Deluge vs Transmission

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureDelugeTransmission
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0-or-laterGPL-3.0
LanguageC++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM50 MB50 MB
Deploymentbare-metalbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 15,047
First released20232023
ReplacesµTorrentµTorrent

Why pick each one

Choose Deluge if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0-or-later license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Deluge details

Choose Transmission if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 15k GitHub stars
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Transmission details

Frequently asked questions

Is Deluge or Transmission better?

Neither is universally better. Transmission has the larger community, while Deluge is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Deluge and Transmission free and open-source?

Yes. Deluge is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later and Transmission under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Deluge and Transmission with Docker?

Deluge: check the project docs for container support. Transmission: check the project docs for container support.

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