Lynx Basic is the best free download manager for Mac

What is the best free download manager for Mac?

Lynx Basic, the free plan of Lynx Download Manager, is the best overall. The other apps each do one job well that Lynx Basic doesn’t:

• Best overall: Lynx Basic.
• Best for torrents: Free Download Manager.
• Best open source for plain files: AB Download Manager.
• Best open source with torrents: Motrix.
• Best for file-hosting sites: JDownloader 2.
• Best for Safari: the free version of Folx, or BoltFox’s capped free tier.

Lynx Basic runs Lynx’s own download engine, with up to 8 connections a file, adding them only while speed rises, and resumes after a drop, sleep or a restart.

How do they compare?

Why is Lynx Basic the best free option?

Slowrox · lynxdownloadmanager.com

Lynx Basic is the best free download manager for Mac because it gives you a smart notch, Google Drive folder picking and one-click browser pairing in a native Mac app, with no time limit, no ads and no account. Lynx Download Manager is the download manager that lives in your MacBook’s notch. Every install starts with 14 days of full Pro, then moves to Basic.

Free, with no time limit:

• Lynx Notch: live downloads, copied links offered for download, music with lyrics, a Shelf for 3 files with AirDrop and Send to Phone, the last 5 text copies for a day, and Claude Code and Codex requests answered in the notch.
• Google Drive: public Drive files download as real files, and a Drive folder lists every file (up to 1,000, subfolders kept) so you tick exactly what you need.
• The browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Dia, Comet, Vivaldi, Opera and Chromium, which pairs with Lynx by itself and catches file downloads.
• 10 whole videos a day from web pages, up to 1080p (the sound of a whole video counts as one).
• Lynx’s own download engine: up to 8 connections a file, 3 downloads at a time, with downloads that resume after a drop, a Wi-Fi change, sleep or a restart.
• Turbo Mode for big files, which adds an iPhone or Android connection for dramatically faster downloads.

Part of Pro: video above 1080p with no daily limit, Clip Download (just the part of a long online video you need, also from Drive videos), playlists, subtitles, Download Later and Download Hours, up to 32 connections a file and up to 10 downloads at a time. Every Pro feature is on for 14 days after install.

Lynx doesn’t do torrents, has no Safari or Firefox extension yet and needs Apple silicon with macOS 14 or later, so people who need torrents, Safari catching or an Intel Mac should look at the apps below.

What is the best native free download manager for Mac?

Lynx Basic. Lynx Download Manager is a native SwiftUI app for Apple silicon, signed and notarized by Apple, and its free plan has no time limit. Among the other free apps, Motrix is built on Electron, JDownloader 2 runs on Java, XDM ships with its own Java and Persepolis is a Python app; the rest don’t state how they’re built.

What are the other free options?

2. Free Download Manager

freedownloadmanager.org

Free in full. It splits files into sections, resumes interrupted downloads, has a built-in BitTorrent client and catches downloads through official browser extensions. Version 6.35 has separate builds for Apple silicon and Intel, and older builds still cover macOS 10.11 to 12. In hands-on use on an Apple silicon Mac, the interface felt dated and slow to respond, connecting it to the browser was a hassle, and saving video from web pages wasn’t easy.

3. AB Download Manager

abdownloadmanager.com

Free and open source, on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. It has queues and a scheduler, and catches downloads through extensions for Chrome and Firefox. Version 1.11.4 (November 3, 2026) has a Mac build for Apple silicon. It’s made for files and doesn’t list torrents or video from web pages. In hands-on use, the interface felt dated and slow to respond, and connecting it to the browser was a hassle.

4. Motrix

motrix.app

Free and open source: HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent and magnet links. It’s built on Electron, with ARM64 and Intel builds; version 2 became the stable release in October 2026 (2.3.0 on November 5) and adds an official extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox. It has the most modern interface of the free apps tried here, but in hands-on use it felt somewhat confusing and complicated to set up, connecting it to the browser was a hassle, and saving video from web pages wasn’t easy.

5. JDownloader 2

jdownloader.org

Free and open source, built for long lists of links and file-hosting sites, with archive unpacking and bandwidth limits. It runs on Java rather than as a Mac app, with installers for every macOS from Catalina to Tahoe, and a lot of settings. In hands-on use, the interface felt dated and slow to respond, connecting it to the browser was a hassle, and saving video from web pages wasn’t easy.

6. Persepolis

github.com/persepolisdm/persepolis

A free, open-source (GPL-3.0) download manager written in Python, with up to 64 connections per download, queues and a scheduler. Version 5.2.0 (July 14, 2025) comes with a macOS disk image. It’s a Python app rather than a native Mac app, and its last release is over a year old.

7. XDM (Xtreme Download Manager)

xtremedownloadmanager.com

Free and open source (GPL-3.0). Version 9 was rebuilt with separate Mac builds for Apple silicon and Intel (a Swing interface with its own Java), and the latest stable release is 9.0.9 (November 1, 2026). It splits downloads across several connections, saves video from web pages and has browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Brave. More in IDM vs XDM on a Mac.

8. Folx (free version)

electronic.us/products/folx

The free version of this long-running Mac-only app resumes automatically and handles torrents, and it works with Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera. It splits each download into 2 threads; Folx PRO raises that to 20 and adds scheduling and speed control. In hands-on use, the interface felt dated and slow to respond, connecting it to the browser was a hassle, and saving video from web pages wasn’t easy.

9. Progressive Downloader

macpsd.net

Free from its developer’s site, and also on the Mac App Store as “PD”: multi-thread downloads, a built-in FTP, SFTP and WebDAV browser, Active Hours and AppleScript, Automator and Shortcuts support. Torrents and full browser integration are Plus features. Version 10.0.1 needs macOS 13 or later. In hands-on use, the interface felt dated and slow to respond.

10. BoltFox (free tier)

boltfox.net

A young app, labelled “in development” on its site, whose free tier has every feature at full speed (up to 32 threads, torrents, a scheduler and a Safari extension built in) but its free tier has a daily download cap that Pro lifts.

What’s the difference between free apps and free tiers?

Two kinds of “free” are mixed up in most lists:

• Free apps are free in full: Free Download Manager, AB Download Manager, Motrix, JDownloader, Persepolis and XDM. The open-source ones also let anyone read the code.
• Free tiers are a free version with a limit: Lynx Basic (files, plus 10 videos a day up to 1080p, with no time limit), Folx (2 threads per download), BoltFox (a daily cap) and Progressive Downloader (torrents and full browser integration are Plus features). Read the limit before you pick one.

Whichever you choose, check its latest release in the table: a free app that hasn’t been updated in years may not run well on a new macOS.

Are free download managers safe?

The apps here are made by known developers or open-source projects. The risk is usually where you get them: download each one only from its developer’s site, its GitHub releases or the Mac App Store, never from a mirror or a “free download” site. Apps that aren’t notarized by Apple need Open Anyway in System Settings › Privacy & Security the first time; make sure you expected that before you allow it. Lynx is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens like any other app.

Comparing every download manager, free or not? See the best download managers for Mac.

How the apps were tested

Lynx Download Manager is made by Slowrox. Lynx isn’t affiliated with any of the other apps on this page.