Freeware alternative list

[sanctified Veteran]

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 February 10, 2005 by ultima

[neoufo51]

MP3 Player:

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

Instant Messanging:

IM2: http://www.im2.com

[reeky]

As a sidenote, if you're going/planning or currently using LeechGet, may I suggest you use LeechGet 2002 version. Yes, I know it's 2 years off but you must know that not every latest version of a software is the best. And it's also the last FREE (yet full-featured) version. Simply the best IMO.

[demon19]

Software:

Spyware Software - http://www.spy-soft.biz

Software catalog - http://www.download-point.com

[zone]

Attention: where it says..

Rhymbox - http://www.rhymbox.com/

..it should be..

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

Those at Rhymbox stole the domain and the software. More info in forums.Pandion.be

[xVISHUx]

Billy is the best barebones .mp3, .wav, and .ogg player hands down.

[blade1269]

very good app

start

[shmengie]

under desktop enhancements, avedesk, kapsules and rainlendar are noticeably absent...

[Joe User 99]

Photo manipulation and image design:

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

[Si Veteran]

Photo manipulation and image design:

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

585059886[/snapback]

That's really nice! Thanks (Y)

[Evolution]

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

It's a pretty decent C interpreter/compiler, although not quite as nice as Dev C++.

[Burned]

Free Utilities: http://sysinternals.com/

I have alot more links to submit when I get home from work. ;)

[Kritter]

I was looking at SmartFTP the other day and noticed that you have to buy it now. Not sure if that makes it unsuitable for this list anymore.

Kritter

[Jikosan]

SmartFTP is still free.

Check out the license.

http://www.smartftp.com/purchase/

[Eddy Da KillaBee]

About XChat (IRC Client)... I just found out right now that it's not free for Windows users unless you compile it from source. They give you 30 days, and then you gotta pay them to continue using it.

Need proof? Here: http://www.xchat.org/windows/.

Note that this only applies to Windows versions of the program.

[xxdesmus]

Konfabulator in desktop enhancements?

can someone tell me why xvid is not in the video codec section? (It's under Video Tools) Also, the link needs to be updated.

584908745[/snapback]

Konfabulator isn't free. it's shareware

[Si Veteran]

About XChat (IRC Client)... I just found out right now that it's not free for Windows users unless you compile it from source. They give you 30 days, and then you gotta pay them to continue using it.

585068942[/snapback]

The link at the top of the thread is to an unofficial build (Y)

[bonobozoot]

That's really nice! Thanks (Y)

585059935[/snapback]

Why dont you also try Photofiltre?, the poor man's Photoshop ;)

[jnr]

free multirow photo stitching software:

http://www.autostitch.net/

Hugin with AutoPano and Endblend for automation:

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/download/

[amar_amira]

3D Graphics:

openfx - http://www.openfx.org

Houdini - http://www.sidefx.com/apprentice/index.html

[DigitalSnow]

Media Player:

http://www.corecoded.com/ The Core Media Player by http://www.corecodec.com/
The best there is. Plays all media types for free except DVD.

PC Monitoring

• PC Wizard 2004

http://www.cpuid.com/pcw

Download managers:

• Shareaza

http://www.shareaza.com/

Edited December 11, 2004 by DigitalSnow

[IceDogg]

Welcome to Neowin DigitalSnow :) great sig too!

[amar_amira]

another software

Programming..

C++ compiler http://www.digitalmars.com

3D graphics

http://www.wings3d.com

renderer (under 3D graphics)

RenderMan?-compliant renderer - http://www.3delight.com (free for personal use)

RenderMan?-compliant renderer - http://www.aqsis.com

global illumination renderer - http://www.toxicengine.org

:):):):):):):):):):)

[Si Veteran]

Updated list, thanks all who posted (Y)

[heesey1010]

has anyone said JCreator for java programming? (if you do google it, make sure to get freeware version)

[asmat]

I love this list. Bravo for all the posters..