The era of uTorrent is truly over. Read on for the best alternatives.
It may be hard to believe now but there was a time when uTorrent was considered to be the greatest torrent downloading software on the face of the earth.
The BitTorrent client developer team which shot to fame and fortune in a blink of an eye had released a BitTorrent client that was not only super lightweight but also was able to clobber each and every other BitTorrent client in the market then because of its superior downloading algorithms.
Nothing lasts forever though. That adage is certainly true for uTorrent. In the beginning, it was great but after the early stages of uTorrent, the BitTorrent client went nowhere but downhill.
BitTorrent Inc. bought the uTorrent software application and then jammed it with, what can only be called, crapware. To top that off, the new owners of uTorrent also filled it with advertisements that looked, and probably were, more like scams rather than product placements.
If there was an inch available anywhere on the whole uTorrent interface, BitTorrent Inc. made sure there was an advertisement not far away.
So what should ordinary people like us do now? Well, to hell with uTorrent. That is exactly what we should do.
It doesn’t matter if you want to download the latest ISO version of a Linux distribution or do something else with it (which we won’t like to mention nor condone here), you don’t have to go through the misery of using uTorrent. At least not without getting paid for it.
And to be fair, it is all uTorrent’s own fault. Nobody wanted it to become what it became, but that doesn’t matter now. What matters is what you should use instead.
Well, to start off, you should use something that is better than uTorrent. Use a BitTorrent client that respects your intelligence and your user experience by not flooding you with spam and useless advertisements.
Thinking About Torrenting? Well, Here is Why You Need To Use A VPN Service First.
Let’s make this clear from the get-go: if you’re downloading torrents and are not using anything that resembles a VPN service, then what you’re really doing is asking for trouble. And not just any trouble. We’re talking about some “jail time” and uncomfortable amount of “fine” trouble.
If you didn’t know it already then know it now that internet service providers all over the world and are now blocking access to torrent sites of all sorts.
In fact, in some countries, these same internet service providers are actually sending notices to subscribers, demanding them to stop engaging in torrenting or else face consequences. The worst part is that, the problem is only getting deeper since many anti-piracy groups have announced severe punishments for those that disseminate copyrighted material and those who download that copyrighted material without prior consent of the producer of that content.
So what’s the solution then?
It is pretty simple actually. Just use a VPN service when you want to download something via a BitTorrent client like uTorrent (or as we’ll explain later in the article, something else than uTorrent).
But you don’t want to use just a regular old VPN service that might not even guard your privacy in the first place. What you need is a really great VPN service that can keep your online activities safe from prying eyes of government agencies along with marketing firms.
So, the VPN service that we recommend is IPVanish because it is simply the best VPN service that is available out there today. IPVanish provides users with great speeds and complete anonymity in their online endeavors.
If you want to download torrents using a BitTorrent client, then you can do that safely by turning on IPVanish first.
Moreover, IPVanish is a superb choice for a VPN service because of several other reasons. Some of those reasons are:
- Users get unlimited bandwidth
- Compatible clients for almost all devices and operating systems.
- Lightning-fast connections
- Fantastic security features
- Very reasonable monthly packages
But that’s not all. Using a VPN service like IPVanish, you can also stream online content from streaming websites like Netflix which may or may not be blocked in your region or country.
If you want to access the best versions of all streaming websites like Hulu, Netflix or even YouTube, you need to have permission to use the United States version.
If you don’t live in the United States then your only choice is to use a VPN service like IPVanish in order to unblock blocked content on the internet.
Let’s move on to the five best alternatives to uTorrent that won’t make your lives miserable with ads and spam.
1- qBittorrent
qBittorrent is can be considered to be exactly like uTorrent except that it is open-source and ad free.
A lot of guides out there recommend qBittorrent as the best Bittorrent client for the simple reason that the aim of this BitTorrent client is not to grow big enough to sell out. It is rather to make the best BitTorrent client that there can be.
Some even consider qBitTorrent to be the ultimate free software alternative to uTorrent. In other words, qBitTorrent is probably the closest you’ll ever get to using something that behaves and looks exactly like uTorrent but without all that spam and unwanted advertisements. There is no crapware/junkware or any of that nasty stuff.
The team behind qBitTorrent is reported to have strived long and hard in order to come up with a BitTorrent client that was not only full of features but also stable enough for most users. qBitTorrent accomplishes all that and more without using much CPU and memory.
As indicated earlier, the developers behind qBitTorrent have taken the middle path which is generally the most difficult path to take.
As a result, qBitTorrent is a BitTorrent client that doesn’t have every possible feature that could be jammed into a BitTorrent client. Instead, qBitTorrent is a BitTorrent client that tries to offer everything a user might need to start torrenting.
It also follows the middle path in the sense that, the team behind qBitTorrent have made a conscious decision of not making the application’s interface as minimal as some of the other BitTorrent client’s interfaces such as Transmission.
When you download qBitTorrent, you not only get the BitTorrent client also get an integrated default search engine that is made from the ground up for torrents.
