OmniGet vs yt-dlp
OmniGet is a free, open-source (GPL-3.0) desktop app that runs yt-dlp for you. Timed on September 27, 2026 on a 37 Mbps line, OmniGet 0.10.1 and yt-dlp 2026.08.19 took the same time on a 372 MB file and a 488 MB HLS stream, yt-dlp was faster on a 1080p YouTube video (39.1 s against 47.5 s), and OmniGet downloaded all 7 free test items against 6.
Written by Antonio Leandro, who makes OmniGet. yt-dlp is described from its own repository and releases.
Short answer
Speed is a tie on large files: both filled the line, 79 s against 80 s on a 372 MB file and 112 s against 113 s on a 488 MB stream. On a 1080p YouTube video yt-dlp alone was faster, 39.1 s against 47.5 s, because OmniGet 0.10.1 reads the video page three times; the next release reads it once. The OmniGet app got all 7 free test items right, yt-dlp as installed 6 (a YouTube 403 midway through a download). yt-dlp is lighter, 84 MB of memory against 258 MB, and it is the tool for scripts and servers. OmniGet is the one for people who want a window, a queue, torrents and an extension.
Pros and cons, side by side
Written from our study of each app's repository and releases. Every row names the better app, including when it is not OmniGet.
| What matters | OmniGet | yt-dlp |
|---|---|---|
| Speed on large files | 79.1 s for 372 MB, 111.8 s for a 488 MB HLS stream | 80.2 s and 112.9 s; the same line speed |
| Speed on a YouTube video | 47.5 s for 1080p: 0.10.1 reads the video page three times | 39.1 s as installed, 35.2 s with -N 8 and aria2c |
| Getting started | Paste a link, pick a quality; yt-dlp, ffmpeg and a JavaScript runtime set up for you | Terminal flags; you install ffmpeg and deno yourself |
| Sites and sources | yt-dlp sites plus own extractors, torrents, segmented direct files, image galleries | Its extractors plus a fallback for direct media links |
| Scripts and servers | Settings, rules per channel, an MCP server for agents | Output templates, download archive, exec hooks, plugins, Python API, headless |
| Memory and footprint | 258 MB at peak; 44 MB macOS download (Apple Silicon) | 84 MB at peak; 37 MB macOS binary, 3 MB with your own Python |
OmniGet wins 2, yt-dlp wins 3, 1 tied
Download speed
What each app can do
| OmniGet | yt-dlp | |
|---|---|---|
| Playlists and channels | Yes | Yes |
| Subtitles | Yes | Yes |
| Audio only | Yes | Yes |
| Choose quality and format | Yes | Yes |
| Private and members-only videos (your login) | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | Yes | No |
| Torrents and magnet links | Yes | No |
| Direct file links | Yes | Partly |
| Queue and parallel downloads | Yes | Partly |
| Watch channels for new videos | Yes | No |
| SponsorBlock, chapters, metadata | Yes | Yes |
| AI agents and MCP | Yes | No |
What the window adds
yt-dlp downloads one link at a time per process and leaves ffmpeg, a JavaScript runtime and the flags to you. OmniGet sets those up, downloads two items at once, retries a failed download up to three times by default, and adds torrents, direct files of any type, followed channels, a browser extension that sends your login cookies, and an MCP server so Claude Code, Cursor or Codex can queue downloads.
Who wins what
-
1080p video from YouTube (135 MB), as installed
yt-dlp
yt-dlp 39.1 s · OmniGet 47.5 s
-
Direct file from download.blender.org (372 MB)
OmniGet
OmniGet 79.1 s · yt-dlp 80.2 s
-
HLS stream at 1080p (488 MB)
OmniGet
OmniGet 111.8 s · yt-dlp 112.9 s
yt-dlp is the command-line downloader most other apps are built on, OmniGet included. This page compares the engine alone with the same engine inside an app that adds a window, a queue, retries, its own extractors, torrents, a browser extension and an MCP server for AI agents.
Both ran on the same Mac, on the same network, on the same day, with a warm-up round thrown away and five timed rounds in alternating order. The content is free: Blender open movies on YouTube, PeerTube and download.blender.org, a Creative Commons album on the Internet Archive and a public HLS test stream. OmniGet was the published 0.10.1 app, driven through its MCP server. yt-dlp was 2026.08.19 from Homebrew, once as installed and once with the speed flags its README documents, -N 8 and aria2c.
Download size and packages
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OmniGet is a desktop app
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The apps in this benchmark
Large files: the line is the limit
On the 372 MB direct file and the 488 MB HLS stream every tool took within a few seconds of the others, and the gaps were smaller than the spread between rounds. On a 37 Mbps line one connection is already enough to fill it, so parallel fragments, aria2c and OmniGet's segmented downloader have nothing left to win. On a faster line or a server that limits each connection the result could change; this test does not show that case.
YouTube: why yt-dlp alone was faster
OmniGet 0.10.1 asks yt-dlp for the video details first, runs it again to check which subtitles exist, and only then starts the download, which extracts the page a third time. That costs about eight seconds on a 1080p video and fourteen on a short audio track. OmniGet also embeds the cover and the tags by default, which rewrites the file with ffmpeg. The main branch already reuses the first answer for the download and for the subtitle check; this page will be measured again when that release is out.
Memory and CPU
At the peak OmniGet used 258 MB and about one full core, yt-dlp 84 MB and a third of a core. The extra page reads explain part of it, and the thumbnail and tag embedding the rest. On a small server or an old laptop that difference matters; on a desktop it rarely does.
