WebTorrent, the streaming torrent client for the browser, Mac, Windows, and Linux. The client is a little basic, but it boasts a wealth of features you may like in a client, including easy view of all of your downloads, a simple and easy to use UI, support for magnet links, port.
- Best Torrent Downloader For Pc
- Bittorrent Client Mac
- Best Torrent Client For Mac Os X
- Best Torrent Client For Magnet Links
- Best Torrent Client For Mac Os
Client software that will help you find the torrents you want, and download them quickly and safely. The Best torrent clients 2018 for P2P file sharing (Windows, mac & Linux) free. E ven though streaming services are becoming the norm, a lot of users still prefer to use P2P methods to download data, as it is an open network based on sharing already downloaded files. A Socks5 proxy can be configured inside your favorite torrent client (with or without a VPN) to easily change your torrent IP without affecting the rest of your internet connection. If you want to learn more about how a proxy is useful, checkout our setup guides for: Vuze, Deluge, uTorrent, and QBittorrent.
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BitTorrent is a file transfer protocol used to share files between users without requiring a central server that hosts the files.
Choosing a BitTorrent client can be a difficult process due to the complex nature of the technology. While virtually all clients will cover the basic task of downloading files, there are many combinations of usability, features and philosophy to consider depending on intended use.
Terminology
Torrent is a file containing information about files and trackers. It is also used to describe the file or collection of files and folders themselves.
Peer is a user sharing a specific torrent. Peers can be further divided into seeders and downloaders (or leeches). Seeders are users with a complete torrent and downloaders are users with a part of the torrent.
Swarm is a collection of users interested in sharing a specific torrent.
Tracker is a server that enables creating connections between peers.
Choking is the process of refusing to send files to a particular client.
Availability represents how many full copies of a torrent are available.
Features
DHT or Distributed Hash Table is a decentralized distributed system that distributes files more efficiently and saves bandwidth. It is used to store peer contact information essentially making each peer a tracker. This allows for tracker-less torrents, eases the load on centralized servers and is especially useful in cases of unreliable trackers. It's also worth noting that there are incompatible DHT networks thus depending on which DHT the client supports torrent availability may change. Also, a “private” flag in the torrent file (used most commonly by private trackers) instructs the client to disable DHT.
PEX or Peer Exchange is used to increase the speed at which files are downloaded by reducing the dependency on centralized trackers and instead allowing each peer to keep partial lists of peers in the swarm individually and share with other peers directly.
MSE/PE or Message Stream Encryption/Protocol Encryption is BitTorrent traffic encryption method designed to improve privacy. It also attempts to make it harder to identify BitTorrent traffic by third parties such as ISPs that can choose to throttle it.
Magnet Links contain the unique identifier of a collection of files and folders that is then used to find peers via a tracker or a DHT network. Some clients pre-load the a list of files before starting a download.
UPnP or Universal Plug and Play is a set of networking protocols used to discover networked devices. Similarly, NAT-PMP or Network Address Translation Port Mapping Protocol automates NAT and port forwarding setup. NAT-PMP and UPnP greatly reduce the setup time by eliminating the need to manually configure the router.
Super-seeding is an algorithm used to allow downloaders become uploaders quicker.
Web interfaces are used to remotely control torrents.
Web seeding support allows downloading file parts from an HTTP source alongside the swarm. It's usually used for long-term seeding and easing some of the load on web hosts that supply direct downloads by offering a BitTorrent download as an alternative while still ensuring that the file is always available in its entirety regardless of the swarm.
Clients may have an embedded tracker that can be used to turn the client into a server.
Cache Discovery Protocol is used to discover local data caches
Broadcatching via RSS is a method used to automatically download content based on RSS feeds.
Prioritization, selective downloading and sequential downloading are used to choose what should be downloaded and in what order. Sequential downloading can be used to stream video files.
Tracker exchange enables peers to exchange information about trackers in order to increase download speeds by finding more peers through the newly added trackers.
Some clients have built-in search, though their capabilities and implementation vary significantly between clients. Similarly, some are able to pull information about the files from the web such reviews and comments for movies, but since there is no standard the results are mostly lackluster.
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Best Torrent client for Mac | Price | Platform | License |
---|---|---|---|
Transmission | Free | OSX Linux BSD Solaris OpenWrt Windows (unofficial) | GPL/MIT |
qBittorrent | Free | OSX Linux BSD eComStation Windows iOS Android | GPL |
WebTorrent Desktop | Free | Windows, MacOS, Linux | MIT. Copyright (c) Feross Aboukhadijeh and WebTorrent, LLC. |
Deluge | Free | OSX Linux BSD Solaris Windows Mac | GPL |
BitTorrent | $0-$19.00 | OSX Windows Android | Proprietary |
Transmission
Transmission is great for getting things done without looking too much under the hood. It still has advanced options, they're just tucked away from sight. See More
Over the last few years, this client has had several issues with spreading ransomware, malware, and hijacking. The developers have been unresponsive to security issues for extended periods. Outdated, nothing since version 2.92 on 2016 https://securityzap.com/bittorrent-client-transmission-infected-os-x-malware/ See More
Used it over more than 10 yrs without any problems - best of all ever! 2 days ago my MAC started to freeze repeatedly, blocking the OS, cold shut-off only, until I discovered today, that it was Transmission on that caused it. Version 2.92. Did some research and discovered that it has security issues , well, it's true and I don't think I will trust it any more. See More
Platform:OSX Linux BSD Solaris OpenWrt Windows (unofficial)
Search:No
See All Specs Transmission is free, ad-less and open source software licensed under GPL with parts under MIT with source code available here. Being open source allows anyone to check if the software has no malicious code, is secure and respects privacy. See More
Built-in search engines allow finding torrents to download right from withing the torrent client. Transmission lacks such functionality. See More
Perfect for remote control. Run as daemon, multiple instances. Few resources needed. Stable. See More
Transmission works well on OSX due to having interface natively developed it instead of haphazardly ported. The Mac interface is written in Objective-C, uses dock badges and Growl notifications. See More
While the app is clearly going for minimalism, some users might feel that the default window that consists of just torrents and their progress bars might provide a bit too little information or functionality. For example, even accessing file lists requires opening up a separate window and navigating to a specific tab. See More
Transmission covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX, LPD and Magnet URIs. It has graphical, web and command line interfaces. It includes MSE/PE for security. Has UPnP, NAT-PMP, NAT traversal for automatic router configuration. Has UDP tracker and µTP data transfer protocol support. Even covers IPv6, Web seeding and Local Peer Discovery. And it auto-updates. See More
An embedded tracker allows turning the client into a server offering an easy way of sharing files with others. Transmission lacks embedded tracker support so another method of sharing or different client has to be used to share files. See More
Never crashed on me See More
Broadcatching is a method of automatically downloading content as soon as it's available. Broadcatching in BitTorrent clients is usually implemented via RSS. Transmission requires manually selecting each download. See More
Transmission can be used in text-only mode via transmission-cli that includes a daemon (transmission-daemon), a CLI and a web client (accessed on http://localhost:9091 by default). See More
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For those who prefer Linux, the Ubuntu OS comes with Transmission already installed, so you can get your torrents up and running immediately. See More
Tracker exchange functionality allows peers to exchange information about trackers of a given file. It is another way of ensuring that the file is downloaded from the optimal source. Transmission lacks this functionality. See More
