Coboddie
  
  Agreed. I still use Utorrent v2.2.1, and I am quite happy with it; it is much better than the newer versions.
- guest190
  
  You forgot clicking buttons to opt out featured download + toolbar during installation and clicking “don’t spy on me during update check” button in privacy options.
- Guest
  
  I use 2.0.4, I treid 2.2.1 and didn’t like it, for me 2.0.4 is better.
- urial
  
  must click off multiply buttons, me no like. got tired and switch to tixati. me happy now.
Adsf

Choosing a closed source client to replace utorrent instead a free software this time would be stupid. Otherwise one would risking getting a bloated and ad-supported client again.
- http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole
  
  That is one reason that I definitely prefer Deluge, FOSS. Open source all the way. Also surprised there’s no mention that Deluge encrypts by default, though this is the reason it’s resistant to traffic shaping.
- Richard Stallman
  
  The correct term is “libre”, but apart from that you are correct.
  - Freedom Fry
    
    Technically accurate though it may be, it is, nonetheless, a stupid word.
    
    Libreoffice, anyone?
eatroffles

I like kTorrent and Transmission.
- garden
  
  Transmission and ktorrent didn’t even make the list, but transmission should have. Some of the info about the clients is left out as well. Like what about Tixati’s channels, no mention on that. No mention of Transmission, No mention of Tixati channels, a little incomplete. Mediaget shouldn’t even be on the list.
Richard Stallman

Worst article Torrentfreak has ever made.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/
http://www.qbittorrent.org/
http://deluge-torrent.org/
Are the only sane choices for Windows.
- chronoss chiron
  
  actually richard i have using cygwin changing the parse files an ability to get rtorrent up and running in a compile….
  
  so one can add rtorrent on windows using older cygwin from cygwin.com if they know what i mean by changing parse files. I dont do public tutorials on it.
Asdlkjfa

yeah kTorrent is the best.
- tremble
  
  ktorret is ok, as is deluge. vuze has too many things to click off in the installer. Tixati is best for me.
  - TroubledEmotions
    
    Tremble, Please let me know how to schedule all torrents on Tixati, so that I can stop using Utorrent. I like the layout of Tixati, but using the scheduler is my only problem. Thanks.
MEGA-Joint

Opera.
- chronoss chiron
  
  opera is evil
  - http://my.opera.com/ZakMichigan/blog/ Jean Chicoine
    
    What are you talking about, “opera is evil”?!? I don’t think so. However, its torrent client is not the best of its many features.
Ex FlashGet-er

I used FlashGet for everything downloadable, a long time ago, until I switched to uTorrent.
Don’t know if it’s still in development or not, but I surely liked it. A lot.
Actually, uT seemed like a bad alternative to me at the time.
Guest

KTorrent <3
JabbaTheCat

Can’t see what the fuss is all about, running uT 3.1.3, Win XP Sp3, without any crap switched on and it seems to work ok. Haven’t had any problems with uT since 2.1.x when it would crash without any warning, which the dev team sorted out very fast.

All this talk of bloatware is also somewhat silly, given an install file size growth from circa 400k circa 800k is not exactly a system ball breaker whichever way you look at it…
- Ex FlashGet-er
  
  +1
  I noticed 3.3 Alpha made uT better than ever.
  However, I uninstalled the previous uT instead of keep updating the old files (it requires a different directory now a.s.o.).
  I think these frequent updates are the ones responsible for what people call “bloated uTorrent”.
  - JabbaTheCat
    
    “I think these frequent updates are the ones responsible for what people call “bloated uTorrent”.”
    
    uTorrent upgrades replace the relevant files and do not layer on top of existing ones, so your supposition is incorrect…
- chronoss chiron
  
  they gonna gt you one day and your gonna be a cry baby i can tell, hte no clue attitude really gets me i stopped using utorrent after 1.8.2 on windows that is….
  - JabbaTheCat
    
    Perhaps you enlighten us all?
  - Davecrawford606
    
    what?
    - JabbaTheCat
      
      DC, he’s obviously too cool for school…
- xpmule
  
  did you compare the contents of both the install flder and the config folder ?
  Why do i get the feeling you have never seen it lol
- quawonk
  
  Exactly. I have the latest version of uTorrent and I simply switched off updates. Only if they force the adware will I switch.
  
  3.4Ghz quad core i7, 16 GB RAM. 4TB total hard drive space. 800k install file size. LOL “bloatware”.
Astro

Which of them support RSS feeds, for subscribing to eg. Bitlove.org?
- Guest
  
  qBittorrent is great and have some fuction to read rss feed and automatically download some torrents usig defined rules, but it works only with some rss feeds and i am not sure if is it what you are watching for.
- Masau
  
  qBittorrent. I haven’t used the windows version, but I never encountered any issues with it only working with some rss feeds. I started using it when I switched over to Linux and absolutely loved it. It was quite similar to utorrent, but some of the features were far better implemented. I eventually switched to ktorrent (don’t like it much though) because I kept running into an issue where QBT would lose my labels, file locations (expecting them to be in the default location rather than the ones I saved them in) and a few other things. I wasn’t able to find any reference to this problem anywhere else, but I had issues both on linux mint and arch linux (same PC for both). I’ll probably set it back up in the coming weeks and try again as I truly loved the client. And knowing that it’s available on windows makes me quite happy. I will definitely be switching to it on windows so long as I don’t encounter that same issue there as well.
  - fingers
    
    i upgraded to qbittorrent 3.0.0 and libtorrent rasterbar 0.16.2 recently (running on linux mint 13) and the problems you spoke of have dissapeared for me. I don’t think it’s in the repos yet so you’ll have to compile it yourself.
- Glib
  
  Tixati does for sure; I swapped out uTorrent to try it out for a bit and it’s pulling alll my RSS feeds fine (namely showrss, which is really hte only one I need to work).
- jehny
  
  Tixati supports RSS feeds great. And when there is any problems the devs respond pretty quickly if it’s reported to them in the forum. I get news feeds through mine as well so I know it works for torrent type feeds and news feeds. There are a lot of controls and filters to control what comes through, what gets download and where it gets downloaded to., etc…
pekikuubik

