If you want to dabble with torrenting, make sure the content you download is safe and legal. To protect yourself and to stay completely anonymous online, we recommend you always use a VPN such as NordVPN.
Is Kickass Torrents Available Today?
Although the main site of Kickass Torrents was shut down several years ago, there is a copycat site going around. It looks exactly the same as the original Kickass Torrents and even has the same name. However, we’re hesitant about the new KickassTorrents site. While it appears often in the best torrenting websites lists, we advise against using it. When we checked this site in the past, it often pushed dubious third-party apps on its users. At times, it even restricted the download of trackers. However, the loss of a reliable version of Kickass Torrents doesn’t mean you can’t torrent anymore. There are several great torrenting alternatives to KAT that work today. We’ve tested dozens of sites to come up with our recommendations for the 14 best alternatives to Kickass Torrents that work right now. Lastly, make sure you also get a secure VPN to stay anonymous on these sites and protect yourself online. In some countries, torrenting and downloading unsanctioned copyrighted material is illegal and can land you in legal trouble. Make sure you understand your country’s regulations on torrenting before accessing any of the sites in this article.
Best Alternatives to Kickass Torrents That Work Today
Kickass Torrents going down is part of a reasonable effort to limit the amount of copyright law violations. For people that want to torrent legal content, however, there are plenty of alternatives to KAT. Here is our list of the fourteen most viable alternatives to Kickass Torrents that work right now.
1. The Pirate Bay: Best overall KAT alternative
Website: Pirate Bay Mirror The Pirate Bay is a behemoth in the torrenting world, bringing in tens of millions of visitors a month, with the same amount of files in their library, fast download speeds, and an easy-to-use interface. The Pirate Bay also stands out thanks to its verification measure: they have a dedicated community that piles onto potentially risky downloads. And you don’t even have to check the angry comments. The site features visual tags that highlight torrents flagged as unsafe by the community. The Pirate Bay is a torrenting world giant, and it’s more than a decent alternative to Kickass Torrents. It’s even better in a lot of categories. However, The Pirate Bay is banned in some countries (including its mirror sites), causing people to look for alternatives for this platform. To get around your country’s block, you can use a VPN to change your virtual location and unblock the Pirate Bay. Mirrors: thepiratebay.vip, thepirate-bay.org, thepiratebay.rocks
2. RARBG: Best for a personalized experience
Website: RARBG RARBG is another top contender in the torrenting world. This site has been around since 2008 and has about 40 million visits a month. While the RARBG interface is a bit clunkier than that of The Pirate Bay — and the site is definitely uglier — it makes up for it by offering a personalized experience. RARBG lets you see the top 10 torrents in different categories, as well as recent news about famous digital products. However, RARBG’s ads are annoying. So annoying that plenty of users don’t even consider it a viable choice. We think it’s a half-decent Kickass Torrents alternative. If you do decide to use RARBG, make sure you have an ad blocker installed. Mirrors: rarbg.is, rarbgunlock.com, rarbgmirror.com
3. 1337X: Great KAT alternative for movies
Website: 1337X 1337X is no behemoth like The Pirate Bay or RARBG. Even so, it still has around 50 million visits per month, mostly because it focuses on movies, TV shows, and music. For many users, 1337X is their top pick for this kind of entertainment, especially since the site allows you to browse by award nomination. On top of that, the site has no intrusive ads and offers a decent download speed of about 3 to 4 MB/s. On the other hand, the 1337X library is significantly smaller. Not to mention, the site has a lot of copyrighted material, so proceed with caution, and only after you understand your country’s file-sharing laws. Mirrors: 1337x.to, 1337x.st, x1337x.ws, x1337x.eu, 337x.se, 1337x.is, 1337x.gd
4. Torrentz2: Good resource for music torrents
Website: Torrentz2 Torrentz2 is even more niche than 1337x, as it only focuses on music torrents. It features the largest music collection of any torrenting site, although many of these torrents contain copyrighted material and are likely illegal. A downside of Torrentz2 is that ads can get really annoying. Moreover, download speeds are in the lower tier, and they don’t have advanced browsing filters. In general, people use Torrentz2 if they can’t find their favorite album or song anywhere else. Mirrors: torrentz2eu.org, torrentz.eu
5. YTS: Good alternative for rare movies
Website: YTS YTS is hands-down the best torrenting website for movie enthusiasts. With over 75 million visits a month, a download speed of 3 to 4 MB/s, and flawless design, YTS is the go-to site for movie torrents. Not only does YTS have a phenomenal interface, but the library on display is also impressive. It has millions of torrents, including rare, old titles in HD quality. The site also compresses all its downloads, so even if you have low bandwidth, you should be able to download them with ease. However, as is the case with all of the websites on this list, it offers many illegal torrents of popular movies, so proceed with caution. Mirrors: yts.am, yts.pm, yts.gm
6. EZTV: The go-to destination for TV shows
Website: EZTV EZTV isn’t a beautiful site, and its metrics aren’t impressive when compared to other sites: 20 million visits per month and a download speed of 2 to 3 MB/s. Even so, EZTV is a good Kickass Torrents alternative for two solid reasons. They have the largest collection of TV shows on the net, and the community of EZTV is surprisingly active. New releases are uploaded instantly, so many people use EZTV despite its clunky interface. Mirrors: eztv.unblocked.llc, eztv1.unblocked.is, eztv1.unblocked.si
7. TorrentDownloads: Obscure titles and Asian media
