When comparing µTorrent vs Alfred, the Slant community recommends Alfred for most people. In the question“What are the best Mac OSX apps for someone that's new to Apple?” Alfred is ranked 2nd while µTorrent is ranked 27th. The most important reason people chose Alfred is:
Allows the creation of automated workflows by connecting keywords, hotkeys and actions together without writing code.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Lightweight
Weighs just barely over 1MB. And while it's gained a bit of feature creep over the years, it's still a lighter-weight client than many of its competitors.
Pro Full-featured
µTorrent covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX, LPD and Magnet URIs as well as Broadcatching, Sequential downloading and Search. It includes MSE/PE for security. It has graphical and web interfaces. Has UPnP, NAT-PMP, NAT traversal for automatic router configuration. Has UDP tracker and µTP data transfer protocol support. Even covers IPv6, web seeding, Embedded tracker, Super-seeding and proxy servers. And it auto-updates.
Pro Clean and easy to navigate user interface
A clean, visually-appealing interface that’s incredibly simple to navigate and cuts down on clutter by allowing any element of the UI not needed to be hidden.
Pro Doesn't slow down other Internet activities
The application automatically manages bandwidth it takes up to not get in the way of other Internet-dependent activities.
Pro Portable
µTorrent can be run without having to be installed as it stores all files and settings in the same folder. It can be put on an external storage device (such as a USB drive) and run directly from it.
Pro Built-in search
Built-in search engine allows finding torrents to download right from withing the torrent client.
Pro Cross-platform
µTorrent is available on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android.
Pro Can create custom automated workflows
Allows the creation of automated workflows by connecting keywords, hotkeys and actions together without writing code.
Pro Full keyboard controls
You can do everything using just the keyboard.
Pro Built-in calculator
Alfred is able to handle simple mathematical commands and more extensive expressions alike. Pressing Enter copies the result to the clipboard.
Pro Integrates with 1Password
Alfred allows getting secure and fast access to your 1Password 1Click bookmarks.
Pro Lightweight and smooth
Alfred is a lightweight application for OS X and runs smoothly, even on older devices.
Pro Versatile search
Quickly search for files, applications and web services from the same input.
Pro Productivity booster
Helps speed up your working day one shortcut at a time.
Pro Clipboard history
Alfred offers a clipboard with an extensive history for quick access to your copied text, images and links.
Pro Entry of everything
Pro Allows theming
Alfred allows adjusting colors, fonts, sizes and more to create new themes.
Pro Offers both a free version and a paid version available
The paid version is more customizable, but the free version is still very powerful.
Cons
Con Proprietary
No source code is publicly available. As such there's no way to independently check what security and privacy features are implemented and how as well as whether there's any malicious code or not.
Con No tracker exchange
Tracker exchange functionality allows peers to exchange information about trackers of a given file. It is another way of ensuring that the file is downloaded from the optimal source. µTorrent lacks this functionality.
Con Are known to bundle riskware
In additional to typical toolbar and ad bundles, µTorrent has previously bundled an automatic cryptocurrency-miner called EpicScale even if the user opted out of other bundled software.
Con Inappropriate ads (can be disabled)
Not only does μTorrent have ads in the free version, they tend to be inappropriate ads for scammy things like "meet russian women".
Ads can be disabled in the options. It's important to note that disabling ads (as well as all bundled software and featured content) can be a difficult process as it requires manually editing multiple key/value pairs in advanced settings.
The following keys have to all be turned to false by going to options > preferences > advanced:
bt.enable_pulse
distributed_share.enable
gui.show_notorrents_node
offers.left_rail_offer_enabled
gui.show_plus_upsell
offers.content_offer_autoexec
offers.sponsored_torrent_offer_enabled
offers.featured_content.badge.enabled
offers.featured_content_notifications_enabled
offers.featured_content_rss_enabled
Con Bundles bloat
Installation wizard starting with version 3 offers installing a variety of garbage features including toolbars and ads. And makes the process of opting out of such bundled software difficult. It's possible to find version 2.2.x online (1,2) - same lightweight, feature packed application without all the unneeded extras or ads.
Con Many features require the $25 powerpack add-on
Features like custom workflows, clipboard history, 1Password integrations and others require the powerpack add-on.