Halite is nice if you want a native Windows client. The interface and feature set are comparable to early µT. Unfortunately it hasn’t been updated since 2010, so it’s based on a rather outdated build of libtorrent-rasterbar.
Pingback: In the News.. | TorGuard.net Blog - Anonymous VPN Services
Donkey Hoty

I recommend readers pay attention to Richard Stallman’s comments. He is the co-founder of the GNU-Linux world, along with Linus Torvalds. (Assuming it is the real Richard Stallman making the comments.)
- unusedcrayon
  
  He’s is very likely not.
  Stallman only wget’s pages and reads them, so actively posting comments on a site seems unlikely (See this email by him: http://lwn.net/Articles/262570/)
  - John Spartan
    
    Theres a parenthesis at the end of your link, that makes it invalid url.
    - unusedcrayon
      
      I knew.
      I was going to fix it earlier, but the edit box failed on me.
- Maldoror
  
  That’s all well and good, but then he’ll have to offer a bit more than the current open-source tourette’s he’s leaving in this thread.
- Anon
  
  It is pretty obvious it’s not the real Stallman. The real rms would never say anything like “the correct term is libre”, when his foundation is called the Free Software Foundation, or especially “worst article TorrentFreak has ever made”, let alone even post here.
Reptilianseverywhere

This is weird. Surely the guys at torrentfreak know about transmission, so why wasn’t it mentioned? I mean, why even mention clients that are obviously flawed (like bitcomet or bitlord) and others that aren’t quite functional yet (tribler is still too buggy and resource-intensive) and leave out a client that’s, at worst, a solid alternative to utorrent?
- Donkey Hoty
  
  +1
  Some of the clients mentioned here are banned from certain trackers and torrent sites because they don’t report accurate upload/download stats.
  - BJonesTF
    
    and in most of those cases, the problem is the tracker, not the client.
    
    We’ll be running a feature on the stupid, and false claims of private tracker admins at some point soon.
- chronoss chiron
  
  beacuse torrent freak gets paid by certain advertisers , you know what i mean?
- bee jesus i’m feckin’ angry
  
  arseholes comes to mind, and this’ll be deleted as well
- BJonesTF
  
  ”
  Surely the guys at torrentfreak know about transmission, so why wasn’t it mentioned?”
  Because it was a WINDOWS alternative, and there is no OFFICIAL WINDOWS VERSION perhaps?Go to http://www.transmissionbt.com/download/ Do you see a windows version? No. Answered in full.
- yuri
  
  TF has an anti-transmission agenda along with a few other clients that don’t pay them. Do bitcomet or bitlord display ads here? because vuze does and it’s of course the one they recommend as the replacement for the power user. What a surprise.
  And they failed to mention various things about some of the clients, such as Tixati’s channels (a big plus for tixati from me), and that some like bitlord have trojans and such.
  - agenda
    
    TF has a very pro vuze and anti tixati agenda. I’ve noticed posts that mention tixati removed. They failed to mention tixati’s channels, which is something that no other program has, and is deffinietly something people should know about when making a decision about what client to switch to. Those channels make tixati stand out amongst the other choices, so they were ignored.
    
    Also look at the links to the clients’ websites. The tixati link and the qBittorrent link do not work, they’ve been told multiple times and still they don’t work. Maybe qBitttorrent angered them as well. Let’s see if this stays.
    - Polly
      
      I noticed a while ago that those 2 links didn’t work. And saw that others posted something about it. And still nothing. Maybe you are right agenda, maybe there is an anti tixati, anti qbittorrent thing going on.
    - linkin
      
      The links to Tixati and qBittorrent are fixed.
Rewrew

uTorrent made it optional for ads after our voices were heard, as long as they don’t force us then I think it’s fine… otherwise they’ll see us leave uTorrent faster than a speeding train and their revenue will drop to 1 dollar a day.

Same can’t be said for microsoft, but it’s good to have choices other than uTorrent.
- Donkey Hoty
  
  You can leave Microsoft too. After 20 years with DOS and Windows, I’m a Linux user now. You can’t beat free and secure. Two things that Windows will never be. Now that Steam is porting to Linux there’s really no reason to stick with Windows unless you’re a huge corporation that’s invested millions in Windows-based product-specific software…. the poor fools.
  - Gamer
    
    Just because Steam is being ported to Linux, that doesn’t mean all the games are. The vast majority of games are for Windows and it will be this way for a long time, even if every new game has a Linux port.
  - John Spartan
    
    Even though steam is releasing Linux compatible games (note: only L4D2 has been announced so far), there will still be many games that simply wont work. I’ve tried switching to Linux many many times. I keep coming back to Windows because games simply will not run as well as they do under Windows, yes you can usually get it to run using wine but performance/FPS are too low. At least using my hardware, which works fine on windows.
    But hopefully with the way MS is going with Windows 8, (locking down windows by only allowing software to be sold through a ‘Windows Web Store’), more game devs will adopt Linux.
    
    http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/
    - Eyal Shilony
      
      I think you got it all wrong, just because they are offering a store service now, doesn’t mean they will force you to use it, especially as a PC user.
      
      Windows 8 appearance doesn’t change anything, it’s still Windows! for normal users the look changed, for developers, we got a new set of APIs to replace Win32 programming model and UI development standardization across devices.
  - Eyal Shilony
    
    These kinds of comments just show how ignorant one can be when is speaking about security.
anonymous

I ended up using Tixati, it’s the least-fugly-looking when you disable the icons and use text only and does what I want and not more.
- Arclight
  
  yeah the image shown in the article there doesn’t do it much justice. tweak the layout options and settings and it can be a lot different. the basic default view is probably done so as not to scare novices away with too much complexity.
http://twitter.com/Anime4PSP Anime 4 PSP

Bitcomet is terrible shit, at least was when I used it.
- Fake
  
  Bitcomet is also banned from many private trackers.
  
