Comparison of BitTorrent clients

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A BitTorrent client is a computer program that manages downloads and uploads using the BitTorrent protocol.

The BitTorrent, was created by Bram Cohen, in October 2002.

Many subsequent clients have been at least partially based on it. Not all clients were originally built for BitTorrent, having added support for the protocol later on. There have been attempts to package malware as BitTorrent clients, probably due to the availability of many legitimate clients and users' willingness to try new ones.

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of applications supporting the BitTorrent protocol. They are neither all-inclusive nor necessarily up to date.

Contents

[edit] Applications

  •   Development status: Current/Active
  •   Development status: Inactive

[edit] General

BitTorrent client First public release date Latest stable FOSS
 Software license Cost
(USD)		 Spyware, Adware, Malware-free [1] Usage[2]
ABC August 19, 2003; 8 years ago (2003-08-19)[3] 3.1  (October 3, 2005; 6 years ago (2005-10-03)[4]) Yes Python Software Foundation License Free Yes &100000000000000000756240.075624%
Acquisition ? 2.2 (v223)  (November 19, 2010; 14 months ago (2010-11-19)) Partial Proprietary
Shareware		 $25 Yes ?
BitComet August 6, 2003; 8 years ago (2003-08-06) 1.31  (December 12, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-12-12))[5] No Proprietary Free Ad-supported: Optionally sets your browser homepage to google.atcomet.com[6] &100000000000000043110344.311034%
BitLet ? ? No Proprietary Free ? &100000000000000000061810.006181%
BitLord ? 2.0  (October 5, 2011; 4 months ago (2011-10-05)) No Proprietary
Adware		 Free Adware: WhenU SaveNow ?
Bits on Wheels ? 1.0.6  (November 19, 2005; 6 years ago (2005-11-19)) No Proprietary
Freeware		 Free Yes &100000000000000000059820.005982%
BitSpirit [7] 2003; 9 years ago (2003) 3.6.0.500  (October 25, 2010; 15 months ago (2010-10-25)[8]) No Proprietary Free Yes &100000000000000019961051.996105%
BitThief ? 0.4  (unknown) No Proprietary
Freeware		 Free Spyware[9] ?
BitTornado ? 0.3.17  (October 19, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-10-19)) Yes MIT License Free Yes &100000000000000001494260.149426%
BitTorrent 5 July 2, 2001; 10 years ago (2001-07-02)[10] 7.6 Build 26732 (Windows)  (February 10, 2012; 5 days ago (2012-02-10))[11]

7.2.2 Build 25801 (Mac OS X)  (October 18, 2011; 3 months ago (2011-10-18))[11]

 Yes BitTorrent Open Source License, GPL Free Template:Adware &100000000000000002709110.270911%
BitTorrent 7 September 18, 2007; 4 years ago (2007-09-18) 7.6 Build 26732 (Windows)  (February 10, 2012; 5 days ago (2012-02-10))[11]

7.2.2 Build 25801 (Mac OS X)  (October 18, 2011; 3 months ago (2011-10-18))[11]

 No Proprietary Free Adware: Optionally installs Ask toolbar. [12] &100000000000000045450594.545059%
BitTyrant January 2, 2007; 5 years ago (2007-01-02) 1.1.1  (September 7, 2007; 4 years ago (2007-09-07)[13]) Yes GPL Free ? &100000000000000002222820.222282%
Blog Torrent ? 0.92  (April 20, 2005; 6 years ago (2005-04-20)) Yes GPL Free ? ?
Deluge September 25, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-09-25) 1.3.3  (July 22, 2011; 6 months ago (2011-07-22)) Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000000417220.041722%
FlashGet ? 3.7.0.1195  (10 January 2012; 36 days ago (2012-01-10)[14]) No Proprietary Free Adware [15] &100000000000000010866511.086652%
Free Download Manager 2004; 8 years ago (2004) 3.8 (Build 1173)  (29 December 2011; 48 days ago (2011-12-29))[16] Yes GPL Free Adware: Optional Software Informer [17] ?
FrostWire 2004; 8 years ago (2004) 5.1.5  (September 16, 2011; 4 months ago (2011-09-16)) Yes GPL Free Adware; Optional Ask.com toolbar ?
Gnome BitTorrent ? ? Yes Python Software Foundation License Free ? ?
KGet ? 4.8  (25 January 2012; 21 days ago (2012-01-25))[18] Yes GPL Free Yes ?
KTorrent ? 4.1.3  (November 22, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-11-22)[19]) Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000000024540.002454%
LimeWire October 30, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-10-30)[20][21] 5.5.16  (September 30, 2010; 16 months ago (2010-09-30)) Yes GPL Free-main
$35-Pro		 Adware &100000000000000000382410.038241%
Meerkat Bittorrent Client ? 1.5.7  (May 16, 2011; 8 months ago (2011-05-16)) No Proprietary
Freeware		 Free Yes ?
Miro 0.8.0-rc4
February 21, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-02-21)[22]		 4.0.4  (December 22, 2011; 55 days ago (2011-12-22))[23] Yes GPL Free Adware: Optional Bing toolbar;
Sets Bing and/or MiroStart (a Miro start page
powered by Bing) as default web browser search.		 &100000000000000000265020.026502%
MLDonkey December 2001; 10 years ago (2001-12) 3.1.0  (August 10, 2011; 6 months ago (2011-08-10)[24]) Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000000041530.004153%
MP3 Rocket December 2005; 6 years ago (2005-12) 6.1.2  (October 19, 2011; 3 months ago (2011-10-19)) Yes GPL Free Adware[25] ?
µTorrent September 19, 2005; 6 years ago (2005-09-19)[26] Windows:

