uTorrent Dominates BitTorrent Client Market Share
Written by Ernesto on June 24, 2009Millions of people use BitTorrent daily, but little is known about the market share of the available clients – until now. An objective sample of more than 150,000 unique IPs shows that uTorrent is the client of choice for more than half of all BitTorrent users. Vuze is in second place with close to 17 percent followed by the mainline client with 12 percent.
BitTorrent has been the leading file-sharing technology for several years already, but up until today little was known about the market share of the various clients. In December we estimated that uTorrent’s market share lay somewhere between 40 and 60 percent, but this measurement was far from scientific and based on a small sample size.
Today we present a more robust report based on data from over 150,000 unique users in more than 400 public BitTorrent swarms. The data for this BitTorrent client comparison is collected by a researcher known as ‘xXx’ of the Tribler P2P research team at Delft University of Technology. The research team will continue to supply TorrentFreak with bi-monthly updates so we can discover new trends and shifts in the usage of the different clients.
The results in the table below give the market share for each individual client. Only 5 clients reached the 1% threshold, the remaining 19 that were encountered are grouped in the ‘other’ category. Some clients were not identified by libTorrent (rakshasa) and those ended up the the unknown ‘category’.
| Ranking | Client | Market Share % | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| torrentfreak.com | |||
| 1 | uTorrent | 55.84 | Windows, Mac |
| 2 | Vuze | 16.85 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3 | BitTorrent Mainline | 12.01 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 4 | BitComet | 6.50 | Windows |
| 5 | Unknown | 4.02 | na. |
| 6 | Other | 3.17 | na. |
| 7 | Transmission | 1.60 | Mac, Linux |
Both uTorrent and the third placed mainline client are developed by BitTorrent Inc, meaning that the company holds an impressive two thirds of the market. The only main contender at the moment is Vuze, formerly known as Azureus, with nearly 17 percent. BitComet, which used to be a major contender, is in fourth place with just 6.5 percent.
The data also gives us more insight into the size of the BitTorrent ‘network’. In December we reported that uTorrent had 28 million unique users a month, and based on this figure that might have grown even higher in the recent months. It is safe to say that there are roughly 50 million active BitTorrent users on the Internet.
It will be interesting to see how the market share of the clients changes over the coming months. Will uTorrent be able to keep its dominant lead? What will happen to Transmission’s market share when they release their Windows version? Will there be any new clients to compete with the top three? Lots of questions that we hope to answer in the future.
Stay tuned!
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103 Responses
Transmission FTW… running on a dedicated server!
I personally thought Limewire would have made an appearance, I quite often see it listed in any swarms I am in.
Also, first?
uTorrent has always been my favourite. Lightweight and lots of features. :D
Because it’s the best. Simple.
1.6.1 build 490 > *
Such domination and still not open source. This is not good.
I prefer Deluge, fast, configurable, acceptable RAM usage (~70 MB on very high load)
I’ve been using uTorrent since I started sharing, and I’m gonna keep using it. GO UTORRENT
http://www.disabledtech.info/2009/06/24/utorrent-dominates-bittorrent-client-market-share/
Lots of things in life are not good. Just appreciate something in life that is… Its Free …Its good…
Deluge is a great client as well
@5
+1.
Deluge is ftw. If uTorrent were free software and ran on Linux, I’d run it exclusively.
well this doesn’t take into effect private trackers which would be more tilited towards utorrent..
All clients do the same… why would you expect any change in these numbers?
Theres not even one big advantage from one to another (oh, i’m sorry… memory usage… Who cares if utorrent uses 50mb and transmission 50 when i got 4gb!!!)
I’m not suprised, given how lighweight and clutter-free uTorrent is. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now.
KTorrent \m/
uTorrent pwns… It just works and is light.. VUZE\Azureus very slow and bloated for me..
@Neotroll
What do you use?
Started out with the mainline…(before it was named that), moved to azureus….(till they screwed that all to hell). Now I see no reason to use anything but utorrent….runs for days at a time with no problems at all….!
Im not sure who that is. If you are referring to me, you might be having trouble reading my name. That’s okay, I understand.
Which one do I use?