  Using it will get your account banned!
:D

BitLord is riddled with hidden malware which includes backdoor trojans, keyloggers and spyware/adware.

Why is it even listed as an alternative? For anything else besides uTorrent, I’d have to give my vote to Deluge.
- Leif
  
  BitLord has no hidden stuff like that.. You must have downloaded something bad, something very very bad ;D
Lol

who cares about Utorrent now ?

I use linux mint so there is deluge and also transmission.
- Ben
  
  I use Tixati on both Linux Mint and Windows 7.
1hhh1

I’ve only ever used Utorrent but if I had to change I’d give
Shareaza a try,it does all p2p sites ie Gnutella2, Gnutella, eDonkey, and BitTorrent networks.
Cnet’s review
http://download.cnet.com/Shareaza/3000-2196_4-10136298.html
Anuj Tenani

Transmission ? how can you guys miss transmission.
transmissionbt.com
- http://twitter.com/zackeryfretty Zackery Fretty
  
  Probably because it’s just for Mac/Linux–but I agree Transmission is a great client.
  - Donkey Hoty
    
    If you’ll read the comments above, you’ll see that there is a Windows version of Transmission too.
    - BJonesTF
      
      an unofficial version, abandoned 2 years ago. Hence we’re not covering it. Simple.
      No official version = no coverage.
      If we wanted to do every possible client, me and K`Tetch would still be testing come new-year, and instead of 1500 words (4x a standard article length) it’d be 15,000.
  - chronoss chiron
    
    if you know what your doing you could port a version with the cygwin.com set a stuffs anything from linux almost…..
http://twitter.com/zackeryfretty Zackery Fretty

Deluge should really be on this list closer to the top.

rtorrent is the best if you know what you are doing as well.
- Guest
  
  Alphabetical order dude
Sad

what about rtorrent?
- chronoss chiron
  
  if you change the parse files of the makefile you can with the stuff from cygwin.com get rtorrent on windows and of course on linux , not sure about maxs but its unix like environs i see no reasons why not.
Glue Stick

Ive been using azureus since before 2.5. Ive loved it from the moment I first used it even though at the time it used most of my system resources.
I would like to note that Vuze 4.3 and older maintained the original interface for removing torrents. That is right click>renove>than three choices. You could also highlight multiple torrents this way and either remove from list,disk, torrent or all three. After 4.3 they switched for some reason to a dialogue box which I find very annoying as it is an extra step and also prompts for each torrent you want to remove.
As such I maintain my client at 4.3. unless they have undone that I wont upgrade.
Dont forget if you use Vuze you can disable the Vuze interface in the options
Zeissmann

For GNU/Linux users, especially KDE guys, KTorrent is the best choice. It has lots of options and plugins and provides everything a modern torrent client should have, plus more. uTorrent users will feel right at home. KTorrent is somewhat heavy, but not nearly as much as e.g. Vuze. I’ve also tried Deluge, but for me it’s to simple. It should be fine for the casual torrent downloader, who isn’t interested in anything beyond getting his requested content.
http://nsanedown.com/ DKT27

Thanks for the article TF. Really appreciate it.
Banana

Top ten is more like all alternatives.
http://ingsoc.eu/ Henry Rouhivuori

Deluge I prefer, on Linux, of course.
Guest

I’ve come to love the automated downloads via RSS in µtorrent.

Which other client supports it?
- qBittorrent
  
  qBittorrent will do just fine i think. Since this article has been rushed, they placed this client in the “simple” category.
  
  What they didn’t see is that qBt does RSS with auto-download based on filters, has an unlimited number of watch folders that can be set as download directories and even possess an internal event log.
  
  Deluge can do it too. I don’t know it it’s RSS plugin can do it but if you’re courageous, there’s the flexget plugin which is similar to autodl-irssi for rtorrent if im not mistaken. It needs extensive configuration though
- urinal
  
  tixati has good rss support
  - urinal
    
    blah
…

Deluge doesn’t support drag n drop.
Harold

Ok honestly, I don’t like the situation. I’m going to finish that torrent client that I started writing once.
PPRJ

The best alternative for the new uT is the old uT. Just leave it alone, do not upgrade, and forget about it.
Ton360

All ya need is utorrent 2.2.1 or 1.6.1 and ya sorted :)
Meowphine

I’m disappointed, TorrentFreak. The title is misleading. It should be “10 alternatives to uTorrent”. I mean some of those clients are absolute shit.Here is my version:

HIGH TIER

qBittorrent:
+ open source
+ super-seed
+ RSS

Deluge:
+ open source
+ RSS with plugin
– super-seed (will be supported in a future version)

MID TIER

Tixati:
– closed source
+ super-seed
+ RSS

Vuze:
– closed source
+ super-seed
+ RSS

LOW TIER

µTorrent:
– closed source
– ads (you can disable the appearance, but not the communication with them)
+ super-seed
+ RSS

FrostWire:
– closed source
– RealPlayer offered in install

BitTornado:
+ open source
– one instance per torrent (this is not for “power users”, TorrentFreak)
– No DHT
+ super-seed

Tribler:
+ open source
– no encryption

SHIT TIER

MediaGet:
– closed source
– forced ads

BitComet:
– closed source
– forced ads
+ super-seed

BitLord:
+ open source
+ RSS
– forced ads
– toolbar

NOTES

Local Peer Discovery
Exist in most clients
It’s disabled by default for privacy reasons
FrostWire has it enabled by default.

Super-seed
Is not something unique to BitTornado, but you’re making it sound like it, TorrentFreak

Encryption
Always check that it’s enabled in the settings to avoid a few ISP throttling

Port
Use a port that isn’t in the default bittorrent port range to avoid almost every ISP throttling

Magnet links a.k.a DHT
If you don’t know what this is, you’re most likely using it, so check if the client supports it

Old version of uTorrent (v2.2.1)
If you know what magnet links a.k.a. DHT are and you don’t use them, go for this
- Meowphine
  
  I forgot
  
  I would also recommend Transmission for Windows. I don’t know if it has RSS support though. Then again, you can use external programs for that.
  To rTorrent users:
  I would check out the transmission-remote-cli project.
  