3.1.2 (build 26746)  (February 14, 2012; 1 day ago (2012-02-14))[27][28]

3.0.1 (32-bit) with Share (Build 26560)  (December 5, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-12-05))[29]

Mac OS X:
1.5.13 (Build 26628)  (December 23, 2011; 54 days ago (2011-12-23))[27][30]

 No[31] Proprietary Freeware Free-main
µTorrent Plus $24.95

a year

 Adware; Optional Ask.com toolbar[32][33] &1000000000000002577262525.772625%
OneSwarm 2008; 4 years ago (2008) 0.7.5  (May 23, 2011; 8 months ago (2011-05-23)[34]) Yes GPL Free Yes ?
Opera June 20, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-06-20)[35] 11.61  (January 24, 2012; 22 days ago (2012-01-24)) No Proprietary Free Yes &100000000000000001558630.155863%
qBittorrent March 22, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-03-22)[36] 2.9.3  (December 29, 2011; 48 days ago (2011-12-29))[37] Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000000075610.007561%
rTorrent July 15, 2004; 7 years ago (2004-07-15)[38] lib 0.12.9/r 0.8.9  (June 21, 2011; 7 months ago (2011-06-21))[39] Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000001966120.196612%
Shareaza July 1, 2002; 9 years ago (2002-07-01)[citation needed] 2.5.5.0  (May 29, 2011; 8 months ago (2011-05-29)[40]) Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000001259030.125904%
SymTorrent ? 1.50
(March 11, 2011; 11 months ago (2011-03-11)[41])		 Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000000065980.006598%
Tomato Torrent ? 1.5.1  (October 27, 2007; 4 years ago (2007-10-27)[42]) Yes BitTorrent open source License Free Yes ?
Tonido Torrent October 1, 2009; 2 years ago (2009-10-01) 2.35.0.16174  (November 14, 2011; 3 months ago (2011-11-14)) No Proprietary Free Yes ?
Torrent Swapper July 27, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-07-27)[43] 1.0  (August 10, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-08-10)[44]) Yes MIT License Free Yes ?
TorrentFlux November 12, 2004; 7 years ago (2004-11-12)[45] 2.4  (June 18, 2008; 3 years ago (2008-06-18)[46]) Yes GPL Free Yes ?
Transmission September 15, 2005; 6 years ago (2005-09-15)[47] 2.42  (19 October 2011; 3 months ago (2011-10-19))[48] Yes GPL/MIT License Free Yes &100000000000000032569423.256942%
Tribler February 26, 2006; 5 years ago (2006-02-26)[citation needed] 5.5.13  (February 13, 2012; 2 days ago (2012-02-13)) Yes LGPL Free Yes &100000000000000000028820.002882%
Vuze (formerly Azureus) June 24, 2003; 8 years ago (2003-06-24)[49] 4.7.0.2  (December 13, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-12-13))[50] Partial Proprietary (platform)/
GPL (core engine)		 Free-main
$10-mobile
Vuze Plus-$24.99 for 1 year		 Adware; Optional Vuze Toolbar:
powered by Bing[51][52]		 &1000000000000002408478524.084785%
Wyzo ? 3.6.4
(September 24, 2010; 16 months ago (2010-09-24))		 No Proprietary Free ? ?
Xunlei ? 7.2.5.3364  (January 4, 2012; 42 days ago (2012-01-04))[53] No Proprietary Free Adware &1000000000000002930783129.307831%
ZipTorrent ? 1.3.7.3  (August 24, 2005; 6 years ago (2005-08-24)) No ? ? Yes &100000000000000000000055.0E-6%
BitTorrent client First public release date Latest stable FOSS Software license Cost (USD) Spyware, Adware, Malware-free [1] Usage[2]

[edit] Operating system support

BitTorrent clients are compiled to run on certain operating systems, without emulation. For a given client/OS combination, client support status can be one of six possibilities:

  • No means that it does not exist or was never released.
  • Partial means that the BitTorrent client works, but lacks important functionality or is very unstable compared to versions for other OSs, that is to say it has roughly alpha or pre-alpha quality, and it is still being developed.
  • Beta means that a version of the BitTorrent client is fully functional and has been released, but is still in development, e.g., for stability.
  • Yes means that the BitTorrent client has been officially released in a fully functional, stable version.
  • Dropped means that the latest stable version of the BitTorrent client does not work on the operating system, although an older version is available that does. The number in parentheses is the last known stable version which was officially released for that OS.
  • Included means that the BitTorrent client comes pre-packaged as part of or has been integrated into the operating system.

This list is not exhaustive, but rather reflects the most common OSs today but does not include the growing appliance segment (for example, the Opera web browser has gained a leading role for use in mobile phones, smartphones, the Nintendo DS and Wii, and Personal Digital Assistants, and is also used in Interactive televisions). Both the BitTorrent client and OS means most recent version, example: Windows 7 with µTorrent 3.

