Linux torrent clients

Linux world was always grieving for free and open way to exchange data. It does not really accept various DRM techniques and copyright laws, following its long-lasting slogan “information should be free”. The more people know about technology, the more they can improve it. Truly democratic way of thinking that is yet to be accepted in progressive capitalist countries.

In this article, we would like to present you with a number of Linux torrent clients that vary in shape and form yet allowing you to preserve the electronic freedom and exchange whatever you feel like to.

We will list most of them, in order to leave you to judge by yourself; however we will only review those, who, in our humble opinion, deserve the most attention.

Linux torrent clients

ABC – Python-based, Linux-compatible (beta)
Aria 2 – C native, Linux & Mac versions available, as well as Android build.
Azureus (Vuze) – cross platform, Java-based torrent client.
Bitflu – Perl-based, designed to run as daemon.
Bitswash – based on wxWidgets, libtorrent and boost libraries. Comes with Ubuntu package.
BitTheif – Java-based, cross-platform.
BitTornado – Python-based, runs on wxPython.
BitTorrent – Linux version claimed to be available.
BitTyrant – Java-based, cross-platform.
BTG – C++ native, with Ncurses, SDL, GTKmm and Web interfaces. Uses Rasterbar library.
BTPD – bit torrent daemon.
BTQueue – Python-based torrent client.
CTorrent – C++ native torrent client.
Deluge – Python-based, cross-platform.
EZtorrent – C native, comes as source. Outdated.
FireTorrent – firefox based torrent download plugin, available for Linux, Windows and MacOS.
Flush – Russian-made, C++ based Linux torrent client.
Gnome BitTorrent – GTK torrent client with Python interface.
GSTorrent – Qt-based torrent client.
Halite – libtorrent-based client.
KTorrent – KDE native torrents client.
lh-abc – BitTornado (and later ABC) based cross platform torrent client.
linkage – C++ native client, built on top of gtkmm and libtorrent libraries.
LimeWire – Java-based, cross-platform P2P solution.
Miro – Python-based cross platform torrent client.
MLDonkey – eMule and BitTorrent client.
OneSwarm – Java-based torrent client.
qBittorent – Qt libraries-based cross platform torrent client.
QTorrent – Python based with Qt interface.
Retriever Download Manager – Java-based file downloader, with BitTorrent support.
RezTorrent – C native torrent client.
rTorrent – C++ based console bittorrent client.
Rufus – Python-based bittorent client.
Sharktorrent – C++ native cross-platform client. Uses Qt, libtorrent and boost libraries.
SKDownloader – Java-based, Linux and Windows bittorent client.
Tairent – Tairon library based, server-oriented torrent client.
Tixati – native Linux & Windows torrent client.
Torium – torrent client for Linux & Windows.
Torrent Swapper – Python based. Builds for Windows and Linux. Outdated.
TorrentFlux – web-based bittorent client, available for POSIX-compatible systems.
TorrentFlux-b4rt – TorrentFlux alternative build.
TorrentVolve – PHP-based web torrent client.
Transmission – most widely known Linux client. Most popular distros are supported.
Tribler – Python-based, cross-platform torrent client.
uTorrent – very popular cross-platform torrent client. Linux is server-only version.
XBT (Extended BitTorrent) – C++ native bit torrent client, for both Linux & Windows.

Overview clients

There are lots of bittorrent clients for Linux. If you are interested in moving onto Linux platform, be sure that you’ll be able to leech and seed as good as you were doing it on your previous system. We’ve decided to review just few clients for Linux, that in our opinion deserve the most attention. Those are:

1. Azureus (Vuze)
2. BitTornado
3. Deluge
4. Flush
5. KTorrent
6. qBittorrent
7. Transmission

Among these programs, you can see few familiar titles (Vuze, BitTornado and uTorrent) and few very promising ones (Flush, qBittorrent, Transmission). All of these applications are good, so it is actually a matter of personal choice. None the less, we’ve decided to provide you with some background information and features on them, so you could make up your mind without being confused.

Azureus (Vuze)
http://www.vuze.com

This is actually very popular and wide known client. It originates from US, initially released in 2003 under name “Azureus”. In 2006 it is rebranded as Vuze. One of very few torrent clients to include commercial features (such as Ads and paid version), it is known to have Onion (aka Tor) support, include DVD burning support, AntiVirus (BitDefender-based), inbuilt video player with various codecs support (including HD) and DHT (as well as Azureus DHT, alternative protocol) support.