  I personally think rTorrent’s interface is ugly. I mean they use 3 asterisk to tell you what torrent is selected.
  
  And don’t get me started on their configuration file!
- TuxPaper
  
  Yeah, look at all that Vuze closed source.. http://svn.vuze.com/public/client/trunk/
  
  I am dissapoint.
- BJonesTF
  
  Yes, because we don’t know what we’re doing…
  ALL clients had local peer discovery enabled if it supported it.
  Bittornado invented superseed, and still has the best implementation by far.
  most ISP’s don’t throttle based on porn, and as we noted in the deluge section, it was the only one whose encryption handled any kind of determined throttle.
http://my.opera.com/ZakMichigan/blog/ Jean Chicoine

Deluge, qBittorrent or Transmission, you can’t go wrong with these.
Guest

Stopped reading at BitComet. You can honestly do better, TF.
Guest

Tixati is the best alternative to utorrent, way better than deluge, transmission and the rest. Some of the top 10 choices I’ve barely heard of. Mediaget, frostwire, didn’t know these were torrent clients.

And where is the mention of the Tixati Channels as being a reason to choose it over the others. A little disappointed Ben did not mention that.
- http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole
  
  Tixati is Proprietary. µTorrent is also proprietary. Why you would leave one company you can’t be sure you can trust to go to another that may not have your security in mind is beyond me. At least Open Source guarantees you know what it does.
  - guest409
    
    Not everyone has knowledge and time to examine source code and if you don’t you’ll have to believe others. You are 100% guaranteed only when you write program by yourself.
    
    uTorrent is trying to install some nasty things so just based on that I would trust Tixati Software Inc. more then BitTorrent Inc.
- Tixati…
  
  And Tixati is banned on almost if not all private trackers. It wasn’t mentioned either.
  
  It’s not bad at all. I quite like how it works, especially the labels management but there are several problems the developpers need to correct in order to see it whitelisted.
  - Franco
    
    You can spoof your ID in Tixati to fool the jerkoff private tracker tyrants. There are links on the forum to help you to do it.
    
    And I love the idea that you have to only use certain ‘acceptable’ clients because the tracker tyrants say so. I use the client I want, not one some a-hole tells me I have to.
    - Well…
      
      Yes that’s exactly one of the reasons why it is banned. At least qBittorrent developper realised that spoofing was unnecessary and removed that feature two years ago. It is now whitelisted everywhere (except for one particular tracker).
      
      And tracker Admins/SysOps are not always jerks. This ban and other bans were discussed on several trackers forums WITH the users. It wasn’t a tyrannical decision.
    - guest968
      
      He removed the feature 2 years ago and yet still qBittorrent is not whitelisted on some private trackers, not just one I saw at least 3 and I don’t have access to the most “elite” ones. Yeah, try to tell admins to test qBittorrent only to be warned and your post deleted.
  - Ben
    
    Who cares about private trackers? Once the RIAA busts the owner, they will come after you cause they have your profile.
bee jesus i’m feckin’ angry

well now i am sure, these prats at tf are def with the authorities, getting you all to divulge your fav clients, and you have all complied perfectly because this is the next avenue of attack for the industry, this’ll get took off but i hope some of you read it before that. keep stumpf about dees fings man, dey r at to get all de info dey kan 5heeit!!
Killjoy

use basic http://www.bittorrent.com/
- http://twitter.com/JerkfaceMcGee Jerkface McGee
  
  … he doesn’t realize that it and uTorrent are in essence the same thing since version 6 and BitTorrent, Inc™ could put ads on it if it damn well pleased.Shiggity diggity doo.
Qwerty

Hey Torrentfreak guys some of the links don’t work.
- gargen
  
  I noticed this too. Fix please.
Aredt

uTorrent 2.2.1
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=676827475 Luke Solis

I wont use Tribler until the internet is dead. thats how crummy it is atm. someone needs to pick that up and make it better.
Topo

Funny,I don’t have this problem because after upgrading to on the so called newer versions (last year) & experiencing the ridiculous speed throttling of my downloads I went back to uTorrent 1.8.2 & haven’t had a problem since.
http://twitter.com/Rubysea Alex Hamrick

Transmission the default in Ubuntu
Pingback: Torrent News » Top 10 uTorrent Alternatives
Conservative

Ben Jones have set up us the bomb!
I clicked the link in the article that says “Tixati Website” and TorrentFreak gave me a blank page that says in LARGE LETTERS:You broke TorrentFreak!!!
RIAARACKET

Xunlei is the #1 most used torrent client in the world.

Quite surprising it was not mentioned.
- Dinepo
  
  Xunlei is utterly terrible, at least it was the last time I looked at it. Massive bloated piece of shit. Just awful.
- Guest
  
  Is it now? Then why hasn’t anybody ever heard of it??
  - BJonesTF
    
    Because I don’t speak Chinese?
- Fake
  
  Xunlei mooches like Bitcomet and is banned on most trackers.
  
  Xunlei is also spyware and sends encrypted packets to IPs owned by the Chinese government.
  - BJonesTF
    
    Guess someone didn’t check the link about bitcomet myths about the ‘mooching’. Sorry, it’s not true.
internet piratez

Sorry i missed the misleading ads on tixatis page there is only 1 on the top right and also has a portable version on there download page i used to try it out and no problems here
arb1

i might be wrong but bitcomet is banned on most private trackers
- user171
  
  Check the links in BitComet paragraph. Apparently admins are idiots.
Pingback: Las 10 mejores alternativas a uTorrent | YTuQueLeeS
fingers

BTG ?
KongRooo

Fascinating, I tried FrostWire once and all I got was virus and trojan attempts.
Privacy-News.tk
poooooooooooor top10

very poor top10…

Well ill tell you my experience with uTorrent.
I have a dedi server just for torrenting (yeah im addicted) tried uTorrent 3.XX and just got headaches, its terrible Disk overload, slow upload, speed oscillation… now with version 2.21 ts completely different much much better.

