Browsers don’t tend to offer a lot of download management features. If you need to grab lots of files, or very large files, on a regular basis, you’re probably going to want a few more options.

Leech is one of the most lightweight download managers you will come across, but it’s very impressive. It lets you control multiple downloads, accelerate them, limit speed if necessary, pause and resume, schedule tasks, and more.

Once the app is installed, it can be used in one of two ways. If you use Safari, you can enable the Leech extension and send downloads to the app from the direct link’s context menu. If you use another browser, you’ll have to either drag the link to the app’s window or copy and paste it there.

Whichever way you add them, URLs are sent to a queue, and you can start them whenever you wish. Multiple downloads can be started at once or in succession, with rules for how many should be run at the same time, or from the same host. Downloads can be paused and resumed at any time.

Download acceleration involves splitting a download into multiple parts and grabbing all of these at the same time. This can help increase overall speed if a server limits the rate of individual connections, and you can set the preferred number of concurrent connections.

However, keep in mind that many servers block such connections, so you won’t always be able to boost download speed this way.

If you want to download something while playing a game or watching a video, it’s sometimes a good idea to restrict its speed so as not to interfere with other processes that need some of your bandwidth. Leech allows you to do that.

If you want to schedule downloads for when you are away, you can set a time at which all pending downloads will be started.

In short, Leech has all of the main features you would expect from a download manager, and it all comes in a very lightweight and intuitive package. It even offers a Safari extension, which saves you the trouble of having to drag or copy URLs.

What's New:

Version 3.2:

New Features:

• Added new AppleScript commands: number of downloads, number of failed downloads, pause all, queue all, and cancel all.

Bug Fixes and Improvements:

• Rewrote help to match latest macOS appearance and to cover new features added since last help update, including the AppleScript commands above.

Screenshots:

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