Which one should you pick?
- Choose OmniGet if you want to paste a link and get the file, with a queue, automatic retries, torrents, direct files, a browser extension and an MCP server, without learning flags or installing ffmpeg yourself.
- Choose yt-dlp if you script your downloads, run them on a server, NAS or cron job, need output templates, a download archive or exec hooks, or want the lightest option on any system Python runs on.
Other yt-dlp alternatives
Free, open-source apps that do some of what yt-dlp does.
- Open-source yt-dlp GUIs compared Every desktop app we track, ordered by GitHub stars, with its license, latest release and who it suits.
- OmniGet vs ezytdl Electron front end for yt-dlp with advanced options. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs Media Downloader Qt/C++ front end for several download engines, including yt-dlp, gallery-dl and aria2c. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs SCrawler Windows app that saves media from social sites and user profiles. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs Videomass Cross-platform FFmpeg front end for batch conversion with presets; it removed its yt-dlp downloader in version 6.1.12. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs Vividl Windows front end for yt-dlp built with WPF. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs Hindsight Agent memory system by Vectorize: retain, recall and reflect over a memory bank, as a server with Postgres or embedded in Python. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs aria2 Command-line download utility for HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent and Metalink, with many connections per file. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs you-get Command-line downloader written in Python that scrapes media from web pages. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs youtube-dl The original command-line video downloader that yt-dlp was forked from. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs Open Video Downloader Cross-platform yt-dlp front end built with Tauri and Vue, with a very small installer. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs Parabolic yt-dlp front end with a native interface: WinUI on Windows and GNOME on Linux, published on Flathub. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs VidBee Electron app built on yt-dlp that also makes local transcripts, AI summaries and RSS subscriptions. Compared with OmniGet
- OmniGet vs ytDownloader Electron yt-dlp app with a clip trimmer and a video compressor, on many app stores. Compared with OmniGet
- youtube-dl on GitHub The original command-line video downloader that yt-dlp was forked from.
- Media Downloader on GitHub Qt/C++ front end for several download engines, including yt-dlp, gallery-dl and aria2c.
- YTSage on GitHub yt-dlp front end written in Python and PySide6, with SponsorBlock and subtitles.
Where OmniGet still loses
We publish this on purpose. It is the list we work from to make OmniGet better.
- YouTube overhead: OmniGet 0.10.1 has yt-dlp read the video page three times (details, a subtitle check, then the download), so a 1080p video took 47.5 s against 39.1 s, and a 4 MB audio track 18 s against 4 s. The main branch reuses the first read for the other two; it ships in the next release.
- Memory and CPU: 258 MB and about one full core at the peak, against 84 MB and a third of a core for yt-dlp alone. Part of it is the extra yt-dlp runs and the cover art and tags OmniGet embeds by default.
- Scripts and servers: no output templates, download archive, exec hooks or config files in the app. yt-dlp runs headless on any machine with Python.
- Platforms: yt-dlp ships Windows on ARM, 32-bit Windows and Linux musl and ARM builds and runs on BSD through Python; OmniGet has none of those.
Trying OmniGet costs nothing
OmniGet downloads and updates yt-dlp by itself and saves to normal folders, so you can keep using yt-dlp in the terminal and use OmniGet for the rest. Nothing to migrate.
Method
Run it yourself
node scripts/bench/speed.mjs --slug omniget-vs-yt-dlp --tools omniget-app,omniget-cli,yt-dlp,yt-dlp-tuned --rounds 5 --warmup 1 --startup Data licensed CC BY 4.0: reuse it freely with a link to this page.
Sources
Questions
Is OmniGet just a GUI for yt-dlp?
Partly. yt-dlp is the engine for most sites, and OmniGet adds a window, a queue with retries, its own extractors for sites like Instagram, TikTok and Bilibili, torrents, direct files, a browser extension and an MCP server. For a list of other yt-dlp front ends, see the yt-dlp GUI roundup.
Is OmniGet faster than yt-dlp?
Not on YouTube with OmniGet 0.10.1: a 1080p video took 47.5 s against 39.1 s for yt-dlp as installed. On a 372 MB direct file and a 488 MB HLS stream the two tied, because both filled a 37 Mbps line.
How do I make yt-dlp download faster?
Add -N 8 for parallel fragments and --downloader aria2c for plain files. In this test that took the YouTube video from 39.1 s to 35.2 s and changed nothing on the large file and the HLS stream, where the line was the limit. OmniGet uses -N 8 by default.
Is yt-dlp safe?
Yes, when it comes from the official GitHub releases, PyPI or a package manager such as Homebrew; the releases publish SHA-256 sums. OmniGet downloads yt-dlp from those releases and checks the sum before using it.
Do I need ffmpeg and deno for yt-dlp?
For most YouTube downloads, yes: ffmpeg joins the separate video and audio, and a JavaScript runtime such as deno is needed for YouTube. OmniGet sets both up for you.
Why does yt-dlp take so long to start on my Mac?
The single-file yt-dlp_macos build unpacks itself on every run: on this Mac it took about 14 seconds just to print its version. The yt-dlp_macos.zip build started in 0.16 s and the Homebrew one in 0.3 s. Use one of those if every command feels slow to begin.
Is there a yt-dlp alternative that still works on YouTube?
youtube-dl, the project yt-dlp forked from, has not had a release since 2021. OmniGet uses yt-dlp itself and keeps it updated. Other desktop options, such as Parabolic and Open Video Downloader, are compared on their own pages.
Other benchmarks
Try OmniGet 1.0.0
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