EagleGet [1]

Our Review:

The search for an alternative to the most cracked commercial download manager ended with EagleGet, widely considered as the IDM killer (Internet Download Manager). Its unmatched media detection and download capability, popular browsers integration along with custom browsers support, creation of multiple queues for organized and scheduled downloads, timely and frequent updates with good support from the developer make it an ideal choice and in most ways a better choice to its commercial competitor.

Installation & Interface: EagleGet is packed into less than 6MB and integrates seamlessly with most of the popular browsers, full marks to flawless integration among the most widely used browsers along with support for various other browsers. Hard disk and memory footprints are around 14MB and 18MB. There is also a portable version for anyone who doesn't want to leave registry traces.

Note: In the latest 2.0.30 version you are provided with 2 options during install. a) Ads (do not use my resources), which places a small window ad about iNewTab, their extension in Chrome store, and b) Free (use my resources), which is required to use the Shared VPN feature, but will share some of your personal details like IP Address etc. I recommend to use Ads version, which is not intrusive at all anyway. 

The interface looks modern and supports various custom skins and themes along with the ability to customize the contrast, colours and saturation. Downloads can be sorted by date, type, name and sizes. Eagleget is the only download manager that supports drag 'n drop of download tasks for prioritization in the queue. Task Monitor shows quick info about active downloads on the desktop.

Features & Usability: Closing the gap between a stand-alone download manager and video downloader, EagleGet monitors media contents across most streaming sites and users can choose to download them with 3 different technologies: using extension in browser, using video sniffer and using media grabber. Auto-categorization when enabled groups files in different folders according to their type during download. The pre-download feature provides faster downloads without waiting for user interaction. Refresh download address is a unique feature to continue downloading almost any broken/incomplete task.

Apart from popular browsers, this versatile download manager can also integrate with custom browsers among the many Firefox and Chromium clones. Multiple download queues both scheduled and unscheduled can be set-up for timed as well as group downloads. Various other features like site manager for auto-login to websites, batch download from webpages, capture from file hosting sites, automation tasks and virus checking, file type and website exclusions/inclusions as well as a task cleaner are included.

Updates & Support: An actively supported download manager, EagleGet's updates are rolled out at least once in a month, with bug-fixes and new features. Although it falls slightly short in stability compared to other download managers, this issue is getting addressed with each update and timely intervention from the developer. The forums are a nice place to be in, where a lot of new features and bug-fixes are being addressed and heeded to.