When comparing Rtorrent vs WebTorrent Desktop, the Slant community recommends Rtorrent for most people. In the question“What are the best Torrent clients?” Rtorrent is ranked 6th while WebTorrent Desktop is ranked 7th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Supports thousands of torrents easily
Pro CLI interface
Pro Reasonable feature set
rTorrent covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX and Magnet URIs. It includes MSE/PE for security. It has graphical and command line interfaces. Has UDP tracker and µTP data transfer protocol support. Even covers Super-seeding.
Pro No extraneous functions
Torrent is a CLEAN client. Meaning there’s no search engine, tools, or other things to bloat the program.
Pro RUTorrent is a great web interface for RTorrent
Pro Streaming supported
Before the torrent is complete, you can stream the video and audio. It even supports seeking - it prioritizes the current location instead of always going in sequential order.
You can also stream to Chromecast, DLNA, and AirPlay.
Pro Insanely fast
Download multiple torrents simultaneously, efficiently and fast.
Pro Open Source
The developers have their files stored on GitHub.
Pro Beautiful interface
Pro Support webrtc peers
It supports webrtc peers which increases the swarm to allow for websites to stream.
Pro Comprehensive test suite
Runs completely offline, so it's reliable and fast.
Pro Exposes files as streams
Fetches pieces from the network on-demand so seeking is supported (even before torrent is finished).
Seamlessly switches between sequential and rarest-first piece selection strategy.
Pro Supports advanced torrent client features
- magnet uri support via ut_metadata
- peer discovery via dht, tracker, and ut_pex
- protocol extension api for adding new extensions
Cons
Con No IPv6 support
Con Requires manual router configuration
The client lacks support UPnP, NAT-PMP or NAT traversal for automatic router configuration.
Con Files can't be downloaded sequentially
Con No embedded tracker
An embedded tracker allows turning the client into a server offering an easy way of sharing files with others. rTorrent lacks embedded tracker support so another method of sharing or different client has to be used to share files.
Con No proxy server support
Con Lacks µTP transfer protocol support
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. rTorrent lacks this functionality.
Con No search
Built-in search engines allow finding torrents to download right from withing the torrent client. rTorrent lacks such functionality.
Con No web seeding
Web seeding support allows downloading file parts from an HTTP source alongside the swarm. It's usually used for long-term seeding and easing some of the load on web hosts that supply direct downloads by offering a BitTorrent download as an alternative while still ensuring that the file is always available in its entirety regardless of the swarm. rTorrent lacks this functionality.
Con No built-in web interface
Con No local peer discovery
Con Missing some more advanced controls
For those who like fine-tuning something simple into something crazy.