BUT

none of the uTorrent 3.XX happens at my home connection, only at the high speed server.

Im tired of uTorrent, its is downhill thats for sure. im testing transmission in my server and it seems the speeds are better than with the uTorrent 2.21

Hey TorrentFreak make a review! Test like 20
clients in all kind of ways, like a giga server on a home connection,public
tracker private trackers, Hardware usage… and then post some score! And not just some
features of each prog.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Miller/1047023623 Richard Miller

I know UTorrent is good, but don’t use it, especially if they’re going to introduce Adware, that’ll just slow your system down, use something else, I personally like KTorrent, I looked on ktorrent.org/ and I didn’t seem to find one for Windows, also, KTorrent supports DHT like the UTorrent does, I’m not very smart when it comes to torrent clients, but ktorrent is the best IMHO.
K Anon

> List BitLord and BitComet
> Leave out rtorrent and Transmission
> “Top 10″
- K Anon
  
  OK, read the update. I stand by that at least BitLord may as well be thrown out as unworthy of mention. BitTorrent Mainline could take its
  place.
  
  I’m tempted to mention Shareaza because of its historical importance and wide network support. It is also one of the outright prettiest clients I’ve ever used.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UZPKFUNXDCBGYM6MSLLM7AILP4 Adam M

No mention of browser based client…Opera is fast for dlíng torrents for me.
TraceLoop

Funny story: Stop automatically letting stuff update for you so you don’t have to act so disappointed. If ain’t broken, don’t fix it. I say “That’s nice.” when -any- program wants an update, and I visit their websites manually to see what the changes are. If it isn’t important, I don’t see a reason to download it.

I’m going to stick to a lower version rather than risk my security and put up with less features in an attempt to use these other clients. I’m not ‘supporting’ a company by simply using their free product, I’m just using it. When they get their shit together, I’ll update. Otherwise, I really don’t see a loss in using an older version in this specific instance if they’re not adding any features I’d actually care about. It’s not going to hurt my speed.
Unknown 90185

i use the Bit Torrent 7.2.1 works great never any issues and accepted on most private and public trackers.
ManBat

I wonder. The ads are going to be coming from a designated server right? Couldn’t you just block that server in your HOSTS file? e.g: 127.0.0.1 ads.utorrent.com
TheOiulkj

Didn’t they say that there will be an opt-out option for the ads? why is everyone flipping their shit?
- Ben
  
  My computer has nothing that supports ads. Why would I want to pollute it with uTorrent so they can track me?
ScrewEwe2

I’ve mentioned before which older µTorrent build I use, and after trying other clients, am going to continue to use. If you are looking for old versions go to Old Apps dot com. Seems everytime I post the actual link they delete my post.
Guest

qBittorrent and Transmission.
hammer41

If you’re still giving out invites can you send one to kowitza@msn.com
Tmc80tmc

I’ve tried a few including bitcomet and utorrent, but Vuze (formerly Azerus) seems to be the most stable.. all clients have bugs from time to time, but overall.. Vuze seems to rule.. for anroid.. Ttorrent..
http://the-good-show.tumblr.com/ Ants

unofficial, yet completely up to date…http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/
tiger97a

i use vuze my self and love the way it lets me control what i am doing, i can test the internet with it, i can see who is downloading to me, i can burn movies with it, it lets me tell it where to store the torrents and it shows me everything about it. i did notice that most of the ones listed will get you banned off private trackers as its easy to cheat with them, and most will kick you off if you use them also. my seedbox is transmission and i like that but its really for them to set up and regulate it so i will stick with my vuze plus and i love it
Gzz

What’s with all the fuzz about changing client? Just downgrade to 2.2.1 for gods sake.
- Lon
  
  I like this answer best. The technology of Bittorrent is not changing so why feel you have to upgrade? To get better ad content?
  
  The 2.2.1 will be available forever on Softpedia and so on. Since I am using the 3.2 beta whatevs, I’m wondering if that will somehow now collect unwanted adverts.
JT

I use utorrent 2.2.1 with a dht patch. It makes ALL torrents support dht so that torrents with the private flag set are forced to accept dht.

I got it from TPB. Search “utorrent 2.2.1 dht” and you will see it there. You can install it over your version of utorrent with no problems.

I have scanned it with the best antivirus (NOD32) and it is clean. I have also been monitoring it for any unusual behaviour and it doesn’t show any oddities. It works great.

I am really grateful for the uploader doing this because I have been able to download several items marked as “private” that I couldn’t get before.

I have read in previous posts that 2.2.1 has vulnerabilities, but I have not had any problems whatsoever in my experience and I download/upload a lot. The difference between 3.2 and 2.2.1 is that 3.2 seems to get going quicker than 2.2.1, but only by a few minutes. Beyond that, they both seems equal by speeds and other characteristics.

Regarding other versions, this is my review based on my extensive use of these clients.

Vuze – Uses too many resources (60% CPU, 700MB RAM, no kidding).

Deluge – On Windows, it’s buggy.

Transmission – On Windows, it occasionally uses a lot of resources and is buggy.

qBittorrent – It’s a good client. Nice design also.

Bitcomet – Ads (need I say more).

Tixati – A good client.

Halite – Needs more features so you can control its behaviour. It acts “out of control”. It’s like a really fast car with a limited-motion steering wheel :-)

Tribler – Has great ideas. It just needs to match its feature set to that of utorrent so people will find it more attractive and be more comfortable using it.

Bittorrent Mainline – A good client. Especially the older versions. A past version I liked was 6.4 .

Bitspirit – A good client, but it seems a bit more sluggish than utorrent. Fix that and it will be great. Make it as “zippy” as utorrent.

Frostwire, Bitlord, and BitTornado – I didn’t have good experiences with these. I don’t like the design and lack of certain features.
- TuxPaper
  
  > Vuze – Uses too many resources (60% CPU, 700MB RAM, no kidding).
  Sorry, but that’s gotta be FUD.
  
