3 perfect alternatives to BitTorrent for Mac

If you are using BitTorrent for Mac, you may be wanting an alternative to the standard BitTorrent client for Mac. In this guide we will go over the best BitTorrent client for Mac alternatives that we have found and give you an insight into what the best options out there when torrenting on Mac!

Going for an alternative to the standard Bit Torrent for Mac client are threefold, one obviously out of user preference you may just want more features or a different client, secondly if resources are of concern you might want a less of a hog and a more lightweight plugin based architecture that can be adapted to your specific needs, with any extra bloat cut off to save on resources.

Finally the reasoning for an alternative BitTorrent for Mac is better operating system integration with access to real time streaming functionality and the itunes library, that is not included in the standard BitTorrent client for Mac.

Your torrenting safety is paramount

Before we go any further, it goes without saying that your safety and especially your privacy online is crucial. Downloading torrents in and of itself is not an issue, although the copyright laws surrounding the content of some torrents is enough for over a thousand law suits to be filed in the United States last year alone.

Take precautions when downloading torrents by anonymizing your connection with a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This is software that will hide your public IP address and provide you with a secure tunnel to the internet.

Here are our 5 best VPN providers to ensure your safety while torrenting:

1. NordVPN

   The best VPN for torrenting overall
   9.8
2. Surfshark VPN

   P2P-sharing torrent VPN with infinite connections
   9.5
3. TotalVPN

   Affordable VPN for torrenting with extra security tools
   8.2
4. PrivateVPN

   Torrent VPN with great P2P features
   8.7
5. Proton VPN

   Private & secure P2P VPN for torrenting
   8.6

Encrypting your traffic in a similar way to how HTTPS/SSL works on your most popular websites, the benefit is that the VPN encrypts all of your traffic by default so that any bad actors on the network, including guest house/public wifi connections are also locked out. Sometimes other computers connected to a network can become infected, and this malware will sniff the data being transmitted from other participants to see if there are any exploits that can be taken advantage of.

We recommend you always ensure your security, and browse privately with a VPN enabled connection for best practice when using BitTorrent for Mac.

Check out our Best VPNs for torrenting list prior to downloading your first torrent files.

Deluge

An open-source BitTorrent for Mac alternative, that has plenty of plugins for extendability!

Deluge is a great Bit Torrent for Mac alternative that has a simple yet feature rich interface that’s open source and will always remain free to download. That means there is no adware or premium subscription hidden inside of the app!

We feel by having a very light client which enables users to choose what plugins are enabled makes resource tuning easy, using minimum RAM and CPU cycles – making it lighter weight than BitTorrent for Mac. Overall, Deluge is an obviously great option when looking for low resource, lightweight alternatives that can happily run as background tasks without taking power away from your MacBook.

Unlike the BitTorrent client, Deluge has plugins that will enable you to select features specifically targeted to your BitTorrent uses. So you can extend Deluge however you like without having to run some unwanted features you do not ever need. There is also a busy support community in case you have problems getting your plugin to work, take a look over at the plugin page at https://dev.deluge-torrent.org/wiki/Plugins..

qBittorrent

A 100% Ad free and open source bit torrent for Mac alternative!

This alternative BitTorrent client for Mac has all the features you would expect of any good bit torrent client, so don’t worry you won’t need to make any compromises on functionality. Also worthy to note is that the experience is made even better by the total lack of annoying ads! Don’t worry about a paywall or some premium features being locked out, this is an ad free zone!

Besides having a nice user interface with a low resource footprint, the amazing features have not been cut out – there is a built-in video player and seasonal downloaders will be happy to see support for RSS. With a built-in search reminiscent of the bit torrent client for all the most popular torrent search engines, you will be able to easily find your files using this client.

Also the features don’t stop there – a web interface is also included in the deal, so you can log in remotely and manage your torrent files. The only major feature we found missing was the lack of a scheduler. So if that is a crucial feature for you, maybe you would prefer Vuze or Deluge as they both support schedules.

Vuze

One of the best BitTorrent clients for Mac OSX available on Earth!

Vuze is certainly the most feature-packed bit torrent for Mac alternative that we are yet to come across! OSX integration has really been taken care of and supports all of the features BitTorrent for Mac does, plus some more if you choose to go down the premium route – such as streaming or downloading torrents.

Included in the client are searches for highly seeded torrents. Of course, streaming magnet links for premium users is supported by the Vuze client, which plugs directly into VLC or Quicktime, making the overall user experience seamless and reliable.

Users will also find power features such as remote controlling the UI here. It also has swarm discoveries, plus a huge library of plug-ins to extend the feature set of this top quality alternative BitTorrent for Mac.

Vuze premium offers a DVD burner software for integrated DVD authoring, and a built in anti-virus protection, as well making it a complete solution for your Mac torrenting. Obviously the most wanted feature of Vuze premium is the stream whilst downloading option, enabling you to stream an incomplete movie while it’s still being downloaded. This feature is hugely popular and one of the most useful we have found for a BitTorrent for Mac alternative, making this the best BitTorrent client for Mac for certain!

So if you are still using the standard BitTorrent client for Mac, we recommend that you take a look at Vuze. There are plenty of great features within the app, and it uses little resources to quickly loads up magnet files details in a efficient, reliable manner, there is really no reason to move back to using the standard BitTorrent for Mac once you have made the switch.

So, which of the these BitTorrent for Mac alternatives listed here today are you using in 2020? Are there any major ones that we’ve missed?

Any ones that we’ve listed that are having problems? Let us know in the comments below!