Best Free Download Manager
Fri, 01/02/2009 - 12:16 — Jojoyee
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Introduction
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There comes a time when you are downloading a large file and the
download stops part of the way through. If you are using the Windows
download applet there is nothing you can do about it; you will just
have to start again. A good download manager will allow you to resume
the download, picking up where it left off.
Good download managers also allow you to start several concurrent
download sessions from available resources for the one file. This works
by splitting the file into parts with each part downloaded at the same
time from the resources. At the end the file is then re-assembled.
This can result in dramatic improvements in download speed given a transmission speed limited by internet service providers.
Below are a few free download managers short listed for review based on the basic requirements including:
- Speed, or lapsed time to download a file
- Interface with web browsers and supported protocols
- Management of downloaded files
- Other features
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Discussion
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 Gigaget download
manager is in general the fastest by far for downloading files. It
utilizes cutting-edge Net Grid technology to tap the unused resources
of networked PCs and servers to greatly improve your download speed.
Gigaget monitors major browsers, such as Internet Explorer, and
monitors clipboard for auto downloading once a download link is copied
to the clipboard. It has all the features you would need, safe and easy
to use.
Among the features, it allows you to easily pause, resume or
delete a download, import or export list of downloads, and it has a
powerful task manager with data transfer encryption, auto data
integrity validation and correction, classfication of downloaded files,
etc.
On the negative side, this program in the version under this
review will occasionally prompt an 'about:blank' error message when the
browser home page is set to blank. If you click ok, the program clears
the message and nevertheless proceeds to work well.
Further, Gigaget seems to have stalled in development from the
last version, while its original Chinese version "Xunlei" (or
"Thunder"), one of the most popular download managers among Chinese
users, is still actively updated. The Chinese version contains
advertisements but with powerful P2P leeching capability to accelerate
downloads from BitTorrent and eMule networks. (Thanks to Wedung for the update.)
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 Alternatively Free Download Manager
is a good choice for its stability and support for various browsers
such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari.
It offers simultaneous multi-part downloads, easy restarting and recovery, a powerful scheduler and downloading from mirrors.
It also features downloads from RapidShare, prioritized and
partial torrent downloads, adjusting traffic usage, flash video
download and an upload manager. Management of downloaded files is
supported.
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 Another popular download manager is Orbit Downloader, which is devoted to the new generation web to make downloading any social media easy and fast.
Moreover, Orbit Downloader features Grab Pro to support video
download from sites which use anti-leeching technology like YouTube,
Pandora, etc. It also supports most streaming media protocols and
file-sharing service websites.
Support of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Maxthon together with general download management is included.
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 FlashGet download manager is also worth a try as it is designed for speed and management of downloaded files as well.
It increases the download speed by applying multiserver
hyperthread technology and supports HTTP, FTP, BT, eMule and other
various protocols.
FlashGet provides download monitoring with Internet Explorer and
integrates well with FlashGot extension to Firefox too. It supports
unlimited categories for managing downloaded files.
On first running of the program after installation, it comes with
a 'recommended message' at the right panel, but this can be disabled
easily as an option.
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Other Download Managers
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These are a number of other free download managers which were
brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. As they are
not rated in this review, I am listing them here with brief
descriptions and links to their sites for ease of reference.
- Download Accelerator Plus
(free) is a toned down version of commercial DAP Premium but basic
features are available such as multi-connections to download sites,
mirror search, etc. It has an active 'information pane' at the right
panel which is not allowed to disable.
- Star Downloader Free
accelerates your downloads by splitting files into parts and
downloading them from mirror sites. It is also a toned down version
without some of the needed features such as link leecher available to
commercial Star Downloader Pro.
- MetaProducts Download Express
is a small application at a size of about 680 KB. It supports IE and
Firefox browsers and allows you to download individual files from the
Web and FTP sites with multiple channels technology. It features a
Projects list without classification of downloaded files. Download
speed is slower than the top-picked download manager.
- DownThemAll
is a browser entension to add advanced download capabilities to
Firefox. This add-on is useful if you are using Firefox and need to
download many files on a web page at one go. It allows you select all
files or certain file types for download. However, for a selected file
in a larger size, its download speed is much slower than a standalone
download manager such as Gigaget.
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This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Jojoyee. Registered site visitors can contact him by clicking here.
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Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide
1.0.0.23 
GigaGet is a trimmed down version of Chinese softare XunLei - Thunder. The latest version of XunLei is 5.8, I guess the Gigaget is based on 5.5. The interface is similar but Gigaget removed lots of Ads. It should support all major protocols including emule, bt, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, MMS, RTSP and RTMP, also Xunlei has its own resource base. A common download is the trimmed version but the there is still some characters on the interface. I am not sure if GigaGet support BT.
Flashget is a software developed by Chinese. Support all major protocols, latest version 2.0 (chinese) does not support emule, while in the stable 1.9.2 support all of them.
Tuoto is another Chinese download manager that support all major protocols. Interface is clean. Here are some reading.
http://leechermods./2007/07/tuotu-30102-200772.html?showComm...
Another chinese software named "super cyclone" is also popular, clean in interface, but has no English version. Not support emule.
Orbit downloader is another good one, but not support bt and emule
I did a comparison between utorrent and XunLei trimmed version, when the download speed of utorrent is struggling arount 10k for two days, the same seeds on XunLei reachs 100k in about 10 minutes.
Gigaget is ADWARE and and the Chinese ads ask for Chinese fonts to be installed. NOT NICE. Also, NO increase in speed. I'm removing it as we speak.
