Best Freeware Download Sites

1. Best Free Download Sites For Books
2. Freeware Sites That Are Safest
3. Best Freeware Download Sites For Windows 10
4. Best Freeware Movie Download Sites
5. Best Freeware Download Sites Free Software

free. software download sites can be dangerous. Visiting a bad site could end up with you smothered in fake download buttons and fake virus and malware warnings, which are usually malware in disguise.

A good internet security suite can protect you against malware-loaded downloads, but it’s better to avoid such free download sites altogether. Stick to tried-and-true sites that are committed to being free of malware and deception.

In addition to personal experience, we used these tools for check website reputations and build our list of the best software download sites:

In order for a website to qualify for this list, it had to score at least 90% with Web of Trust and 35/36 with URLVoid. No site can ever be 100% safe, but these download sites are generally clean and worthwhile.

1. Ninite

WOT Trustworthiness: 94%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

Best Free Download Sites For Books

List of Best Software Download Sites 1) Download.com. Download.com is the mother of all software download websites. It’s the oldest of its type and was established about 14 years ago. This site is owned by CNet, one of the biggest names in Technology News and Products reviews on the Internet. Listen to over 30 channels of listener supported, commercial free internet music for free, with no registration or ads.

For those who don’t know about Ninite, it’s quite simple: the website presents you with a list of programs that you can select, then lets you download a custom installer file that bundles all of the selected programs together so you can install them in bulkHow To Install & Uninstall Windows Programs In BulkHow To Install & Uninstall Windows Programs In BulkA mass installer or uninstaller can save you heaps of time. Remember the last time you set up a new computer? We are going to teach you how to do these tasks in a flash.Read More.

Ninite is known for its safety and security, so you don’t have to worry about malware or bundled bloatware and junkware. Run the same installer file at a later time and Ninite will automatically update every program.

This is a great tool to download the best Windows softwareThe Best PC Software for Your Windows ComputerThe Best PC Software for Your Windows ComputerWant the best PC software for your Windows computer? Our massive list collects the best and safest programs for all needs.Read More.

2. Softpedia

WOT Trustworthiness: 93%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

Softpedia is arguably the largest file host on the web, complete with over 850,000 files in its database. Hundreds of them are updated every single day, so not only can you get clean and malware-free programs7 Types of Computer Viruses to Watch Out For and What They Do7 Types of Computer Viruses to Watch Out For and What They DoMany types of computer viruses can steal or destroy your data. Here are some of the most common viruses and what they do.Read More, but you can be sure that they are as recent as possible.

On top of that, it has a fantastic reputation and an easy-to-use interface that makes it painless to browse for programs and drivers of all types—whether on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, or Windows Mobile.

3. MajorGeeks

WOT Trustworthiness: 93%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

Even though the site looks like it’s straight out of the 90s, MajorGeeks has been one of the most reputable software download sites for over 15 years. When a site has a couple thousand users online at any given time, you know it’s providing a great service.

Freeware Sites That Are Safest

Its list of Top Freeware Picks is a great place to start, but don’t be afraid to browse the left sidebar and look through all kinds of highly-rated programs that you might find handy.

4. FileHippo

WOT Trustworthiness: 93%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

FileHippo is a well-known site with over 20,000 active programs broken down into 16 helpful categories across Windows, Mac, and Web. But whatever you do, if the site offers you a download manager or anything like that, skip it and go for the direct download instead.

One thing to note is that FileHippo offers an Update Checker program, which scans your system and compares all current programs to see if any of them need to be updated. It’s the easiest way to make sure all of your software is consistently up-to-date.

5. DonationCoder

WOT Trustworthiness: 92%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

I’m Katie and this is my husband Eric, and we’re the faces behind Mountain Modern Life, where we share our passion for creating a home you love, regardless of square feet. https://marketingyellow.tistory.com/12. We’re currently traveling the US in our tiny home on wheels and our goal is to help inspire YOU to create the environment you’ve always wanted, whether that’s through design, a certain lifestyle, or a combination of both. Here you’ll find rustic modern design, DIY projects, tiny home hacks, along with RV tours, renovation tips, and inspiration.

We recently highlighted Donation Coder when we included Automatic Screenshotter in our coverage of free screen recorders for Windows3 Free Screen Recorders to Capture Your Windows Desktop3 Free Screen Recorders to Capture Your Windows DesktopYou can use a screen recorder to create tutorials, document bugs for troubleshooting, or track unsolicited activity on your desktop in your absence. Choose from one of our recommended tools.Read More. As you might glean from its name, Donation Coder prides itself on providing free and clean software in exchange for nothing but donations.

