Comparison of file sharing applications

File sharing is a method of distributing electronically stored information such as computer programs and digital media. Below is a list of file sharing applications.

Name	Network	Anonymous P2P	link system compatibility	Price	Platform	License	Programming language	Spyware / Adware	Year of last release	Extra Information
Acquisition	Gnutella, BitTorrent	No	magnet	Nagware/US$17.99	Mac OS X	GPL	ObjC, Java	Template:No (green)	2008	Alternative to LimeWire for Mac users. Uses Cocoa GUI
aMule	eDonkey, Kad Network	No	eD2k	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2008
ANts P2P	ANts	Yes	eD2k	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	Java	Template:No (green)	2008	Proxies other users' IP addresses making it hard to determine who is downloading
Ares Galaxy	Ares, BitTorrent	No	?	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	Delphi	Template:No (green)	2009
Template:Rh2 | BearShare (pre v6.0)	Gnutella	No	eD2k, magnet	Free/US$3.29 per month	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	C++	Template:Yes (red)	2005 (original client)	Free version contains third-party advertising in versions previous to Version 6; Since version 6: clone of the commercial iMesh software; does not connect to Gnutella and restricts downloads to media formats. 5.1 Beta has full feature set, no third-party advertising, and no file restrictions.
BitComet	BitTorrent, eDonkey, Kad Network	No	eD2k, magnet	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2010	All latest versions are ad free. Compatible with e2DK links through an eMule plugin which provides access to eDonkey & Kad Networks and cross-network sharing capabilities between BitTorrent Network and the other two ones.
Template:Rh2 | BitTornado	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	Open Source	Python	Template:No (green)	2006
Template:Rh2 | BitTorrent 5	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	BitTorrent Open Source License	Python	Template:No (green)	2008	Also known as "Mainline"
BitTorrent 6	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2008	re-brand of µTorrent
Blubster	MP2P	No	mp2p	Free/US$19.95	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:Yes (red)	2008
Cabos	Gnutella	No	magnet	Free	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X	GPL	Java, REALbasic	Template:No (green)	2008
DC++	Direct Connect	No	magnet	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2008	Many modifications exist, for example LinuxDC++
Template:Rh2 | eDonkey2000	eDonkey, Overnet	No	eD2k	Free/US$19.95	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2005	Discontinued
eMule	eDonkey, Kad Network	No	eD2k	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2009	Supports protocol obfuscation
Template:Rh2 | ExoSee	?	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:No (green)	2007	ExoSee does not appear to have a business model.
Free Download Manager	BitTorrent	No	metalink	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2009
Freenetʼs FProxy	Freenet	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	Java	Template:No (green)	2009	No way to announce the inserted files from within the web interface.
Frost	Freenet	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	Java	Template:No (green)	2009
FrostWire	Gnutella, BitTorrent	No	magnet	Free	Microsoft Windows Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	Java	Template:No (green)	2008	Fork of LimeWire, with no copyrighted-material blocker planned
Template:Rh2 | giFT	OpenFT and, with plugins, Ares, Gnutella and FastTrack	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	C	Template:No (green)	2004
Template:Rh2 | Gnucleus	Gnutella, Gnutella2	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2005
GNUnet	GNUnet	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	C	Template:No (green)	2008
gtk-gnutella	Gnutella	No	magnet	Free	Unix-like	GPL	C	Template:No (green)	2008
Template:Rh2 | iMesh (pre v6.0)	FastTrack, Gnutella, Gnutella2	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2008
Template:Rh2 | Kazaa	FastTrack	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	C++	Template:Yes (red)	2006	Illegal in Australia, adware/spyware
Template:Rh2 | Kazaa Lite	FastTrack	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	-	Template:No (green)		Adware-disabled version of Kazaa (fake versions in circulation)
KCeasy	Ares, Gnutella, FastTrack and OpenFT	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	C++, Delphi	Template:No (green)	2008	Easy to use. Uses integrated giFT file sharing daemon as back-end
LimeWire	Gnutella	No	magnet	Free/US$18.88	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	Java	Template:Yes (red)	2008	Sued June 2007 for copyright infringement.[citation needed] Connection problems with Zone Alarm on Windows Vista.[citation needed]
Manolito	MP2P	No	mp2p	Free/US$19.95	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:Yes (red)	2008
