14 DAY TRIAL // qBittorrent is a torrent client that aims to provide a real alternative to one of the most famous sharing applications, µTorrent. It's refreshing to see that the developers of qBittorrent don't hide behind words and admit that they are trying to build a software around a proven recipe.
qBittorrent is built based on the Qt4 toolkit and libtorrent-rasterbar; the result is a clean interface with functions that are easily accessible. The app is developed by Christophe Dumez and it's updated frequently with all sorts of new features.
The software is in development for almost six years and there is no sign it's going to stop. It is a valid alternative to other solutions like Vuze or Deluge, but it feels more professional. It might be the recipe it follows, but it's definitely an application to be taken under consideration.
Installation
We've tested qBittorrent on Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) and we ahve found that it is really easy to install. The developers provide everything you could possibility need.
The download section of the official website gives you instructions for every platforms. For Ubuntu, there are just a couple of console commands to enter into a terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hydr0g3n/ppa sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install qbittorrent
The first command adds the official PPA alongside the official repositories of your distribution, and the second one installs the software.
Usage
If you ever used a torrent client before, you know that the basic operation is pretty self explanatory. Just download a .torrent file and add it into qBittorrent. It's that simple, but some user might choose to utilize some of it's more advanced options.
The most important feature, besides the obvious one, is the Search. Unlike most BitTtorent clients, this application has a powerful search engine that is basically an aggregate for the most important websites that deal with file sharing.
Users don't need to search individual websites for a specific torrent. Switch to Search, enter the desired term and in the result pane are a few important options such as Download and Go To Description Page. The search engine also queries seeder and leechers and the result list can be sorted by these criteries. Moreover, additional engines can be added to expand the result list.
The Options menu holds numerous configuration options. First of all, users can define the default location for downloads, to preallocate space for all files, to set a directory for incomplete torrents, and to append the .!qB extension to all incomplete files.
qBittorrent can also be set to automatically load torrents from a specific location, to send email notifications when a download is complete (some personal details are required for this function), and even to run an external program after completion.
The Connection menu provides options for defining incoming ports or to use UPnP / NAT-PMP port forwarding from a router, and for setting connection limits, especially if you are on a slow computer or on a slow Internet connection.
qBittorrent has settings to use a proxy server and can even do IP filtering. We also have to mention that speed limits can be imposed for upload and download.
Like all torrent clients, it also features DHT to find more peers, usually in the local IP range, it has PeX (Peer Exchange) and Local Peer Discovery, not to mention torrent queuing.
qbittorrent 2.9.5 also comes with a Web UI (web user interface), which has a lot of options, not to mention the Advanced sections which contain all the other functionalities you could think off.
The Bad
It only has some minor lapses, like the possibility to add private trackers for the search function, not to mention that the Search function, as useful as it is, it's very spartan and could benefit from a lot of other options, like dupe remover.