  I have 1200 torrents in Vuze right now, and it’s using 173M (and I’m not even in classic view!). That may be too much for some people, and other people may think it’s a good trade off. Either way, it’s no 700M and I can’t think of a way you could get it to 700M without changing configuration settings that you think should be set differently.
  
  If you seriously are using 700M and 60% CPU, you should be posting on the Vuze forums to help us understand why in the world you would be using that much memory.
  - JT
    
    Hi Tux.
    
    What I was taking into consideration was not just Vuze itself using those resources, but also how it affects other programs to use a lot of resources, particularly the firewall and peerblock.
    
    I also must admit that at the time I was uploading and downloading a lot of items, but I can do this in utorrent and my resources are 15% CPU, 40MB RAM which includes the activities of Peerblock and the my firewall.
    
    I didn’t mean to say Vuze is bad. It’s not. It’s a great client with incredible features, but in my opinion it just uses WAY too many resources.
    
    Best Regards,
    
    JT
    - TuxPaper
      
      While I still disagree with your claims, this is a much more well rounded and informative comment, and I can understand your choice, so I thank you for that.
      
      We are always trying to reduce memory and cpu without cutting the features that our users expect. So if you are ever bored one day, you might want to check us out again to see if we improved any since your last try.
    - TuxPaper
      
      fwiw, I didn’t flag your original comment :/
Jake Aldermine

What a bunch of pussies. Your torrenting clients will always suck balls if the engineers that make them can’t get paid. Just view a fucking ad every once in a while and help people get paid to make good software. Stop living in your idealistic piracy bubbles. Self-righteous assholes…
- Gear Mentation
  
  Bullshit, and I write to you on Kubuntu. Sniff under your arms, they call the stench Corporatocracy.
- BoogeyMan
  
  Quit thumbing yourself up.
- Nachos
  
  So $15 to $20 million in annual revenue = not getting paid?
  
  Like many of those you try to represent – greed is the problem here.
qwertyuiop

no miro?
- Guest
  
  no
Alexey

TorrentPrivacy has its own very simple torrent client in the latest Bittorrent Anonymizer 3.0 version
Deluge incomplete

Deluge torrents show up in the OS as if they were complete even if they are not.
There really should be an option to mark their name as .incomplete
xpmule

Why not include the original “BitTorrent” in this article / story ?
http://www.bittorrent.com
- BJonesTF
  
  Because it was a list of alternatives to µTorrent. Bittorrent (mainline) *is* µTorrent, tinted purple instead of green.
John Smith

I prefer qBittorrent because it supports uTP, is a good bittorrent citizen, and has a clean interface.
Sr?an Miki?i?

Transmission is missing on that list, while being best of those alternatives, perhaps even better then uTorrent. http://www.transmissionbt.com/
- BJonesTF
  
  Checking again in case I missed it…..
  
  Nope, No windows client listed there. Guess I didn’t miss it!
  - Sr?an Miki?i?
    
    Sorry, i didnt use windows since the 90′s so i forgot, but still http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/
be jesus i’m feckin’ angry

ok, i take it back you didn’t delete my post. i was so angry sorry. if it matters 2.2.1 is my preferred client. sometimes i wake up in the morning really happy, but then i remember megaupload is gawn. demonoid is gawn. i’m going to wake up one morning and the entire internet will be gone
Ionnni22

Torrentfreak = Censorfreak

I use utorrent 3.2 with a dht patch. It forces all torrents with the private flag to accept dht.

It’s great.
Asd

One important point: Deluge supports a headless configuration. i.e. the GUI can run on a separate computer to the actual Deluge instance. This is a really useful feature that most other clients don’t have (WebUIs aren’t as good).
http://profile.yahoo.com/6QO6MSZT7EYQLUT4TCXAZSEHSY Cinnamint

So basically, there’s really no alternative.
I notice you didn’t mention speed once in the whole article. Telling.
- BJonesTF
  
  Speed as in?
  Download speed?
  Because Clients have no impact on that, it’s solely a factor of client settings, which WERE mentioned?
Kemoopink

Hi Could anyone please send me a invite to iptorrents.comMy email is kemoopink@gmail.com
Cheers
benjamin

I believe writer of this article made a terrible mistake about transmission, becouse there is a win build (although unofficial) dated 2012-07-24, version 2.61, which is also the latest version of linux build.
Client works just fine under windows, although im sticking with utorrent for now.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/

So do your homework before writing nonsense.
You were reffering to this port http://sourceforge.net/projects/wintransmission/
which is obsolite.
- BJonesTF
  
  Is it on Transmission’s website under the downloads? no? Then there’s no official build of transmission for windows. NO official build, no coverage.
Guest

Up-to-date builds of Transmission for Windows: http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/

How can they not know this?
Guest

How is the windows Transmission port abandoned?

Port of Transmission-Qt to Windows
Last Update: 2012-07-24
http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/

Works great and is really light weight.
dwpbike

good article, makes me think. and what i think is – why are people using windoze?
whitehat2009

I’m disappointed to see Transmission absent here, not even a passing mention. Considering that it’s a modern, regularly maintained piece FOSS torrent client that is bundled with many Linux distros (and available for Mac OS X as well) it definitely needs some attention.
- BJonesTF
  
  …because there’s not even a passing mention of a windows client on transmission’s website?
NP

Eh… I’ll refrain from making any rude but well deserved remarks regarding the article’s quality. I’ll give a few pointers however.

1. Including Bitcomet, the client with the most bans, in a top 10 utorrent alternatives article is insane at best. Besides Bitcomet’s main problem (the padding files with which it tries to infect torrent files in order to use third-party sources to download from), I’m pretty sure they still haven’t fixed the upload slot allocation. It’s a client to be avoided if you even remotely use (semi-) private trackers.

2. Including Bitlord, an ad-ridden copy of another client (be it Bitcomet or Deluge) since time immemorial in a top 10 utorrent alternatives article borders on … not polite terms.