Now main feature here is compatibility with most p2p torrent networks, trackers and standards, as well as utilization or proprietary ones, giving end-user a pretty serious download backbone. But, as nothing worthy comes free, it includes advertising (therefore branded “adware”), paid version and is frequently banned from popular torrent trackers, due to its semi-commercial nature.

It is also Java-based, which means that it requires JRE to run, and also requires comparably higher amount of RAM.

None the less, it is a great client, especially for newbies.

BitTornado
http://www.bittornado.com

BitTornado is accurately claimed to be “experimental bittorent client”. None the less, it is one of the most sophisticated applications to date.

It does not come feature-rich as other clients. For example, if you expect to find magnet URI support, DHT, Peer Exchange, UDP tracker or NAT traversal – don’t, since you will not find such features here yet. There are, however, superseed mode and UPnP support, so even if you can’t enjoy all fun of torrents, you still can have proper download and upload capabilities.

Deluge
http://www.deluge-torrent.org

Deluge is really powerful application. It supports just about every torrent technology there is – DHT, Peer Exchange, UDP tracker and Local Peer Discovery (LPD). It also has encryption, UPnP and full proxy support.

You will be pleasantly surprised by Deluge ability to support plugins and a number of really useful plugins, like: AutoAdd, Blocklist, Categorise, CopyCompleted, Traffic Limits and XMPP notify. Its only obvious misfeature is Python based, which makes it more demanding than native applications. Nevertheless, it is great application.

Flush
http://sourceforge.net/projects/flush/

Design in Russia. Relatively small torrent client, which does not depend on any 3rd party graphical library, in order to run. It has great internationalization (UTF-8 and alternatives) features, supports DHT, LSD, Peer Exchange, UPnP, NAT-PMP and Smart ban.

Small, effective and actively developed. It might lack much of documentation, and its feature list is yet to grow, but already you can feel full power of torrent out of this small magic box.

NOTE: Flush is not available from Synaptic package manager. In order to download it, please access its Launch Pad repository:
https://launchpad.net/~konishchevdmitry/+archive/flush

KTorrent
http://www.ktorrent.org

KDE-based torrent client. Very feature-rich and one of the most popular in Linux community. It easily supports magnet links and DHT, comes with IP filter and bandwidth scheduler, and usually perfectly fits most torrent needs. Taken you prefer KDE to other Linux windows managers.

The only misfeature, if you allow us to describe it that way, is waste of configuration options. It is definitely one of the most configurable clients out there, but the same time, can be somewhat confusing to new users.

qBittorrent
http://qbittorrent.sourceforge.net

Now that is really a jewel. Qt4-based, with rasterbar library, it provides really wide choice of options for your downloading pleasure. In-built multi-tracker search engine, DHT, Peer Exchange, Magnet and BitCommet URI support, UPnP and NAT-PMP features, bandwidth scheduler, IPv6 support and ipfiltering.

It comes in 25+ languages, and is also multiplatform. So, if you like it, you can use it on both Linux and Windows, or MacOS.

Transmission
http://www.transmissionbt.com

Transmission BitTorrent client comes by default with Ubuntu installation, Mandriva, Mint, Fedora, Puppy, open SuSE and ZenWalk. It covers about every feature you might think of – selective downloading, magnet links, DHT, peer exchange (PEX), blacklisting, NAT, https tracker support, LPD, bandwidth scheduling and much more.

It can also be remotely controlled thru web browser or terminal. But biggest advantage here is low resource use. It is a native application, and hence, it does not require anything but your OS and some basic libraries to run.

NOTE: It should be already installed with your Ubuntu system.

Conclusions

In fact, as it was said before, torrent client is a matter of personal choice, and thanks to many wonderful Linux programmers, you have really wide choice here. However, we would like to note, that of all those clients we’ve presented to you today, our choice narrows down to two – Flush and Transmission.

Flush – because it is probably the most stable and low-resource bit torrent client we ever found for Linux. Transmission – because it is simplest torrent client, yet most feature-rich. And since Transmission comes preinstalled in many cases, it is probably the best choice for new users.

All other clients are really interesting, and deserve lot of attention from keened users. However, we found a number of difficulties in their installation, configuration and/or usage, there for, we leave our recommendation to Transmission, and your choice to you!