BitTorrent client Microsoft Windows OS family Mac OS X Linux Other Unix
ABC Yes No Obsolete No
Acquisition No Yes No No
BitComet Yes No No
BitLet Yes Yes Yes No
BitLord Yes No No No
BitThief Yes Yes Yes No
BitTornado Yes Yes Yes No
BitTorrent 5 / Mainline Terminated (5.2.2) Obsolete (4.27.2) Terminated (5.3) No
BitTorrent 7 Yes Yes No No
Bits on Wheels No Yes No No
BitTyrant Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
Blog Torrent Yes Yes No No
Deluge Yes Source only[Note 1] Yes FreeBSD, Solaris
FlashGet Yes No No No
Free Download Manager Yes No No No
Gnome BitTorrent No No Yes No
KGet Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
KTorrent Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
LimeWire Yes Yes Yes Any OS that supports Java
Meerkat Bittorrent Client Yes No No No
Miro Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
MLDonkey Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, MorphOS
MP3 Rocket Yes No No No
µTorrent Yes Yes Partial No
OneSwarm Yes Yes Yes No
Opera Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD, Solaris
qBittorrent Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD, eComStation
rTorrent No Yes Yes FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris
Shareaza Yes No No No
SymTorrent No No No Symbian OS
Tomato Torrent No Yes No No
Tonido Torrent Yes Yes Yes Yes
Torrent Swapper Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
TorrentFlux Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
Transmission No Yes Yes FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, OpenWrt
Tribler Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
Vuze (formerly Azureus) Yes Yes Yes FreeBSD
Wyzo Yes Yes No No
ZipTorrent Yes No No No
BitTorrent client Microsoft Windows Mac OS X Linux Other Unix

[edit] Interface and programming

BitTorrent client GUI web CLI other Programming language Based on IPv6[Note 2] µTP
ABC Yes Yes No No Python BitTornado buggy[Note 3] No
Acquisition Yes No No No Objective-C and Cocoa Limewire ? No
BitComet Yes Yes Partial [54] No C++ - No No
BitLet No Yes No No Java Applet - ? No
BitLord Yes No No No C++ BitComet No No
BitThief Yes No No No Java ? ? No
BitTornado Yes No Partial No Python BitTorrent Yes No
BitTorrent 5 / Mainline Yes No Partial No Python - No No
BitTorrent 6 Yes Yes Partial No C++ µTorrent Yes Yes
Bits on Wheels Yes No No No Objective-C and Cocoa - Yes No
BitTyrant Yes Yes Partial Telnet, XML over HTTP remote control API Java and SWT Azureus Yes No
Blog Torrent Yes No No No ? ? ? No
Deluge Yes Yes Yes Daemon Python and C++ libtorrent (Rasterbar) Yes [55] No
FlashGet Yes No No No ? ? No No
Free Download Manager Yes Yes Partial No C++ libtorrent (Rasterbar) ? No
Gnome BitTorrent Yes No No No Python ? ? No
KGet Yes Yes Partial [Note 4] No C++ - Yes No
KTorrent Yes Yes Partial No C++ - Yes Yes[56]
LimeWire Yes No No No Java libtorrent (Rasterbar) No No
Meerkat Bittorrent Client Yes No No No C++ - No No
Miro Yes No No No C++ libtorrent (Rasterbar) ? No
MLDonkey Network GUI Yes Partial Telnet Ocaml - No No
MP3 Rocket Yes No No No Java - No No
µTorrent Yes Yes No[57] No C++[58] - Yes[59] Yes[60]
OneSwarm Partial Yes No/Partial No Java Azureus Yes No
Opera Yes No No No C++ - Yes No
qBittorrent Qt (toolkit) Yes Partial No C++ libtorrent (Rasterbar) Yes From v2.8.0
rTorrent No Third Party Yes SCGI C++ libTorrent (Rakshasa) No[61] No
Shareaza Yes Yes Partial No C++ - No No
SymTorrent Yes No No No ? ? ? No
Tomato Torrent Yes No No No Cocoa BitTorrent No No
Tonido Torrent No Yes No No C++ libtorrent (Rasterbar) No No
Torrent Swapper Yes Yes No No Python BitTorrent buggy[Note 3] No
TorrentFlux No Yes No No PHP BitTornado No No
Transmission Yes Yes Yes Daemon, JSON-RPC over HTTP remote control API C - Yes From 2.30
Tribler Yes No Partial No Python ABC Yes No
Vuze (formerly Azureus) Yes Yes Partial Telnet, XML over HTTP remote control API Java and SWT - Yes Yes
ZipTorrent Yes No No No C++ libtorrent (Rasterbar) No No
BitTorrent client GUI web CLI other Programming language Based on IPv6[Note 2] µTP

