SickBeard vs SickRage is a topic that has gained traction in the recent times due to the growth of SickRage, a Sick Beard fork that is seeing superfast development with some cool extra features. Both SickBeard and SickRage are video file managers or personal video recorders (PVR) that download your favorite Shows automatically (when they become available) and organize them. Frankly, I have never messed with my SickBeard setup as it has been working flawlessly for 2 years now. I even did a SickBeard vs NzbDrone comparison and installed NzbDrone for a while. But later came back to SickBeard because it just worked. NzbDrone looked awesome but the difficulty in setting it up and making it work was a challenge. SickRage is an enticing alternative to SickBeard because it looks and functions similar to Sick Beard but brings several interesting features on-board. So for my own benefit and for my readers I decided to do a quick SickBeard vs SickRage comparison.
Since we have already covered SickBeard extensively, this SickBeard vs SickRage comparison will mainly focus on SickRage features that make it a viable competitor to SickBeard. SickRage vs SickBeard, searches both TVDB and TVRage and so there is little to no chance that it may miss any shows that you might like to add. So if SickBeard is having trouble handling a show you like then try SickRage. Listed below are more specific SickBeard vs SickRage comparisons.
While this is a minor item, SickRage brings a way better user interface than SickBeard. I find it a lot more organized. In comparison, SickBeard's interface looks a bit plain.
Sickbeard Web Interface
Torrents Integration
SickRage compared to SickBeard, offers awesome torrent support out-of-the-box. In spite of the advantages of Usenet over torrents, if you do not want to get into Usenet, definitely give SickRage a try. It supports uTorrent, Transmission, Deluge, Synology DS, and rTorrent, making it easy to pass downloads to your favorite torrent client.
Sickrage Torrent Support
Search Providers
Compared to SickBeard, SickRage offers a lot more search providers. As explained above, this includes a lot more torrent providers too.
Sickrage Search Providers
Support for Subtitles
To me this is one of the best advantages of SickRage over SickBeard. SickRage includes a simple subtitle downloader with support for several of the subtitle databases. Just enable subtitle download and SickRage should download appropriate subtitle automatically.
Sickrage Subtitle Support
Failed Download Handling
SickRage vs SickBeard allows better failed downloading handling. It attempts to snatch a different release and excludes failed releases from future snatch attempts. This not only ensures successful download but also reduced your Usenet bandwidth usage on future downloads, which makes SickRage a better alternative to SickBeard. [Read:5 Best Usenet Search providers for Sick Beard and CouchPotato]
Automatic Updates
One of the drawbacks of SickBeard was the need for manual update. Recently, I showed you how to overcome this and auto update SickBeard. But on SickRage this is a non-issue as it allows for silent automatic SickRage app updates in the background. Keep in mind that automatic updates to new releases as soon as they become available can be a bit risky due to unexpected bugs.
Sickrage Automatic Updates
Encrypted Passwords
Both SickBeard and SickRage allow HTTPS access, which is offers a bit more privacy. But unlike SickBeard, which stores all web interface passwords as plaintext, SickRage gives you the option to encrypt the passwords, further improving security. [Read:Get notified of Dognzb, NZB.su, and OMGWTFNZBs invite availability]
Sickrage Encrypt Password
Backup and Restore
In the SickBeard vs SickRage comparison, if you still don't have a clear leader then this should help you out. SickRage allows you to backup and restore your SickRage database and settings. So if you have to move your SickRage installation to a new machine or want to mess with current installation you can easily backup your database and configuration with just a few clicks.
Sickrage Backup And Restore
Miscellaneous Features
There are a lot more unique features in SickRage compared to SickBeard. Here are few more key feature differences:
SickRage allows "Require words" option in search settings for better filtering by language, releases, encoding, etc.
Better and easier post processing extra scripts handling on SickRage vs SickBeard
SickRage, apart from Twitter and Trakt, allows email notifications too
Sick Rage allows in-place video quality upgrades (SD to HD)
More control over episode processing method - Copy, Move, Hard Link or Symlink
Support for Sports shows
Autoamtic XEM scene numbering/naming for seasons/episodes
Option to set the file date to the actual air date of an episode
For the answer to SickBeard SickRage comparison is quite clear. I tried NzbDrone (or now known as Sonarrr). I liked it but I felt at home with SickBeard (except the lack of subtitle support and automatic updates). SickRage has a better WebUI and also adds several other neat features. So in the coming days I will be moving to SickRage. If you are new to this, I would say start with either SickRage or Sonarr. If you are already using SickBeard then do not hesitate to migrate to SickRage. I will be publishing guides on how to install SickRage and how to move from SickBeard to SickRage, shortly. So hang tight. This comparison is not meant to be a ding on SickBeard. If not for SickBeard there may not be a SickRage. At this point of time, SickRage is developing faster with newer features. I hope this SickBeard vs SickRage comparison helped you.
Anand is a self-learned computer enthusiast, hopeless tinkerer (if it ain't broke, fix it), a part-time blogger, and a Scientist during the day. He has been blogging since 2010 on Linux, Ubuntu, Home/Media/File Servers, Smart Home Automation, and related HOW-TOs.
