# JDownloader

6 Hacker News commenters recommended JDownloader and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free download manager that resumes downloads, fetches in parallel, and keeps going unattended until files succeed. Critics cite closed-source parts, bundled installer offers, and cluttered defaults.

## Why people recommend it

- Runs unattended until downloads succeed (2 comments): "JDownloader makes sure it eventually succeeds without me having to baby-sit the process" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064480)) "With jdownloader you just set it and it'll do it's thing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064854))

## What people warn about

- Closed-source parts despite open-source claims (3 comments): "There's some shady stuff about JDownloader, afaik mainly that building it from source requires some java binaries that don't have their source available anywhere." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50070806)) "Some of them are included in the jdclosed dependency which is just a blob." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48081688)) "JDownloader pretends to be GPL, but parts of it are closed source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063045))
- Cluttered defaults and too many settings (3 comments): "It’s the epitome of nonsensical defaults, features that maybe 1% of the user base would want and care about but toggled on by default." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48062320)) "so annoying having to change 50 different more or less accurately labeled and named color settings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063664)) "It works the same without all the bloat." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50066048))
- Slow and high CPU use (2 comments): "It feels like an absolute hog. Slow to open, slow to process links, slow to start downloading" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50065104)) "for some reason it always has high cpu usage even when no downloading anything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064241))
- Installer bundles extra software, past malware (2 comments): "Hasn't JDownloader already served malware with the default installer for years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48062736)) "They also do shady things with bundled software in their installer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50065936))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [GetRight](https://hackerapproved.com/p/getright.md): 10 recommend
- [aria2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aria2.md): 9 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "JDownloader", https://hackerapproved.com/p/jdownloader/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).