Comparison of file-sharing applications

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File sharing is a method of distributing electronically stored information such as computer programs and digital media. This article contains a list and comparison of file sharing applications; most of them make use of peer-to-peer file sharing technologies.

Contents

This comparison also contains download managers that can be used as file sharing applications. For solely download managers, see the comparison of download managers; for BitTorrent-only clients, see the comparison of BitTorrent clients.

Table

Name Network [1] Anonymous P2P Link system compatibilityPrice Platform License Programming language No Malware Latest release yearExtra information
aMule eDonkey, Kad No eD2k, magnetFree GNU, macOS, Windows, Linux GPL C++ Yes2016, 2.3.3 (February 7, 2021;3 years ago (2021-02-07) [2] ) [±]
BitComet BitTorrent, eDonkey, Kad; [3] HTTP/FTP downloadNoed2k, [3] magnetFreeWindows Proprietary C++Yes2015, 1.94 (September 11, 2022;23 months ago (2022-09-11)) [±] [4] Exploits SuperSeeding and thus is often banned by trackers and peers. Compatible with e2DK links through an eMule plugin which gives access to eDonkey and Kad networks and cross-network sharing abilities with BitTorrent network.
DC++ Direct Connect NomagnetFreeWindowsGPLC++Yes2017, 0.866 May 20, 2017;7 years agoMany modifications exist, for example: LinuxDC++, EiskaltDC++, FlylinkDC++, etc.
eMule eDonkey, KadNoed2kFreeWindowsGPLC++Yes2010, 0.50a (April 7, 2010;14 years ago (2010-04-07) [5] ) [±] Supports protocol obfuscation
Filetopia FiletopiaNo (except when using a bouncer)NoFreeWindows Proprietary JavaNo2018
Flashget BitTorrent, eDonkey; HTTP/FTP downloadNo ? ?Windows Proprietary  ? ?2012
Free Download Manager BitTorrent; HTTP/FTP downloadNo metalink FreeWindowsGPLC++Yes2015, 6.13.4.3616 (February 9, 2021;3 years ago (2021-02-09)) [±] [6]
Freenet’s FProxy Freenet YesNoFree GNU, macOS, WindowsGPLJavaYes2020, 0.7.5 (Build 1498) (June 23, 2024;2 months ago (2024-06-23) [7] ) [±]
Frost FreenetYesNoFree GNU, macOS, WindowsGPLJavaYes2011
FrostWire BitTorrentNomagnetFree GNU, macOS, WindowsGPLJavaYes2015, 6.9.8 (build 312) (April 26, 2022;2 years ago (2022-04-26)) [±] Fork of LimeWire, with no copyrighted-material blocker planned.
Fopnu FopnuNoNoFree GNU Linux, WindowsProprietaryC++No2023Fully decentralized network [8]
GetRight BitTorrent; HTTP/FTP downloadNo ? ?Windows ? ? ?2011
giFT OpenFT and, with plugins, Ares, Gnutella, FastTrack NoNoFree GNU, macOS, WindowsGPL C Yes2004, 0.11.8.1 (2004-11-27) [±]
GnucDNA / Gnucleus Gnutella, Gnutella2 NoNoFreeWindowsGPLC++Yes2005, 2.2.0.0 (June 17, 2005;19 years ago (2005-06-17)) [±]
GNUnet / gnunet-fs GNUnet Yes ECRS Free GNU, FreeBSD, macOS, Windows GNU AGPLv3 or later [9] (Free software)CYes2019, 0.19.4 (April 1, 2023;16 months ago (2023-04-01) [10] ) [±] Latest preview release: 0.11.0pre66 / June 6, 2018;6 years ago [11]
gtk-gnutella Gnutella NomagnetFreeGNU, Windows, LinuxGPLCYes2018, 1.2.2 (February 25, 2022;2 years ago (2022-02-25)) [±]
I2Phex I2P (protocol Gnutella)YesmagnetFreeGNU, macOS, WindowsGPLJavaYes2011Need I2P to run.
iMule I2P (protocol Kad network)Yesed2k, magnetFreeGNU, macOS, WindowsGPLC++Yes2013, 2.3.3.3 (June 1, 2016 (2016-06-01)) [±] needs I2P to run
Jumpshare JumpshareNoNoFree or US$9.99/month Windows, macOS Proprietary VariousYes2015Real-time file sharing with built-in utilities for screenshots, screencasts, notes, and voice clips
KCeasy Ares, Gnutella, FastTrack, OpenFTNoNoFreeWindowsGPLC++, Object Pascal (Delphi)Yes2008Uses integrated giFT file sharing daemon as back-end.
KGet BitTorrent; HTTP/FTP downloadNo ?Freepart of KDE on WindowsGPLC++Yes2012 ?
MLDonkey BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack, (Gnutella, Gnutella2), Kad; HTTP/FTP downloadNoed2k, magnet, sig2dat Free GNU, macOS, Windows, Linux GPL OCaml Yes2014, 3.1.7 (July 6, 2020;4 years ago (2020-07-06) [12] ) [±] P2P application, telnet / web-interface / GUI interface, complete and complex remote usage. Sancho GUI makes automatic SSH tunnels.
Nodezilla Private YesNoFree GNU, Windowscore proprietary, GUI GPLJavaYes2010Most is proprietary, GUI is GPL.
Perfect Dark Perfect DarkYesNoFreeWindows Proprietary C++Yes2015Boards. Auto update.
Retroshare RetroshareYesOwn formatFreeWindows, GNU, macOS GPLC++Yes2023Uses PGP for friend authentication. Decentralized F2F network type.
Robert I2P (protocol BitTorrent)YesmagnetFree GNU, macOS, WindowsGPLPythonYes2012needs I2P to run
Share Share YesNoFreeWindows Proprietary Object Pascal (Delphi)Yes2006Anonymous developer; tries to be Winny successor
Shareaza eDonkey, BitTorrent, Gnutella, Gnutella2, Direct Connect; HTTP/FTP downloadNoed2k, magnet, Piolet/MP2P, gnutellaFreeWindowsGPLC++Yes2017, 2.7.10.2 (September 18, 2017;6 years ago (2017-09-18) [13] ) [±] Uses a powerful files library; maintained by volunteer group
StealthNet RShare YesNoFree GNU, macOS, WindowsGPLC#Yes2011Evolution of the RShare client with many functions.
Soulseek Soulseek NoNoFree, donations for privilegesWindows, Mac, Linux Proprietary C++, QTYes2015, SoulseekQt build 2024.02.01 (February 1, 2024;6 months ago (2024-02-01)) [±] Folder downloads, browse users with folder trees, no multi-source downloads
Tribler BitTorrent and TriblerYesmagnetFreeWindows, GNU, macOS GNU LGPL v2.1+ [14] Python, C++Yes2019, 7.12.1 (September 20, 2022;23 months ago (2022-09-20)) [±] [15] Unlike most other torrent clients, Tribler is decentralized (as well as anonymous) and does not rely on any trackers or any other indexing service to discover content. [16] Also features a built-in video streamer.
Vuze
(formerly Azureus)		BitTorrent and I2PNo (except when using I2P)magnetFree GNU, macOS, WindowsGPLJavaNo2016, 5.7.6.0 (November 2, 2017;6 years ago (2017-11-02)) [±] [17]
WinMX WinMX Peer Network (independent, now user-operated), OpenNAP, chatrooms supportedNoNoFreeWindows Proprietary C++Yes2004Official development has ceased due to RIAA coercion. Versions 3.53, 3.54 beta 4 and older are available from 3rd parties.
Winny WinnyYesNoFreeWindows Proprietary C++Yes2003
WireShare Gnutella, BitTorrentNomagnetFreeGNU, macOS, WindowsGPLJavaYes2016Forked from Limewire pro
NameNetwork Anonymous P2P Link system compatibilityPrice Platform License Programming language No Malware Latest release yearExtra information