I didn't see any Chinese ads there, neither did I install Chinese fonts. Runs smoothly and fast. No issue to me.
FlashGet is rated RED by McAfee SiteAdvisor:
www./sites/
Try MetaProducts Download Express 1.9. Its not been updated but works well.
Thanks for the info. Grouped under Other Download Managers for reference.
New version 3.0.843 of Free Download Manager has been released.
Anupam Shriwatri, India
Thanks for the update.
You are welcome :)
Anupam Shriwatri, India
I would like to configure one to use the SD/USB storage device as the destination and scratch disk in settings. Is there one like that? I have a 4gb HD and can not upgrade with ease. If you can think of something post it here. Thanks for these.
If you are looking for a setting in a download program to download files to a folder in external storage, this can be done easily. Such as in Gigaget, go to Config and change the 'Save To' default folder to your preferred folder in an external storage device while it is plugged in. Click Apply Button to enable the change.
Hope this is helpful.
I was impressed with Gigaget performance in my old pc running Windows XP. And when i tried to use it in my new Dell Notebook running Windows Vista Home Premium, Internet Explorer crashs and restarts. I've tried so many time reporting to them, but couldn't find a solution yet. I disagree to use any other DM because Gigaget had made a solid impression in my mind. And the same problem occured to my friend running with same OS. Has anyone undergone the same problem.
Would be glad if any friend can give me a working solution.
Gigaget works well for me on Vista. For browsers, I use Firefox and Chrome, much faster and safer.
IMO, one way to prevent IE from crashes is to disable all add-ons or reset IE settings (Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/Reset). A rather slow and outdated browser residing in my system but hardly used.
Hi
If you are using Firefox, downThemAll is a good add on.. and you probably wont need separate download manager.. here is the link
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201
Thanks
It is only useful if you download all the links, images contained in a webpage. I tried it to download a larger file and it's slow.
So, I take it that Gigaget isn't compatable with Opera?
It is stated in the Gigaget homepage that it is compatible with major browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Maxthon.
If you are using Opera, Chrome, or any other newer version of browsers which are not monitored by Gigaget, you will need to copy the download link to the clipboard, Gigaget will then auto download the file as it monitors the clipboard as well. I rely more on this feature.
FDM will not run on my VISTA 64 bit at all .... this disqualifies it being a "best download manager"
And who even uses Vista 64 bit as their only OS? That is far from a major enough reason to strip down it's title here. There are many other far more important features in it. Also if you even look at the system requirements properly, it states that it works in 32-bit versions only. Although it didn't work for me as well (not because I use 64-bit, some things just don't work on my dated pc), I've gotta disagree with your selfishly needless comment there. Just move on to some of the alternatives (this is why they exist after all), or whatever.
I have been using Giganet, FreeDownload Manager and Star Downloader Free for a long time. All of them have their own cons and pros. Though StarDownloader seems to be not updated for a long time and not integrated with Flashgot, it is a remarkable download manager.
One thing I like with Star Downloader is when I navigate to the target directory for saving, I can see all the files and subfolders in that directory so that I can check whether I have downloaded it before or not. And when the filename is the same it prompts for your confirmation for overwriting. It is worth to give a try:
http://www./downloads.php (you may click one of the links on the right bottom corner of the page)
Gigaget is my personal favorite. Its very fast, I like that I can integrate a virus scanner, and has a bunch of useful features. and the banner in it blends in well and is a link to gigagets site.
I just started using Gigaget--the increase in download speed is amazing. It's integrated with the Flashgot plugin for my Firefox browser--I wish I had found this a long time ago.
Thanks Gizmo and crew!
I try to scan giganet using virustotal.com ...esafe software detected a virus..i dont know if it is a false positive.
I have a question that I would like answered. Do you need any special rules for optimizing download managers to their full potential when you have a firewall? I'm currently using Gigaget and Commodo.
I am longtime user of FDM. Have been using only the Lite version ever since two versions have been offered. Not sure why others are having problems with SourceForge, I just right-click and choose "save target as" and I always get the file, not the PHP script... ? Don't know how to help with this...
My only issue with FDM, is it crashes if several dozen IE7 tabs or browser instances are open. When it crashes it takes all the IE7 instances with it. After yet another crash today, I came here to see what else is available.
I used FlashGet years ago when it was freeware, when it became shareware I abandoned it in favor of FDM. I see that it's freeware again, so I tried it (the new version). Like the experience posted above, FlashGet immediately made several outbound connections and transferred quite a bit of data before I could choke it down with a firewall. I don't know what it stole from me. I uninstalled it immediately.
I am trying Orbit right now, it appears to be simple and efficient. I really love FDM, but if Orbit can handle the high number of IE7 tabs and/or instances that I like to use, then I will stay with Orbit.
Flashget is the best download manager. But not the current version but rather the classic version 1.73. Flasget provides better control over downloads. Be it passing custom referrer or specifying number of concurrent connections etc. All in all its the best imho.
I have been using Orbit for about 3 years now, It has never let me down. It worked well on my ancient dial-up and works just as well on my broadband.....
-Abhishek
India
I am using DownThemAll a plugin for Firefox and is incredible how faster downloads are compared to standard Firefox downloads. It also supports resuming interrupted downloads. Regards, Joe
Tried FlashGet and just after opening it the first time it tried to make 12 connections to different sites, and that's without me adding a download! Disabling updates and most options that could cause unwanted connections, it still tried a few connections at startup. Might be legitimate, but anything that acts like spyware gets uninstalled immediately.
Silent monitoring doesn't work in Free Download Manager ver. 2.5 build 758.