I use this
http://www.smart-information-products.com/pfm-site/ProjectFinance-Images/dollar-bills-image.jpg
on this
http://www.bluraywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/batman-the-dark-knight-bluray.jpg
Really, it’s an amazing client. It uses patent pending technology, to make it impossible for the evil copyright holders to catch you and your download finishes instantly.
http://www.entertane.com – the easist site for torrents (movies, music, software, games) – faster, simpler – and you can search all your favorite torrent sites.
What the fuck is an ‘objective sample’?
If you’re going to rip off copyright owners, you could atleast make the site look decent while you’re at it. :/
Deluge for life!
GUI clients are for pussies. rtorrent ftw !
This is news?
started with azureus to bloated high ram usage . problems with Nod32
so I switched to Utorrent never been happier
I’m not using anything made by the MPAA. BitSpirit ftw!
uTorrent is da bomb!
Mind you I also like FireTorrent…the Firefox plugin. Too bad it still has minor bugs, but at least it works.
oh and…
25th! xD!
@ neostyles
You could at least make yo mama look decent, you retarded son-of-a-bitch!
@2
Lamewire..seriously? That virus infested, 24/7 Fed fags monitored p2p software? Lololol yet still so many losers still use it.
Oh and for those who say Azureus is too “slow”…you guys must have some crappy computers…
rtorrent pwns ;O
I wish there is uTorrent for Windows Mobile, I am using wmTorrent, it is not free but very good.
BitTornado is going to make an appearance soon… now that BitBlinder uses it in its client…
Remember that BitTorrent Mainline is uTorrent but with another name and DNA pre-installed, otherwise they are 100% identical and made by the same company, only with different branding. So it’s actually 67,85% for uTorrent/Mainline, not bad!
rtorrent ftw!
I think what people have is a infested by JAVA memory leak prone PC.
Plug the leak don’t use JAVA LoL
Utorrent..blah..popularity…blah..blah.
*yawn*
transmission rules
Interesting info and lots of valuable info in the comments. Thanks Ernesto.
What about the whole Ludde Strigeus saga and the closed source situation with uTorrent?
I’ve never quite understood what all this is about. How about some investigative journalism regarding uTorrent?
What are people like us doing using closed software for bittorrent?
I am using uTorrent too and I hope I won’t have to regret it…
@18
You didn’t answer my question.. What client do you use?
Oh and this is for you..
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4079/125/
PetFoodz.Info
This is my client
http://www.smart-information-products.com/pfm-site/ProjectFinance-Images/dollar-bills-image.jpg
It’s the best one of all. Using patent pending tech, it completes your downloads instantly and thanks to new, packet encryption and IP spoofing tech, you also never have to worry about getting caught by the evil copyright holders.
Boo non-free!
uTorrent (and Halite test) on my home PC and rTorrent 0.8.12 on my server baby!
The only thing utorrent lacks is udp!
utorrent runs well with wine
I use utorrent becuz itz liteweight on my IBM PC AT with 256kb ram ftw!
I would say the results are off. Also does Vuze mean any Azureus client built on Azureus coding? There are many clients that are built on Azureus guts meaning modified or rebuilt clients. I use Bittyrant. http://bittyrant.cs.washington.edu/ All users, regardless of capacity, benefit from using BitTyrant so its a no brainer. BitTyrant is based on modifications to Azureus.
All of the changes are under the hood.
deluge headless on the server, windows and linux clients on client pcs can connect. all gui on the local machine, all downloading/uploading on a dedicated server.
uTorrent is a great little client for casual use.
But for serious seeding of large numbers of torrents, nothing beats Azureus.
Ktorrent ftw!
Bittorrent is exactly the same as µtorrent (besides the name), right?
How come Bittorrent had a linux version, and µtorrent doesn’t?
utorrent is good .. but not for high speed servers..
When u get utorrent faster them 70MB/s it simply crash .. no matter what kinda of config u do .. it’ll crash cause it can’t handle the speed .. simply that !
Ubuntu + rtorrent FTW
by General Snus
The only thing utorrent lacks is udp!
you have to enable udp dumb ass
Its actually more of a reflection of user knowledge and level of comprehension. Newcomers and people with average computer skills use uTorrent because its light and simple and gives them the options they know how to use. On the other hand people that need way more options and configuration room use Vuze due to its wide range of customizations, features and flexibility.