[edit] Features I

BitTorrent client Magnet URI Super-seeding Embedded tracker UPnP[Note 5] NAT Port Mapping Protocol NAT traversal[Note 6] DHT[Note 7] Peer exchange Encryption UDP tracker LPD Proxy
ABC No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
Acquisition No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
BitComet Yes Yes Separate download Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No HTTP 1.1, SOCKS4/4a/5
BitLet No No No Yes No No No No No No No No
BitLord No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No HTTP 1.1, SOCKS4/4a/5
BitThief No No No No No No No No No No No No
BitTornado No Yes Yes[Note 8] Yes No No No No Yes No No No
BitTorrent 5 / Mainline No No Yes[Note 8] Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
BitTorrent 6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 9] Yes Yes Yes HTTP(S), SOCKS4/5
Bits on Wheels No No No No No No No No No No No No
BitTyrant No Yes[citation needed] Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 10] Yes[Note 11] Yes Yes No No No
Blog Torrent No No Yes No No No No No No No No No
Deluge Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes HTTP(S), SOCKS4/5
FlashGet No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No
Free Download Manager No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No
Gnome BitTorrent No No No No No No No No No No No No
KTorrent Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial HTTP, SOCKS4/5
LimeWire Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Meerkat Bittorrent Client No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No
MLDonkey No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No No
µTorrent Yes Yes[62] Yes[63] Yes[64] Yes Yes[65] Yes[Note 12] Yes[Note 9] Yes[66] Yes Yes[67] HTTP(S), SOCKS4/5[68]
OneSwarm Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Opera No No Yes[69] No No No No Yes[70] No No No No
qBittorrent Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes HTTP(S), SOCKS4/5
rTorrent Yes[71] Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No[72] No
Shareaza Yes No No Yes Yes N/A Yes[Note 13] Yes No Yes[Note 14] No No
SymTorrent No No No N/A N/A N/A No No No No No No
Tomato Torrent No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No
Tonido Torrent No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Torrent Swapper No Yes Yes[Note 8] Yes No No No Yes No No No No
TorrentFlux No Yes No Yes No No No No Yes No No No
Transmission Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 15] Yes Yes Yes No [73]
Tribler Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No
Vuze (formerly Azureus) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 16] Yes[Note 11] Yes Yes Yes No HTTP(S)?, SOCKS4/4a/5
ZipTorrent No No No Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No
BitTorrent client Magnet URI Super-seeding Embedded tracker UPnP[Note 5] NAT Port Mapping Protocol NAT traversal[Note 6] DHT[Note 7] Peer exchange Encryption UDP tracker LPD Proxy

[edit] Features II

BitTorrent client Cache[Note 17] Web seeding[Note 18] Broadcatching (RSS) Prioritization Selective downloads SOCKS Tracker exchange [74] Remote control via web Search Engine Auto updates Notes
ABC No Yes No Yes No No No Yes Separate download No                                 
Acquisition No No No No No No No No No No 3 torrents max, infinity when registered
BitComet Yes Yes [75] Beta Yes Yes Yes No Yes Built-in Web browser Yes Portable version available
BitLet No No No No No No No No No Yes
BitLord Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Built-in Web browser Yes
Bits on Wheels No No No No No No No No No No
BitThief No No No No No No No No No No Bad client[Note 19]
BitTornado Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No via PMS
BitTorrent 5 / Mainline No Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes
BitTorrent 6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
BitTyrant Yes Yes [76] Plugin Yes Yes Yes No Plugin[Note 20] 3rd party plugins Yes Upload priority optimized according to a series of research papers.
Blog Torrent No No No No No No No No No No
Deluge Yes Yes Plugin Yes Yes Yes No Yes No via PMS
FlashGet No No No No No No No No No No FlashGet(standalone application) is not FlashGot(Firefox Addon)
Free Download Manager No No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Optional
Gnome BitTorrent No No No No No No No No No No
KTorrent Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Built-in Web browser via PMS
LimeWire Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
Meerkat Bittorrent Client Yes No No No No No No No No No
MLDonkey Yes No 3rd party bash script Yes No No[77] No Yes Built-in Web browser via PMS
µTorrent Yes Yes[78] Yes[79] Yes[80] Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes portable
OneSwarm Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Based on Azureus, has all BitTyrant features
Opera No No Yes[Note 21] No No No No No built-into Web browser Windows and Mac OS X only; via PMS on Linux Web browser
qBittorrent Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes via PMS
rTorrent Partial No 3rd party utility [81] Yes Yes No No Yes No via PMS No built-in disk cache but a delayed sync
Shareaza Yes Yes No Yes Yes[Note 22] No since v2.5.3.1
[82][Note 23]		 Yes Yes Yes [Note 24]
SymTorrent No No No No No No No No No No BitTorrent client for cell phones.
Tomato Torrent No No No No No No No No No No supports AppleScript
Tonido Torrent No No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes
Torrent Swapper Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Built-in Web browser Yes
TorrentFlux Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
Transmission Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
Tribler Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes Fully distributed keyword search; integrated anti-spam measures[83]
Vuze (formerly Azureus) Yes Yes [76] Yes Yes Yes Yes No Plugin[Note 20] Yes Yes
ZipTorrent No No Yes No No No No No Yes No
BitTorrent client Cache[Note 17] Web seeding[Note 18] Broadcatching (RSS) Prioritization Selective downloads SOCKS Tracker exchange [74] Remote control via web Search Engine Auto updates Notes
  1. ^ Official packages for ports are no longer available.
  2. ^ a b Clients that have been seen in the real world to actually work with IPv6, see IPv6 BitTorrent Clients
  3. ^ a b Announcements to the tracker are made via IPv6 if possible, but the client doesn't listen on the respective port.
  4. ^ Qdbus interface
  5. ^ a b Automatically configure port forwarding (requires Router with UPnP support)
  6. ^ a b Many clients claim to support this, but just UPnP calls for opening a TCP port is not effective and disabled by factory default in most new hardware. "UDP NAT Traversal" is the proper working solution, supported by just a few.
  7. ^ a b DHT permits use of trackerless torrents (with supporting clients) to resume normal torrents when their tracker is down. However, some trackers that register their users for keeping tabs on fair usage (such as a ratio of bytes downloaded to uploaded) may not reliably measure and update usage for users employing DHT.
  8. ^ a b c Tracker included with Linux binaries and with source, but not with Windows binary.
  9. ^ a b Exchanging with BT 6 and µTorrent clients (and now MooPolice).
  10. ^ It's UDP based, an experimental feature and only supported by other Azureus based clients.
  11. ^ a b Has its own DHT, a mainline-DHT compatible implementation is available as plugin.
  12. ^ µTorrent's DHT implementation is the same as Mainline and BitComet's, but unfortunately this is incompatible with Azureus's implementation.
  13. ^ It's not a DHT network, but Shareaza uses Gnutella2 to find other Shareaza clients downloading the same torrent. Mainline DHT support is available as a separate download.
  14. ^ Since Shareaza v2.5.5.1 r9064.
  15. ^ Exchanges with µTorrent and Azureus peers.
  16. ^ Since version 2.5.0.2. It's UDP based, an experimental feature and only supported by other Azureus clients.
  17. ^ a b Reduces disk usage, file fragmentation (in case it is not preallocated) and latencies due to larger written blocks and cached data for hash checking finished pieces.
  18. ^ a b Recently implemented (unofficial) web seeding feature, see HTTP-Based Seeding Specification
  19. ^ Originally designed to exploit the BitTorrent protocol. Has option to prevent any uploads.
  20. ^ a b Provides a Java-based and a simple HTML/JS based WebUI.
  21. ^ Opera has a feed aggregator that displays feeds like emails.
  22. ^ Since Shareaza v2.4.0.2 r7924.
  23. ^ Shareaza also uses G2 to transmit download metadata, such as BitTorrent trackers to other G2 clients.
  24. ^ Max. number of active torrents depends on respective user settings and is limited to 31.

