It’s 2022, and if you are still using your browser to download files from the internet, you might as well go back to the stone age. Its infuriating having to download files using browsers, as the whole process is clumsy and broken. First of all, you don’t receive good download speeds, and even when you do, your download can break anytime. That’s why you should always use a download manager. A good download manager not only brings faster download speeds but also allows you to pause and resume your downloads and run multiple downloads in parallel. So, it’s time that you switch and here is the list of the 10 best download managers for Windows that you can use today.
In this list, we have selected 10 best apps. You can check the entire list by click on the table of content below. You can also jump to specific apps by clicking on their name in the table of content:
- JDownloader 2
- Internet Download Manager
- Ninja Download Manager
- Free Download Manager
- EagleGet
- uGet
- Xtreme Download Manager
- aria2
- Internet Download Accelerator
- Free Rapid Downloader
1. JDownloader 2
JDownloader is one of the best download managers that you can get for your Windows PC. First of all, the download manager is open source and completely free to use. Unlike the paid download managers which provide a free version which runs with ads, with JDownloader you get everything for free, that too without any ads.
Cons:
- UI seems outdated
Visit: Website (free)
Internet Download Manager also known as IDM is probably one of the most popular download managers for Windows out there. The biggest feature and probably the USP of Internet Download Manager is its easy integration with all the major browsers out there. I still get surprised by the accuracy with which IDM intercepts all the download links allowing me to easily download the files using its service rather than the browsers’ built-in downloader.
Other features of IDM include the ability to pause and resume downloads, support for downloading multiple files in parallel, faster download speeds, and more. IDM comes with a smart download logic accelerator that features intelligent dynamic file segmentation and safe multipart downloading technology to accelerate your downloads. This also ensures that even when your PC crashes in the middle of a download, IDM will be able to resume the download without having to start from scratch.
Cons:
Visit: Website (free 30-day trial, $29.95)
3. Ninja Download Manager
Ninja Download Manager is one of my most favorite download manager apps for Windows. First of all, the app is probably the best looking download managers out there. I mean, while rest of the download manager on this list are functional, none of them is going to win any design award. Since Ninja Download Manager is new in the market, the developers had the chance to create something modern and they did exactly that.
Pros:
Visit: Website ($19)
Free Download Manager or FDM is yet another open-source download manager for Windows which is very powerful. FDM, like other download managers on this list, brings faster download speeds by splitting the downloading files into different parts and then downloading those parts simultaneously. It also supports pausing and resuming of downloads even when a download is interrupted abruptly.
- Sometimes it is a bit slow to parse the links
EagleGet is a free all-in-one download manager which can be integrated to Chrome, IE, Firefox, Opera, offering support for HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, MMS and RTSP protocol. What this means is that the software can automatically catch download links from the above-mentioned browsers thereby allowing you to download files without any problem.
In a way, it acts similarly to a torrent where you have to share your bandwidth for being able to download files. If you like what you read here, download EagleGet by clicking on the link below.
uGet is yet another open source download manager for Windows which is completely free to use. It brings features such as multi-connection downloads which uses file splitting to increase download speeds, batch download with file queuing, and the ability to resume and pause downloads without having to start the downloads from the beginning. One of my favorite things about uGet is its looks.
The app automatically adjusts its appearance based on the color scheme and icons of the operating system it is installed on. Apart from the normal light and dark themes, uGet also comes with various hybrid themes which really make this app stand out from the rest.
- Beautiful dark mode
- Integration with most popular browsers
- Support for batch download with file queuing
- Theming capabilities
Xtreme Download Manager is one of the oldest download manager available for Windows and it works great. The app is best for handling downloads of video content as it supports link parsing for most of the major video platforms including YouTube, Dailymotion, Facebook, Vimeo, Google Video and 1000+ other websites. That does not mean to say that it is only good for downloading videos.
The app also seamlessly integrates with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox Quantum, Opera, Vivaldi and other Chromium and Firefox based browsers. Other features of Xtreme Download Manager include the ability to pause and resume downloads, scheduling of download time using the built-in smart scheduler, speed limiter which helps in managing bandwidth allocation, support for proxy servers, authentication algorithms, and more. As you can see XDM is a powerful download manager and it definitely deserves a place on this list.
Unlike other download managers included on this list, aria2 is a command-line download utility. It supports HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, BitTorrent and Metalink. One handy feature of aria2 is that it can download a file from multiple sources. You can also use aria2 as a full-fledged BitTorrent client with features like DHT, PEX, encryption, magnet URI, web-seeding, selective downloads, local peer discovery, and UDP tracker. At just 4MB, aria2 is a lightweight download manager that you should check out if you are comfortable with the command line interface.
Internet Download Accelerator is a good download manager program for Windows which aims to solve the three biggest problem people face when downloading files using a browser; download speeds, the ability to resume broken downloads, and the management of downloaded files. Just like the other download managers on this list, Internet Download Accelerator increases the download speeds by splitting a file being downloaded into several parts and then downloading these parts at the same time.
It also resumes broken downloads from HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP servers. The IDA also integrates with all the major browsers including Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Netscape, Safari, Yandex.Browser, Vivaldi, and others to give a seamless downloading experience. If none of the above download managers meet your needs, you should give this one a try.
Visit: Website (free, $9.95)
The last download manager app for Windows on our list is the Free Rapid Downloader which is a fairly good download manager with all the important features. It is is an easy to use Java downloader that supports file downloads from Rapidshare, Youtube, Facebook, Picasa and other file-sharing services, including the new ones like Mega. The ability to download files from file sharing services such as Rapidshare and Mega is one of the best features of this app.
Other features of the app include support for concurrent downloading from multiple services, downloading files using a proxy list, support for streaming videos or pictures, smart clipboard monitoring, and more. If you download a ton of files from file-sharing websites, this is the best download manager for you.
That ends our list of the best download managers for Windows that you can use. I have included both paid and free download managers here so everyone can enjoy the benefits of using a download manager. Do check out the list and let us know which is your favorite download manager amongst them all. Also, if you are not keen on using separate apps, you should check out download manager Chrome extensions that bring similar features. They are not as powerful, but they get the job done.
