BiglyBT For Mac

BiglyBT is a full-featured and straightforward torrent client created as a fork of the wide-known albeit quite resource intensive and ad-ridden Vuze BitTorrent client.

Before starting the actual review, it is necessary to mention that BiglyBT needs Java 8 to be installed on your Mac to run, and if you don't already have it, it will offer to download and installed it for you during the installation process.

During installation, BiglyBT also provides you with the option to install additional components for extra functionality, such as "Swarm discoveries" for torrents downloaded by others at the same as the ones you're currently downloading and "Location provider" for being able to view location details for peers connected to a particular torrent.

You can also augment its capabilities by installing a wide variety of plugins via the BiglyBT plugin repository, which should help you add a large assortment of features from WebTorrent support and a VPN helper, to a UPnP Media Server interface and a built-in Tor browser.

That being said, it is quite obvious that BiglyBT development team's intention is not to sacrifice any advanced features available in Vuze but to remove all nuisances and ads to provide the app's users with a more user-friendly tool to download torrents from the Internet.

Moreover, after the first launch on your Mac, BiglyBT will also automatically ask you to set it as the default app for .torrent files and will allow you to run a quick speed optimization test to identify the optimal speed settings for your current internet connection.

By default, BiglyBT will download all files into Documents/BiglyBT Downloads in your home folder, and it allows you to grab anything from the web as long as it has a torrent, magnet link or hash associated with it.

As an extra advantage, BiglyBT can also be configured to use only your VPN connection via the Advanced Network Settings area in the app's Preferences if you are as keen to protect your online privacy as we are.

If you need to take a closer look at the features highlighted by its developers, there is a comprehensive list available on the BiglyBT Features page.

Regarding its resource footprint, BiglyBT jumped up to a 150% CPU load on a quad core 2 GHz Intel Core i7 but managed to stay right under 500 MB of RAM while downloading five torrents at 40 MB/s on a Mid 2011 Mac mini Server.

Although it's not a contender for the most lightweight BitTorrent client of the year award, BiglyBT is a good alternative to ad supported torrent clients such as Vuze and uTorrent, and it also has the tools it needs to fight and beat them in a head to head battle.