In the example below, we can see the IP address of everyone sharing a Linux Mint download. This means anyone sharing a file with you (your “peers”) can see your real IP address.

The decentralized distributed nature of P2P file sharing is one of its biggest strengths as a platform, but for it to work, you need to connect directly to other torrent users.

No matter which torrent client you choose, you should always use a VPN when torrenting. At least with these torrent clients, their code is open for anyone to inspect. But neither have the closed-source alternatives. Please note that, as far as we know, none of these clients have been independently audited. That’s why our list of best torrent clients for your privacy focuses solely on free and open-source (FOSS) options. And when it comes to torrent clients, trusting your software is crucial because it can see what you are downloading and from where. This includes more popular torrent clients, such as uTorrent and the almost-identical official BitTorrent client, which are closed source and rely on intrusive ads for revenue.Īt Proton, we believe that open-source software that allows you to check the code for yourself is the only way to guarantee that you can trust an app. In addition to the inherent dangers of not being able to check what the software is really doing, this also means that many of them have a business model you should be aware (and, indeed, wary) of.

However, many of these “free” torrent clients are closed-source proprietary software. There are many torrent clients available, and most of them cost no money to download and use. To share files this way, you need torrent downloader software, usually referred to as a BitTorrent (or just torrent) client. Learn more with our ultimate guide to torrenting This is often referred to as “file sharing” or “torrenting”. The peer-to-peer (P2P) BitTorrent protocol provides a highly efficient and decentralized way to share files over the internet.

Best torrent downloader