a Transmission alternative

what Transmission is built for

control. speed limits by time of day, watched folders, remote access from another machine, detailed peer and tracker information, seeding rules per torrent. open source, free, and stable for many years.

qBittorrent covers similar ground with a different interface. both are the right shape for people whose downloads need managing rather than just starting.

what is here instead

drop a .torrent file into the panel or paste a magnet link, and it downloads there. pick exactly which files you want — before the download starts, or partway through — and pause or resume as you like.

hop can register itself as the default handler for .torrent files and magnet links, so a click in the browser lands in the right place.

it stops seeding on its own

seeding continues after a download finishes, and forgetting about it is the normal outcome — a client left running for weeks, uploading quietly in the background.

hop stops at a ratio of 1.0: you have given back as much as you took, and it stops there unless you decide otherwise. a default that assumes you will forget, because most people do.

the engine arrives separately

the torrent engine is not bundled with the app. the first time you open this module, hop fetches it — about 26 mb — and only then.

so people who never touch it never carry it, which is part of why the app itself is around six megabytes.

what you would be giving up

everything in the control column: schedules, bandwidth rules, remote access, per-torrent seeding policies, detailed peer information.

we have not put Transmission through a feature-by-feature test, and will not describe gaps we have not seen. the table above covers our side of it; check theirs against your own list.

choosing files is the part that earns its place

most torrents are not one file. a pack arrives with duplicates in three formats, a folder of extras nobody asked for, and the one thing you actually wanted sitting in the middle of it.

hop lists the contents before anything starts and lets you tick only what you need — and change your mind partway through, deselecting something that turned out to be irrelevant while the rest continues.

on a laptop with a small disk that is not a convenience, it is the difference between fitting and not fitting.

frequently asked questions

can i choose which files to download?

yes, before starting or partway through — useful when an archive holds far more than you need.

does it keep seeding forever?

no. it stops automatically at ratio 1.0, once you have given back as much as you took.

can it schedule downloads or limit bandwidth by time?

no. those are what a dedicated client is built for.

why is the engine downloaded separately?

so people who never use this module do not carry 26 mb they have no use for. it arrives the first time you open it.

can it handle magnet links from the browser?

yes, hop can be set as the default handler for magnet links and .torrent files.

the hop side of this

torrents — drop a file or paste a magnet link — it downloads in the panel.