I use both uTorrent for a quick dl of something.
But for the rest i use Vuze where i can have multiple categories of seeding/downloading criteria with RegEx RSS feeds and a lot of other things that uTorrent can’t even begin to comprehend.
I have more then enough resources to run Vuze with a peak mem load of 400MB 24/7 without ever having the need to turn it off.
Tirple core 3Ghz with 6GB RAM and a FiberOptic conection with cfosSpeed Traffic Shaping makes the client run seamless even with 400+ active torrents.
If you would not see the Vuze tray icon you could not tell something is running.
Bitcomet is peace of crap. When you start using it , your computer stops working at all =)
cool story bro :)
huh? how’s 150,000 unique ip’s give a more acurate break down when there’s X MILLION TORRENT USERS.
Once again misleading stats.
WTF where is Deluge?
rtorrent for the win! I assume rtorrent went into the “unknown”
Not everyone uses one client. Just because it’s seen being used doesn’t mean it’s the overall preferred client for that user.
Deluge FTW – the simplest.
50MB ram? For something that downloads chunks in the background? You call that light? You people are crazy.
rtorrent on a dedicated server with 256MB ram.
yes, yes, give the riaa and mpaa more informatin than it already needs, fools!
yes, yes, give the riaa and mpaa more informatin than they already have, fools!
like loads of people have said already – DELUGE DELUGE DELUGE.
Used to use Azureus until they ruined it. uTorrent is lightweight, with enough simple configuration options to satisfy most people. I’ve never looked back.
rtorrent? Unless you’ve got a seed-box, what’s the point. Bet you use the Lynx browser :-)
@28
When I’ve got a lot of firefox tabs open, Photoshop and Illustrator running, not to mention videos, a lightweight programs looks EXTREMELY inviting. I love uTorrent as I have it on my external HDD, so that I have torrents on the go. :D
@45
Dear god, 256KB?
@ neostyles
That torrent program of yours is such a rip-off, they charge such high rates! You must sue them for gross commercial copyright infringement, as they are directly profiting off it. The only benefit of it is speed, but by the time you go to use it I’ve finished my download, so that is void. Oh did I mention that with a VPN you can’t get tracked either? Well I did now.
deluge in daemon mode. FTW
@45 lol. 256kb only? I can’t compile a usable practical kernel that small not to say about an OS.
i also use Deluge but only on Linux, on windows it’s not that good…
utorrent sucks
“If uTorrent were free software and ran on Linux, I’d run it exclusively.”
Utorrent is free. Open source and Free are not the same. It would be nice for it to go open source, but then you’ll deal with a variety of clients, like a linux distro if you will, which will cause more problems than it’s worth.
Utorrent is lightweight, easy on memory, CONFIGURABLE , and doesn’t use java.
Use whatever client you prefer, it really doesn’t matter, just don’t use hacked clients so you can cheat on torrents.
Utorrent provides fairly advances configuration if you know where to look, but alas, all those bashing on utorrent obviously haven’t used it.
Anyone stating that a client that runs on java is better is crazy, simply crazy
using µtorrent since 2005 :)
satisfied so far !
It’s µTorrent not uTorrent. utorrent is only in their domain name.
@neostyles how does a picture of cash help download your fave flave of linux?
since when has torrentfreak started to moderate every post. I didn’t even know people read them.
rtorrent on linux KILLS utorrent and guess what they use the open source libraries for utorrent on linux LOL
Why does BitComet have 6,5% ???
Why does people use BitComet???
BitComet = Shit client…
Fuck France!
@40 neostyles: You have no idea what your talking about, do you?
Its totally bullshit what your saying.
rtorrent or transmission for me.
uTorrent is actually the best client, it comes with all the features but it’s still lightweight and doesn’t feel bloated.
