14 DAY TRIAL // For a while Web Browsers were also used to download files from the Internet, but soon the need for specialized programs to do this became obvious. Why? Web Browsers are very good at surfing the Web or organizing the Favorites, but they don't handle downloads well.
When downloading a file you should be able to perform operations like pause, resume for broken or paused downloads, scheduling, downloading several files automatically from a site according to certain rules, searching for mirrors or downloading files on poor connections.
This is where the Web Browsers' land ends and the Download Managers' realm begins. Today we have two programs from this family facing each other. One of them is a trial version and the other is completely free, after a long past experience as an adware program.
I am talking about GetRight Pro 6 and FlashGet 1.72. They are both hot and are claiming the "best download manager" crown. Let's see what they can do...
GetRight Pro 6
GetRight is the paid alternative to FlashGet, but does it worth its price? I have already reviewed this version, so I am only going to point out good things, bad things and then I'll tell you few words about its performance.
GetRight has an interface organized as most download managers and torrent clients available today. It's easy to use, clean, but unfortunately it's cluttered with messages that seem to beg you to buy it. I talked about these annoyances a lot in the program's review, so I won't go through all that again.
This program is highly customizable, is the only download manager that can handle torrent files yet, can be used as a proxy server for other programs and can accept command line parameters. GetRight has a built in browser that allows you to browse FTP or HTTP server's content.
Before moving on to the performance issue I will remind you two great features of this download manager.
The first one allows you to run the program on your home computer and control it from anywhere in the world using an easy Web interface to control it (of course the access will be based on user name and password, don't worry about that).
The last feature of GetRight that I will point out today is the program's ability to use scripts in order to achieve various goals such as starting external programs, showing messages or turning off your computer.
Now I'll touch briefly the problem that made everyone curious:how much does this manager really acelerate your downloads? I downloaded a file around 100MB in size that had a single mirror so I wasn't able to split it into more than four parts. The server limited the download to around 50KB/s, so I achieved around 190KB/s medium download rate. Sounds good, but the bad part is the limitation to only four parts when only one mirror is available. This result is good, but you should check FlashGet before deciding...
GetRight is a good download manager that has a lot of features, but also some limitations which can't be found within FlashGet. Considering this, the natural conclusion is that GetRight is overpriced, but can be a good choice for those who need its advanced and unique features.
Here are some snapshots of GetRight at work:
In the past FlashGet contained optional adware, but from now on it's completely free. I won't say too much about it, because the thing that speaks about FlashGet is its performance itself so let's point out some strong points.
The interface is not special at all, it's just a nice, clean and easy to use download manager "standard" interface. There are two main problems that need taken care of: speed and downloads management.
Let's start with the last one: management. In the left panel of the main interface you can see four categories for downloaded data. That's not much at all, but you can add as many categories and subcategories you need without any trouble.
FlashGet has a site explorer like the one to be found in GetRight that enables you to browse FTP and HTTP servers while browser and clipboard monitoring works wonderfully. Just think about it: when you copy a download link into the clipboard, FlashGet automatically starts and waits for your "go" signal!
Let's leave the interface and features like scheduling downloads from multiple locations or FlashGet's multiple language support and get to the point: speed.
I downloaded two files using FlashGet and split both of them into ten parts. First one was 470MB in size and achieved a medium download speed of 320KB/s with the maximum bandwidth available being 350.
This was just a "warming up" test, the decisive one was performed using the file that I downloaded with GetRight too and is placed on a server that limits download speed to 50KB/s. Well, in this test FlashGet crushed its competitor achieving an average speed over 345KB/s, close to the maximum bandwidth available. Of course I split the file into ten pieces and had no problem, while GetRight could only do four simultaneous download tasks for this file.
Should I say more? It's free, easy to use and the fastest one out there. I can't ask more from it now and I am sure it can only get better in the future (I am aware that GetRight has his unique features, but that doesn't make it faster...).
FlashGet at work:
Today, there can be only one download manager, and the winner is FlashGet without any question. FlashGet got it right this time, while GetRight, with all its unique features arrived in the second position.
I won't say "use FlashGet", but in my opinion this is today's best choice. If you want an "all-in-one" download manager and care more about features than speed (let's not forget about the price...so you should have some money put aside too) you can try GetRight and decide for yourself.
