Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to SafariWhen comparing µTorrent vs Torch Browser, the Slant community recommends µTorrent for most people. In the question“What are the best Torrent clients?” µTorrent is ranked 23rd while Torch Browser is ranked 24th. The most important reason people chose µTorrent is:
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.
Specs
Question 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 Enables streaming media while it's downloading
Torch supports sequential downloading that allows users to download files in sequential order. That means that media such as video or audio can be streamed a the same way it can be with any other streaming service.
Pro Combines a social media obsessed web browser with a BitTorrent client
Torch is a Chromium-based web browser designed for heavy consumers of social media. It includes a features such as a media grabber that is capable of downloading videos from video sharing sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, a built-in player that's capable of streaming media while it's still downloading and of course a download manager that's capable of handling torrents. And since it has the same backbone as Google's Chrome, Opera, Safari or Vivaldi browsers it safe to say that it's reliable and fast. It's also compatible with all Chrome add-ons.
Pro Built-in search
Built-in search engine allows finding torrents to download right from withing the torrent client.
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.
![[deleted]](https://avatars.slant.co/identicons/50/a1404da0-5397-55ec-a973-a1a26b33e81c)
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 More memory usage since there is a browser running with it
Con Unknown underlying technology
It is unclear what BitTorrent protocol features or extensions are supported by the browser.
Con Ads
The development of Torch Browser is supported by ads placed within the browser.
