You can say whatever you want on the Internet, it can be readily available to you. To download a file from the Internet, two things are important, first is a search engine and the other is a web browser. But often we forget the third thing which is important is a download manager, although almost all web browsers is able to download files, but a good download manager can be quite beneficial in terms to download files from the Internet.
If you also download large files or torrents on your mobile device, check out our roundup of the best Android download managers
You hate downloading files using your web browser, don’t you? Even if you don’t, you must, because a dedicated download manager can speed up the process. Then the question arises — which is the best download manager for Windows? Do you have the same question? Don’t worry! In this article, we will present a few of the best Windows download managers.
Best Download Manager for Windows and macOS
I have tried a lot of download managers in the past, both free and paid. In the light of such experiences, I am presenting seven of the best ones available on the web.
Install with winget (Windows)
Windows 10 and 11 come with winget, Microsoft’s command-line app installer. Open Terminal or Command Prompt and paste the command for the app you want. winget downloads the installer from the official source and runs it for you.
| App | winget command |
|---|---|
| Internet Download Manager | winget install -e --id Tonec.InternetDownloadManager |
| Mister Download Manager | winget install -e --id AhmedNefzaoui.MisterDownloadManager |
| Free Download Manager | winget install -e --id SoftDeluxe.FreeDownloadManager |
| AB Download Manager | winget install -e --id amir1376.ABDownloadManager |
| Motrix | winget install -e --id agalwood.Motrix |
| Persepolis Download Manager | winget install -e --id PersepolisDownloadManager.Persepolis |
| aria2 (command line) | winget install -e --id aria2.aria2 |
| Update all installed apps | winget upgrade --all |
1. Internet Download Manager
Windows
I couldn’t resist giving Internet Download Manager aka IDM the first position. Yeah, you have to pay a small amount to get a license to use the software. If you want the speedy downloading process and don’t care about the price, you must go for IDM. Just like most of the managers today, it splits the download into eight parts and then combines the file upon finishing it. For the same reason, we get the maximum speed. IDM has no issue in getting attached to all the modern browsers. And, it automatically detects a downloadable file on a web page and asks you whether you want to download it or not. The scheduler helps you set the time to start the downloading process for a specified file. IDM offers 30-day free trial, and you can purchase the product from $9/year.
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1.1 Mister Download Manager
Windows, macOS and Linux | 8.5K Github ⭐
The closest application that is available on the Internet Two Internet Download Manager is this one It has every sort of features in terms of layout to design an button icons. It is available as open source on Github and you can download on windows and mac OS operating system.
2. Free Download Manager
Are you looking for an IDM alternative that is available for free of costs? Then, you can stop your quest right now. Free Download Manager aka FDM is the best free alternative to IDM. Just like what IDM does, it stores different types of files in separate folders, making the management easier.
Once you start using FDM, you can uninstall your Torrent clients because the former has full support for it. The speed of the torrent download is on par with other services out there. The download manager has an in-built media player to play media without opening a third-party tool. In case you feel any stutter while using the full version of FDM, you can go for Free Download Manager Lite. It was developed in such a way to run on computers with low configurations smoothly.
On Mac, version 6.35.2 has separate builds for Apple silicon and Intel, and older versions are still available for macOS 10.11 to 12, so it’s a good pick for older Macs.
- Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
- Price: Free
- Best for: free downloads and torrents in one app
3. AB Download Manager: Windows, macOS, Linux
Open Source: 19K Github ⭐
AB Download Manager is one of the most popular open-source download managers right now, with nearly 19,000 stars on GitHub. It speeds up downloads and has queues and a scheduler. Its Chrome and Firefox extensions come from the official stores, which is a nice safety plus. Version 1.11.4 (November 2026) includes an Apple silicon build for Mac.
It’s built for regular files only: no torrents and no video saving.
- Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
- Price: Free and open source
- Best for: a clean, modern, IDM-style download manager for files
4. Motrix: Windows, macOS, Linux
Open Source: 58k Github ⭐
Motrix handles regular downloads (HTTP and FTP) plus torrents and magnet links in one tidy interface. Motrix 2 became the stable release in October 2026 and added an official extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox, a command-line tool, and a server mode for running it on a home server or network storage (NAS). It’s built on Electron, so it uses more memory than XDM.