3. Azureus has another problem. It’s slowly dying. Plugin development is getting slower and slower and I can recall a number of plugins that haven’t been updated for years (making them obsolete due to bugs and missing features), the time between releases is too long, the client is steadily losing popularity probably due to the whole needless Vuze platform and the adware, even though desktops are getting powerful enough to handle Java easily. The thing Azureus does better than the rest besides supporting plugins is seeding. Azureus has seeding options no other client currently has. Sure, who seeds that much nowadays but Azureus queue options are still more than any other client’s, from what I can recall.

4. qBittorrent is an almost identical client to utorrent. It’s missing some options like the automatic bandwidth management but otherwise it’s exactly like uTorrent, only opensource and free of the recent uCrap that keeps plaguing uTorrent since ver 2. Not sure where you saw the poor options or what version you’ve been using.

5. Tixati is not about stats. Azureus is about stats with the right plugins, it’s probably even better, although I generally don’t use Azureus with extra stat plugins. Tixati is about total torrent cotrol. All the essential options are there, and then there’s the customization of the UI as well as the insane customization of torrent files and categories (that last part isn’t found in any other client, save maybe Deluge, but Deluge is so buggy I stopped trying to use it).

6. Deluge options aren’t really poor, so I’m not sure where you base that statement, unless you count Azureus level options as the norm. It actually has options a number of clients don’t have, like advanced label/category customization. Its only problem is it’s buggy and people wanting to keep more than 500-1000 torrents in their client library will feel it immediately.

7. Bittornado and Frostwire? Are we even serious here? Bittornado is as ancient and dead as it can possibly be, and Frostwire is a Limewire alternative. Not sure where the author’s living, but Limewire clones have been dead for some time now, probably after the whole network was infected with all sorts of worms, trojans and viri and you could get nothing out of it because people abandoned it en masse. If anything, I’d suggest a customized emule client with updated safe server list instead, if one wants to try something different than torrenting, although I’m not sure who would.

8. And seriously, MediaGet? Why not FreeDownloadManager or Opera’s built-in client or some other download manager, many people seem to use them, too. Oh wait, private trackers don’t like them, I wonder why… Oh, it’s because download managers trying to torrent suck because their implementation of the protocol is basic at best.
- BJonesTF
  
  1) You point about it being ‘most banned’ would indeed have been taken into consideration if the bans were based on facts. We have looked at the claims made about it in the past, even contracting an outside expert to check, and the claims are baseless. The report from the outside expert was included. We also covered the padding file, but we kept to the facts, not the delusional paranoia prevelent amongst ‘private’ tracker owner/operators
  2) You don’t like it, ok, we got it. We were looking at alternatives, ones popular around the world, with english language versions. You have your opinion, we gaeve ours. I think they actually match in content.
  3) Vuze’s problem is the java engine. Nothing else. It is being caught in terms of bredth, and power by clients using other languages, which is where it’s starting to lose out. Plus a lot of Java programmers are moving to things like mobile apps.
  4) Been using qBittorrent for about 18 months now. Poor options in that they’re not laid out wonderfully well, and they provide little in the way of a guide for setup (such as the utorrent speedguide, or vuze’s autospeed). From long experiance, 95% of users don’t know how to set their client up correctly for their connection. That includs 99% of private tracker admins, and 98% of private tracker users, because they’ve all got their own ‘tweak’ they think will give them an edge… foolish and wrong, but they never listen.
  5) Tixati provildes a level of stats that no-other client matches, except vuze. The main window is a timestamped log. Its about stats, and data. Customisation is cosmetic fluff, anyone that had a real interest could customise the look of most of these clients.
  6)Deluge’s options were, like qBittorrent, found to be lacking in places. While you put great stock in the labeling thing, not everyone uses it. This wasn’t a “Ben Jones tests and writes up” show, it was a team effort. Not all of us use labels, but pretty much all felt the options menus were a bit light, especially the person that does troubleshooting.
  7) Bittornado is still pretty popular. You might not see it on your favourite tracker, but we as a team have seen it a lot (including a number of other users on the torrents we were testing with). Frostwire has been Bittorrent only for a while now, and like the bitcomet myths, it was something that was linked in the article.
  8) Mediaget is, as was noted in the piece, extremely popular in a certain region of the world. There is more to the torrenting community than “english-language, scene release registration-required trackers” which is why we spread our net a little further. We would also have included xunlei, except we had some language barrier problems.
  
  Thank you for your feedback though, but I really wish you’d have read the article more closely, and followed the links we provided. Also note that “private trackers ban it” is not considered a good reason for us, because we know most of those bans are based on ignorance, misunderstandings, rumours, and problems with the tracker being blamed on clients.
  
  What if I told you that at least 3 client’s that are banned on many private trackers have no reason to be banned. The claimed reasons were invented for the purpose of seeing how easy it was, and that it could be easily checked in 5 minutes. One of these bans has been going on almost 2 years, and no-one’s checked the claims…
Anomymous

you missed one that is old utorrent version 1.6.0.2 or something like that its very small light and it works still if you just remember turn of update notifications and you are set to go
- BJonesTF
  
  I believe there’s been at least half a dozen different exploits for that client since Bittorrent Inc. released it more htan 6 years ago. Thus we’d never even consider anyone use it. It would be stupid.
JimmyKhan

Do some homework TorrentFreak.

The unofficial transmission port for Windows in live and kicking fine. It has been updated periodically keeping sync with official versions. The developer of the port is a really nice man. He answers all queries and tries to fulfill features requests made by the USERS.

It compiled from latest source available at official Transmissionbt.com website. Plus
the developer has also added some nice feature for Windows builds.

You can find out the latest version here:-

*Official site of unofficial version * is here https://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/files/Transmission-Qt/2.6x/

*Download latest version * here:- (Fast and lightweight)
https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/trqtw/Transmission-Qt/2.6x/Transmission-Qt-2.61-Setup.exe?r=https%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fprojects%2Ftrqtw%2Ffiles%2FTransmission-Qt%2F2.6x%2F&ts=1345487121&use_mirror=ncu
- BJonesTF
  
  We did. You gave the reason yourself “unofficial”
  We’re not going to cover a client, and call it ‘transmission” when it’s not an official version of Transmission. It’s misleading to our readrs, and to the transmission team who would then be asked for support on a client they didn’t do.
Giggles

With all these assults on torrents and lockers I would like Torrent Freak to do an article on the next generation of P2P network or platform. Or will there be any? I like the idea of the Japanese client Perfect Dark but it requires a lot of bandwidth and space, so that won’t work in the USA. Is there any thing new in this area.

