Don’t you wish to have all your favorite television shows and serials downloaded for you in one place? Well, we most certainly do.
If you do too, then you must get familiar with Sonarr. With Sonarr, you will have all your all-time favorite binge-worthy television serials downloaded and organized in a single place, and even have automatic downloads of any newly released episodes.
How cool is that?
But, there’s a lot more about Sonarr you must know. In this article, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about this platform, as well as its features, pros and cons, price, and other alternatives to Sonarr that you can use.
What is Sonarr?
Sonarr is a platform that lets Usenet and BitTorrent users download their all-time favorite shows and seasons in one place.
It basically uses the torrent network as the source. Not just this, it also organizes media libraries of users, by automating your TV downloads from public and private trackers.
Sonarr also makes sure to organize what it actually downloads, by storing them in your desired folder, and renaming those downloaded episodes how you would normally name them. The best part is, it also automatically downloads any newly released episodes for you, and also shows you a calendar of when your shows are going to be aired.
Hence, if you’re one of those who love watching a lot of television shows, and are the binge-watching type, then you should definitely have this intuitive tool at your disposal.
Installation & Configuration
Now, in this part of the article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about how to install Sonarr, as well as its configurations.
Setting up Sonarr is actually pretty simple. The best part is, it is available on major platforms, such as Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, and so on.
First things first, you will need to install and download Sonarr on your computer or laptop, just like how you would install any program. Then, when it has finished installing, launch this program. When Sonarr is running on your computer or laptop, let it run in the background.
Now, the configuration of Sonarr is pretty complicated…
Now, head over to the Settings menu, and head over to Media Management. Make the following changes:
- Switch Rename Episodes to Yes
- Change Season Folder Format to Season {season:00}
- Change Create empty series folders to Yes
- Change Ignore Deleted Episodes to Yes
Now that you have altered your Media Management settings, here’s how to actually use Sonarr:
- Click on the Add Series button
- Search for any television show you’d want to download
- Click on Select Path
- Set up your desired storage space
- Click on the green checkmark when done
Remember- you can change the Starting Season to whatever you would like to start watching, or even choose to start from Season 1.
Features
Here are all the features of Sonarr you must know about:
- Attractive User Interface
- Works on numerous Operating Systems, such as Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, etc.
- Automatic upgrading of videos, for example, DVD to Blu-Ray
- Detects and downloads newly-released episodes
- Renames episodes itself
- Full integration with SABnzbd, NZBGet, Kodi, Plex (notification, library update, metadata)
- Scans your media library for any missing downloads and automatically downloads them
- Supports multi-episode releases
- And a beautiful U
Sonarr – Pros and Cons
Now, this section is going to cover the ultimate pros and cons for Sonarr, so you can better determine if this software is right for you or not.
Let’s first take a look at the pros of Sonarr…
Pros
- Supports different OS, such as Windows, Mac OS, and so on
- Numerous features that make downloading easy
- Self-renaming downloaded episodes
- Scans media library
- Download missing episodes itself
- Notifies users about newly-released episodes
- Automatically downloads newly released episodes
- Calendar feature
- Notifies why a particular file was not downloaded
- Automatically upgrades downloaded videos, for instance, DVD to Blu-ray
Now, for the cons…
Cons
- Complicated configurations
- Not suitable for beginners
- Advances settings
- Sometimes refuses to download particular files
Price
Now, as far as the price of Sonarr is concerned, let us tell you that Sonarr is free to use for everyone. This means it also requires no registration either.
But, you can give donations to the developers to improve their UI and software, if you’re willing to!
Alternatives to Sonarr
Wait, this article doesn’t end just yet.
We’re going to introduce you to several alternatives to Sonarr that you can use.
Sure, Sonarr is great, but isn’t too great for beginners and those wanting to download their favorite shows and seasons in a more straightforward and simple way…
So, here they are:
Y2mate DRM Downloader
This is the first downloader that we think is the best alternative to Sonarr. Y2mate DRM Downloader is a powerful downloading tool loaded with countless features to assist you with easy and straightforward downloading. As far as the price is concerned, you can choose the Monthly subscription for $9.99, and the Yearly subscription for $99.
Features
- Easy to user
- No complicated configurations or settings
- High-quality videos up to full HD 1080p
- Fast downloading
- Bulk download feature for downloading numerous episodes in one go
- Metadata function
- Customizable subtitles
- Watch and download videos simultaneously
Website
https://y2mate.ch/
KeepStreams Downloader
KeepStream is another good alternative to Sonarr. The best part is, KeepStreams is absolutely free to use!