MLDonkey	BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack, (Gnutella, Gnutella2), Kad	No	eD2k, magnet, sig2dat	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	OCaml	Template:No (green)	2008	Core P2P application, telnet / web-interface / GUI interface, complete and complex remote usage. Sancho GUI makes automatic SSH tunnels. Since version 2.9.0, Gnutella and Gnutella 2 are abandoned and disabled by default. Kad module lacks modern security functions of e.g. eMule. No further active development since 2.9.0, for lack of developers. (The original developers were from France, and it's now illegal to develop P2P software in France. New developers are hard to find, because of the usage of Ocaml as programming language.)
MonoTorrent (client library)	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	MIT/X11	C#	Template:No (green)	2008	Requires either Mono Framework or Microsoft .NET Framework to be installed
Template:Rh2 | Morpheus	NEOnet, Gnutella, Gnutella2, BitTorrent	No	No	Free/US$19.95	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:No (green)	2007
Template:Rh2 | MUTE	MUTE	Yes	No	Donation	Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2007
Nodezilla	Private	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like	partially GPL	Java	Template:No (green)	2008	the GUI is GPLed, the rest of the application is proprietary
Opera	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2008
Piolet	MP2P	No	mp2p	Free/US$19.95	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:Yes (red)	2008
Qbittorrent	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Unix-like, Solaris	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2009
Template:Rh2 | RShare	RShare	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	C#	Template:No (green)	2007	eMule-like usability
Template:Rh2 | Share	Share	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	Delphi	Template:No (green)	2006	Anonymous developer. Attempts to be Winny's successor
Shareaza	eDonkey, BitTorrent, Gnutella, Gnutella2	No	eD2k, magnet, Piolet/mp2p, Gnutella	Free	Microsoft Windows	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2009	Utilizes a powerful files library. Maintained by a group of volunteers.
Stealthnet	RShare	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	C#	Template:No (green)	2009	Evolution of the RShare client with many functions.
Soulseek	Soulseek	No	No	Free/Donations for privileges	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:No (green)	2009	Whole album downloads, browse users with folder trees, no multi-source downloads
SymTorrent	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Symbian S60	GPL	C++	Template:No (green)	2008	Runs om mobile phones with the Symbian operating system
Thaw	Freenet	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	Java	Template:No (green)	2008
Transmission	BitTorrent	No	No	Free	Mac OS X, Unix-like, BeOS	MIT	C, ObjC	Template:No (green)	2009	Lightweight and crossplatform
TrustyFiles	eDonkey, Overnet, Gnutella, Gnutella2, FastTrack, BitTorrent	No	eD2k	Free/US$29	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:Yes (red)		Has stolen code from Gnucleus, giFT, and avlib[citation needed]; Linux version announced, but never released
µTorrent	BitTorrent	No	magnet	Free	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2009	Specifically designed to be very small; entire program runs from a 170KB compressed executable
Vuze (formerly Azureus)	BitTorrent	No (except when using I2P)	magnet	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	GPL	Java	Template:No (green)	2008
Template:Rh2 | Warez P2P	iP2P DHT	No	No	Free/US$19.99	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	?	Template:No (green)	2007	Developer claims Warez v3.0 beta to be malware-free
WinMX	WinMX Peer Network [independent, now user-operated], OpenNAP, chatrooms supported	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2004	Official development has ceased due to RIAA coercion. Versions 3.53, 3.54 beta 4 and older are available from 3rd parties.
Winny	Winny	Yes	No	Free	Microsoft Windows	Closed source	C++	Template:No (green)	2003
Wuala	Wuala	No	No	Free	Microsoft Windows, Unix-like, Mac OS X	Closed source	Java	Template:No (green)	2009
Name	Network	Anonymity	link system compatibility	Price	Platform	License	Programming language	Spyware / Adware	Year of last release	Extra Information

• Note that several applications had adware or spyware tied in in the past and may have it again in the future. The same goes for clones of open source apps, e.g. eMule. This list attempts to display the current status only.

See also

• Anonymous peer-to-peer
• Disk sharing
• Ethics of file sharing
• File sharing timeline
• File-sharing program
• Gnutella Software
• Open Music Model
• File sharing in Canada
• Warez
• List of filesharing programs for Linux and BSD

Comparison pages

• Comparison of BitTorrent software
• Comparison of eDonkey software
• Comparison of Gnutella software
• Comparison of G2 software