17 of The Best Free Torrent Clients

BitTorrent is the namesake of the very protocol that makes the download of torrents possible. Bram Cohen, who authored the BitTorrent protocol back in July 2001 was its original creator.

The Ad-supported Torrent client is currently developed and maintained by BitTorrent Inc. which also operates uTorrent. 

There is also the news client dubbed BitTorrent Web which unlike the classic edition, doesn’t have a desktop User Interface but will instead open in your web browser along with giving you the power to watch films while they are being downloaded to your system.

The company that operates the BitTorrent client was recently acquired by TRON, a cryptocurrency that integrates BitTorrent + TRON via its Project Atlas.

• Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android

Owned and developed by BitTorrent, uTorrent is yet another ad-supported torrent client with a much smaller installation footprint.

The application has over 150 million users it is the most widely used BitTorrent client outside China.

• Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android

Transmission is a free, fast, and easy-to-use BitTorrent client. It lets users download and share files via the BitTorrent protocol. Transmission aims to be a powerful, yet lightweight BitTorrent client while respecting its speed and simplicity.

The program offers a clean and intuitive interface, making it easy for both new and experienced users to manage their torrent downloads. Transmission is open-source and free of adware, toolbars, and other unwanted software. Regular updates ensure compatibility and security.

• Platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux

PicoTorrents is a user-friendly, lightweight, free, and open-source BitTorrent client for Windows, designed for high performance and low memory consumption.

Designed to be small and efficient, it provides essential features for downloading and sharing files via the BitTorrent protocol without unnecessary bloat. PicoTorrent offers a native user interface and focuses on being a minimal and easy-to-use client.

It is my recommendation that guarantees a much faster download of your file when compared to other clients, which are ultra sluggish, depending on your device.

Despite its small size, PicoTorrent includes a range of features. It aims to provide a user-friendly experience while remaining resource-friendly. Its open-source nature allows for community contributions and ensures transparency.

• Platforms: Windows Only

Deluge is a free and open-source, cross-platform BitTorrent client that is lightweight and full-featured. It utilizes libtorrent in its backend and offers multiple user interfaces, including a Web User Interface.

Deluge is available for Linux, OS X, Unix, and Windows operating systems.

Deluge supports full encryption and a plugin system to extend its functionality. It can run as a standard desktop application or as a daemon, which is useful for running Deluge in the background on a server.

• Platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux

Vuze is a powerful and comprehensive BitTorrent client offering a wide array of features for managing torrent downloads and sharing files. It goes beyond basic downloading by including integrated search functionality, allowing users to discover content directly within the application. Vuze also provides options for subscribing to content, remote control via web or mobile, and even converting video files for playback on various devices.

Designed for both beginners and advanced users, Vuze offers a customizable interface with various modes to suit different experience levels. It includes features such as bandwidth management, IP filtering, and support for plugins to extend its functionality. Vuze aims to be a complete solution for all BitTorrent needs, providing users with the tools to efficiently download, manage, and enjoy their content.

• Platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux

qBittorrent is a free and open-source cross-platform BitTorrent client, aiming to be a good alternative to other popular clients. Written in C++, it’s designed to be lightweight and efficient, using minimal CPU, RAM, and disk space. The software provides a clean and intuitive user interface, along with an integrated search engine that allows users to search for torrents directly within the application.

Beyond its core functionality, qBittorrent boasts features like sequential downloading, advanced control over torrents, a built-in torrent creation tool, and UPnP/NAT-PMP port forwarding support. It prioritizes user privacy with features like IP filtering and offers cross-platform compatibility, running seamlessly on Windows, Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD. With its commitment to being ad-free and open-source, qBittorrent provides a reliable and feature-rich BitTorrent experience without compromising user experience or privacy.

• Platforms: FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, OS/2 and Windows

WebTorrent is a streaming torrent client that operates within a web browser. It aims to make the BitTorrent protocol more web-friendly, enabling browsers to become peers in a torrent swarm.

As a BitTorrent client, WebTorrent closely follows the BitTorrent specifications, making it easy for existing BitTorrent clients to add support for WebTorrent. It allows users to stream video and audio files instantly. WebTorrent is free, non-commercial, ad-free, and open source.

WebTorrents has a very simple interface that allows you to listen to or view media files while downloading them. However, this torrent client has drawbacks, including an interface that lacks essential features, frequent updates, and several bugs.

• Platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux

Free Download Manager (FDM) is a free internet download accelerator and organizer for Windows and macOS. It allows you to download files and videos from various websites quickly and efficiently. FDM supports HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/BitTorrent protocols, and offers features such as download scheduling, traffic usage adjustment, and enhanced audio/video files support.

FDM also enables you to download video from popular websites. It has a user-friendly interface, and doesn’t offer incentives or pay to hide any reviews. Additionally, users can share ideas for new features and report bugs.

The app allows you to adjust traffic usage, organize downloads, control file priorities for torrents, efficiently download large files and resume broken downloads.

• Platforms: Windows and Mac

The Torch Browser is a media-friendly web browser that ships with a built-in torrent client. It is useful if you are someone who downloads a lot of media files.

Frostwire is not just a BitTorrent client but also a Cloud Downloader and media player.

A cloud downloader allows you to store downloads on a server as opposed to directly on your device. Cloud downloaders are a benefit if you have a slow or inconsistent internet connection.

• Platforms: Windows and Mac
• Features: in-app search, Preview/Play while downloading, Selective file downloading, Media Player and media library.

Tribler is a torrent client that differs from others on this list by being packaged with built-in encryption, onion routing and hidden seeding using a Tor-like network.

The client also has a built-in search which allows you to find torrent files easily without the help of a website or browser. It also has a video player which allows you to play videos being downloaded even before they are complete much like WebTorrents or BitTorrent Web.

Tribler is unique for having a built-in reward system that can be converted to crypto but has the issue of being to slow per my experience get testing it against Picotorrents which downloaded a file in minutes compared to Tribler.

Tixati is a free and easy to use BitTorrent client for Windows and Linux that offers a plethora of features and functionalities. It prides itself on being ad-free and devoid of spyware. In contrast to many other torrent clients, Tixati is coded in C++ for efficiency and resource conservation.

Tixati offers a detailed view into the torrent swarm including DHT, PEX, and Magnet Link support and also provides advanced features such as RSS, IP filtering, event scheduler, and bandwidth charting. It allows for precise control over bandwidth usage and offers highly customizable views. With a focus on statistical analysis, Tixati aims to provide a comprehensive platform for experienced torrent users.