There are plenty of free image downloaders, and they are good at different things. Here is an honest comparison of MultiScraper, gallery-dl, PixivUtil2 and Hydrus so you can pick the one that fits how you work.
At a glance
| Feature | MultiScraper | gallery-dl | PixivUtil2 | Hydrus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interface | Graphical, preview grid | Command line | Command line / basic GUI | Graphical media manager |
| Sites | kemono, pixiv, DeviantArt (one search) | Hundreds, one at a time | pixiv only | Imports files / URLs; no search UI |
| Preview before saving | Yes — keep/drop in a grid | No | No | After import |
| Multi-site in one query | Yes | No | No | No |
| Coding needed | None | Yes (CLI) | Some | None |
| AI image filter | Built in (optional, local) | No | No | No |
| Dataset export (captions, kohya) | Built in | Via config | No | No |
| Platform | Windows 10/11 | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Price | Free | Free, open source | Free, open source | Free, open source |
Which should you pick?
Choose MultiScraper if…
you want to search pixiv, DeviantArt and kemono together, see every result in one grid, and keep or drop images before anything touches disk. It is the easiest option if you do not want to use a command line, and the only one here with a built-in AI filter and dataset export.
Choose gallery-dl if…
you are comfortable on the command line and need the widest site coverage. gallery-dl supports hundreds of sites and scripts cleanly, but it downloads one source at a time and has no visual preview. Many people land here looking for a gallery-dl GUI — MultiScraper is the closest graphical equivalent for the three sites it covers.
Choose PixivUtil2 if…
you only use pixiv and want its long-standing, pixiv-specific options. It is pixiv-only and needs some setup.
Choose Hydrus if…
you want to manage and tag a large existing media library rather than search sites. Hydrus is a powerful tag database, but it is not a search-and-download tool in the same sense as the others.
All four are free. If a visual, multi-site search that previews results before saving sounds right, MultiScraper is a one-minute install.