qBittorrent Review: Features, Safety & Usability

What is torrenting?

A torrent is a file shared over a decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Unlike streaming sites which require users to stay connected to watch content, torrent files are downloaded and saved to the user's device.

Torrenting is the term used for the process of uploading or downloading files using a torrent client, such as qBittorrent. It's a give-and-take relationship between participating computers, known as peers, who upload and download files to each other.

But instead of one complete (and huge) file coming from a single source, a torrent file is broken down into smaller, more manageable bits and shared from multiple sources.

For example, when you download a torrent file, it downloads pieces taken from multiple peers who have already downloaded it and who are now making it available to others.

This process of re-sharing content is called seeding, and the peer doing the sharing is a seeder. The more seeders you have uploading, the faster it is to download.

What is qBittorrent?

qBittorrent has been helping users download content from the internet for free for almost two decades. Created in March 2006 by Christophe Dumez, qBittorrent is an open-source alternative to µTorrent. The project is now maintained and developed by a community of volunteers and is entirely funded by donations.

qBittorrent is compatible with the most popular operating systems. No matter if you're using Windows, macOS, OS/2, or Linux, you'll get a similar torrent experience across the board.

What are qBittorrent's main features?

Thanks to its open-source nature, qBittorrent is free to download and use, which is certainly a feature most users will find attractive. But “free” doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. So what do you actually get for…well, nothing?

• Minimalist and polished µTorrent-like User Interface
• Remote control through Web User Interface
• No ads
• Available in 70 languages
• Extensive search engine to simultaneously search across many Torrent search sites
• Many Bittorrent extensions supported such as private torrents, encrypted connections, and many more
• RSS feed support with advanced download filters
• Bandwidth scheduler
• Torrent creation tool
• Sequential downloading
• Advanced control over torrents, trackers, and peers
• IP Filtering
• IPv6 compliant
• UPnP / NAT-PMP port forwarding support

For a lightweight (and free) app, qBittorrent packs in a lot of decent features that should keep most users happy. It covers all the essentials while keeping things simple. To kick off our qBittorrent review let's dig a little deeper into some of the most interesting features.

User experience & interface

qBittorrent has a clean-cut, minimalist interface that is uncomplicated, uncluttered, and easy to use. Some design-buffs might think it looks a little outdated, but this is purely aesthetics and doesn't impact the software or its functionality.

It's a fairly standard interface with similar navigation and settings to most other torrent sites. Regular torrent client users will easily recognize the icons and their functions, while newbies shouldn't have a problem finding their way around.

But the main user experience selling point for qBittorrent is the fact that it doesn't include any annoying adverts, malware, or unnecessary bloatware.

Integrated search engine

One of the most interesting things we discovered in conducting our qBittorrent review was the presence of the in-built search engine. This gives users the ability to search numerous torrent clients for content by category and download them using just one platform.

Although the function is in-built, it isn't enabled by default so you will need to switch it on. But it's very easy to do.

• Click on View in the main menu.
• Select Search Engine.
• If you don't already have Python installed, you'll be prompted to do so.
• Install Python and re-boot qBittorrent to enable the Search Engine.

You will then have to add plugins for the search engines you want qBittorrent to provide results for.

It might seem like a lot of work, but the reason for it is that the folks at qBittorrent want to keep your options as open as possible. Instead of locking in users to a limited list of search engines, you can add your own.

A nice additional benefit of this function is that it helps keep your search activity away from the ISPs or other online trackers. The only downside of the search engine is that you'll miss out on the user comments, which makes judging the relevance of the file being downloaded that bit harder.

Github has a complete list of “unofficial” search plugins for qBittorrent with a step-by-step guide on how to add them to your search engine. Although the title says “unofficial”, this is in fact the official way to do it!

Once you have added the plugins, make sure you “Check for Updates” regularly to make sure they stay in full working order.

Bandwidth scheduler

qBittorrent has a handy bandwidth capping feature which is great if you have other things to do online, you know, other than download content.

You can put a limit on the download and upload speeds of your torrents to avoid using all of your bandwidth. This will let you browse the internet at a decent speed while downloading content.

You can also choose to schedule bandwidth caps. Use it to limit torrent speeds during the day and have unlimited torrent action throughout the night.

If you're away from your desktop but want to change the bandwidth while you're out and about, you can. qBittorrent lets yous control the bandwidth remotely through any browser or device. Just go to the options menu and enable the web user interface, select a port or use the default settings.

Tips for qBittorrent faster downloads

Word of warning: if you see any programs claiming to “speed up” your torrents… Ignore! These programs run in the background and usually contain adware, spyware, or keyloggers.