See also

Other comparisons

Notes

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Download", aMule team, sourceforge.net, 2021-02-07, retrieved 2021-02-07
  3. 1 2 Compatibility with eDonkey and Kad networks is done via a modded eMule plugin also developed by the Comet team
  4. ↑ "BitComet Changelog". www.bitcomet.com. 2022-09-11. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  5. ↑ "The eMule Project at SourceForge.net". eMule.SourceForge.net. 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  6. ↑ "Free Download Manager 6 Forums". FreeDownloadManager.org. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "Releases · freenet/fred". github.com. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  8. ↑ https://fopnu.com/ [ bare URL ]
  9. ↑ "license notice placed at the top in one of the source files of the project's repository, probably in each of its source files" . Retrieved June 8, 2018. GNUnet is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
  10. ↑ Schanzenbach, Martin (2023-04-01). "GNUnet 0.19.4". gnunet.org. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
  11. ↑ "GNUnet download website". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  12. ↑ "MLDonkey at GitHub". GitHub. 2017-01-22. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  13. ↑ "Shareaza download page on sourceforge Web site". SourceForge . Retrieved 2019-07-06.
  14. ↑ tribler/LICENSE.txt at devel · Tribler/tribler, GitHub, archived from the original on 2014-12-18, retrieved 2014-12-18
  15. ↑ "Releases".
  16. ↑ whatIsTribler/2 Archived 2013-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ "Changelog". Vuze Community. Retrieved 2017-12-11.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shareaza</span> Peer-to-peer file sharing application

Shareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the Gnutella, Gnutella2 (G2), eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links. It is available in 30 languages.

eDonkey2000

eDonkey2000 was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine, using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol. It supported both the eDonkey2000 network and the Overnet network.