The downside to this site is that you’ll only find utilities created by Donation Coder, so the repository is small and niche. Then again, a lot of the programs are quite useful and interesting, so maybe you’ll find something that catches your eye.

6. Download Crew

Best Freeware Download Sites For Windows 10

WOT Trustworthiness: 91%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

Despite its cluttered and headache-inducing website, Download Crew is worth using because each listed program has a short but informative review that explains what it does, why it’s good, and what flaws it has.

Want to find some cool new programs? Start with the “Most Popular Downloads” section and the “Editor’s Choice” section (which you can access at the bottom of the home page). Programs are available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.

7. FileHorse

WOT Trustworthiness: 91%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

FileHorse doesn’t have a massive repository of software. Instead, this site focuses on only stocking the best and most useful programs and making sure all of them are clean and free of malware and viruses. It’s great for finding popular alternatives to popular programs.

8. FilePuma

WOT Trustworthiness: 90%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

FilePuma and the aforementioned FileHippo share a lot of similarities—and I’m not just talking about their names. Where FilePuma excels is in its categorization, which is much easier to browse than FileHippo.

FilePuma also has its own Update Detector program to keep your software up to date. Very handy if FileHippo’s tool doesn’t work well for you or if you don’t like it for some other reason.

9. SnapFiles

WOT Trustworthiness: 90%
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

There’s little to differentiate SnapFiles from other free. software download sites, but if there’s one thing I like about this one, it’s the “Daily Freeware Pick” that’s highlighted on the home page. If you check in every day, you can occasionally find some really useful tools and utilities.

Best Freeware Movie Download Sites

Where Do You download free, software?

Don’t just rely on this list! At the end of the day, staying safe on the Web involves practicing good security habits. In particular, you should heed these common-sense tips for avoiding malware.

And if you ever slip and find that your computer has been compromised, follow our guide to cleaning up malware and viruses from your system10 Steps To Take When You Discover Malware On Your Computer10 Steps To Take When You Discover Malware On Your ComputerWe would like to think that the Internet is a safe place to spend our time (cough), but we all know there are risks around every corner. Email, social media, malicious websites that have worked..Read More.

Explore more about: Download Management, Freebies, Software Piracy, Software Updater.

Best Freeware Download Sites Free Software

1. NearFile.Com is also one of the safest software downloading website. They serve direct download links for every software.

2. FOSSHub has no place on this list? Ninite, Softpedia, UptoDown, Softonic, Chocolatey downloaded from them. Popular projects use their platform, zero bundle tolerance, no malware and direct download links with no redirection. It is the only place where I get my software because I can easily compare and verify the hashes of each file.

3. Using WOT as a measuring tool is hardly a professional endorsement.
   Due to its methodology, it is easily manipulated by highly motivated but questionable raters.

4. I much prefer to only DL from author site as well as know the author reputation eg is it a legitimate company or just some dude freeware factor into the mix.

5. Donation Coder website still seems to be only HTTP even on their financial donation page. Even for a small volunteer website, this seems a bit careless in this day and age.

   • DonationCoder does not handle any of the payment process. The donation page itself leads you directly to PayPal (who will serve their content via HTTPS). The only information you send from DonationCoder to PayPal, is the currency amount - nothing more. I will, however, speak to the owner and make a point to get that page served as HTTPs as soon as possible in order to avoid any confusion/quell any concerns you have :)

6. Would be nice to know what was updated in a 2+ year old article. There needs to be some type of change log or something. When these article come out, sometimes the items mentioned no longer are in service.

   • Shareware on Sale, giveaway-club, also patchmypc has a good program for downloading and installing several free programs.

7. For software discovery, I've taken a shine to sourceforge (they have cleaned up the mess they created a few years ago). Their search and filtering is best in class - and a standard which others should aspire to. I also use github but their search/filtering is the complete opposite - a joke - so I'm forced to use DDG/Startpage and their 'site search' option.

   Also love portablefreeware (dotCom). Although a Linux user, there are still plenty of Windows programs that enhance my workflow. Portable Windows Software is a good place for USB-friendly apps and they've even added descriptions to indicate whether certain software is WINE-friendly.

8. Freewarefiles.com and free-codecs.com

9. I used to use CNET until I got burned by a virus. Since then I've been using Lo4D.com which has a good search function.

10. nice top 10 list. Also consider Softonic, soft32, fileyogi

    • Google 'Softonic Safe' before you use. I wish I had. Would have saved days worth of disaster.

11. You forgot Sourceforge, probably THE safest site to download from!!!

12. I got some kind of annoying software along with a Tucows download, a few months ago. I don't remember the details but it was sneaky and bogus.