- Platforms: Windows, macOS (13 or later), Linux
- Price: Free and open source
- Best for: open source with torrents and a modern design
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Mac-only download managers
7. Harbor
Beautiful native macOS download manager for direct links, magnets, and torrents.
- Download files, public videos and audio, and torrents
- Pause, resume, and retry downloads
- Download multiple links at once
- Preview torrent files and choose what to download
- Set speed limits and organize downloads with tags
- Keep your download list between app launches
Harbor is free and open source. Your downloads stay on your Mac.
8. Folx: macOS
Folx is a long-running Mac download manager and torrent client. It works with Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera through its plugin. It resumes downloads automatically, lets you tag downloads (and find them later with Spotlight) and supports proxies.
The free version splits downloads into 2 parts. Folx PRO raises that to 20 and adds scheduling, speed control, built-in torrent search and automatic sending of music and videos to Apple Music.
- Platforms: macOS 10.13 or later
- Price: Free. PRO from $19.95
- Best for: Safari users who want torrents in a Mac-only app
9. Downie: macOS
Downie isn’t a general download manager; it’s built for saving video. Paste a link, or send it from the Safari, Chrome or Firefox extension, and Downie saves the video (keep only the audio) from thousands of sites. It can convert it to MP4 or keep only the audio. It’s updated every week or two, which matters because video sites change constantly. It’s also included with a Setapp subscription.
- Platforms: macOS 13 or later
- Price: Paid (free trial), or included with Setapp
- Best for: saving video on a Mac
10. Progressive Downloader: macOS
A lightweight Mac download manager for power users. It downloads in parallel and can search for mirrors, has a built-in FTP, SFTP and WebDAV browser, and can run downloads only during “Active Hours”. It also works with AppleScript, Automator and Shortcuts. It’s on the Mac App Store as “PD”.
- Platforms: macOS 13 or later
- Price: Free, with a paid Plus upgrade
- Best for: FTP servers and automating downloads
Browser extension option
11. DownThemAll: Firefox and Chrome
If you don’t want to install a full app, DownThemAll adds bulk downloading to your browser. You can grab every link or image on a page at once, filter by file type, and queue downloads with a speed limit. It’s not as fast as a real download manager because it uses the browser’s own downloader, but it’s great for “download all the PDFs on this page” jobs.
- Platforms: Firefox, Chrome and Chromium-based browsers
- Price: Free and open source
Honorable mentions
If none of the main picks fit your setup, a few other download managers bring something unique to the table:
- Ninja Download Manager (Windows, macOS) used to be a paid tool before going completely free. Its best trick is letting you preview media files while they download, saving you from waiting on a broken file. Just remember it is provided “as-is,” so do not expect new updates.
- Neat Download Manager is about as barebones and lightweight as it gets. It runs smoothly on older machines running Windows 7 or vintage macOS releases, though development is slow and YouTube support is a no-go.
- Persepolis Download Manager is a free, open-source GUI for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It lets you push up to 64 connections per download to pull maximum bandwidth, plus schedule big files overnight.
- Chrono Download Manager replaces Chrome’s clunky download tab with queues and automated file-sorting rules. It will not speed up your downloads because Chrome’s built-in engine still does the actual fetching, but it keeps bulk downloads organized.
- aria2 is the command-line gold standard for terminal enthusiasts. It sips almost no system memory while juggling direct downloads, torrents, and magnet links. If you have ever used Motrix, aria2 is the engine doing the heavy lifting under the hood.
You can also download torrents directly to cloud storage before pulling them down locally at maximum direct-link speed
Wrapping Up
So, which is the best download manager for Windows? If you ask me, I will cast my vote for IDM. DAP and FDM come later. If you give preference to customization, you should go for JDownloader or FlashGet. For browser extension lovers, DownThemAll (Firefox) and Chrono (for Chrome) work well.
Most download manager browser extensions work across Chrome and all major Windows web browsers
