Boo Downloader vs Internet Download Manager
IDM is a general-purpose download accelerator with a browser video grabber bolted on. Boo is a media downloader and nothing else. That difference explains almost everything below.
The short answer
Choose IDM if you want a fast general-purpose download manager for files of every kind, integrated into your browser. Choose Boo if what you actually download is video and audio, especially in bulk or from playlists.
Internet Download Manager has been a fixture on Windows for a very long time, and it is genuinely good at what it was built for: splitting any download into parallel segments and resuming broken transfers. Video grabbing came later, through a browser extension that spots media on a page. Boo approaches the same task from the other end — it understands the sites themselves rather than intercepting the stream.
What Internet Download Manager is
IDM installs on Windows and integrates with your browser, catching downloads and accelerating them by segmenting the transfer. Its video panel appears over media it detects on a page. It is sold as a one-time licence with a trial period.
Side by side
| Feature | Boo Downloader | Internet Download Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Video and audio from media sites | Any file, accelerated |
| How it finds media | Understands the site directly | Detects streams in the browser |
| Supported sites | 1300+ handled explicitly | Whatever it can detect playing |
| Playlist / channel download | Expands and lets you pick | Limited — page by page |
| Batch of mixed links | Paste any number, any mix of sites | Batch by URL pattern |
| Quality selection | Explicit menu up to 8K | Whatever variant it captured |
| Audio extraction | MP3, M4A, Opus, WAV | Not a core feature |
| Browser required | No — paste a link | Yes, via extension |
| General file downloads | No | Yes, and fast |
| Media library | Searchable, with thumbnails | Transfer list |
Where Boo is the better pick
Playlists work properly
Expand a channel, tick what you want, and let it run — rather than opening every video in turn.
You choose the quality
Ask for 4K or 1080p explicitly, instead of accepting whichever stream the browser happened to be playing.
No browser in the loop
Paste a link into the app. Nothing to install into Chrome, nothing to break on a browser update.
Where Internet Download Manager is the better pick
Genuinely. If any of these matter to you, use theirs.
- Downloading any kind of file, not just media
- Raw speed on large single transfers through segmentation
- Resuming broken downloads on unreliable connections
- Tight browser integration if that is how you like to work
- A cheaper one-time price
Pick Boo Downloader if…
Most of what you download is video or audio, and often more than one at a time.
Pick Internet Download Manager if…
You download all sorts of files and want them all to arrive faster.
What each one costs
Boo Downloader
Free plan; Pro by subscription or one-time lifetime licence.
Internet Download Manager
Paid licence after a trial period.
IDM is typically a cheaper one-time purchase than Boo's lifetime licence. Check internetdownloadmanager.com for current pricing.
Questions people actually ask
Can IDM download playlists?
Only in a limited way. Because it works by detecting media playing in your browser, a playlist generally means visiting each video. Boo expands the playlist itself and queues the items you tick.
Is Boo faster than IDM?
For a single large file, probably not — segmented acceleration is exactly what IDM was built for. For forty videos, Boo is usually faster overall because it runs five at a time without you supervising it.
Do I need both?
Plenty of people run both: IDM for general files, Boo for media. They do not conflict.
Decide with the app open
The free plan costs nothing and needs no account. Ten downloads a day at 1080p, across all 1300+ sites.