Transmission-gtk uses only 17 mb of RAM in idle state and 24 mb in download state. See More
Super-seeding is an algorithm used to allow downloaders become uploaders quicker. Transmission lacks support for this functionality. See More
Transmission has a web interfaces that can be used to remotely control torrents. It's great as a seedbox (a dedicated private server for uploading and downloading content) due to built-in webseed support. See More
Sequential downloading can be used to stream media files such as video and audio while the download is still in progress. Transmission requires waiting until the complete file is downloaded before it's ready for use. See More
Transmission works well on OSX and various distributions of Linux due to having interfaces natively developed for those operating systems instead of haphazardly ported. The Mac interface is written in Objective-C, uses dock badges and Growl notifications while the GTK+ interface follows GNOME Human Interface Guidelines and has support for popup notifications, desktop sounds, and a system tray. There's also an unofficial port of Transmission-Qt for Windows. See More
Transmission is unable to preload magnet metadata. See More
While the app is clearly going for minimalism, some users might feel that the default window that consists of just torrents and their progress bars might provide a bit too little information or functionality. For example, even accessing file lists requires opening up a separate window and navigating to a specific tab. See More
Apparently, the speed bottleneck is Python. Its written on C, objective-C. No site says its slow or use lots of CPU, the contrary. See More
If you delete a file that belongs to (finished or not) torrent, torrent will remain in 'corrupted data' state and only way to restore it (aside from restoring the actual data file) is to find the original file and re-add it. See More
NordVPN
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qBittorrent
AllPros8
ConsSpecsSee More
qBittorrent can be used to create a torrent to share large files/folders with other people. See More
Platform:OSX Linux BSD eComStation Windows iOS Android
Search:Yes
See All Specs Multiple people have reported that torrents stop downloading and stay in a 'stalled' state indefinitely. See More
qBittorrent is available as free, ad-less software licensed under GPL with source code available on GitHub. Being open source allows anyone to check if the software has no malicious code, is secure and respects privacy. See More
See More
qBittorrent covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX, LPD and Magnet URIs as well as Broadcatching, Sequential downloading and Search. It includes MSE/PE for security. It has graphical, web and command line interfaces. Has UPnP, NAT-PMP, NAT traversal for automatic router configuration. Has UDP tracker and µTP data transfer protocol support. Even covers Tracker Exchange, IPv6, web seeding, Embedded tracker, Super-seeding and proxy servers. See More
Looks a bit ugly. See More
qBittorrent supports sequential downloading that allows users to download files in sequential order. That means that media such as video or audio can be streamed a the same way it can be with any other streaming service. See More
It's moving in slow motion when accessing the files tab on the WebUI of a seedbox. See More
Automatic reading of torrents from a folder. See More
qBittorrent See More
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Sometimes it just stops downloading, the fix is uninstalling and installing again. It's a pain, but ends up working. See More
The remote API and web interface works well. There is headless version too (called qbittorrent-nox). See More
It doesn't leave small footprint on your system. See More
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WebTorrent Desktop
AllPros7
ConsSpecs Before the torrent is complete, you can stream the video and audio. It even supports seeking - it prioritizes the current location instead of always going in sequential order. You can also stream to Chromecast, DLNA, and AirPlay. See More
For those who like fine-tuning something simple into something crazy. See More
Best Torrent Downloader For Pc
Platform:Windows, MacOS, Linux
License:MIT. Copyright (c) Feross Aboukhadijeh and WebTorrent, LLC.
