What is Transmission used for?

Transmission is a free BitTorrent client with native macOS, Linux and Windows-compatible apps, a headless daemon and a web interface. It is a good fit for running a torrent client on a home server and controlling downloads remotely from a browser.

Is Transmission open source?

Yes. Transmission is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at transmission/transmission and is written mainly in C++.

Is Transmission free?

Yes. Transmission is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host Transmission?

Yes. Transmission can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What are some alternatives to Transmission?

Similar open-source tools in the File Storage & Sharing category include qBittorrent, rTorrent and Kopia. SaaS products in the same category include AnySend, Send Anywhere and Acronis Cyber Protect.

Is Transmission actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Transmission was on 4 September 2026, and the latest release is 4.1.3, published on 30 June 2026. The project has 15k stars on GitHub.

Transmission: open-source file storage & sharing

About Transmission

Transmission is a fast, easy and free BitTorrent client that comes in several forms. There is a native macOS application, GTK+ and Qt applications for Linux and BSD systems, a Qt-based application that works on Windows, a headless daemon for servers and routers, and a web interface for controlling any of the others remotely. It is written in C++.

For command-line users, transmission-remote is the preferred client and fully supports the daemon. Three standalone tools exist to inspect, create and edit torrent files: transmission-show, transmission-create and transmission-edit. An older single-torrent tool, transmission-cli, is deprecated and kept mainly for older hardware that depends on it.

The project has an Xcode project for macOS builds, and nightly build tarballs are available for people who want to compile from source. Its README notes that the documentation is out of date and that a new effort to update it is looking for volunteers. The repository lists the license as 'Other', so check the license files for exact terms.

Key features

Native macOS and Linux desktop apps
Headless daemon for servers and routers
Web interface for remote control
transmission-remote command-line client
Tools to create, show and edit torrent files

Good fit for

→Running a torrent client on a home server
→Controlling downloads remotely from a browser

Built with: C++
Tags: bittorrent; torrent-client; downloads; daemon; web-ui; cli; cross-platform; cpp

Transmission: questions and answers

What is Transmission used for?: Transmission is a free BitTorrent client with native macOS, Linux and Windows-compatible apps, a headless daemon and a web interface. It is a good fit for running a torrent client on a home server and controlling downloads remotely from a browser.
Is Transmission open source?: Yes. Transmission is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at transmission/transmission and is written mainly in C++.
Is Transmission free?: Yes. Transmission is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host Transmission?: Yes. Transmission can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What are some alternatives to Transmission?: Similar open-source tools in the File Storage & Sharing category include qBittorrent, rTorrent and Kopia. SaaS products in the same category include AnySend, Send Anywhere and Acronis Cyber Protect.
Is Transmission actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Transmission was on 4 September 2026, and the latest release is 4.1.3, published on 30 June 2026. The project has 15k stars on GitHub.