[edit] Vulnerabilities

This comparison of unpatched publicly known vulnerabilities in latest stable version clients is based on vulnerabilities reports by SecurityFocus and Secunia. See computer security for more details about the importance of unpatched known flaws.

BitTorrent client Known unpatched vulnerabilities
Secunia SecurityFocus
Extremely critical
(number / oldest)		 Highly critical
(number / oldest)		 Moderately critical
(number / oldest)		 Less critical
(number / oldest)		 Not critical
(number / oldest)		 Total
(number / oldest)
BitComet 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
BitLord 1 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown
BitTornado 0 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown
BitTorrent 7 0 0 0 0 0 0
BitTorrent DNA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
BitTyrant 2 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown
Deluge 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
FlashGet 3 0 0 0 0 0 1
13 August 2008;
3 years ago (2008-08-13)
Free Download Manager 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
FrostWire 4 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown
KTorrent 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Libtorrent (Rasterbar) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LimeWire 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Miro 4 0 0 0 0 0 1
26 February 2008;
3 years ago (2008-02-26)
MLDonkey 2 0 0 0 0 1
5 November 2003;
8 years ago (2003-11-05)		 1
23 February 2009;
2 years ago (2009-02-23)
µTorrent for Mac 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
µTorrent for Windows 2 0 0 0 1
5 April 2010;
21 months ago (2010-04-05)		 0 0
µTorrent for Windows 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
µTorrent Portable 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Opera 11 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shareaza 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tomato Torrent 1 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown
TorrentFlux 2 0 0 1
23 April 2008;
3 years ago (2008-04-23)		 0 0 2
18 April 2008;
3 years ago (2008-04-18)
Transmission 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vuze (formerly Azureus) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1
22 June 2006;
5 years ago (2006-06-22)
Wyzo 3 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown
Xunlei 5 0 2
28 September 2007;
4 years ago (2007-09-28)		 0 0 0 1
17 November 2007;
4 years ago (2007-11-17)
ZipTorrent 1 0 0 0 1
24 August 2005;
6 years ago (2005-08-24)		 0 1
23 August 2005;
6 years ago (2005-08-23)
BitTorrent client Extremely critical
(number / oldest)		 Highly critical
(number / oldest)		 Moderately critical
(number / oldest)		 Less critical
(number / oldest)		 Not critical
(number / oldest)		 Total
(number / oldest)
Secunia SecurityFocus
Known unpatched vulnerabilities

[edit] Libraries

Note: Libraries in purple are no longer in development.