IPv6:Yes
See All SpecsSee More
It supports webrtc peers which increases the swarm to allow for websites to stream. See More
The developers have their files stored on GitHub. See More
It supports webrtc peers which increases the swarm to allow for websites to stream. See More
Fetches pieces from the network on-demand so seeking is supported (even before torrent is finished). Seamlessly switches between sequential and rarest-first piece selection strategy. See More
Download multiple torrents simultaneously, efficiently and fast. See More
Deluge
As of writing of this, there has not been a new release in ~1.5 years. See More
Deluge is free, ad-less and open source software licensed under GPL with source code available here. Being open source allows anyone to check if the software has no malicious code, is secure and respects privacy. See More
deluge-1.3.15.1-macosx-x64.dmg 2017-05-14 10:52 24M Very old last release. Dead client See More
Platform:OSX Linux BSD Solaris Windows Mac
Search:No
See All Specs Deluge has minor UI issues such as presenting 'delete with data' as the most prominent button when removing a torrent from a list of downloads, or the way it resets its size when maximized from tray forcing a resize each time. See More
Deluge weighs under 15MB. See More
There's no way to manually override settings for download queuing that's available in other torrent clients. For example, if there are 2 files in the download list and the software is configured to queue just one at a time there's no way to force a download of both without changing the settings. A workaround plugin can be found here. See More
As is, Deluge is very stripped down, but its functionality can be increased via plugins. As such Deluge can have only the functionality that is needed and skip any other reducing resource usage. See More
If a magnet URI is used there's no way to get information about contents or perform any kind of actions (such as selecting what to download) before the download has started. See More
Deluge covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX, LPD and Magnet URIs. It includes MSE/PE for security. It has graphical, web and command line interfaces. Has UPnP, NAT-PMP, NAT traversal for automatic router configuration. Has UDP tracker data transfer protocol support. Even covers IPv6 and proxy servers. See More
Tracker exchange functionality allows peers to exchange information about trackers of a given file. It is another way of ensuring that the file is downloaded from the optimal source. Deluge lacks this functionality. See More
µTorrent can be run without having to be installed. It can be put on an external storage device (such as a USB drive) and run directly from it. A portable version of Deluge can be downloaded from SourceForge. See More
An embedded tracker allows turning the client into a server offering an easy way of sharing files with others. Deluge lacks embedded tracker support so another method of sharing or different client has to be used to share files. See More
MSE/PE or Message Stream Encryption/Protocol Encryption is BitTorrent traffic encryption method designed to improve privacy. It also attempts to make it harder to identify BitTorrent traffic by third parties such as ISPs that can choose to throttle it. See More
Web seeding support allows downloading file parts from an HTTP source alongside the swarm. It's usually used for long-term seeding and easing some of the load on web hosts that supply direct downloads by offering a BitTorrent download as an alternative while still ensuring that the file is always available in its entirety regardless of the swarm. Deluge lacks this functionality. See More
Deluge has a web interfaces that can be used to remotely control torrents. See More
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Deluge can be run in text-only mode via the deluge-console command. Requires first running the deluge daemon deluged. Utilizing the deluge daemon deluged allows remotely connecting to it, and using any front-end interface. See More
Can't handle 1000 + torrents. See More
Super-seeding is an algorithm used to allow downloaders become uploaders quicker. Deluge lacks support for this functionality. See More
Built-in search engines allow finding torrents to download right from withing the torrent client. Deluge lacks such functionality. See More
Sequential downloading can be used to stream media files such as video and audio while the download is still in progress. Deluge requires waiting until the complete file is downloaded before it's ready for use. See More
Broadcatching is a method of automatically downloading content as soon as it's available. Broadcatching in BitTorrent clients is usually implemented via RSS. Deluge requires manually selecting each download by default. Fortunately, there are multiple plugins available that add this functionality with the possible caveat of plugins not having the same quality standard as the client itself. See More
BitTorrent
AllPros3
ConsSpecs BitTorrent covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX, LPD and Magnet URIs as well as Broadcatching, Sequential downloading and Search. It includes MSE/PE for security. It has graphical and web interfaces. Has UPnP, NAT-PMP, NAT traversal for automatic router configuration. Has UDP tracker and µTP data transfer protocol support. Even covers IPv6, web seeding, Embedded tracker, Super-seeding and proxy servers. And it auto-updates. See More
No source code is publicly available. As such there's no way to independently check what security and privacy features are implemented and how as well as whether there's any malicious code or not. See More