Features
- Easy to use software
- Clean UI
- No complicated settings or configurations desired
- No restriction or limits to the number of downloads
- Batch Mode, to help download numerous episodes in one go
- Fast Mode, which drastically reduces the downloading time
- High-quality downloads downloaded
- Removes ads from videos
- Customizable subtitles, which are saved as SRT or remux them into video
Website
https://keepstreams.com/
MyStream Downloader
Here’s another helpful and intuitive downloader you can use to download practically any videos you wish to download. As far as the pricing of MyStream is concerned, it is available for users for $6.9 only.
Features
- Very easy to use
- Straightforward and clean UI
- No complicated settings
- Customizable language and subtitles
- Metadata automatically downloaded
- High audio and video quality of 1080p with AAC
- Highly compatible file format of MP4
Website
https://flvto.ch/en7/
BBFly Downloader
Here’s yet another downloading software for you to use for downloading pretty much any video you desire from the internet. This powerful downloader is incredibly easy to use and is able to download very high video qualities.
Features
- User-friendly software
- Simple to use
- Clean UI
- Not complicated configurations
- High-quality resolution of videos of up to 1080 p
- Fast downloading speed
- Several subtitles and dubbing to choose from
Website
https://birdbirdfly.com/
FlixPal Downloader
FlixPal is another perfect, and less complicated, alternative to Sonarr. It is filled with multiple features to help make downloading all your desired videos much easier. If we talk about the pricing, you can choose one of the three subscription plans- A monthly subscription for $19.9, a Yearly subscription for $59.9, and a Bi-annual subscription for only $39.9.
Features
- Easy to use
- Clean UI
- No complicated settings or configurations
- Incredible downloading speed- downloads a 2 hour long movie in 10 minutes
- Compatible MP4 file format
- Numerous customizable subtitles and dubbing
- Subtitles are saved as external SRT files
Website
https://flixpal.org/
Duckie TV
Keeping up with all your favorite television shows and seasons has been made easier with Duckie TV. This software has a variety of features for easy and straightforward downloading. The best part is, Duckie TV is free to download and use as well.
Features
- Excellent UI
- Easy to use
- No complicated settings required
- Runs as standalone software or Chrome plug-in
- Automatic download of television programs being aired
- Create personalized tv-show calendars
- Upload your own pictures and videos
- See fresh content on your stream
- Keeps all information up-to-date
- Instant access to the Torrent client features
- Gives users an integrated blocking-resistant torrent search
- Adjust display, language, date, backup, calendar, Torrent integration
Website
http://duckietv.github.io/DuckieTV
FlexGet
FlexGet is another great alternative to Sonarr, especially if you’re really into watching many shows regularly.
Features
- Custom plugins support
- Directly integrates users with Deluge, transmission, uTorrent, rTorrent, SABnzb, and more
- Track your shows and series with trakt.tv, thetvdb.com or imdb.com
- Handle scheduling directly
- Automatic scheduling, searching, downloading
- All kinds of content processing
Website
TED
Ted Downloader is another incredibly helpful online downloader to help you download your desired videos, on your desired devices. Because it is an online downloader, you don’t need to install this software.
Features
- Easy to use
- No installation required
- Easy Copy and Paste URL feature
- No need to set complicated configurations
Website
Jackett
If you’re into television shows and Torrent, then Jacket is totally for you. Jackett supports your favorite Torrent Trackers and includes various features to make downloading more convenient and easier for you.
Features
- Easy to use
- Clean UI
- Support for more than 400 torrent sites (public and private).
- Supports different software, such as Windows, Linux, macOS, and so on
- Translates queries from apps such as Sonarr, Radarr, SickRage, DuckieTV, qBittorrent, etc into tracker-site-specific HTTP queries
Website
https://github.com/Jackett/Jackett
Final Words
Let’s have a quick recap of all we talked about in this article.
We first introduced you to Sonarr, to make downloading all your favorite television shows much easier. Then, we introduced you to several alternatives to Sonarr, to make it easier for you to determine the best.
We found Y2mate DRM downloader the best alternative to Sonarr. That’s mainly because this downloader does not require any complicated settings or configurations unlike Sonarr does. Also, this tool is perfect for beginners, and for those who are less tech-savvy.