The Best Usenet Downloading App

  • My pick for the best Usenet Client is: SABnzbd (Windows, Mac and Linux)
  • On Android, the best client is PowerNZB — see my review here
  • Another popular client is NZBGet — this client is a bit lighter on system resources than SABnzbd.

SABnzbd: A Free Usenet Downloading App

SABnzbd is a reliable Usenet downloading application that uses multiple connections for speed.

SABnzbd is free and it’s available for Linux, Macs, Windows, and NAS Devices. It runs as a mini webserver on your computer. Once installed, you can visit the local URL “http://localhost:8080/sabnzbd/” in a web browser to access the application. You can then click on the “Config” button, followed by the “Servers” tab, and enter your Usenet subscription information. The full “Quick Start” instructions for SABnzbd are here.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can get an extension NZB Unity, which makes sending NZB files to SABnzbd easier (an NZB file contains a pointer to files available on Usenet). You can also set SABnzbd to watch a folder, and start downloading when you drop an NZB file into that folder.

If you use Chrome, you can use this plug-in: SABConnect++

Sonarr: An Automatic Usenet Downloader

Sonarr (formerly NZBDrone) is an app that will perform daily automated downloads for you. It’s available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. It can also automate torrent downloads.

I find that Sonarr makes the download process unnecessarily complicated, but others may still enjoy it.

Fast Usenet Downloads: Get A Reliable Usenet Provider

If you don’t have a Usenet provider, I recommend UsenetExpress See my article The Best Usenet Providers for more details.

28 thoughts on “The Best Usenet Downloading App”

  1. I’d looking for a news/NNTP tool/app from which I can query remote NNTP/news servers for
    Xref, Injection-Info and Message-ID NNTP headers which would return me more info
    any ideas ?

    1. In order to facilitate the transfer of NZB files to SABnzbd, the NZB Unity plugin for the Firefox browser is provided (an NZB file contains a pointer to files available on Usenet). SABnzbd may also be configured to keep an eye on a certain folder and begin downloading the contents as soon as a NZB file is deposited into that location.

  2. Privacy preferred

    Those seem like they are not newsreaders, only binpost downloaders.

    I came here looking for a better newsreader for participating in actual discussions.

  3. Hi there. Could somebody please send me an invite to NZB.to please?
    I would really appreciate it as I need high reseluted german content like Blu Ray’s HD and UHD.
    Thanks much in advance.

    1. Forté Agent is still under active development: http://forteinc.com/

      I’ve been using it since the mid-’80s when I ran a usenet node under Xenix with the old netnews shell-script based nntp server and uucp transfer protocol.

    1. Newsleecher is now free to use, but unfortunately it doesn’t have the speed of other clients. I have a gigabit connection and Newsleecher can barely handle 300 Mbit without choking. I use to use Forte Agent long ago and saw that they have a free trial so tried it again. Same thing.*choke* Grabbit is the same. Right now I am using nzbget and get full gigabit speed.

  4. I used SABnzbd for the last two years and was very happy with it’s performance and intuitive interface. I like the API interface for Couchpotato and SickBeard (although I switched to SickRage). I recently started using NZBGet and I’ve been so happy with it that I think I’m going to stick with it. You should check it out.

  5. Newsflash Plus has support for both headers and nzb based downloads. Comes with built-in integration for RSS and Searching (based on Newznab) and system integration. Runs both on Windows and Linux.

  6. What is the best Usenet Reader? Paid or Free. Which is the best? I see free readers. Those are definitely not the best. I see Binreader v1.0 recommended. It has not been updated in years. Who cares about free if it is so far behind?

  7. The best usenet client is NewsReactor. It supports NZB and multi-channel download from a server whereas many clients only make 1 or 2 connections.

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