Tribler is a free, open-source torrent client with robust security. It uses an overlay network to search for content, meaning it doesn't need an external indexing service. Unlike some torrenting platforms, its index can’t be taken down, making it a favorite for people seeking to download content.

Although very secure, Tribler isn’t a 100% privacy-proof torrenting platform. It protects your privacy as much as possible, but there’s no perfect guarantee of shielding your identity.

We’re reviewing Tribler to help you decide whether it’s a good choice. We tested the app extensively to provide our readers with a detailed, unbiased review.

Tribler: Versions and platforms

You can download Tribler for free on your PC. It’s compatible with Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu. These are three popular desktop operating systems, with the first two accounting for most of the PC market.

Downloading Tribler is as simple as visiting its official website and clicking the download button. Once the download is complete, install Tribler with a few clicks, and you’re good to go.

Tribler: Features

Tribler is a torrenting platform you can use to find and download free content. It has a simple dark-themed interface that you can quickly understand.

Though a standalone desktop app, Tribler works within your browser. This is merely a technicality. Tribler runs directly on your PC, but the graphic interface is accessed via your web browser.

Users can click the search button in the upper-middle corner to find specific content. As you type a letter in the search bar, you’ll see suggestions, making it easier to find what you want.

To demonstrate, we searched for “Jazz music” and got the results below.

Tribler displays your desired content in a list format. This list shows the size of the file and the date it was created. You can click on the file to download, choose the destination file, and press the download button.

Tribler supports download speeds of up to 100 Mbps. However, the speed you’ll experience depends on the number of seeders present on the network. Seeders are Tribler users who have downloaded a file and are uploading it to the next person, i.e., you.

If the network has limited seeders during your download, you’ll experience slower speeds. However, if many seeders are present on the torrent network, you’ll get faster speeds.

Your network connection also helps determine the download speed. A slow network will throttle the speed regardless of how many seeders are online during your download.

Users can pause or stop a download that has already started. As a security-focused torrenting app, Tribler lets you choose your anonymity level when downloading files. You can select one, two, or three hops, with a hop referring to a layer of encryption. Note that the higher your hop (encryption level), the lower your download speed.

Tribler uses its internal distributed lookup protocol for file-sharing. By wrapping your downloads in multiple layers of encryption, it prevents third parties from knowing what you’re downloading. Anyone monitoring your network can tell you’re using Tribler, but they won’t discover what you’re downloading.

However, Tribler isn’t immune to large-scale network monitoring efforts. A motivated actor, such as an intelligence agency, can correlate your Tribler traffic to data from other sources. That’s to say, Tribler is secure but shouldn’t be used for illegal activities.

We like the fact that Tribler gives users considerable control over their torrenting activities. For instance, you can limit your file upload and download speeds. You can choose to be a seeder or not, although many recommend seeding to support the torrenting community and provide faster download speeds for everyone.

Tribler has a dark theme by default, but you can change it to a light theme if preferred. It's a multi-lingual tool available in English, Spain, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, and Korean.

Tribler: Interface and in-use

Tribler has an intuitive interface that any layperson can easily understand. The features are neatly placed on the left side, and the dashboard lies on the right. All features are accessible from three main menus, with the search bar at the upper middle corner and language and theme configurations in the top-right corner.

You can download Tribler on your Windows, macOS, or Ubuntu PC. However, it does not have a mobile app.

Downloading and installing Tribler on your PC is easy. Visit the website, go to the download section, and click on the download button for your desktop operating system.

If you need help, you can check Tribler’s FAQ section and support documents. As an open-source tool, Tribler has detailed documentation that helps users understand its internal mechanisms and troubleshoot errors. There’s also an official forum where you can exchange solutions with other Tribler users.

Tribler: Security and privacy

We recommend Tribler for users who want to download files privately. It encrypts downloads in multiple secure layers, preventing third parties from monitoring what you do.

However, no torrenting solution is 100% secure. Your browsing activity can be exposed due to internal misconfigurations. Tribler shouldn’t be used for piracy or other activities that can invite legal consequences. TechRadar explicitly doesn’t endorse piracy.

Tribler: Final Verdict

Tribler is an intuitive, free, and secure torrenting solution for everyday users. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to find and download your favorite content. Although it’s not 100% foolproof, it provides more security than most torrenting apps. We recommend it to people looking to download files securely over the web.

We've listed the best free download manager and the best file manager.

Also check out the the best VPN service.