General
BitTorrent Library First public release date Latest stable FOSS
 Software license Cost (USD) Spyware, Adware, Malware -free Usage[2]
BTSharp 2004; 8 years ago (2004) 2.0  (February 4, 2007; 5 years ago (2007-02-04)) No Proprietary Non-free Yes ?
Libtorrent (Rakshasa) July 15, 2004; 7 years ago (2004-07-15)[38] lib 0.12.9/r 0.8.9  (June 21, 2011; 7 months ago (2011-06-21))[39] Yes GPL Free Yes &100000000000000001966120.196612%
Libtorrent (Rasterbar) September 8, 2005; 6 years ago (2005-09-08)[86] 0.15.9  (November 20, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-11-20)) Yes BSD Free Yes &100000000000000006302060.630206%
MonoTorrent September 2006; 5 years ago (2006-09) 0.80  (October 19, 2009; 2 years ago (2009-10-19)) Yes MIT/X11 Free Yes &100000000000000000004340.000434%
BitTorrent Library First public release date Latest stable FOSS Software license Cost (USD) Spyware, Adware, Malware -free Usage[2]
OS Support and Programming Language
BitTorrent Library Linux/Unix Windows Mac OS X API Programming language
BTSharp No Yes No Yes C#
Libtorrent (Rakshasa) Yes No Yes Yes C++
Libtorrent (Rasterbar) Yes Yes Yes Yes C++
BitTorrent Library Linux/Unix Windows Mac OS X API Programming language
Supported Features I
BitTorrent Library Super-seeding Tracker UPnP[Note 1] NAT Port Mapping Protocol NAT traversal[Note 2] DHT[Note 3] Peer exchange Encryption UDP tracker LPD Fast Extensions Magnet URI
BTSharp No Yes Yes No No No No No ? ? No No
Libtorrent (Rakshasa) Yes Yes No ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes
Libtorrent (Rasterbar) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[87] Yes Yes
MonoTorrent Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BitTorrent Library Super-seeding Tracker UPnP[Note 1] NAT Port Mapping Protocol NAT traversal[Note 2] DHT[Note 3] Peer exchange Encryption UDP tracker LPD Fast Extensions Magnet URI
Supported Features II
BitTorrent Library Cache[Note 4] Web seeding[Note 5] Broadcatching (RSS) Prioritization Selective downloads SOCKS Remote control via web Engine Notes
BTSharp Yes No No No No No No No
Libtorrent (Rakshasa) Partial No No Yes Yes No Yes No No built-in Cache-Disk cache but a Delayed sync
Libtorrent (Rasterbar) Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
MonoTorrent Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
BitTorrent Library Cache[Note 4] Web seeding[Note 5] Broadcatching (RSS) Prioritization Selective downloads SOCKS Remote control via web Engine Notes

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Automatically configure port forwarding (requires Router with UPnP support)
  2. ^ a b Many clients claim to support this, but just UPnP calls for opening a TCP port is not effective and disabled by factory default in most new hardware. "UDP NAT Traversal" is the proper working solution, supported by just a few.
  3. ^ a b DHT permits use of trackerless torrents (with supporting clients) to resume normal torrents when their tracker is down. However, some trackers that register their users for keeping tabs on fair usage (such as a ratio of bytes downloaded to uploaded) may not reliably measure and update usage for users employing DHT.
  4. ^ a b Reduces disk usage, file fragmentation (in case it is not preallocated) and latencies due to larger written blocks and cached data for hash checking finished pieces.
  5. ^ a b Recently implemented (unofficial) web seeding feature, see HTTP-Based Seeding Specification

