10 Best Free Driver Updater Tools (2023)

Our Top Picks

Driver Booster

Driver Booster is the best option. It's always the tool I use on my computers and what I recommend first to anyone wanting one of these programs. It's compatible with allversions of Windowsand makes updating drivers simple because it does all the heavy lifting for you.

It runs automatically to find outdated drivers, and with support for over 6 million drivers (8 million if you pay) from over one thousand brands, there's a good chance it'll find what you need. I love that when new updates appear, they're downloaded from inside the program, so I can avoid having to get them manually from each manufacturer's website.

Before installing a driver, you can see how the new version compares with the currently installed driver, which is helpful. The program creates a restore point before installing a driver in the event something goes wrong with the installation.

There's also an offline updater built-in. It works by exporting information from your non-working PC so you can get the network driver from a working computer. Read Driver Booster's offline driver updater instructions for all the details.

Other functions are available, too: roll back drivers, uninstall drivers, ignore drivers, export a list of drivers to a text file, use Game Boost to release system resources, and view system information details.

Driver Booster works in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

Snappy Driver Installer

Snappy Driver Installer lets you download several drivers at once for many types of devices. After they're downloaded, the program gives you immediate access to install the updates—with or without an internet connection.

After using it a while, I can say the app itself is fairly simple, but it's still strangely hard to use because of the way it's set up. Right-clicking a driver provides extra options like showing alternative drivers, copying the hardware ID, and locating the driver's INF file. I suggest using the Snappy Driver Installer Origin Forum if you're struggling to learn how the program works.

A few things I like are that there are no advertisements, it doesn't limit download speeds, it can run directly from a portable location like a flash drive, and it can install as many drivers as necessary without any limitations.

I used it to install drivers in Windows 11, but it also works if you have an older version like Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP.

Driver Talent

Driver Talent (previously calledDriveTheLife) is a straightforward program that downloads device drivers so that you don't have to search the internet for official download links.

This application not only updates outdated and missing drivers, but also fixes corrupted ones and backs up all your installed drivers. A Peripheral Drivers area of the program calls out printer and USB drivers, telling you very clearly if they're installed and working normally.

The size of a driver as well as its release date and version number are displayed before starting a download to verify you're getting what you're after. This isn't a feature unique to Driver Talent, but I do really like to see it.

An alternative version includes network drivers and works offline, which is perfect if you need to install drivers but don't have the proper network driver installed. This has been indispensable for me after a few new Windows installations couldn't get online without the network driver. There's also a basic hardware information utility that you can access from the program's Tools menu.

It works with Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

DriversCloud

DriversCloud (previously called Ma-Config) is a free web service that locates detailed information about your hardware and software, including outdated drivers. You can see it's not my first pick, but I add it to the list because of its wealth of system information; it's a good program if you want more than just driver details.

After installing and opening the program, go to Advanced detection > Online detection > Launch detection to identify all your computer's components and their associated drivers. Once the scan completes, all the results open in your web browser. Choosing Detect all my drivers from the menu, and then See my latest drivers on that page takes you where you need to be.

Once you reach the driver page, there's an option called See Recommended Downloads. This is what I recommend using because it provides a single executable that you can launch to install all the drivers you chose from the web page. However, there's also a manual option where you download each driver update one at a time, but then installation is also manual.

This program runs on Windows.

Driver Easy

Driver Easy is unique in that it can check for outdated drivers automatically based on a schedule. This is super handy. It means I can set it up so my PC is scanned daily, weekly, monthly, when the PC is idle, or even every time I first log on to Windows.

Unlike some similar apps, this program downloads drivers from inside the software without opening an external web browser. It boasts a database of over 8 million drivers.

There are additional features, too, like viewing hardware information and identifying the network driver you need if you're offline. Other features, however, might look free but are actually available only if you pay, such as automatic restore point creations, driver backups, and bulk updating.

Driver Easy should work fine in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

Ashampoo Driver Updater

Over 400,000 drivers for 150,000+ devices are available through this program. Ashampoo's driver updater is extremely easy to use because it downloads and installs the driver for you. It can also back up and restore drivers for safety purposes, automatically make a restore point before all driver installations, and follow a detailed scan scheduler.

Something you get with this program that not all the competition supports, is the ability to ignore drivers. If you keep seeing an update you don't want to apply, adding it to the ignore list is simple and will stop it from showing up as an update in the future.

My experience with this app is mixed. It seemed to find a decent number of outdated drivers, and the program is easy enough to use, but the lack of bulk downloading and updating means it's simply not on the same friendliness scale as the apps I detailed above. I've used it for a second opinion a few times, but not as my permanent driver updater.

The system requirements are that you're running Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7.

DriverIdentifier

DriverIdentifier comes in the form of a very simple driver checker. After it runs, the results open in your web browser where you then manually download the drivers that you need, and then manually install them once they're on your computer.

Obviously, that isn't ideal — it's way more work than it needs to be. And without a scheduler built-in, I can't say it's as good as the competition. But, it's a simple tool, it's totally portable, and like some of the others in this list, it's a good idea to have it on hand if you want to double-check that a particular driver really is outdated.

Something I like is that it scans for drivers even if you don't have an internet connection, which is helpful if your network card driver isn't working. When an offline scan completes, the list of drivers is saved to a file that you can open on a working computer to get the drivers you need.

The official system requirements list Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

DriverHub

DriverHub downloads and installs drivers for you and has a whole section of the program dedicated to recovery should something go wrong.

The program itself has a clean interface with only a few menu buttons. In the settings are options for changing the download folder and disabling program update checks.

You can keep things simple and install whatever the program recommends, or you can expand anything in the list to see version numbers, and to install alternate drivers (i.e., a newer driver but not the current version).

TheUseful utilities section isn't driver-related, but does include some helpful links to Windows utilities, like Disk Management and Task Manager. Some of the other areas of the program, like the backup and autorun functions, are off-limits unless you pay.

DriverHub is said to work with Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

Quick Driver Updater

After testing Quick Driver Updater, it was clear that it doesn't offer many significantly unique features beyond what the other programs in this list include. In fact, there are several ways in which it's more limiting than the other programs above.

However, it's very easy to understand how to use it, it works quickly, drivers are downloaded and installed within the program, and it's a great way to find an additional update or two if one of the other apps in this list didn't catch them.

Some things you can do is search through the list of installed and outdated drivers to find something by keyword, add drivers to the ignore list, and automatically check for updates on a schedule (as frequently as every day).

I used this program in Windows 11. It was designed for Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

DriverMax

DriverMax is another free Windows program that updates outdated drivers. While it is limited in a few areas, it also excels in others.

In addition to updating old drivers, this program can back up some or all of the currently installed drivers, restore backed up drivers, roll back drivers, identify unknown hardware, create a system restore point before driver installations, build an offline scan file for PCs without a network connection, and run automatic scans on a schedule.

After updates are found, you'll get a notification at the bottom of the screen, where you can snooze it for a day if you'd rather look into the updates later. Once you do decide to install the updates, you're limited to getting one at a time (two total per day), though it does install silently and automatically.

DriverMax discovered a significantly higher number of outdated drivers thanevery other program from this list did. I checked the version numbers against the currently installed drivers, and they all seemed to be valid updates, and installing them didn't cause any problems.

Paying users get extra benefits like unlimited downloads, hourly driver checks, download priority, and automated driver downloads.

This program runs on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

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