While there is no “quick fix” to faster downloads, as it really depends on your broadband speed, there are different settings that you can tweak to get faster qBittorrent downloads.

Set download and upload rates

Check your headline speed and then set the download/upload rate on qBittorrent at 80%. You might be tempted to crank it up to 100%, but here's a brief explanation as to why being sensible means faster qBittorrent download speeds.

ISP plans tend to offer higher rates for downloads than they do for uploads. So, let's say your internet speed plan is 25Mbps download, and 5Mbps upload and you want to download a torrent and upload another at the same time. And both download and upload are set to maximum speeds. Uploading a huge amount of data at maximum speed will mean your upload lane becomes full.

This is bad because downloading still requires some upload bandwidth to signal to a seeder that you're leeching. With your upload bandwidth already maxed out, this query/response is going to get stuck.

The result? Slower download speeds.

So, setting your qBittorrent speeds to 80% means you can optimize your downloads and uploads.

To find out the percentage of your speed, you can use an internet speed test website. To get an accurate reading, it's best to try a few different test sites at different times of the day and take an average. Then you can go into qBittorrent's settings and adjust the speeds accordingly.

Widen your pool of peers

Not all seeders are equal. Changing the peer sources in qBittorrent's tools settings will let you find more quality seeders.

To do this:

• Click into Tools, Options, and then select the BitTorrent tab.
• Tick the box for “Enable DHT” and “Enable Peer Exchange”.

These settings allow you to discover more global peers and so widen your pool of seeders that you can download from.

While you're at it, you can go ahead and disable “Enable Local Peer Discovery” as this is pretty useless unless you're on a large campus or LAN network. And everyone has the same taste in content!

Also, set the encryption mode to “Allow Encryption” since some peers will only connect to other encrypted peers for privacy. Again, the wider your pool of quality peers, the faster your qBittorrent download speed.

What is seeding in qBittorrent?

As previously mentioned, seeding is the process of uploading files that you have downloaded so that other users can also download so it isn't something unique to qBittorrent. Seeding is like the bread and butter of torrenting. If no one seeds, no one can download.

It takes the “sharing is caring” thing to a whole new level. Let's take a look at the qBittorrent seeding process and learn how to control just how much you care…

qBittorrent seeding ratio

Your qBittorrent seeding ratio refers to the percentage you seed vs download. Proper torrent etiquette is to give back as much as you take. In qBittorrent you can find out what your seed ratio is by clicking on: View > Statistics > Global Ratio.

Ideally, you should aim to seed at a ratio of 1.0 which would mean that you're giving back the same amount that you have taken.

To be a good qBittorrent seeder, go to Options > BitTorrent and mark "Seed torrents until their ratio reaches” and enter 1.0.

Of course, you can choose to delete torrents immediately after downloading. This practice is not favorably viewed by the torrent community, which is why it is called “leeching”. No one likes a leech. But if you do want to disable seeding, you can set your seed ratio to zero.

Is qBittorrent safe to use?

Being completely ad, malware, and bloatware-free, qBittorrent is as safe as torrent clients come. But this is only the case if you download it from the official qBittorrent site.

Download it from any other site and ask “is qBittorrent safe?” again, and our answer would be a resounding no! Downloading from a third-party site or any other source could be risky and isn't worth it when it's free in the first place.

qBittorrent is an open-source torrent client which means that you can clearly see what's going on inside the software, at least you can if you have a tech background and know what to look for!

However, the open nature also means that anyone can use the code and tamper with it to create their own version with nasty additions and pass it off as a “legit” qBittorrent.

Stick to downloading from the official site and you should be fine.

Of course, using torrent clients and downloading content can be risky if you're not careful. The qBittorrent interface exposes the IP address of participants when downloading content. Using VPN software with a torrent client will give you more privacy. Just be sure the VPN allows port forwarding.

Final thoughts: qBittorrent review

We've covered the main features of qBittorrent and asked and answered the question, is qBittorrent safe? So, what's the verdict?

If you're looking for a torrent client that is close to µTorrent but NOT µTorrent, then it seems like qBittorrent is the one. With its simple interface, it takes the best of the old-school torrent clients and gives an ad-free sheen.

It might look a bit dated, but if it works, do you really care what it looks like?

That said, there have been a few Reddit reports of bugs on the latest version (v4.4.3.1 at the time of writing), but with a large active qBittorrent community, issues tend to be dealt with quickly.

The main feature that really sets qBittorrent apart from the rest of the pack is the in-built search engine feature. Sure, it is a bit of a faff to have to enable it and add all the plugins, but being able to search across multiple torrent sites and download them from one program does sweeten the deal.

Not sure if qBittorrent is right for you? Check out our BitComet Review.