Just like we did last year, today we want to share with you our six-month barometer of software downloads on Uptodown, this time for the period between January and June 2014. This ranking shows the most downloaded programs for Windows through our platform, and at the same time supplies additional information on market trends.

Our study covers the more than 50 million downloads done at global level through our portal, which comprises 12 localized versions of the site in different languages. With regards to software origin, some 34% of the programs come from U.S. developers, accounting for 26% of total downloads, followed by China and Russia, which make up 9% and 6% respectively. In addition, if you group the European countries into a single developers’ bloc, they make up 21% of the total.

uptodown-2014-EN

With regards to the type of programs downloaded, 40% of the total volume corresponds to communication and file-transfer software, ranging from exchange and P2P downloads programs to IM services to tools for auditing WiFi networks. The next chunk of the total is made up of video games in both the freeware and increasingly popular free-to-play formats, making up 20% of the total downloads. Of the remaining groups, cleaning tools and multimedia players stand out.

With regard to the business models of the downloaded software, 87% are offered free, with their main source of income being integrated ads and free donations via the creators’ websites, not to mention in-app purchases of extra features. Only 10% of the downloaded programs were trial versions.

All this brings us to two main conclusions: 1) that the freemium model is now a fully institutionalized reality and 2) that the world of free software is gaining ever more traction among users, with free alternatives to commercial software in almost every sphere. The trend seen in the world of smartphone apps has made the jump to desktop tools, as you can clearly see in these data.

Here are the Top 25 program downloads for Windows:

  1. Tube Catcher
  2. Ares
  3. AdwCleaner
  4. uTorrent
  5. Origin
  6. Cheat Engine
  7. WIFI Auditor
  8. CCleaner
  9. Mobogenie
  10. MediaGet
  11. Router Keygen
  12. Mozilla Firefox
  13. Hamachi
  14. VLC Media Player
  15. Sony Ericsson Update Service
  16. Total Video Converter
  17. GTA: San Andreas Liberty City
  18. DAEMON Tools
  19. GTA San Andreas Hot Coffee
  20. Aircrack-ng
  21. Ares Destiny
  22. Skype
  23. Google Chrome
  24. Photoscape
  25. Adobe Flash Player

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