aria2 vs Firelink
aria2
aria2.github.ioFirelink
github.comSide by side
| Figure | aria2 | Firelink |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Download Manager Software | 8.3 (#13) | 8.6 (#7) |
| BitTorrent | BitTorrent features include DHT, PEX, encryption, magnet URIs, web seeding, selective downloads, local peer discovery, and UDP trackers. | It supports torrent files, magnet links, browser handoff, file selection, web seeds, seeding, and live diagnostics. |
| License | The program is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or, at the user's option, any later version. | Firelink is available under the MIT License, while bundled tools and fonts retain their own licenses. |
| Platforms | The official site says source and binaries are available for OS X, Windows, and Android; the project describes itself as cross-platform. | Desktop packages are listed for macOS Apple silicon, Windows x64, and Linux x64. |
| Purpose | aria2 is a lightweight command-line utility for downloading files over multiple protocols and from multiple sources. | Firelink manages direct downloads, browser captures, media, playlists, queues, and scheduling in one desktop app. |
| Security | The project README says aria2 checks HTTPS server certificates by default and describes using a CA bundle when the system trust store is unavailable. | Companion handoff requests are signed with HMAC-SHA256, verify desktop identity, and send handoff data only to the paired Firelink app on localhost. |
Plans
In their own words
Firelink
Firelink is a free desktop download manager for direct files, browser handoffs, media, playlists, torrents and scheduled queues. It supports segmented HTTP and HTTPS downloads with retries, speed limits, connection controls and adaptive mirror selection. Queues can be paused, resumed, retried, redownloaded and scheduled. Bundled yt-dlp, FFmpeg and Deno support media and playlist downloads, including direct HLS, DASH and Smooth Streaming manifest URLs; DRM and other protected-key workflows are not supported, and subtitle or multiple-audio-track selection is not exposed in the current phase.
The Firelink Companion can send browser downloads, selected links, media pages and torrent information to the desktop app for review. It supports Firefox and Chromium Manifest V3, with Edge installation through Microsoft Edge Add-ons and a release ZIP for other Chromium browsers. The extension says download data stays local. Firelink is available for macOS, Windows and Linux under the MIT License. The macOS package is ad-hoc signed and not notarized, the Windows installer is unsigned, and the current Linux AppImage requires glibc 2.35 or newer.