qBittorrent, along with uTorrent, is one of the most popular torrent clients on the internet. However, qBittorrent comes from an open-source project which is why it’s free and forces no advertising on users. So is qBittorrent safe to use? We hear you ask.
Your BitTorrent client is your ticket to enter the P2P file-sharing universe and join the fun. It locates other clients in the BitTorrent network, exchanges data with them, and keeps your P2P traffic organized. All of it can be a great or a terrible experience, depending on the safety you can enforce using your available tools. But it relies more on your BitTorrent client, where qBittorrent argues for taking the lead. So, the question remains, how secure is it for an average user?
After testing this torrent client extensively, we found qBittorrent very safe, especially when used alongside a good VPN service.
Warning:
While using the BitTorrent network for file exchange is practical, convenient, and cheap, it remains a risky digital activity. Therefore, before you get involved with BitTorrent, ensure you know and understand the risks involved to your privacy, anonymity, and overall digital safety to stay ahead.
How safe is qBittorrent?
qBittorrent enjoys a solid reputation for safety and reliability as veteran clients go. Our testing process could confirm the same.
We found this client to be the safest available on the internet today. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect — it still has some disadvantages.
But first, below, we list the pros of qBittorrent.
It’s an open-source project
qBittorrent is a community-driven open-source project, meaning anybody can read, inspect, examine, test, or audit the source code looking for bugs and malicious lines. This happens all the time.
There is a small army of dedicated voluntary programmers around the planet who are constantly checking the clients’ code to fix any problems or come up with improvements. This is why any emerging defect in the software gets resolved very quickly.
Clean installation
Whenever you get your torrent client from an official repository, you will never have any surprises related to additional or unwanted bundled software. Furthermore, you will never accidentally download harmful software that could compromise your device’s security.
As long as you stick with the official sources, you can always trust the installation software for the qBittorrent. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case with every torrent client installer.
No publicity
The qBittorrent client doesn’t push any unwanted ads into your torrenting experience. This is why it’s so much safer and privacy-friendly than many other torrent clients because those unwanted ads often include third-party closed-source code that serves for user tracking or spreading malware.
This client’s relative simplicity also means the decreased probability for any security vulnerabilities to develop undetected, a common problem in more sophisticated clients.