Platform:OSX Windows Android
Search:Yes
See All Specs If you pay $19.99, you will get features such as removal of advertisements and added support for an internal HD media player. See More
A clean, visually-appealing interface that’s incredibly simple to navigate and cuts down on clutter by allowing unwanted elements to be hidden. See More
Folx
AllPros6
ConsSpecsSee More
See More
Platform:Mac
Search:yes
See All SpecsSee More
No way to delete the default 'Folx' tag it forces you to add. Can only change it to something else. See More
See More
Unfortunately this feature is not available in the free version. See More
You can choose the time for starting the download. See More
See More
BitLord
AllPros4
ConsSpecs It has an easy and friendly interface, so it is easy to learn how to use it. See More
It does not have many options for configurations on Torrent downloads, although it has the most used ones See More
Platform:Windows OSX
Bittorrent Client Mac
Magnet:Yes
You don't have to wait till the complete video is downloaded, but can start streaming and watching directly. See More
See More
It has an embedded browser to search for torrents and download or stream directly from it. See More
uTorrent
Installs Chrome extensions but doesn't ask before doing so. Changes Chrome default search engine settings without asking permission. See More
µTorrent is available on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. See More
Install malwares See More
Platform:OSX Windows Android
Search:Yes
See All Specs Free version has ads and requires purchasing to remove ads. See More
A clean, visually-appealing interface that’s incredibly simple to navigate and cuts down on clutter by allowing any element of the UI not needed to be hidden. See More
No source code is publicly available. As such there's no way to independently check what security and privacy features are implemented and how as well as whether there's any malicious code or not. See More
Built-in search engine allows finding torrents to download right from withing the torrent client. See More
Installation wizard starting with version 3 offers installing a variety of garbage features including toolbars and ads. And makes the process of opting out of such bundled software difficult. It's possible to find version 2.2.x online (1,2) - same lightweight, feature packed application without all the unneeded extras or ads. See More
µTorrent covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX, LPD and Magnet URIs as well as Broadcatching, Sequential downloading and Search. It includes MSE/PE for security. It has graphical and web interfaces. Has UPnP, NAT-PMP, NAT traversal for automatic router configuration. Has UDP tracker and µTP data transfer protocol support. Even covers IPv6, web seeding, Embedded tracker, Super-seeding and proxy servers. And it auto-updates. See More
Not only does μTorrent have ads in the free version, they tend to be inappropriate ads for scammy things like 'meet russian women'. Ads can be disabled in the options. It's important to note that disabling ads (as well as all bundled software and featured content) can be a difficult process as it requires manually editing multiple key/value pairs in advanced settings. The following keys have to all be turned to false by going to options > preferences > advanced: bt.enable_pulsedistributed_share.enablegui.show_notorrents_nodeoffers.left_rail_offer_enabledgui.show_plus_upselloffers.content_offer_autoexecoffers.sponsored_torrent_offer_enabledoffers.featured_content.badge.enabledoffers.featured_content_notifications_enabledoffers.featured_content_rss_enabled See More
There seems to be no way to prevent uTorrent from launching on startup of the computer. Even if you configure in the preferences to not launch on startup, it continues to do so. I cannot figure a way to stop this once its started, other than deleting the program. See More
Often can 'forget' about an external disk when restarting or rebooting. Forcing recheck and reconnecting disk does NOT fix the problem, resulting in having to start torrents completely over again :( See More
Vuze
Vuze can detect if it's running over a VPN. Once a connection to the VPN is lost, all traffic becomes public. To avoid this Vuze can be set to run only over a VPN. See More
Vuze has a lots of plugins available that are capable of performing a wide variety of tasks including automatically categorizing torrents, adding remote access solutions and even playing games such as Sudoku. See More
You can use built in search to find your torrent. Type torrent hash, name, or a tag in search box next to 'open torrent' in main UI and Vuze will search in both Swarm and Web for your torrent file. See More
Vuze covers basics such as Prioritization, Selective Downloading, DHT, PEX and Magnet URIs as well as Broadcatching, Sequential downloading (paid) and Search. It includes MSE/PE for security. It has graphical and web interfaces. Has UPnP, NAT-PMP, NAT traversal for automatic router configuration. Has UDP tracker and µTP data transfer protocol support. Even covers IPv6, web seeding, Embedded tracker, Super-seeding and proxy servers. And it auto-updates. See More
XUnit++
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Best Torrent Client For Mac Os X
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Best Torrent Client For Magnet Links
Continue working While you have a few choices of BitTorrent client on Windows, uTorrent is hands down the best we've ever used: it's feature-filled, very lightweight, and completely free.
Note: If you don't know much about BitTorrent and want to learn, check out our beginner's guide to BitTorrent.
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A beginner's guide to BitTorrent
Click to viewDespite the fact that BitTorrent has been around for a good 6 years now, the lightning …
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Platform: Windows, Mac OS X
Price: Free
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Price: Free
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Features
- Download torrents (obviously) and manage/prioritize multiple torrents
- Search for torrents directly from the app
- Automatically download torrents through torrent RSS feeds
- Play and stream media files as you download them
- Set up a complex speed schedule, so you don't use up bandwidth when you need it for other things
- Monitor and control your torrent downloads remotely, from any computer or mobile device
- Label torrents for easy sorting
- Drag and drop a file or group of files into uTorrent for quick sharing with friends
- Rate and comment on torrent files for other users
- Hide any features you don't care about to make the uTorrent interface as minimal as you like
- Add features through the uTorrent App Studio
- Automatically adjusts bandwidth usage so if you're making a Skype video call or downloading a file from the web you won't have to worry about uTorrent getting in the way
- Many, many more advanced features and options to tweak it to your liking
Where It Excels
uTorrent does something few other apps can: it's incredibly feature-filled, while staying pretty simple and lightweight. It's perfect for novice and expert users alike, and you can tweak uTorrent to fit nearly any download routine. You can search directly on uTorrent or from your favorite torrent site, add RSS feeds for automatic downloading, or even share files with a simple drag and drop. uTorrent's automatic bandwidth management feature is also great, though if you prefer, you can run it on a schedule, so it uses more bandwidth at night (when you aren't using the computer) and less during the day. The ability to stream audio and video as it downloads is also a killer feature.
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If you want to know why it's our pick, just open its preferences box—the insane number of checkboxes shows just how configurable uTorrent really is.
Where It Falls Short
There's very little wrong with uTorrent. If you are a very advanced user, you might prefer something like Vuze, but for the vast majority of users, uTorrent has all the features they could ever need.
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uTorrent is, however, owned by BitTorrent, meaning it's closed-source, contains ads, and comes bundled with crapware. That said, you can remove the ads and avoid the crapware, but if you're opposed to such things on principle, you might want to look elsewhere.
How to Disable Ads in uTorrent
uTorrent is a great app, but it can be annoying to have ads on your desktop apps. Fortunately,…
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The Competition
The closest competition uTorrent has is qBittorrent, which aims to be an open source alternative. The two are quite similar, but uTorrent still has qBittorrent beat on sheer number of options. However, if uTorrent's ads, crapware, and genearl proprietary nature leave a bad taste in your mouth, qBittorrent is a fantastic alternative.
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You can also download an older version of uTorrent, before it got bought by BitTorrent, at sites like FileHippo. Version 2.2.1 was the last version before the acquisition, though it is banned on some trackers these days.
If you're looking for something simple (and cross-platform), Deluge is another popular option. It doesn't measure up to the others in terms of features, and it isn't pretty, but it's got a pretty nice plugin system and an interface very similar to uTorrent's.
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Vuze is a popular client for the more advanced crowd, offering more features than you'd ever know what to do with—which would be great, if it didn't make the app so much slower. If you want to tweak the inner workings of BitTorrent, or stream movies from BitTorrent to your TV, Vuze is worth checking out, but be prepared for a much heftier program than uTorrent.
Those are far from the only BitTorrent clients on Windows, but these days, the above choices should appeal to nearly any user looking to download large files. Do you have a favorite that we didn't mention? Share it with us in the comments.
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Best Torrent Client For Mac Os
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
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