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Best Free BitTorrent Client [1]

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Introduction

Bittorrent has become one of the major download formats. With good reason too: it's fast, equitable and efficient. For the downloader, bittorrent offers an uncorrupted copy of the original with the option to stop the download at any time and re-start from where the download left off, very useful for those on shaky internet connections.

If you haven't yet installed a Bittorrent client on your PC, you should as there are some great freeware clients available. In Bittorrent, the best clients are free. In fact, if a client costs money, it is most likely a scam. If you are not familiar with bittorrent, then read How To Use Torrents [3] before continuing this article.

All seven bittorrent clients listed here performed excellently on all test torrents and any one of them will meet your needs as a bittorrent client. Rating of the clients was based on their speed and performance, while their features and support facilities were major considerations. A clean installation (without toolbars or ads) was a plus. See also Testing and Ranking at the end of this page.

 

Rated Products

[4]

Tixati [4]   [5]

It runs fast and offers a lot of information

Our Rating: 
4.5
License: Free (Private/Educational use)
Stable and efficient with a good variety of options. Developers are active and responsive to user requests. Attractive interface. Good help resources. Clean install.
Help resource, though very good, could use some updates. Does not support web seeds.
Read full review... [5]
[9]

qBittorrent [9]   [10]

The most efficient client in terms of RAM and CPU usage

Our Rating: 
4.5
License: Free (Open source)
Low and stable RAM and CPU with all the necessary features. Fastest performance on torrents. Development still seems to be very active and responsive to users. Clean install, no addons etc. Cross platform client.
Support has improved, but could be better. Not that well known and not accepted at many private torrent sites (though the situation is improving).
Read full review... [10]
[13]

µTorrent [13]   [14]

A top flight bittorrent program

Our Rating: 
4
License: Free
Excellent speeds on torrents, efficient and stable client with a large amount of features packed into a tiny package. Excellent help resources. Streaming capability.
Has had critical security alerts at Secunia. (though none on this version). Recent versions of µTorrent have been in disfavor at many private sites, supposedly for reporting to the tracker issues.
Read full review... [14]
[16]

BitTorrent [16]   [17]

A small and efficient bittorrent client with a great deal of features

Our Rating: 
4
License: Free
Same as µTorrent as they are identical bittorrent clients. Excellent speeds on torrents, efficient and stable client with a large amount of features packed into a tiny package. Excellent help resources. Streaming capability.
Same µTorrent except that BitTorrent is not accepted at most private torrent sites. Has had critical security alerts at Secunia (though none on this version). Recent versions of µTorrent have been in disfavor at many private sites, supposedly for reporting to the tracker issues.
Read full review... [17]
[19]

Vuze [19]   [20]

A good choice for users utilizing a VPN or proxy

Our Rating: 
4
License: Free
There is a wide variety of options and information within the program and an impressive array of plugins to satisfy any need. Support for VPN and Proxy use is superior. Streaming capability. Cross platform.
Toolbar install and home page change enabled at default on install. Advertisements within free version of Vuze interface (can be avoided by using Classic interface). High RAM use.
Read full review... [20]
[22]

Transmission-QT (Windows) [22]   [23]

A basic bittorrent client that runs fast with a simple interface

Our Rating: 
3.5
License: Free (Open source)
Efficient and stable with excellent speeds. Simple interface. Clean install, no addons etc.
Not an "official" release of the Transmission team and is lacking help resources. Missing some features
Read full review... [23]
[25]

Halite [25]   [26]

A small and fast bittorrent client with low RAM usage

Our Rating: 
3.5
License: Free (Open source)
Small, efficient and fast bittorrent client. Lowest RAM use of the suggested clients.
Missing some features. Support is weak. Releases have been sporadic.
Read full review... [26]

Related Products and Links

There are setup guides here at Gizmo's Freeware for each of the suggested free bittorrent clients. Links to the guides are provided in each review.

 

Testing and Ranking

Testing

The testing of the bittorrent clients was conducted in the two weeks before February 8, 2013 and used the latest versions of the clients at that time.

Anyone with knowledge of bittorrent knows that it is nearly impossible to have a testing procedure that is foolproof in measuring small differentials in speed among bittorrent clients. This is due to the fact that your download speed depends on the upload of other active users and there is no control over their actions while testing. However, I have been testing clients for this category for several years and am convinced that the better clients can be separated from the others.

There were 7 rounds of testing to boil down the 17 clients tested to the 7 in the review. Six torrents and three magnet links were used in this part of the testing. I then conducted several tests in two rounds of testing to determine the Top Pick. I did post pdf copies of my notes for each round of testing: Bittorrent Testing 2013 Notes [28].

All of the clients listed in the review had excellent performance on all of the testing, so all are superior bittorrent clients. The speed performance on the testing was a factor. Even though the speed differences were small, some consistently performed slightly better. Features and support were also factors. CPU and RAM mattered in that a client without many features that had high CPU or RAM use would fall to one with low CPU/RAM use. Toolbars and addons in the installation process were a slight factor.

Testing was performed on Windows 7 64bit.

Ranking

All of these clients have the basic bittorrent features like DHT, PEX, encryption and UPnP. 

All seven of the bittorrent clients listed here performed excellently on all test torrents. Speed and performance was a factor, but features and support facilities were major considerations. A clean installation (without toolbars or ads) was a plus.

Most people just want a client to download torrents, but there are some features that a number of users like to use, such as a built in IP Filter, use of RSS feeds, proxy support, a scheduler and a web interface.

I will make note of those that have installs or other changes to your system that are not necessary for the proper function of the bittorrent client. I strongly suggest that if you choose a bittorrent client that has these unnecessary add ons, to not accept those changes or add ons. I have put up guides to help with the installation of the three clients that have these unnecessary steps in the installation process.

About Me

I am not a technical expert, but I have been using bittorrent since 2003. Before coming to Gizmo's I was the Administrator at a general bittorrent forum site, giving assistance on a variety of clients, and a moderator at the Vuze fora. I still view a number of bittorrent fora and the fora of the various bittorrent clients. This gives me a good idea of what the average user is looking for in a bittorrent client.

 

Editor

This software category is in need of an editor. If you would like to give something back to the freeware community by taking it over, check out this page [29] for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here [30].

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Links
[1] http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-bittorrent-client.htm
[2] http://www.techsupportalert.com/users/siteeditor
[3] http://www.techsupportalert.com/how-to-torrent
[4] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/tixati.htm-0
[5] http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/7827
[6] http://tixati.com/download/index.html
[7] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/installer_warning.htm
[8] https://plus.google.com/118396188147577447707?rel=author
[9] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/qbittorrent.htm-0
[10] http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/7828
[11] http://sourceforge.net/projects/qbittorrent/
[12] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/installer_advice.htm
[13] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/torrent.htm-0
[14] http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/7829
[15] http://www.utorrent.com/downloads
[16] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/bittorrent.htm-0
[17] http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/7830
[18] http://www.bittorrent.com/downloads
[19] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/vuze.htm-1
[20] http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/7831
[21] http://sourceforge.net/projects/azureus/
[22] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/transmission-qt-windows.htm-0
[23] http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/7832
[24] http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/
[25] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/halite.htm-1
[26] http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/7833
[27] http://www.binarynotions.com/halite-bittorrent-client/
[28] https://sites.google.com/site/bittorrenttesting2013/home/bittorent-testing-2013-notes
[29] http://www.techsupportalert.com/become-a-reviewer.htm
[30] http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/id-become-editor-gizmos-freeware.htm