Downie vs Firelink
Downie
software.charliemonroe.netFirelink
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Downie | Firelink |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $14.99/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 2 |
| Spec score · Download Manager Software | 8.3 (#14) | 8.6 (#7) |
| Browser integration | Extensions for Safari, Chrome, and Firefox can send links to Downie with one click. | Firelink Companion sends browser downloads, selected links, media pages, magnet links, and torrent metadata to the desktop app for review. |
| Privacy | For direct website purchases, the maker says it collects the buyer's email to deliver the license code and shares no information further with other third parties. | The extension says requests stay on the local machine and it does not send download data to a remote service. |
| Purpose | Downie is a Mac video downloader for saving videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and thousands of other sites. | Firelink manages direct downloads, browser captures, media, playlists, queues, and scheduling in one desktop app. |
| Support | The product page says support replies within 24 hours and accepts requests for new site support. | The maker directs users to GitHub Issues to report bugs and request features. |
Plans
Downie
- Downie$19.99 a month
- Setapp$14.99 a month
- Downie$19.99, paid once
- Downie 4 + Permute 3 Bundle for macOS 13–15$26.99, paid once
- Downie 4 + Permute 4 Bundle$26.99, paid once
In their own words
Downie
Downie has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
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.