The 7 best alternatives to Transmission in 2024
Still using Transmission for Mac and looking for alternatives? Well this is the guide for you!
If you have been using the torrent client Transmission for Mac OS X, you will probably be wanting to see what else is available, as the Transmission software (also known as transmissionbt) doesn’t provide the most feature-rich user experience.
Although Transmission has been available to the public for many years, some might say it’s lost the lead as best choice of BitTorrent client – due to the multitude of Transmission alternatives now on the market.
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The alternatives out there provide many features such as integrated streaming and even integrated torrent search or the widely popular DHT for finding extra peers, and for more power users features like more advanced bandwidth controls.
Below we list the best alternatives we can recommend to Transmission so that you can make the best decision about selecting your everyday BitTorrent client.
Vuze
Fast and feature-rich, this client has everything you could dream of in a BitTorrent client
Offering possibly the largest feature set of all alternatives that we could find on the internet, Vuze premium even goes as far as to have a really advanced user experience that provides real-time streaming of incomplete torrents that are currently active downloading.
This means you can stream while downloading, without needing any additional plugins or software. We think this feature alone makes Vuze stand out from the pack, and highly recommend it for your consideration.
Additionally bandwidth scheduling, integrated search, DHT and swarm visualizations make the whole package a comprehensive solution that definitely ticks all the boxes. The Vuze client itself is lightweight and runs smoothly without using lots of system resources or suddenly making your Macbook’s fan come on due to heavy resource usage, so all in all it’s hard to find negatives about Vuze.
Deluge
Fast and easy to use, written in Python and open source
Deluge is a free software that is available cross platform as a Transmission for Mac alternative, but it’s also available in Windows and Linux variants. So you can benefit from its wealth of features on any platform.
Mac Transmission users will be pleased to see the regular features are here and some nice additions. DHT, Local Peer Discovery, Peer Exchange, UPnP, NAT-PMP and speed limits per torrent make Deluge a tool for power users and novices alike.
Where Deluge kicks it up a gear is in its server configuration. Deluge can be run as a regular client and also as a server (just like any other daemon service!). So you can run Deluge headlessly on a server and log in without needing to keep your computer running 24/7!
Deluge enables users to log in remotely and check on their servers download progress, which is obviously preferable for big seeders who want to share their torrents efficiently without needing to leave their desktop on or laptop open all the time.
Added to the deal is loads of plugins that make Deluge all the more a desirable choice. Extend the functionality of the software with 3rd party plugins that offer a massive amount of customizations! From viewing data about the swarm and seeder-leecher ratios, to scheduling and advanced seeding options and graphs. It’s all available for free in the Deluge plugin library.
qBittorrent
An open source alternative to Transmission for Mac that aims for a uTorrent style interface
qBittorrent is community developed by volunteers who have created a polished, well designed client using the Qt Toolkit. It works on Mac and all major platforms so you can install it anywhere you like.
Magnet files are supported, as is DHT, PEX and local peer discovery. Additionally, it’s nice to see encryption supported and sequential downloading available right out of the box. qBittorrent has been translated into 70 languages, so it’s also a great choice for users in non-English speaking countries.
A remote user interface is provided, as is the “Create torrent” tool users of uTorrent will be familiar with. You can also limit upload and download share ratios on a per torrent basis, making the standard feature set very extensive indeed.
The only negatives about qBittorrent is that you will most probably need to install some search plugins to get really good results that you can use from the search, but besides this it makes an excellent alternative to Transmission for Mac.
BitLord
The easiest client for downloading torrents, supports Chromecast!
Designed with speed and being lightweight from the start, Bitlord offers some great features.. Streaming, playlists and commenting are all supported inside the client so checking the validity of the download is an easy process.
Although Bitlord has many features, it’s not open source. While their website states it uses the libtorrent library to download the files, we cannot vouch for the rest of the software as they have never released the code. This is a serious negative for the project and may turn you away.
Besides this lack of transparency, there are some unusual features here, such as support for Chromecast so easily streaming from your torrents to your living room is a breeze.
BitTorrent
The official client, works solidly as ever, and takes very low system resources
The original and maybe still the best, offering auto-adjusting settings for your bandwidth in order to get the best torrent speed, while being optimized to run with little system resources in the background.
The client offers a remote web login and is ad free, making it a pretty nice deal all round. Although the more advanced power user features of Deluge or Vuze are not available in this basic BitTorrent client. What it lacks it does make up for in speed and efficiency, meaning it won’t disturb your gaming or other applications while it works away downloading your files.
Folx
A multi-faceted client, with magnet support and YouTube leaching.
Folx certainly is one of the most luxurious and top class Mac apps for torrenting, offering easy access to downloading torrents, and controlling features such as speed, tagging, search and priority.
Magnet links are supported as is the unique feature of splitting downloads into 2 threads, making it possible to download faster and automatically resume interrupted downloads.
The search features are really extensive and the pro version offers iTunes integration, scheduling, and a video downloader for YouTube, which also supports scheduling. The only negatives is that Folx is not open source and does require a user to upgrade to the pro membership in order to get all the great features.
Xtorrent2
Elegant and feature-rich, this Transmission alternative packs a punch.
The interface is well designed and makes downloading torrents very easy. The sections are well labeled and learning your way around the software shouldn’t be difficult for a new comer.
A negative point about Xtorrent2 is that if you want to access the speed features you will need to upgrade to the premium version. Although the software works well, we feel this is a serious negative.
The app is essentially Vuze repackaged with some nicer styling and presentation added. Although it does work very well and is worth your consideration, we also recommend Vuze as it is comparably the same.
Remember to stay safe while downloading torrents
- Don’t leak your identity online, protect your torrent usage with a VPN.
- Mask your IP, connect from a entirely different location.
- Encrypt your internet traffic so no one can see what torrents you are accessing.
You must take care of your identity online and the digital footprint you are leaving behind. Piracy laws have become a serious topic over the past decade, and with over 1,000 lawsuits filed in the united states last year alone. It’s definitely not something you want to take lightly.
Ensure your identity is protected, and that none of your personal data leaks online via using a secure tunnel to the internet with a professional VPN service.
VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) enable you to access the internet just like using your normal connection, but with the added protection of encrypting your traffic meaning the sites you visit are not visible and as long as your VPN provide has a no logging policy, no footprint is left behind to track you with.
When using a VPN for torrenting you need to make sure latency is low, and that port forwarding for torrents is also enabled so you can find other peers and connect with DHT for example. So make sure you choose a VPN server near your locale with a low ping. Checking either NordVPN or ExpressVPN is optimal as they have the most locations in the world, the fastest results in our tests and a great no-logging policy.
So, which of the these Transmission alternatives listed here today are you using in 2018? 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!