I use Deluge because I don’t trust uTorrent though, but Deluge is not as good at all, it doesn’t have as many features, it’s somewhat buggy and very bloated (in filesize and loads of external librarys, not as good coders as the ones doing uTorrent I guess) but it’s still the best torrent client (that’s not uTorrent) I’ve found for Windows.
all but one of those are sh!t. the only good one is Transmission because it’s FOSS :)
I would like to note that the uTorrent devs fully support wine, and uTorrent has features that allow it to run good in wine. (one of the main reasons the devs don’t consider making a linux uT version).
A lot of linux users say uTorrent runs better in wine than transmission…
@84 hmmm i’ll have to try utorrent on wine. i use transmission when i’m on my linux box
@phishybongwaters
“Free software” is not a term that represents software without a price. Think free speech, not free beer.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html <– More elaborate definition of free software.
One requirement for free software is for the source code to be freely available to anyone who wants it. As uTorrent’s developers do not provide the source code for their software, it is not free software. Yes, it is available without a charge, but this only makes it “free” software, not “free software.”
I agree, uTorrent is great, but it would be even better if it were free software.
i started with limewire when i was an ignorant noob…utorrent for a couple of years now
@9
HI 4ND. …Okay with that out of the way,
yay uTorrent! it’d be nice to see the source, but… i mean. Guilty pleasures — uTorrent and Opera. <3
Oh wow.
@86
HI AGAIN.
(I’m just so amused at seeing you about when you are not on MSN.)
Also, gratis versus libre are the terms. Gratis – gratuit, free in price.
Libre — er.. libre. hah. Free in philosophy and restrictions.
Yepyepyep.
No, please dont bring Transmission to Windows. It could be the end of the special abilities that that program allows me.
I use utorrent.
My favourite feature is local peer exchange.
I simply dump a torrent onto our intranet and watch several computers connect over several connections and share pieces with each other.
Also great for distributing large installs/updates across a network with trackerless torrents.
Its literally automagic once its setup.
@55
I’d like to address that Im a rather advanced user more than a newcomer and I use uTorrent because I know its not bloated and also because if I ever install anything on windows I’d rather have less extraneous crap sticking around with a small install and little registry changes.
@5 uTorrent does run on linux, under wine.
BitTornado. Because every time I open uTorrent, the rest of my internet traffic slows to a crawl. BitTornado is simple, and most importantly, I really couldn’t live without the advanced settings.
Transmission!
50 million is a lot of people to sue.
And this number will only increase as further nodes join the Internets.
Well If u conduct it on Pvt swarm utorrent and transmission whould have won
1) If you are using linux, running ?torrent under wine is like trying to masturbate with a screwdriver
2) I wouldn’t trust a closed-source software for something like torrents. You don’t know what it might be doing under the hood.
3)?Torrent doesn’t have settings to treat LAN torrents differently(at least it didn’t last time i checked)
That said, I was using ?torrent until recently and it was very easy to use and lightweight. But due to the above reasons i changed to Vuze/Deluge.
Deluge in particular is similar to ?torrent in terms of user interface, but open source. People say deluge doesn’t have all the features ?torrent, but while that might be true, there is nothing i needed that wasn’t there, and in fact deluge had 1-2 extra features i needed (see reason 3).
I don’t like the addition of Vuze to Azureus, its a big downside for me, but its still the best client and with the most features you are *ever* going to need *ever* and that will probably be the case for a long time.
That said, my vote goes to deluge.
I wonder where Opera’s inbuilt bittorrent client would stack up.
Well its not surprising to see ?torrent doing well on 2 platforms,mind you i’d wait till ?torrent os x is out of beta before jumping right in.
As someone said before, most people use multiple clients these days so yes,hard to reflect true numbers.
Weiner.
And neostyles, american money isn’t a torrent tracker. Nice try, but it’s actually just worthless pieces of paper.
It doesn’t really matter what client I use to me cuz all of them do the same shit. I just take a bunch of large torrents and let them download while I is asleeping.
uTorrent does work on linux through wine, but it really actually doesn’t. Like kinda but not…. at least for me. Wine doesn’t work well on my system… or at least I Wanna Be the Guy is weird through wine. That’s all I actually use wine for… so I just use transmission cuz it’s already there. likewahteverbai
No freakin way dude
RT
http://www.complete-privacy.tk
µTorrent FTW, though yeah I agree, open source is also nice… But open source alone wont move me =]
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