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Unless otherwise noted, programs marked "Yes" without other inline citations have been tested 100% Free or 100% Clean by Softpedia
  2. ^ a b c d https://ezrss.it/stats/all/index.html (December 4, 2009; 2 years ago (2009-12-04)) Unique peer_id statistics from Combined (Pure Unique) over a 1 week period. Retrieved January 18, 2010; 2 years ago (2010-01-18).
  3. ^ "ABC (Yet Another Bittorrent Client) at SourceForge.net". ABC.SourceForge.net. 2003-08-19. http://sourceforge.net/projects/pingpong-abc/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  4. ^ "ABC (Yet Another Bittorrent Client) at SourceForge.net". ABC.SourceForge.net. 2005-10-03. http://sourceforge.net/projects/pingpong-abc/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  5. ^ "BitComet Client Release Notes - A free C++ BitTorrent/HTTP/FTP Download Client". www.bitcomet.com. 2010-08-31. http://www.bitcomet.com/doc/changelog.php. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  6. ^ "BitComet Latest Beta / Latest Final". softpedia. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/File-Sharing/BitComet.shtml. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 
  7. ^ BitSpirit (2010-10-25). "BitSpirit | a powerful & easy-to-use BitTorrent client". Bitspirit.cc. http://www.bitspirit.cc/en/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
  8. ^ "BitSpirit ChangeLog". bitspirit.cc. 2010-10-25. http://www.bitspirit.cc/en/index.php?q=forum/2. Retrieved 2010-05-30. 
  9. ^ Ernesto (2007-01-16). "BitThief Spies on their Users". TorrentFreak. http://torrentfreak.com/bitthief-spies-on-their-users/. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
  10. ^ Cohen, Bram (Monday July 2, 2001 11:30 pm). "BitTorrent - a new P2P app". decentralization : Messages : 1985-3160. Yahoo! Groups : Directory : Business & Finance. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/decentralization/message/3160. Retrieved April 15, 2007. (HTTP cookies required)
  11. ^ a b BitTorrent download directory list
  12. ^ "BitTorrent Latest". Softpedia. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/File-Sharing/BitTorrent.shtml. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 
  13. ^ "BitTyrant". University of Washington - Computer Science & Engineering. 2007-09-07. http://bittyrant.cs.washington.edu/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  14. ^ "Best Download Manager - FlashGet". FlashGet. 2009.12.23. http://www.flashget.com/index_en.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-20. 
  15. ^ "FlashGet Latest Beta / Latest Stable". Softpedia. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Download-Managers/FlashGet.shtml. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
  16. ^ http://sourceforge.net/projects/freedownload/files/Free%20Download%20Manager/
  17. ^ "general forum". http://freedownloadmanager.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15458&p=32510&hilit=informer#p32510. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  18. ^ "KDE Update Announcement". http://kde.org/announcements/4.8/. 
  19. ^ "KTorrent". ktorrent.org. 2010-08-16 - 11:03. http://ktorrent.org/. Retrieved 2012-01-16. 
  20. ^ http://wiki.limewire.org/index.php?title=Changelog[dead link]
  21. ^ Announcement at TorrentFreak of Limewire's support of BitTorrent protocol as of version 4.13 (2006-10-30). Retrieved 2009-12-04.
  22. ^ "ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab". Participatory Culture Foundation. 2006-02-21. http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/Miro/osx/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  23. ^ ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab, 10-Aug-2011 19:33, http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/miro/src/, retrieved 2011.09.12 07:33 
  24. ^ "MLDonkey at SourceForge.net". MLDonkey.SourceForge.net. 2011-08-10. http://sourceforge.net/projects/mldonkey/. Retrieved 2011-08-10. 
  25. ^ "MP3 Rocket 5.1.9". Softpedia. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/File-Sharing/MP3-Rocket.shtml. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
  26. ^ "µTorrent 1.1 BETA (build 88) - Forums - µTorrent - The Lightweight and Efficient BitTorrent Client". Forum.utorrent.com. 2005-09-19. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=11. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  27. ^ a b "Download - µTorrent - a (very) tiny BitTorrent client". www.utorrent.com. 2012-02-03. http://www.utorrent.com/downloads. 
  28. ^ Giancarlo "Firon" Martínez (2012-02-03). "µTorrent 3.1.2 stable - Forums". Announcements. forum.utorrent.com. http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?pid=623896#p623896. 
  29. ^ Giancarlo "Firon" Martínez (2011-12-08). "µTorrent 3.0.1 stable released with Share (build 26560) - Forums". Announcements. forum.utorrent.com. http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?pid=609682#p609682. Retrieved 2011-12-08. 
  30. ^ Giancarlo "Firon" Martínez (2010-12-13). "µTorrent Mac 1.5.12 stable - Forums". Announcements (Mac). forum.utorrent.com. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?pid=569900#p569900. 
  31. ^ "General - FAQ - µTorrent - a (very) tiny BitTorrent client". www.utorrent.com. https://www.utorrent.com/faq.php#faq2. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  32. ^ "µTorrent Latest Alpha / Latest Beta / Latest Stable". Softpedia. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/File-Sharing/uTorrent.shtml. Retrieved 2009-05-07. 
  33. ^ "Browser search toolbars - Forums - µTorrent - The Lightweight and Efficient BitTorrent Client". Forum.utorrent.com. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=56428. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  34. ^ "OneSwarm: Downloads". University of Washington - Computer Science & Engineering. 2011-05-23. http://www.oneswarm.org/download.html. Retrieved 2011-05-23. 
  35. ^ "Opera version history". Opera Software. http://www.opera.com/docs/history/index.dml. Retrieved 2010-01-18. 
  36. ^ "qBittorrent at SourceForge.net". qBittorrent.SourceForge.net. 2006-03-22. http://sourceforge.net/projects/qbittorrent/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  37. ^ "qBittorrent News". qBittorrent. 2011.09.12. http://qbittorrent.sourceforge.net/news.php. Retrieved 2011.09.14. 
  38. ^ a b http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/timeline
  39. ^ Sundell, Jari (2010.10.26 13:23:56 UTC). "[Libtorrent-devel] LibTorrent 0.12.7 and rTorrent 0.8.7 released". Changelog – The libTorrent and rTorrent Project. rakshasa.no. http://rakshasa.no/pipermail/libtorrent-devel/2010-October/002539.html. Retrieved 2011.06.28 02:25. 
  40. ^ "Shareaza at SourceForge.net". Shareaza.SourceForge.net. 2010-05-29. http://sourceforge.net/projects/shareaza/. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
