• 0

Freeware alternative list


Question

Updated by ultima 10/2/2005

Originally compiled by [sanctified], thanks to the Neowin members.

Items marked in red are new additions.

3D Graphics:

3Delight Free - http://www.3delight.com/index.htm

Anim8or - http://www.anim8or.com/

Aqsis - http://www.aqsis.com/

Blender - http://www.blender3d.org/

gmax - http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/

Houdini (Free Edition) - http://www.sidefx.com/apprentice/index.html

Maya Personal Learning Ed. - http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services..._maya_ple.shtml

Now3D - http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/homepage.htm

OpenFX - http://www.openfx.org

SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP - http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/

Terragen - http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/

Toxic - http://www.toxicengine.org/

Wings 3D - http://www.wings3d.com/

Anti-Virus:

AntiVir - http://www.free-av.com/

Avast - http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1018.html

AVG - http://www.grisoft.com/

ClamWin - http://www.clamwin.com/

Anti Spyware:

Ad-aware - http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

Bazooka - http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html

Diet K - http://www.dietk.com/

SpyBot Search & Destroy - http://spybot.safer-networking.de/

SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

SpywareGuard - http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html

WinPatrol - http://www.winpatrol.com/

IRC Clients:

BersIRC - http://www.bersirc.com/

BitchX - http://bitchx.org/download.php

HydraIRC - http://www.hydrairc.com/

TinyIRC - http://www.tinyirc.net/

XChat - http://www.silverex.org/news/

Audio Players:

1by1 - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch

Billy - http://www.sheepfriends.com/?page=billy

CoolPlayer - http://coolplayer.sourceforge.net/

DeliPlayer. http://www.deliplayer.com/

Foobar 2000 - http://www.foobar2000.org/

iTunes - http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Jet Audio Basic - http://www.jetaudio.com/

Musik - http://musik.berlios.de/

QCD Player - http://www.quinnware.com/

Sonique - http://sonique.lycos.com/

Winamp - http://www.winamp.com/

XMPlay - http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html

Audio Tools:

Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

CDex - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

dBpowerAMP Music Converter - http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

EAC - http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

Encounter 2003 - http://www.waschbusch.com/

GermaniXEncoder - http://www.germanixsoft.de/

K-MP3 - http://www.katarncorp.com/

KraMixer - http://www.kramware.com/

MP3 Book Helper - http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/

MP3 Tag - http://www.mp3tag.de/

mp3DirectCut - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch/

MP3Gain - http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/

mp3Trim - http://www.logiccell.com/~mp3trim/

MusicBrainz - http://musicbrainz.org/

Rarewares - http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org/

SoundEngine Free - http://www.cycleof5th.com/en/index.htm

TagScanner - http://xdev.narod.ru/tagscan_e.htm

The GodFather - http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/

CD/DVD Burning:

Burn4Free - http://www.burn4free.com/

Burnatonce - http://www.burnatonce.com/

CDBurnerXP - http://hem.bredband.net/cdburnerxp/

CDRDAO - http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/

CDR Tools Frontend - http://demosten.com/cdrfe/

Deepburner - http://www.deepburner.com/

DVD Decrypter: http://www.dvddecrypter.com/

Easy Burning, DropCD & Audio CD - http://www.paehl.de/cdr

Compression / Decompression:

7-zip - http://www.7-zip.org/

bzip2 - http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/index.html

ExtractNow - http://www.extractnow.com/

FilZip - http://www.filzip.com/

IZArc - http://www.florida.plus.com/izarc/

QuickZip - http://www.quickzip.org/

TUGZip - http://www.tugzip.com/

UPX - http://upx.sourceforge.net/

Zip&Go - http://www.handybits.com/zipngo.htm

Zipgenius - http://www.zipgenius.it/

Defrag Software:

DIRMS & Buzzsaw - http://www.dirms.com/

OpenVMS - http://www.execsoft.com/freeware/freeware.asp

Desktop Enhancements:

AveDesk - http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=17372

CursorXP - http://www.stardock.com/products/cursorxp/download.html

Kapsules - http://kapsules.shellscape.org/

MobyDock - http://www.mobydock.com/

Panorama - http://www.ivory.org/panorama.html

Rainlendar - http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy/index.php?pn=proj...ject=rainlendar