13. Nice.. What about 'getintopc'?

14. FileHorse.com is great for finding previous versions of software. Have trusted it for years and it hasn't let me down.

15. I would like to know that where can I download or install Cinema 4D R18 free full version from any of these safe/secured websites. Because I tried downloading or installing but cannot open nor the program appears. By the way, I use Lenovo Yoga 80R5 laptop with Windows 10 OS.

16. Ninite - does not allow custom install - all installs are forced to C:
    Not a bad service, though.

17. Irony: Web of trust rating listed but it seems the service is dead. I can't find the download to reinstall it anywhere.

18. Where can I find safe game download websites for Cluefinders?
    This guide does not have any reliable answers for that kind of thing.
    Otherwise, I might have to just buy the game on Amazon for Window 10.

19. Yes: Softpedia, MajorGeeks, Betanews with FileForum, FossHub, SourceForge (after they being sold to new owner)

    No: CNET (download.com), google-search first results.

20. How about NONAGS? Been running a long time, never had any trouble with software from them. No add-ons/crapware/viruses/anything nasty.

21. How about raritysoft.com ?

22. You may want to visit these sites. Sharewareonsale(.com), bitsdujour( .com), giveawayoftheday(.com), windowsdeal(.com), and topsoftbargains(.com). They're all really awesome sites, not only for downloading free (yet premium) software's from, but the majority of them also offer great deals on select services you might enjoy.

23. freewarefiles.com is the only place I download from.

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    • Most of my downloads are from freewarefiles.com
      Pleasant new interface, clean except for all the ads. But they all have ads.
      I switch between Freewarefiles and Majorgeeks. Majorgeeks has one small drawback: they list a lot of shareware, trialware, and some demos. But they are clearly marked in the menu browser.

      Windows 2000 professional download free. This is all unified in.For a brief time during the Windows 2.x era, Microsoft considered dropping Windows in favor of.

24. Really GREAT download sites, updated constantly. That's the ONLY place I go to download files.

25. I used to use CNet exclusively, but now I've heard their stuff is full of Spyware, etc., so I'm not so confident about using them anymore. Does anyone know for sure?

    • How-to-geek came down on all the sites that added junk to freeware. The worst offenders were Cnet and Download.com, which are basically the same site.
      But recently another tech article from HTG showed that they have cleaned up their act.
      But I will still not use them. Their sites are junk and you don't know what to believe there.

26. Filehippo - love their autocheckupdate app!

27. I've gone to Download.com (http://www.download.com) run by CBS, Inc. Never even knew about these other sites. I will have to try them out.

28. I get apps from my Linux distro's repository. 100% safe and free.

29. I used Filehippo exclusively for years as well, until I ended up downloading a browser that attempted to wreak havoc on my computer! I think that Filehippo has just gotten a bit lazy about double checking the content uploaded to the site - and no, I don't use the FH download tool and I was unchecking the crapware bundles before it became cool to do so [lol] .. an example being GOM player: for the last several builds, it has come with the OpenCandy malware [or similar malware] that will install itself no matter how many boxes you uncheck during installation - and FH hasn't done anything in the way of warning a user of the site about it.

    Granted, I only had a couple of issues with FH, but that's enough to make me now use them only as a very last resort.

30. is there an Update Checker/Detecter for Windows 10?

    • There is an update checker/detector for Windows 10. It's called Secuna PSI. It scans your computer for outdated programs. And it's free!

      Because Adobe Flash Player is installed separately on computers with different operating systems. Adobe flash player for microsoft 10. Below we have provided you with various options. Not only that, but also if you use any Web Browser, you will need to download the enhanced Flash Player software for it.

    • Services like Glary Utilities update checker and KC Softwares SUMo will tell you about not only security updates, but just about all other updates to most of the software you can install. These services work just as well in Widnows 10 as in previous versions.

      As for gaining granjular control over Widnows 10 updating of Microsoft Products, fuhgettaboutit! T'aint gonna happen.

31. Let's face facts. Eventually all these sites either make money by you clicking on their ads or they're going to install trojans and whatnot into your system or at least make the installation process confusing for most to install some ride along software.

    The entire web is going to face an awakening and many sites are just going to be gone. That's my prediction.

    Enjoy it while it lasts.

    BTW most of the downloads I do are through Gizmo's which are direct links to the software makers.

    • DonationCoder.com doesn't have a single ad on their entire platform. They do not bundle any 'crap-ware' with any of their software, and everything you find on there is clean and safe. They make money from donations - donations which are NOT mandatory. Most of the software on there have extremely straightforward installation methods, and a huge amount have 'portable' options (no install required..just unzip and go).

      Source: Friend of the website & developer of several (100% free) bits of software on the site.