  41. ^ "SymTorrent - AMORG". Applied Mobile Research Group. 2008-11-26. http://amorg.aut.bme.hu/projects/symtorrent. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  42. ^ "sarwat.net * opensource". sarwat.net. 2007-10-27. http://sarwat.net/opensource/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  43. ^ "Torrent Swapper at SourceForge.net". bit-torrent.SourceForge.net. 2006-08-10. http://sourceforge.net/projects/bit-torrent/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  44. ^ "Torrent Swapper at SourceForge.net". bit-torrent.SourceForge.net. 2006-08-10. http://sourceforge.net/projects/bit-torrent/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  45. ^ "TorrentFlux - PHP Torrent Client at SourceForge.net". TorrentFlux.SourceForge.net. 2004-11-12. http://sourceforge.net/projects/torrentflux/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  46. ^ "TorrentFlux - PHP Torrent Client at SourceForge.net". TorrentFlux.SourceForge.net. 2008-06-18. http://sourceforge.net/projects/torrentflux/. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
  47. ^ http://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Changes
  48. ^ "Changes – Transmission". trac.transmissionbittorrent.com. 2011-10-19. https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Changes#version-2.42. Retrieved 2011-11-11. 
  49. ^ "Azureus / Vuze at SourceForge.net". Azureus.SourceForge.net. 2003-06-24. http://sourceforge.net/projects/azureus/. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
  50. ^ "Azureus / Vuze - Browse /vuze at SourceForge.net". Azureus / Vuze. SourceForge.net. 2011-12-13. http://sourceforge.net/projects/azureus/files/vuze/. Retrieved 2011-12-18. 
  51. ^ "Download Vuze (formerly Azureus) Latest Beta / Latest Stable". Softpedia. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/File-Sharing/Azureus.shtml. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
  52. ^ "Vuze FAQ / Toolbar". Faq.vuze.com. http://faq.vuze.com/?CategoryID=30. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  53. ^ http://dl.xunlei.com/xl7.html
  54. ^ BitComet command line interface see BitComet Command Line - BitComet Wiki
  55. ^ "#335 (can not connect to ipv6 only tracker) – Deluge". Dev.deluge-torrent.org. http://dev.deluge-torrent.org/ticket/335. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  56. ^ "KTorrent 4.0 is out". KTorrent. http://ktorrent.org/?q=node/42. Retrieved 2010-05-24. 
  57. ^ "uTorrent command line options - Forums - µTorrent - The Lightweight and Efficient BitTorrent Client". Forum.utorrent.com. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=53988. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  58. ^ "General - FAQ - µTorrent - a (very) tiny BitTorrent client". www.utorrent.com. https://www.utorrent.com/faq.php#How_can_.C2.B5Torrent_be_so_small_and_so_fast.3F. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  59. ^ "µTorrent 1.8 released". Forum.utorrent.com. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=44003. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  60. ^ "µTorrent 1.9 alpha 13485". Forum.utorrent.com. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=49813. Retrieved 2008-11-24. 
  61. ^ "#1111 (Support for IPv6?) – The libTorrent and rTorrent Project". Libtorrent.rakshasa.no. 2009-07-20. http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/ticket/1111. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  62. ^ "µTorrent 1.6 released". Forum.utorrent.com. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=11463. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  63. ^ "uTorrent: Make Your Own BitTorrent Tracker". Filesharefreak.com. http://filesharefreak.com/tutorials/utorrent-make-your-own-bittorrent-tracker/. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
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  65. ^ µTorrent 2.0 beta
  66. ^ "How To Encrypt BitTorrent Traffic". Torrentfreak.com. 2006-04-16. http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-encrypt-bittorrent-traffic/. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  67. ^ "Announcements » µTorrent 1.7 Release Candidate 6". 2007-06-28. https://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=25655. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 
  68. ^ Mac versions of µTorrent (as of beta version 1.1) do not support proxy.
  69. ^ "Weekly - Desktop Team - by Opera Desktop Team". My.opera.com. 2007-02-27. http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/show.dml/251672. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  70. ^ "Opera 9.5 Beta 1 for Windows Changelog". Opera.com. http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/950b1/. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  71. ^ Aided with a shell script documented in "That magnet uri ticket thing reincarnated". libtorrent.rakshasa.no. http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/ticket/2100. Retrieved 2011-07-04. 
  72. ^ "local peer discovery". libtorrent.rakshasa.no. http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/ticket/1188. Retrieved 2010-04-17. 
  73. ^ Proxy support was removed in version 2.12: "Ticket #3688". trac.transmissionbt.com. https://trac.transmissionbt.com/ticket/3688. Retrieved 2011-06-11. 
  74. ^ a b Tracker exchange spec: BEP 28
  75. ^ Supports the Getright Webseeding spec since v1.14, see BitComet Wiki
  76. ^ a b Supports the Getright Webseeding spec in addition to the Bittornado spec [1]
  77. ^ See task #4401 Socks Proxy; however, http proxy is supported.
  78. ^ "uTorrent 1.7 Stable Finally Released". TorrentFreak. 2007-07-13. http://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-17-stable-finally-released/. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  79. ^ "How to use RSS & BitTorrent to download TV shows". TorrentFreak. 2006-10-14. http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-use-rss-bittorrent-to-download-tv-shows/. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  80. ^ "uTorrent - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET" (in (Persian)). Download.com. http://www.download.com/uTorrent/3000-2196_4-10528327.html. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  81. ^ 3rd party utility RSSDler
  82. ^ Shareazas SVN changes in r8803 on Sourceforge.net
  83. ^ "Truly Decentralized BitTorrent Downloading Has Finally Arrived". TorrentFreak. 2010-12-08. http://torrentfreak.com/truly-decentralized-bittorrent-downloading-has-finally-arrived-101208/. Retrieved 2010-12-16. 
  84. ^ http://sourceforge.net/projects/libtorrent/files/
  85. ^ "libtorrent manual: features". http://www.rasterbar.com/products/libtorrent/features.html. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 

[edit] See also

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