DOWNitUP gives you the same multi-connection download acceleration as Internet Download Manager: completely free, with no trial period, on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
Everything you love about Internet Download Manager, without the price tag or platform limits.
IDM locks you out after a 30-day trial and asks for a license fee. DOWNitUP is free forever: every feature, every update, no exceptions.
Just like IDM, DOWNitUP splits files into up to 16 parallel connections to saturate your bandwidth and finish downloads in a fraction of the time.
IDM only runs on Windows. DOWNitUP is a native IDM alternative for Mac, Linux, Windows, and Android, one app across all your devices.
IDM can't touch magnet links. DOWNitUP handles BitTorrent downloads natively, so you don't need a separate torrent client alongside your download manager.
A clean Material 3 interface with dark mode, a modern replacement for IDM's dated design. Desktop beta builds are ad-free and have no bundled extras.
Your download history stays on your device. See the privacy policy for website analytics, platform behavior, and browser-extension permissions.
A closer look at how DOWNitUP and Internet Download Manager stack up.
Price is the most obvious difference. IDM is shareware: you get a 30-day trial, and after that you need to buy a license, which runs around $10 to $25 depending on the license type and where you buy it. Prices change, so check their site for the current figure, but the model stays the same. DOWNitUP is simply free: every feature, every update, no trial countdown and no license key to keep track of.
Platform support is the second big gap. IDM is a Windows-only application, and has been for its entire history. If you switch between a Windows PC at work, a Mac at home, and an Android phone in your pocket, IDM only covers one of those. DOWNitUP runs natively on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, so the same download queue and habits follow you across devices. We cover this in more detail in our comparison of IDM, FDM, and DOWNitUP.
Finally, there's torrent support. IDM handles HTTP and HTTPS downloads well, but it can't open a magnet link. DOWNitUP combines multi-connection HTTP acceleration with a built-in BitTorrent client, so regular files and torrents live in one app instead of two. Both managers resume interrupted downloads, so you won't lose progress either way.
| Feature | DOWNitUP | IDM |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | Paid after 30-day trial |
| Windows | ||
| macOS | ||
| Linux | ||
| Android | ||
| Multi-connection HTTP | ||
| BitTorrent support | ||
| Resume downloads | ||
| Ads or bundled offers |
To be fair, IDM has earned its reputation. Its browser integration on Windows is extremely deep: it can sniff out streaming videos on a page and offer a one-click grab, and its plugin slots into Chrome, Edge, and Firefox almost invisibly. If downloading embedded video from websites is your main use case, IDM does that job very well.
It also makes sense to stick with IDM if you only ever use Windows and you already own a license. There's no reason to abandon a tool you've paid for and configured to your liking just because a free option exists. IDM is a mature, stable product, and for a Windows-only workflow it remains a solid pick.
DOWNitUP pulls ahead the moment you step outside Windows. If you work across macOS, Linux, and Android, or you simply want the same download manager on your phone and your desktop, IDM can't follow you there. DOWNitUP can. And if you ever download torrents, having BitTorrent built into the same app as your HTTP downloads saves you from juggling two tools.
Then there's the price. Paying for a download manager made sense a decade ago; today a free, modern, ad-free app with the same multi-connection acceleration is hard to argue with. If you're weighing your options, our head-to-head of IDM, FDM, and DOWNitUP breaks down how the free alternatives compare.
Yes. IDM costs money after a 30-day trial, while DOWNitUP is completely free forever. No trial period, no license key, no nag screens. You get the same multi-connection download acceleration at zero cost.
Yes. IDM is Windows-only, but DOWNitUP runs natively on Windows 10/11, macOS 11+, modern Linux distributions, and Android 7.0+, making it a true cross-platform IDM alternative.
Yes. DOWNitUP combines IDM-style multi-connection HTTP downloads with a built-in BitTorrent client, so you can handle both regular files and magnet links in one app, something IDM cannot do.
Available now for Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux.