comparison
Marauder vs monitorrent
monitorrent is the Python tool that
pioneered this whole idea: watch a forum-tracker topic — a LostFilm or
RuTracker thread — and grab the new .torrent the moment an
uploader replaces it. It still works, and plenty of people still run it.
Its most recent release, v1.4.0, was in July 2023.
Marauder is the same idea, rebuilt in Go for 2026.
TL;DR
If you already run monitorrent and it does everything you need, there's no urgency to move. But if you want the same trackers and the same torrent clients on a modern, actively maintained stack — with encrypted credential storage, OIDC sign-in, Prometheus metrics, multi-user isolation, and Torznab/Newznab indexer support that monitorrent never had — Marauder is the natural upgrade path.
Same trackers, same clients
Marauder deliberately covers monitorrent's entire CIS tracker set — every forum tracker monitorrent ships, Marauder ships too:
It also pushes to the same download clients monitorrent supports — Transmission, Deluge, µTorrent, and qBittorrent — and adds a download-to-folder fallback for SABnzbd / NZBGet. So a migration doesn't cost you any trackers or any clients; it only adds.
What Marauder adds on top
- • Torznab and Newznab — reach the entire *arr-stack indexer ecosystem (Jackett, Prowlarr, NZBHydra2) that monitorrent never spoke.
- • Encryption at rest — tracker credentials and client configs are stored AES-256-GCM encrypted, keyed by a master key you supply.
- • OpenID Connect sign-in — drop Marauder behind Keycloak, Authentik, Authelia, or any OIDC provider.
- • Observability — a Prometheus
/metricsendpoint, structured JSON logs,/healthand/ready, and a built-in audit log. - • Multi-user — separate accounts with strict per-user data isolation, rather than a single shared install.
- • Live download tracking — the Topics view shows real per-episode progress fed back from the client by infohash, not just "sent".
Feature matrix
| Feature | monitorrent | Marauder |
|---|---|---|
| Forum-tracker topic monitoring | yes (its core job) | yes (its core job) |
| CIS forum trackers bundled | 12 | 12 (same set) |
| Torznab indexer support | no | yes (torznab plugin) |
| Newznab / Usenet indexer support | no | yes (newznab plugin) |
| Torrent clients | Transmission, Deluge, µTorrent, qBittorrent | Transmission, Deluge, µTorrent, qBittorrent + watch folder |
| Language / runtime | Python | Go (single static binary) |
| Latest release | v1.4.0 — July 2023 | v1.0.0 — 2026, active |
| AES-256-GCM encrypted credentials | no | yes |
| OpenID Connect / SSO | no | yes (Keycloak bundled) |
| Multi-user with per-user isolation | no (single user) | yes |
| Prometheus /metrics | no | yes (built-in) |
| Audit log | no | yes |
| Live per-episode download tracking | no | yes (by infohash) |
monitorrent details are from its public README and release history (latest release v1.4.0, July 2023). Marauder is in active development; see the tracker status page for which plugins are end-to-end validated versus alpha.
Switching from monitorrent
There's no automatic importer — monitorrent and Marauder use different databases — but moving over is mostly copy-paste:
- 1. Stand up Marauder with one docker compose command.
- 2. Add the same tracker accounts under Credentials.
- 3. Point Marauder at the same torrent client you already use.
- 4. Re-add each topic URL you were watching in monitorrent. Marauder resolves the title and poster automatically.
- 5. Run both in parallel for a week if you want, then retire monitorrent.
Give your monitorrent setup a 2026 rebuild
Same trackers, same clients, modern stack. Runs in one docker compose file.