Samurize - http://www.samurize.com/

tclock2 - http://home.inreach.com/2tone/tclock2/tclock2.htm

Weather Watcher - http://www.singerscreations.com/

Download managers:

Free Download Manager - http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

Fresh Download - http://www.freshdevices.com/freshdown.html

Star Downloader - http://www.stardownloader.com/downloads.php

wackget - http://millweed.com/projects/wackget/

wget - http://xoomer.virgilio.it/hherold/

Encryption and data security:

Axcrypt - http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/

Blowfish Advanced CS- http://web.bsn.ch/lasse/bfacs.htm

Eraser - http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/default.php

File Shredder - http://www.sys-shield.com/fileshredder.htm

KeePass - http://keepass.sourceforge.net/

GnuPG - http://www.gnupg.org/

PGP Freeware - http://www.pgp.com/products/freeware.html

WindowsCleaner - http://www.winnowsoft.com/internet-eraser.htm

File Managers:

2xExplorer - http://netez.com/2xExplorer/

A43 - http://www.shawneelink.net/~bgmiller/

ExplorerXP - http://www.explorerxp.com

Gyula's Navigator - http://www.wanari.com/

JExplorer - http://home.megapass.co.kr/~woosjung/

MeeSoft Commander - http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/

File repair and recovery:

PC Inspector File Recovery - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

Firewalls:

Kerio (Kerio Personal Firewall is FREE for home and personal use) - http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

Outpost Firewall (version 1 is free) - http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpost1.html

Sygate (FREE for personal use) - http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Zonealarm Basic firewall - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/comp...reeDownload.jsp

FTP Clients:

CoreFTP - http://www.coreftp.com/

Filezilla - http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla

miFiles - http://www.simdata.com.au/mifiles.html

SmartFTP - http://www.smartftp.com/

FTP Servers:

FileZilla - http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

Golden FTP Server - http://www.goldenftpserver.com

GuildFTPD - http://www.totalshareware.com/asp/detail_v...pplication=8334

Quick 'n Easy FTP Server - http://www.pablovandermeer.nl/ftp_server.html

SlimFTPd - http://www.whitsoftdev.com/slimftpd

WarFTPD - http://www.jgaa.com/

HTML Editors:

1st page 2000 - http://www.evrsoft.com/download.shtml

AceHTML - http://freeware.acehtml.com/download.html

Aracnophilia - http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/

HTML-Kit - http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

NVU - http://www.nvu.com/index.html

Selida - http://www.amaryllis.8m.com/

Trellian webPAGE - http://webpage.vendercom.com/

TSW WebCoder - http://www.tsware.net/

Image viewers:

Ahaview - http://www.aha-soft.com/ahaview/ahaviewfree.exe

Irfanview - http://www.irfanview.com/

Picasa - http://www.picasa.com/content/download.php

SlowView - http://www.slowview.at/

XNView - http://www.xnview.com/

Instant Messenger:

Gaim - http://gaim.sourceforge.net/

IM2: http://www.im2.com

Miranda IM - http://www.miranda-im.org/

Pandion - http://www.pandion.be/

PSI - http://psi.affinix.com/

SIM - http://sim-icq.sourceforge.net/

Trillian Basic - http://trillian.cc/downloads

Internet Explorer Front-Ends:

Avantbrowser - http://www.avantbrowser.com/

Maxthon - http://www.maxthon.com/

SlimBrowser - http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/sbrowser.htm

Mail programs:

Foxmail - http://fox.foxmail.com.cn/english/

i.Scribe - http://www.memecode.com/

Mahogany Mail - http://mahogany.sourceforge.net/

Pegasus Mail - http://www.pmail.com/

PopTray - http://www.poptray.org/

Thunderbird - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/

Anti-spam programs:

K9 - http://www.keir.net/k9.html

MailWasher- http://www.mailwasher.net/

POPFile - http://popfile.sourceforge.net/

SpamBayes - http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/

Network Tools:

CMDTime NTP Utility - http://www.softshape.com/download/

Ethereal Protocol Analyzer - http://www.ethereal.com/

NetMeter - http://readerror.gmxhome.de/

NetProfiles - http://netprofiles.danielmilner.com/

NMap - http://www.insecure.org/nmap/

Ntop - http://www.ntop.org

PingPlotter - http://www.pingplotter.com

PuTTY - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty

RAS Graph & Stats - http://forum.flashfxp.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2400