MLDonkey is an open-source, multi-protocol, peer-to-peer file sharing application that runs as a back-end server application on many platforms. It can be controlled through a user interface provided by one of many separate front-ends, including a Web interface, telnet interface and over a dozen native client programs.

gtk-gnutella

gtk-gnutella is a peer-to-peer file sharing application which runs on the gnutella network. gtk-gnutella uses the GTK+ toolkit for its graphical user interface. Released under the GNU General Public License, gtk-gnutella is free software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnet URI scheme</span> Scheme that defines the format of magnet links

Magnet is a URI scheme that defines the format of magnet links, a de facto standard for identifying files (URN) by their content, via cryptographic hash value rather than by their location.

The eDonkey Network is a decentralized, mostly server-based, peer-to-peer file sharing network created in 2000 by US developers Jed McCaleb and Sam Yagan that is best suited to share big files among users, and to provide long term availability of files. Like most sharing networks, it is decentralized, as there is no central hub for the network; also, files are not stored on a central server but are exchanged directly between users based on the peer-to-peer principle.

This is a timeline of events in the history of networked file sharing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FrostWire</span> Free and open-source BitTorrent client

FrostWire is a free and open-source BitTorrent client first released in September 2004, as a fork of LimeWire. It was initially very similar to LimeWire in appearance and functionality, but over time developers added more features, including support for the BitTorrent protocol. In version 5, support for the Gnutella network was dropped entirely, and FrostWire became a BitTorrent-only client.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transmission (BitTorrent client)</span> BitTorrent client

Transmission is a BitTorrent client which features a variety of user interfaces on top of a cross-platform back-end. Transmission is free software licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, with parts under the MIT License.

eMule Free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows.

eMule is a free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule now connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eMule are the direct exchange of sources between client nodes, fast recovery of corrupted downloads, and the use of a credit system to reward frequent uploaders. Furthermore, eMule transmits data in zlib-compressed form to save bandwidth.

qBittorrent Free and open source BitTorrent client

qBittorrent is a cross-platform free and open-source BitTorrent client written in native C++. It relies on Boost, OpenSSL, zlib, Qt 6 toolkit and the libtorrent-rasterbar library, with an optional search engine written in Python.

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of available applications supporting the eDonkey network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribler</span> Peer-to-peer filesharing software and protocol

Tribler is an open source decentralized BitTorrent client which allows anonymous peer-to-peer by default. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network for content searching. Due to this overlay network, Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content. The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use instead of diversity of features. Tribler is available for Linux, Windows, and OS X.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vuze</span> BitTorrent client

Vuze is a BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. In addition to downloading data linked to .torrent files, Azureus allows users to view, publish and share original DVD and HD quality video content. Content is presented through channels and categories containing TV shows, music videos, movies, video games, series and others.

The following is a general comparison of BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol.

Peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) systems like Gnutella, KaZaA, and eDonkey/eMule, have become extremely popular in recent years, with the estimated user population in the millions. An academic research paper analyzed Gnutella and eMule protocols and found weaknesses in the protocol; many of the issues found in these networks are fundamental and probably common on other P2P networks. Users of file sharing networks, such as eMule and Gnutella, are subject to monitoring of their activity. Clients may be tracked by IP address, DNS name, software version they use, files they share, queries they initiate, and queries they answer to. Clients may also share their private files to the network without notice due to inappropriate settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phex</span> Peer to peer file sharing client

Phex is a peer-to-peer file sharing client for the gnutella network, released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, so Phex is free software. Phex is based on Java SE 5.0 or later.

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia, documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include removable media, centralized servers on computer networks, Internet-based hyperlinked documents, and the use of distributed peer-to-peer networking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lphant</span> Peer-to-peer sharing software

Lphant was a peer-to-peer file sharing client for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS operating systems, which supports the eDonkey Network and the BitTorrent protocol. It was available in 19 languages. The name and logo of the original Lphant application has been replicated in a program called "Lphant 6.0".

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