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Catalog Download managers Internet Download Manager

Alternatives to Internet Download Manager

The Windows speed-segmenting veteran

Alt Score

Alt Score · 80

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%78
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

#2 of 11 in Download managers

Internet Download Manager ranks #2 of 11 in Download managers, with an Alt Score of 80. It is proprietary, sold as a one-time purchase from €21.50 and available on Windows. 8 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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Who it's for

Windows users who download large files regularly (installers, media, archives) and want faster, more reliable downloads than their browser's built-in manager provides.

What you get

A Windows download manager that splits files into segments to download them in parallel, claiming up to 8x faster speeds. It resumes broken or interrupted downloads, integrates with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari, includes a scheduler, and can grab video/audio from web players. It's shareware: a 30-day free trial, then a paid license is required to keep using it.

How it works

IDM installs a browser extension that intercepts downloads and hands them to its engine, which breaks each file into multiple segments and downloads them concurrently over separate connections, then reassembles them, using saved connection state to resume after drops.

Why people leave Internet Download Manager

Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.

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Ranked alternatives

Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.

Sponsored Paid slot. Never affects the ranked order below. Promote here →
01

Download Master, developed by WestByte, is a free Windows download manager that accelerates transfers via multi-threaded file segmentation, resumes broken downloads over HTTP/HTTPS/FTP, and grabs stre.

Proprietary Windows
Alt Score

Alt Score · 80

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%78
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

02
X

Xtreme Download Manager (XDM) is a free, open-source download accelerator for Windows, macOS, and Linux that splits files into segments for multi-threaded downloading and captures video/audio links fr.

GPL-2.0 WindowsmacOSLinux
Alt Score

Alt Score · 80

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%78
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

03

Free cross-platform downloader.

Proprietary WindowsmacOSAndroidLinux
Alt Score

Alt Score · 75

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%72
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

04

yt-dlp is an open-source command-line tool for downloading video and audio from YouTube and over a thousand other sites, with format selection, playlist handling, and post-processing via ffmpeg.

Unlicense WindowsmacOSLinux
Alt Score

Alt Score · 75

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%72
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

05

The scriptable download engine.

GPL-2.0
Alt Score

Alt Score · 70

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%67
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

06

Folx is a paid macOS-native download manager and BitTorrent client from Electronic Team (formerly Eltima) that splits downloads into up to 10 threads, schedules tasks, and includes browser integration.

Proprietary macOS
Alt Score

Alt Score · 70

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%67
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

07

Automates file-host downloads.

GPL WindowsmacOSLinux
Alt Score

Alt Score · 70

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%67
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

08

Pretty open source aria2 front-end.

MIT WindowsmacOSLinux
Alt Score

Alt Score · 70

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%67
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

09
P

Persepolis is a free, open-source download manager built as a graphical front-end for the aria2 download engine, available on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

GPL-3.0 WindowsmacOSLinux
Alt Score

Alt Score · 70

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%67
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

10

4K Video Downloader is a commercial desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux that downloads videos, full playlists, channels, and subtitles from YouTube and other sites in up to 8K resolution.

Proprietary WindowsmacOSLinux
Alt Score

Alt Score · 40

How this alternative ranks. How it works →

Verified coverage 90%33
Visibility 10%100

Verified coverage = sourced yes and partial answers in the category checklist. Visibility = relative app-page views on AltCatalog over 30 days, neutral below 500 category views. Payment, votes, and vendor opinions are never score inputs.

Feature comparison

How Internet Download Manager compares with its alternatives, feature by feature.

Comparing Internet Download Manager Download Master × Xtreme Download Manager (XDM) × Free Download Manager × yt-dlp × aria2 ×
+ Add app
4K Video Downloader Folx JDownloader Motrix Persepolis Download Manager
Download managers checklist Internet Download ManagerDownload MasterXtreme Download Manager (XDM)Free Download Manageryt-dlparia2
Pricing model
Starts at
License
Platforms
Segmented downloading
Browser integration
Video grabbing
Scheduler
Resume support
Open source
No bundled adware
Speed limits
CLI
verified pending unknown (?) Click any cell to view its source or propose a value
Sources & verification 13

Every fact and feature listed for Internet Download Manager is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

FAQ

Yes. Xtreme Download Manager (XDM), Free Download Manager and yt-dlp have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.

Xtreme Download Manager (XDM), yt-dlp and aria2 — every license claim links its source.