RealVNC - http://www.realvnc.com/

TightVNC - http://www.tightvnc.org/

UltraVNC - http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/

WinSCP - http://www.winscp.com/

Office Suite:

602PC Suite free edition - http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/download.html

AbiWord - http://www.abiword.com/

OpenOffice.org - http://www.openoffice.org/

Partition Managers:

Partition Resizer - http://zeleps.com/

Ranish Partition Manager - http://www.ranish.com/part/

TestDisk - http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?testdisk.html

PDF Utilities:

Free PDF - http://www.webxd.com/zipguy/frpdfdl.htm

Ghostscript/GSView - http://www.ghostscript.com/

PDF 995 - http://www.pdf995.com/

PDFCreator - http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

PrimoPDF - http://www.primopdf.com/

Photo manipulation and image design:

ColorPic - http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/

Paint .NET - http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

Pixia - http://www.ab.wakwak.com/~knight/

Pixie - http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.html

PhotoFiltre - http://www.photofiltre.com/

Sodiodi - http://www.sodipodi.com/

The Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/

Tuxpaint - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint

Programming:

ActivePerl - http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl

Crimson Editor - http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

Context - http://www.context.cx/

Dev C++ - http://www.bloodshed.net/

Dev Pascal - http://www.bloodshed.net/

Digital Mars C++ - http://www.digitalmars.com/download/freecompiler.html

Eclipse - http://www.eclipse.org/

ExamDiff - http://www.prestosoft.com/ps.asp?page=edp_examdiff

Freepascal - http://www.freepascal.org/

JCreator LE - http://www.jcreator.com/download.htm

jEdit - http://www.jedit.org/

Notepad++ - http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

Notepad2 - http://www.flos-freeware.ch/

Pelles C - http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/index.htm

PHP Hypertext Parser - http://www.php.net/

PSPad - http://www.pspad.com/

Python - http://www.python.org/

Ruby - http://www.dm4lab.to/~usa/ruby/index_en.html

SharpDevelop - http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sd/

Pop-up Blockers:

Google Toolbar - http://www.google.com/

NoAds - http://www.southbaypc.com/NoAds/

PopUp Stopper - http://www.panicware.com/product_psfree.html

Privoxy - http://www.privoxy.org/

Proxomitron - http://www.proxomitron.info/

RSS Readers:

Ablion - http://www.fileheaven.com/Abilon/download/14059.htm

RSSOwl - http://www.rssowl.org/

System Information and monitoring:

CPU-Z - http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Everest - http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.p...ang=en&pageid=1

Gkrellm - http://bill.nalens.com/

Motherboard monitor - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311

SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Sysmetrix - http://www.xymantix.com

WCPUID - http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002374/src/download.html

Video codecs :

DivX Codec - http://www.divx.com/divx/?src=toptab_divx_from_/index.php

FFDSHOW - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow

XviD - http://www.xvid.org/

Video players :

BsPlayer - http://www.bsplayer.org/

Crystal Player - http://www.crystalplayer.com/index.php?page=downloads

Cygwin MPlayer - http://armory.nicewarrior.org/projects/cygmp/

DivX Player - http://www.divx.com/

MaximusDVD - http://www.maximusdvd.com/

Media Player Classic - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303

VideoLan - http://www.videolan.org/

Video tools:

DVD Shrink - http://www.dvdshrink.org/

DScaler - http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/

FlasKMPEG - http://www.flaskmpeg.net

GSpot - http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

VirtualDub - http://www.virtualdub.org/

VirtualDubMod - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=65889

Zwei-Stein Video Editor - http://www.thugsatbay.com/software/index.html

Web browsers:

Firefox - http://www.getfirefox.com

K-Meleon - http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

Mozilla - http://www.mozilla.org/

Netscape - http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp

Web servers:

Abyss - http://abyss.sourceforge.net/

Apache - http://httpd.apache.org/

Sambar - http://www.sambar.com/

Savant - http://savant.sourceforge.net/

SimpleServer:WWW - http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/sswww.htm

TinyWeb - http://www.ritlabs.com/tinyweb/index.html

Webcam Software:

booruWebCam - http://www.booru.net/

Pryme - http://www.hilo.dk/pryme/

Checksum Utilities:

fsum - http://www.slavasoft.com/fsum/

hksfv - http://www.big-o-software.com/products/hksfv/

md5sum - http://www.etree.org/md5com.html

md5summer - http://www.md5summer.org/

General Utilities And Other Applications:

AnalogX - http://www.analogx.com/

AppRocket - http://www.candylabs.com/approcket/

Celestia - http://www.shatters.net/celestia

CCleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com

Cygwin - http://www.cygwin.com

Dirkey - http://www.protonfx.com/dirkey/

EditPad Lite - http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html

HTTrack - http://www.httrack.com/

Inno Setup - http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

Memtest-86 - http://www.memtest86.com

MWSnap - http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html

NetTime - http://nettime.sourceforge.net

Nullsoft Installer - http://www.nullsoft.com/free/nsis

Peerguardian - http://xs.tech.nu/

QuickSFV - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/4668/

png2ico - http://winterdrache.de/freeware/png2ico

Stickies - http://finiteloop.org/~btaylor/software/stickies/

Sysinternals - http://www.sysinternals.com/

Toolbox - http://www.sil.org/computing/toolbox/

TuneXP - http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/showdoc.php?doc=txp_about

Turbo Pad - http://turbopad.sourceforge.net/

Vim - http://vim.sourceforge.net

Edited by ultima
Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/119821-freeware-alternative-list/
Share on other sites

Recommended Posts

  • 0

Are you sure this is Freeware? Because I found this on their homepage:

Pixel32 registration fee is $32 now, and from final release it should be purchased for $75-$100.
If I have overlooked something, please tell me! ;)

Solaris

  • 0

Download Manager/Accelerator:

LeechGet - http://www.leechget.net

Compression/Decompression:

IzArc - http://izarc.cjb.net*

*Their new site doesn't seem to be in English, but don't worry, the software supports a lot of languages, and even more file formats. ;)

  • 0

Perhaps a new catagory for anti-spyware/ad-aware would be good. Have used both of the below for a while now with no problems and they work effectively as a 2nd line of defense against spyware etc... when used with Ad-aware or Spybot

Anti-spyware:

SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

SpywareGuard - http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html

Edited by mrmumbles
  • 0

what would be great is if there is either a seperate list, or mentioned on this one, if the programs listed here are a full blown package, or a single exe file. I collect useful programs that don't require an installer, and everything is contained in a single exe file, You would be surprised how much is out there, and very useful stuff. I keep a copy of this tools directory on all my systems, pocket pc and usb keychain drive now (so I can run them directly from the drive without having to worry about installing anything if it isn't my computer)

  • 0
what would be great is if there is either a seperate list, or mentioned on this one, if the programs listed here are a full blown package, or a single exe file. I collect useful programs that don't require an installer, and everything is contained in a single exe file, You would be surprised how much is out there, and very useful stuff. I keep a copy of this tools directory on all my systems, pocket pc and usb keychain drive now (so I can run them directly from the drive without having to worry about installing anything if it isn't my computer)

I am interested in your list. If you can PM me it, that would be great. I also like to collect programs that don't require an installer. :yes:

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • The machines are starting to fight back any way they can.
    • No news articles about the Arch Linux repo being majorly infected with malware?!?
    • Waymo recalls self-driving software after cars enter closed freeway work zones by Paul Hill Waymo, the self-driving car maker owned by Alphabet – the parent company of Google –, has recalled some of its fifth-generation Automated Driving Systems (ADS). It did so after some of its cars drove through closed construction zones. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the affected vehicles were capable of driving through a closed freeway construction zone and continuing to drive at speed. The listing on the NHTSA website says that Waymo is currently developing a solution to fix this issue, but in the meantime, freeway driving is being restricted. Waymo will update its ADS software so that vehicles can detect when they can avoid entering construction zones. According to the Safety Recall Report, on April 20, 2026, Waymo’s Field Safety Committee began meetings reviewing an event from April 11, 2026, and five events from April 19, 2026, where Waymo’s autonomous vehicles didn’t recognize and drove past ramp closure signs into the pre-planned freeway construction zones. This took place in Phoenix, Arizona. Separately, on May 18, 2026, seven Waymo vehicles entered freeway lanes with active construction in the San Francisco Bay Area by driving between cones that were placed to show the lane was closed. On the back of both of these events, Waymo restricted freeway driving until it could address the issue. In June, Waymo’s Safety Board reviewed the issue and additional information related to ADS performances around construction zones; then, as a result, it decided to conduct a recall. This development is not good for Waymo as it adds to a growing list of technical hiccups its cars have experienced. Ultimately, it will lead to more scrutiny from lawmakers around the world who will be more cautious about letting autonomous vehicles on their roads without tighter regulation. For readers in areas where Waymo operates, does this news make you more wary about stepping into one of these vehicles?
    • I'm still on Windows 10 22H2 because I didn't want to deal with all the issues in Windows 11, so I waited almost a week before installing the latest Patch Tuesday update (KB5094127), I went ahead and did it, and it was a huge mistake—ever since then, my File Explorer has seen a performance drop of about 30% when transferring large files... Once again, Microsoft has outdone itself! This update cannot be uninstalled, either through the Control Panel (via Settings) or by accessing Advanced Startup Options. The only possible alternative would be to use system restore points, but I’d have to reinstall all app and driver updates (and there’s no guarantee it would work). Or there’s the “nuclear option” of a in-place repair without losing files or apps, but even then, all my customizations would be lost! Microsoft just can’t help but mess everything up! Way to go, Microsoft! But I still don’t want your c****y Windows 11!
    • Microsoft: Windows 11 could finally solve a major issue across AMD, Nvidia, and Intel GPUs by Sayan Sen While Microsoft has been trying to improve it, Windows 11 is definitely not flawless, as even today some issues are taking a year to publicly acknowledge. However, one area of trouble that may finally see much better results soon is graphics driver crashes. Work on graphics driver timeouts, also called Timeout and Detection Recovery (TDR), is not new as the latest WDDM 3.2 also has specific improvements regarding it. Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) version 3.2 is supported on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. However, with the upcoming version 26H2, TDR crash diagnosis could go to the next level as Microsoft is introducing a new DirectX 12 API feature called "DirectX Dump Files". Similar to how system memory dump files work when a system crashes or freezes or encounters any such major issue, DirectX Dump Files (DDF) will essentially record a snapshot of the GPU execution right at the moment a graphics-related crash or hang or freeze occurs, so that developers can better understand and diagnoze these TDR and timeout detection errors. The dump will be available as a .dxdmp file for analysis and it will be a comprehensive dump file generated with detailed insights about the hardware, drivers, Windows, as well as the affected application. This should be another welcome change in this department. Earlier at GDC 2026, when the technology was first debuted, Microsoft had shared more details regarding it. The company had explained how DDF is designed to gather data from every layer of the graphics stack into a single file, eliminating the need for developers to manually correlate logs from multiple tools. As mentioned above, the dump can contain a lot of useful details like GPU hardware state information such as register values, shader program counters, page fault virtual addresses, shader memory data, and command buffers. Alongside that, it also captures DirectX runtime and kernel information, including D3D objects, pipeline state objects, device error data, adapter details, and CPU call stacks. Microsoft says the feature has been built around two primary use cases: retail device removals and local device removals. The former allows developers to collect crash information from end users' systems in the field, while the latter helps QA teams and developers investigate issues on test machines. Developers will also be able to include up to 2 MB of custom application data through new D3D12 APIs, providing additional context for troubleshooting. In addition, Microsoft is introducing three dump collection modes ranging from zero-overhead capture, which has no runtime performance impact on supported hardware, to higher-detail modes that collect more vendor-specific debugging data. On compatible Tier 2 hardware, zero-overhead dumps will be enabled by default, meaning developers may begin receiving useful crash diagnostics without making any code changes. The table below explains the three tiers: Tier Description NO_OVERHEAD Enables crash capture with no runtime cost and is suitable for broad deployment MEDIUM_OVERHEAD Provides a balance, capturing additional diagnostic data with moderate impact HIGH_OVERHEAD Collects the most detailed GPU and driver state available, enabling deeper investigation at the cost of higher runtime overhead In terms of availability, the company expects broader release to be around the fall of 2026, which should be right around the time when Windows 11 version 26H2 lands. Right now, DirectX Dump Files are available as a preview and currently, only AMD has the compatible AgilitySDK Developer Preview driver version 26.10.07.02. You can find the official announcement post here on Microsoft's website.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Year In
      Skeet Campbell earned a badge
      One Year In
    • One Month Later
      Sharbel earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      BizSAR earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      598
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      190
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      79
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      76
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      70
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!