We've partnered with the Internet Archive to keep the site's legacy alive. Feeling Nostalgic? You can visit the entire download library here.
We've grown from a shareware site to a stable of businesses, all committed to making the Internet better.
Learn more about us and how our companies contribute to our belief in keeping the Internet open and keeping people connected.
Tucows' companies include Tucows Domains, Ting Internet, and Wavelo.
We have made the difficult decision to retire the Tucows Downloads site. We’re pleased to say that much of the software and other assets that made up the Tucows Downloads library have been transferred to our friends at the Internet Archive for posterity.
The shareware downloads bulletin board system (BBS) that would become Tucows Downloads was founded back in 1993 on a library computer in Flint, MI. What started as a place for people in the know to download software became the place to download software on the burgeoning Internet. Far more quickly than anyone could have imagined.
A lot has changed since those early years. Tucows has grown and evolved as a business. It’s been a long time since Tucows has been TUCOWS, which stood for The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software.
Today, Tucows is the second-largest domain name registrar in the world behind Go Daddy and the largest wholesaler of domain names in the world with customers like Shopify and other global website builder platforms. Hover offers domain names and email at retail to help people brand their life online. OpenSRS (and along the way our acquisitions of Enom, Ascio and EPAG) are the SaaS platforms upon which tens of thousands of customers have built their own domain registration businesses, registering tens of millions of domains on behalf of their customers. Ting Internet is building fiber-optic networks all over the U.S. At the same time, we’re building the Mobile Services Enabler SaaS platform that is powering DISH’s entry into the US mobile market.
Point is, we’re keeping busy.
For the past several years, history, well sentimentality, has been the only reason to keep Tucows Downloads around. We talked about shutting the site down before. Most seriously in 2016 when instead, we decided to go ad-free, keeping the site up as a public service.
Today is different. Tucows Downloads is old. Old sites are a maintenance challenge and therefore a risk. Maintaining the Tucows Downloads site pulls people away from the work that moves our businesses forward.
Tucows Downloads has had an incredible run. Retiring it is the right move but that doesn’t alter the fact that it will always hold a special place in hearts and our story. We’re thankful to the thousands of software developers who used Tucows Downloads to get their software in front of millions of people, driving billions of downloads over more than 25 years.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Elliot Noss
CEO, Tucows
It was the place to find not only software, but activities for kids, music, wallpapers, themes, web services and more, all run through virus scans and reviewed, making us a trusted source for downloads.
In the early days, we were excited about what the Internet could become and we earnestly wanted to improve the online experience of new explorers.
Tucows was ahead of its time, with mirrors located all around the world ensuring the quick transfer of files. It was a site others, like Downloads.com and Softpedia, emulated. You could even say that Google Play and the Apple Store have integrated some of Tucows' tried-and-true tactics for distributing software.
Times changed and the ways people found and installed software changed too. Then there were the increasing complexities due to security and accessibility issues. Thus, the difficult decision was made to retire the Downloads site.
We set out to improve the online experience of new explorers, and we’re continuing to do just that with each of our businesses; Ting, Wavelo and Tucows Domains.
As we say goodbye to an era, let's take a moment to think about what that means for them and future generations, and how we, right now, can make the most impact with our work.
If you’re a developer who used the Tucows Author Resource Center (ARC) as part of your software dissemination, to buy code signing or other services, we’re happy to help with the transition.
Any certificates purchased through ARC remain valid. If you’re looking to buy or renew code signing certificates, we invite you to go straight to the source; Sectigo was our supplier and will be happy to be yours too.
Feel free to reach out to us at help@tucows.com if we can help with anything at all.
