# Alternatives to BiglyBT

Feature-max Azureus successor.

BiglyBT ranks #2 of 7 in Torrent clients, with an Alt Score of 80. It is licensed under GPL-2.0, donationware from Free and available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. 7 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/biglybt/
Category: Torrent clients

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Experienced BitTorrent users and power users who want a free, ad-free client with deep customization, including people migrating from Vuze/Azureus or other clients.
- **What you get**: BiglyBT is an open-source, no-ads BitTorrent client written in Java, forked from Vuze/Azureus. It supports a plugin ecosystem for extending functionality, swarm merging to combine peers across duplicate torrents/trackers for faster downloads, and BitTorrent V2 and I2P protocol support. It also includes detailed transfer statistics, tagging, subscriptions, and an integrated meta-search for finding torrents.
- **How it works**: Users download and install the desktop client (Windows, macOS, Linux), then add torrents or magnet links to start downloading and seeding. Downloads are managed and organized through the interface using tags, categories, and stats views, with optional plugins and remote access (web UI or mobile companion app) for further control.

## Profile

- **License**: GPL-2.0 (verified 2026-07-09)
- **Pricing model**: Donationware (verified 2026-07-09)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-09)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-09)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Transmission](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/transmission.md) | 80 | GPL-2.0-or-later | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 2 | [Deluge](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/deluge.md) | 75 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [qBittorrent](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/qbittorrent.md) | 75 | GPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [µTorrent](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/torrent.md) | 75 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android |
| 5 | [Tixati](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/tixati.md) | 50 | ? | Windows, Linux, Android |
| 6 | [rTorrent](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/rtorrent.md) | 35 | GPL-2.0 | Linux, macOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Torrent clients checklist | BiglyBT | Transmission | Deluge | qBittorrent | µTorrent | Tixati |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Donationware | Donationware | Free | Donationware | Freemium | Donationware |
| Starts at | Free | Free | Free | Free | $4.95/yr | Free |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0-or-later | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 | Proprietary | ? |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android | Windows, Linux, Android |
| No ads | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Sequential download | ? | Yes | Partial | Yes | ? | ? |
| RSS automation | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web UI / remote control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption & proxy support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Resource footprint | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Streaming while downloading | Yes | ? | Partial | ? | Yes | ? |
| Cross-platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |

## Sources

Sources for BiglyBT. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Starts at**: Free — <https://www.biglybt.com/donation/donate.php> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Even though BiglyBT is a free software product, it costs a lot to develop and maintain”
- **License**: GPL-2.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BiglySoftware/BiglyBT/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991”
- **Pricing model**: Donationware — <https://www.biglybt.com/donation/donate.php> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Even though BiglyBT is a free software product, it costs a lot to develop and maintain. If you think you have benefited by using it, please consider supporting us”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android — <https://www.biglybt.com/download/> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Android phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and Android TVs. macOS Universal Installer ... Installer for Linux, BSD, etc ... Windows Installer”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/BiglySoftware/BiglyBT/releases/tag/v4.1.0.0> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Note: 2026-05-20T11:06:30Z"" — Latest tagged release v4.1.0.0, published 2026-05-20.
  - Quote: “datetime=”
- **No ads**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BiglySoftware/BiglyBT/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Source for BiglyBT, a feature filled, open source, ad-free, bittorrent client.”
- **RSS automation**: Yes — <https://www.biglybt.com/features.php> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Subscriptions to RSS feeds as well as search results. You can also create your own subscription feed to share with others”
- **Web UI / remote control**: Yes — <https://github.com/BiglySoftware/BiglyBT/wiki/Remote-Pairing> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “To pair your web interface with this client go to remote.BiglyBT.com and enter the access code given.”
- **Encryption & proxy support**: Yes — <https://github.com/BiglySoftware/BiglyBT/wiki/Terminology> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Note: SOCKS/HTTP proxy and VPN configuration documented separately in the Proxies-and-VPNs wiki page.
  - Quote: “To enable the encryption you have to switch to intermediate user mode and go to Options->Connection->Transport Encryption and enable the Require encrypted transport checkbox.”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BiglySoftware/BiglyBT/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991”
- **Streaming while downloading**: Yes — <https://github.com/BiglySoftware/BiglyBT/wiki/Getting-Started> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “Streaming allows you to play back content as it is downloading rather than waiting for completion”
- **Cross-platform**: Yes — <https://www.biglybt.com/download/> (verified 2026-07-09)
  - Quote: “macOS Universal Installer ... Installer for Linux, BSD, etc ... Windows Installer”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/