BiglyBT is a free torrent client for PCs. It lets users find and download images, music, videos, software tools, and other digital content. This platform is based on Vuze, another popular torrenting tool. It offers basic features for downloading content but not premium ones like DVD burning.

Many torrenting platforms exist, and users often get confused about which to choose. We’re reviewing BiglyBT to help you decide whether it’s the best choice. We’ll dive into its features, user-friendliness, and security, among other factors.

BiglyBT: Versions and platforms

You can download BiglyBT on your PC or mobile phone by opening the website, clicking the download button, and selecting the package for your operating system.

BiglyBT is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, and Unix PCs. It also has an Android app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Unsurprisingly, it is not available on iOS because Apple has an aversion to torrenting apps appearing on its App Store.

BiglyBT: Features

BiglyBT allows you to find and download content for free. Its intuitive interface is easy to understand. In the upper-middle corner, there is a search bar where you can find your desired content. Type what you want to download, and BiglyBT will search its extensive databases for it.

After completing the search, BiglyBT displays the results in a list format. The list shows the size, age, category, and ratings of the relevant files. For example, if you search for a movie, you’ll see its file size, ratings, and other information to help you decide whether to download it.

Click on the file you want to download and monitor the progress. When downloading torrents, BiglyBT will show you other torrents that people frequently download along with those torrents, similar to a search engine recommending new content for users.

We observed fast download speeds during our test, but your speed can vary depending on the number of seeders on the network. Seeders refers to other BiglyBT users sharing a file after downloading it.

The more seeders on the network during your download, the faster it’ll be. The fewer the seeders, the slower the speed. Your broadband network speed also determines how fast you can download files.

After downloading a file on BiglyBT, you automatically become a seeder helping other users to download that file. Seeding is recommended because it makes torrenting easier for all users.

Yet, some people don’t like seeding because of the risks of consuming excessive bandwidth. To this end, BiglyBT lets you control your upload speed. You can set a specific limit, e.g., 2 MB/second, to avoid consuming much bandwidth when seeding files for other users.

BiglyBT gives users significant control over their torrenting activities. For example, you can block specific IP addresses to avoid downloading tainted files. You can upload blocklists, and BiglyBT will prevent every IP address on the lists from sending files to your PC or mobile phone.

We like BiglyBT’s anonymous sharing feature, wherein you can securely share files with other users via a chat interface. You can create a chat channel and invite other users to it. Then, you can upload files from your folders or drag and drop them into the chat interface. Every other user in your channel can quickly download these files with no logs of who sent or downloaded them. This feature provides a reliable way to share sensitive files.

BiglyBT lets you monitor your torrenting activities in detail. It keeps logs of all the files you’ve uploaded or downloaded via the network. You can view the size, download/upload speed, and the time taken to download all files. You can view a real-time location graph of all seeders available on the network, helping you know the optimal time to download large files.

BiglyBT: Interface and in-use

BiglyBT's interface is simple and easy to grasp. It has the typical layout of the navigation menu on the left and the main dashboard on the right. The upper part of the interface is dedicated mainly to the search bar.

We appreciate that BiglyBT has a configurable interface. You can place specific menu items above others in the navigation menu, making it easy to access the features you use most. For example, if anonymous sharing is your most used feature, you can make it appear first on the menu.

BiglyBT’s minimalist interface makes it enjoyable to use. The drawback we observed is the lack of a dark-themed interface, but that’s not a major problem in the grand scheme of BiglyBT’s intuitiveness.

BiglyBT: Security and privacy

BiglyBT has sophisticated features to prevent torrenting activities from being exposed to unauthorized parties. For instance, it supports the Invisible Internet Project (I2P) protocol, which lets users share files anonymously and securely. I2P achieves anonymity by routing torrenting traffic through a network of distributed computers. However, I2P makes downloads slower because traffic is routed through multiple layers.

For maximum security, installing a VPN before using BiglyBT and turning it on before downloading torrents is advisable. VPNs encrypt traffic by routing it through remote servers. They prevent third parties, such as your internet service provider (ISP), from snooping on your browsing activities.

Though secure, BiglyBT isn’t flawless. Torrenting tools occasionally have security lapses that can expose users’ activities. BiglyBT shouldn’t be used for illegal activities and piracy. TechRadar doesn’t endorse content piracy.

BiglyBT: Final Verdict

BiglyBT is a decent torrenting platform. It makes finding and downloading torrents easy and facilitates anonymous file sharing with friends, family, and colleagues. However, we feel there’s not much differentiating BiglyBT from competitors. It’s a good, free tool, but don’t expect exceptional features.

We've listed the best free download manager and the best file manager.