      Some of us are in the game because we love it, not because we want to rip people off :)

32. Ninite is my go to whenever I load a fresh copy of Windows and then when CCleaner decided to no longer be on the Ninite list, I started to grab it from Piriform.

    If it's not from those two places, it's from the original site of the download. If I need to download something that isn't from a site I trust, I download it first on one of my 'who cares' laptops - old junkers I keep around for this very reason. If they get hosed, I just blow away the OS and start over.

33. Worst sites:
    CNET or Download.net (junk, junk, junk)
    Tucows

    Filehippo has bundles crapware, despite what this article says.

    Want the real lowdown on freeware downloading, check the article at How-to Geek. A real eye opener/

    • I also count Filehippo as adware laden and no longer free of bundled crapware. Some of the other sites have ads, but only while downloading something.

      OpenCandy is not the site's fault. It is added by freeware publishers before the programs are ever posted to any download site. Of all the monetizing gimmicks, this one is one of the least intrusive and most tolerable.

34. I'll throw in downloads.zdnet.com. I've never had any negative issues with Ziff-Davis. I do like Major Geeks and Softpedia, but FileHippo messed me over somehow back a couple years ago (can't remember exactly how), so it's a no-fly-zone for me now.

    Web of Tricks lost me a long time ago. I DO enjoy WoT (World of Tanks) though. :)

    Happy day all!

35. How could you have missed freewarefiles.com???

36. Is Tucows.com still around?

    • They have adware and deceptive download buttons now.

37. If filhippo is rated safe then this testing system is flawed in my opinion. I used it excludively for several years until I got two of three unwanted software additions to my browsers and my program files.
    They've sold out in my opinion but freeware has to always be suspect anyway

    • probably you just forgot (or didn't mention) to uncheck the related checkboxes in installer..

38. I download software from Freewarefiles.com

    • The best and SAFEST out there. The site gives you 2 download options: the developer site and freewarefiles.com site, so if one does not work, the other should. GREAT site for everything freeware.

39. By necessity, I rely on the software repositories of whatever Linux distribution I am using.

    • **slowclap.gif**

    • In Linux (Ubuntu) I don't mind downloading programs or code fromsources outside the official repositories. Just as long as it's a .DEB package, it can be run through the Ubuntu Software Center, and this will filter out bad packages, blacklisted programs, and check for unmet dependencies. Just be selective as to where you find non-official Ubuntu packages.

40. VERSIONTRACKER DOWNLOAD CNET Is My Favorite Site For Free Software But They Have 2 Downloading Modes:

    A - The Complex Bundle BloatWare - No Thanks,

    B - The Simple Utility Only - I Love It.

    Cheers.

41. And what about Uptodown.com?

42. There is no sign of Softonic.com or torrent

43. I go to FindMySoft.com

44. This is totally incorrect. Using WOT just destroys your credibility. WOT is controlled by a gang of attention seekers who have caused many small sites big problems just because of four or five WOT 'gang' members. Many small sites have been ruined by WOT. I like MakeUseOf, but this article was obviously a filler and no one should trust this info.

    • @Rainy, I agree completely. I have abandoned WoT because sites that I've used for years are flagged up negatively by it. I am appalled by them. The download sites appear to be alright, as do the reader recommendations.

      • 'I have abandoned WoT because sites that I’ve used for years are flagged up negatively by it.'
        Did you ever think that those sites COULD BE unsafe in spite of nothing bad happening to you? You can jaywalk across a busy street for years without an incident, but that does not mean it is safe thing to do.

        • No. They are reputable sites and other packages such as MacAfee and Avast have not flagged them as problematic. These are reputable sites. It is as Rainy says.

        • You may not want to be so quick to put much trust in anything that Avast has to say about the safety of a website or software because they are now in the business of infecting the devices of anyone who downloads their 'anti-virus' software. If you don't believe me, download their latest version and triple check to make sure you've unchecked the optional crapware offers during the install process. Wait a few days . or a week at most . and check your desktop or 'recently installed programs', and get ready for a surprise from your friends at Avast! They have installed WITHOUT your permission, their 'web browser' onto your computer! If you STILL don't believe me, take a look at the forum on their own website or better yet, their Facebook page and see all the nice things people are saying to and about Avast!

        • Avast does not do that Web browser install without user consent. But it is opt-out. You have to uncheck it in the initial install or upgrade.

          I moved to AVG because of system performance issues with Avast, not because of their deceptions about these opt-outs.

45. I use Chocolatey.org. I've seen Filehippo hand out its own bundleware before and I don't trust it any longer.

    • Exactly. Since Hippo started messing with bundleware I switched to FileHorse.com and never looked back. Great site and really easy to use.