Other features include but are not limited to:
- IP filtering
- A scheduling feature
- A set priority feature
- A web interface for remote control of the BitTorrent client
- DHT
- Peer exchange facility
- RSS downloading support
qBitTorrent BitTorrent client is available as a downloadable file for various platforms including Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and even some obscure ones like Haiku and OS/2
You’ll get many more features when you eventually download and install qBitTorrent.
To do that go here to the official website.
2- Deluge
Deluge is another BitTorrent client that is based on a plug-in design and grants users the ability to customize its interface according to their own needs.
Just like qBitTorrent, Deluge is also an open-source, multi-platform and stable BitTorrent client. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Deluge and qBitTorrent are very similar BitTorrent clients. They have many common features and both try to strike a balance between features and resources hungriness.
If you have read this far then you already know that qBitTorrent tries to copy uTorrent at every feasible opportunity. Deluge is slightly different in the sense that it does that too but along with that, it brings some of its own ideas into its BitTorrent client.
Just to take an example, Deluge doesn’t come with as many advanced features as qBitTorrent. Deluge is dependent on the premise that users would download and then install plug-in through a system that will allow them to use advanced features they desire on Deluge without needing to pay anything.
Therefore, initially, Deluge may seem like a minimal BitTorrent client to you and that’s okay. You can add as many advanced features you want or need via plug-ins like RSS support and others.
Moreover, Deluge is only a handful of BitTorrent clients that is built with a client-server architecture. In other words, Deluge can run on your operating system either as a service in the background or as a daemon. It will function in both the cases because the deluge user interface has the capability to form a connection to the aforementioned background service.
What does this mean for the end users?
It means that you could theoretically run Deluge even on a remote system such as a headless server and still have control over it through the Deluge software that is installed on your own computer.
Both Deluge BitTorrent clients will properly function as if they were the normal and default desktop applications.
3- Transmission
If you like a minimalistic user interface then you don’t need to look any further than Transmission. However, this BitTorrent client lags behind others because of its security issues. Add to that the fact that Transmission is nowhere near as popular on Windows as it is on macOS and Linux and you get the idea why you didn’t know about this BitTorrent client until now.
There is also another reason why it isn’t popular on Windows: officially, Transmission doesn’t support Windows. The only way to run it on Windows is by installing the unofficial Windows build of Transmission-Qt that goes by the name of Transmission-Qt Win Project.
It’s nowhere near a perfect BitTorrent client for Windows but you can make some modifications along with some tweaks to Transmission to make it work reasonably well on the Windows platform.
As indicated before, it doesn’t give you much in terms of toggles and knobs. Transmission’s interface is basic and allows users little in the way of customization. But it does that on purpose. Users switching from uTorrent to Transmission will need some time to get accustomed to the new interface. However, one can double click on a particular torrent file to view additional information regarding it.
The one serious problem that recently emerged regarding Transmission is its lack of security features. In March 2016, it was reported that Transmission’s servers were hacked and the BitTorrent client installed ransomware on macOS users.
Of course, the team behind Transmission cleaned up quickly but its servers were compromised again in August 2016, only this time the BitTorrent client contained malware instead of ransomware.
Two hacks in five months isn’t something you would put on your resume if you’re a BitTorrent client company.
And hence, you should stay away from Transmission until it really tightens that screws on hackers gaining access to its source code.
4- uTorrent 2.2.1
We know. We said uTorrent isn’t acceptable as a BitTorrent client anymore. And it isn’t.
That’s why a lot of people have continued to use the older version of uTorrent, uTorrent 2.2.1. This is the pre-junk version if you want to call it that.
Of course, you won’t get any updates but at least this version doesn’t try to install unwanted litter software on your machine. It doesn’t have repulsive ads and doesn’t push you to use BitCoin miners on your system.
However, as with any older software (uTorrent v2.2.1 was released in 2011), there could be some serious security exploits in this BitTorrent client. Even worse, those security issues won’t be fixed because the developers have moved on to the newer versions.
Moreover, if you use uTorrent v2.2.1, you’ll never be able to use the latest BitTorrent features that boost your downloading speeds.
But most of all, in a world where you can use qBitTorrent, why would you want to go with uTorrent v2.2.1?
In short, modern BitTorrent clients simply blow away uTorrent v2.2.1 in terms of efficiency and security.
5- Tixati
Tixati is slated to become the king of the BitTorrent client industry in the very near future. Tixati is a new and powerful P2P system that is free and contains no spyware.
Its user interface is not the most friendly one but given the fact that it is extremely robust and is natively available for Windows and Linux, Tixati is truly cut above the rest.
It doesn’t show you ads and makes use of some ultra-fast downloading algorithms that allow you to squeeze every KB of downloading speed from your internet connection.
It’s also pretty easy to install on both supported operating systems.
If you want something different, something new and something great then go for Tixati.
Conclusion
Of course, there are more BitTorrent clients out there for Windows and Linux but these are the ones that we think are the best among them. These don’t install spyware or adware on your system and are open source (with the exception of uTorrent of course).
But most of all, these BitTorrent clients don’t look like selling out to make a quick fortune and then bloat their software with junk.
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