Thanks
- pxl
  
  tixati has something very different from the rest – fully decentralised ‘channels’ where users can chat, share and search for files, even create realtime audio and video streams – all in a swarm-like fashion
  
  i don’t think it’ll become the next big thing, but it is quite unique (tribler client also aims in a similar direction)
FrostwireUser

FrostWire also does something the rest don’t, it searches and indexes torrent contents locally from all the different search engines giving you a torrent experience from start to finish inside the client.

great if you’re looking for individual files, the more you search, the faster you find as it indexes more and more torrents locally, giving you fast search results.
PRIVACY is priceless to me

Transmission-daemon on a Linux server, Transmission Remote GUI to control it on any computer, there’re even clients for smartphones/tablets, so TD is perfect for a seedbox.

I have NEVER used and I will NEVER use that utorrent piece of shit.
Ize

mldonkey, http://mldonkey.sourceforge.net/
It has a web interface, and nicely cross-platform, and also multiprotocol (e-donkey, gnutella, bittorrent).
Maybe a bit old-ish looking, but I like it a lot.
Qyskr660

I’m not a heavy torrent user, but my uTorrent 1.8.1 gets the job done. I see no reason to upgrade.
Lon

I’m having more headaches trying to upload anything. I might as well just sit it out until something good comes along. Word KAT isn’t it.

Here is their instruction to upload:

First click on UPLOAD in the middle of FEEDBACK and SUBSCRIPTIONS.

… and then try to find Feedback and Subscriptions. It must be there. But it is nowhere on a main page that I can see.

No intention of hijack here. But I have started to follow the news on TorrentFreak and I’m out of ideas. KAT itself just redirects to the same useless instruction. I submitted a bug report for lack of anything else to try. ;)

Where is the best– a new article idea for you — tracker with some history? Please do not submit places designed by twelve year old “creative class” types with white lettering on black background and the like.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

qBittorrent is hands down the best torrent application. It’s a pleasure to find a client that works so well and
does not have any of the adware that µT has.
ash en

I would like to suggest BitSpirit, Its been my backup client for many years, and infact may become my main now that uT is becoming crap, its got some nice features, and its well supported.

http://www.bitspirit.cc/en/

I know at one time it was based on bitcomit but, unlike BC it never used padding files and never favored its own kind over anybody else. (bitvomit sucks…..sorry but, its been shown more then a few times to be VERY bias to other bitvomit peers)

there are other good options not on the list but, the key one I can recommend anybody give a go is bitspirit IMHO its one of the best options out there.
Anon6

-Tixati
-qBittorent
-Transmission for Windows

others are simply shit…
especially bloatware Vuze
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Fujirou

TorrentFreak should update the description about Transmission. Yes, Windows port of Transmission is not official. So it is okay that not in Top 10 list. But the current status of Windows port is following Transmission stable version. It is version 2.61 now (http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/)
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Thankful

Thanks a lot, very clear and informative!

No more uTorrent for me

Installed qBittorrent and very happy about that!
No real drawback. The perfect choice.
Negativeions

Can’t believe how fast utorrent went from great to shit.
o770

I really like and always use the option in uTorrent to load trackers from torrents I already have in the torrent list. Which other clients offer similar feature?
- o770
  
  That in uTorrent happens when the user adds another torrent file of the same info hash already in the transfer list. uTorrent then asks if the new file trackers should be loaded to the torrent in the list.
  Anyway I just want to share a little experience from the Tixati forum. I registered with qBittorrent and Tixati to start a thread and ask about that option.
  qBittorrent’s just a regular user forum and my topic is right here: http://qbforums.shiki.hu/index.php?topic=1636.0
  I sent the same text to Tixati for approval, only replacing qBittorrent for Tixati where appropriated, as they run a moderated forum and the topic was never created. I thought the problem was mentioning uTorrent so I sent another text that they posted: http://forum.tixati.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52124 As seen the answer was off-topic so I made another question with the example of ‘another client’ – didn’t say it’s uTorrent. Again the message was not approved. I think Tixati doesn’t offer similar option… does it?
  Obviously such arbitration is a minus for everyone involved. I read and thought developers were specially sensible to users feedback…
  - o770
    
    …My reply was finally posted. Hopefully I was wrong on the impression I had of Tixati forum.
ferdinand

hi! guys any comment for TorrentBitch (TorrentB) it works better for me compare to uTorrent
Coultermulvihill

Taxati is definitely my preference, aside from Torch occasionally. What they forgot to mention-Tixati can select individual files in an archive to download. This means you can download quality CD rip individual songs instead of MP3 download sites. Worth more than a try
John J

You forgot Meerkat, a very light but capable torrents client.
http://www.facebook.com/ai.khan.33 Ai Khan

if u r an advance user of torrent client ticxati is the best one for u.
Morten1979

Why searching for alternatives? I’m using 2.2.1 with no problems. 3.x sucks. Anyway nice too read about some alternatives but for now I’ll just µTorrent 2.2.1 and be happy :o)

TorrentFreak

The place where breaking news, BitTorrent and copyright collide

Top 10 uTorrent Alternatives

BitComet v1.33

BitLord v2.1.1

BitTornado v0.3.7

Deluge v1.3.5

FrostWire v5.3.8

MediaGet v2.01.1595

qBittorrent v3.0.0

Tixati v1.91

Tribler v5.9.27

Vuze v4.7.1.2

Conclusion

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Search TorrentFreak

BitComet v1.33

BitLord v2.1.1

BitTornado v0.3.7

Deluge v1.3.5

FrostWire v5.3.8

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qBittorrent v3.0.0

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