Website: TorrentDownloads TorrentDownloads has been around for a long time, but they lost popularity over the past few years, dropping down to only 5 million visits a month. Basically, it’s a discount version of the original Kickass Torrents with a similar design and a download speed of 2 to 3 MB/s. So, why do people use it? TorrentDownloads is a good Kickass Torrents alternative thanks to its library of obscure titles, such as rare books or video games, and a ton of Asian media. When users are looking for that kind of content, they’ll turn to TorrentDownloads. TorrentDownloads mainly dropped in popularity because of the annoying ads that pop up all over the place. The website will attempt to open additional browser tabs with advertisements. The ads aren’t harmful from what we could tell, just very annoying. Mirrors: torrentdownloads.unblockproject.uno, torrentdownloads.123unblock.cyou, torrentdownloads.mrunblock.cyou, torrentdownloads.nocensor.club
8. LimeTorrents: Good place for new releases
Website: LimeTorrents LimeTorrents has a seamless interface and good seeder/leecher ratios on new torrents. It also boasts a download speed in the 3 to 4 MB/s range and has just under 20 million users a month across all mirrors. Moreover, it offers many search options. But LimeTorrents fell out of favor with the torrenting community as its recent updates have introduced increasingly intrusive ads. Not to mention, the seeder-leecher ratio is rarely positive on older files. Mirrors: limetorrents.asia, limetorrents.zone, limetorrents.co, limetor.com, limetor.pro
9. Torrends: Easy access to a large library of files
Website: Torrends Torrends isn’t a classic torrent site. They don’t have their own library but instead track torrents from popular sites like The Pirate Bay, RARBG, and YTS. To download a tracker, you’ll still need to go to those sites. However, people like using Torrends because they can access a large database of files in one place. This proves especially useful when they can’t find a specific product on a more popular site. On top of that, this website gives users a good overview of what’s trending in the torrenting world. Mirrors: None. This website used to be called torrents.io, but the domain has changed.
10. ISOHunt: Varied ISOs and miscellaneous torrents
Website: ISOHunt ISOHunt doesn’t have the best reputation online, so it’s a bit lower on our list. It’s also affiliated with modern versions of Kickass Torrents, which is not a good sign. We recommend you be wary when visiting this site. Only do so with a VPN and antivirus. That being said, a lot of people go to ISOHunt for their torrenting needs. And it has a large library of trackers, not just ISOs. When we visited the site, it didn’t try to push any P2P app on us, which was the main complaint about ISOHunt in the past. It can be worth a try. Mirrors: isohunts.to, isohunt.nz
11. Nyaa: Comprehensive anime torrent files
Website: Nyaa Nyaa is a very specialized torrent site. You won’t find game torrents, general movies, or ISOs. Nyaa is focused exclusively on anime content. If that’s what you used to go to KAT for, then Nyaa can be a really good Kickass Torrents alternative. The library’s decent, and the ads aren’t too annoying. However, keep in mind that most anime is copyright protected. That means that, for the most part, using Nyaa is illegal. It all depends on your country’s legislation, so we urge you to consult that and only visit the site with a VPN turned on for your privacy. Mirrors: sukebei.nyaa.si
12. Torrent Funk: Good for magnet links
Website: Torrent Funk Torrent Funk was in a weird place for a long time. It’s been around for over a decade, so it always had a good reputation. But its user experience was terrible in the past few years. It was riddled with ads, to the point that it was hard to navigate. Luckily, they recently did a site revamp. The interface is nicer now, which makes Torrent Funk a popular Kickass Torrents alternative. Mirrors: torrentfunk2.com
Private Sites: Good Kickass Torrents Alternatives?
Private torrent sites like IPTorrents and Bibliotik are good alternatives to Kickass Torrents. However, as the name suggests, these private torrent sites won’t make their library accessible to everyone. Instead, people gain access by invitation only and only then are able to access and download content from these private sites. Getting in isn’t the end of it, either. Most private torrent sites require users to maintain a positive ratio between their uploaded and downloaded content, which incentivizes the constant growth of their platform’s library.
Accessing private torrent sites
Private torrent sites aren’t easy to access. You often must be invited by someone who’s already a member. This can happen in two ways: The best private Kickass Torrents alternatives will most likely differ from region to region because most countries and areas have their own large, local private torrenting site. That said, two private torrent sites have found great success in the past, and they can be good alternatives to Kickass Torrents.
IPTorrents
Website: IPTorrents IPTorrents is one of the largest private sites for torrenting. They have an impressive library of all types of torrents, as well as an active community constantly expanding the site. On top of that, it’s one of the few private torrent sites that accept members based on a donation. With a Bitcoin wallet ready to go, people can actually join this site without trying too hard to get an invite.
Bibliotik
Website: Bibliotik Bibliotik is the largest library of ebooks and audiobooks in the torrenting world. It’s got hundreds of thousands of members. It also has all the books you might need, whether you want to pick up a new subject or are just looking for an obscure fictional franchise. Some of the torrents might contain copyrighted material, so be mindful of that if you do get on Bibliotik. In the case of Bibliotik people don’t just get in with a small donation. In fact, they aren’t accepting new members at all at this moment. In other words, people who wish to join this platform will need to know someone on the inside to use Bibliotik as an alternative to Kickass Torrents.
How to Torrent Safely
Whether you choose to torrent with The Pirate Bay or any of the other Kickass Torrents alternatives we mentioned, you’ll need to make sure your torrent safely. If you simply go ahead and download anything off of RARBG, you might run into trouble with your ISP. You could get your computer infected with a virus or even break the law. So, how can you minimize risk when you torrent?
Check your country’s torrenting laws
We’d like to reiterate that we don’t condone illegal downloading. Although the laws on downloading and copyright differ per country, most governments criminalize torrenting of copyrighted materials. We are not legal experts, and this is not legal advice. We only report on what we found while researching torrents and Kickass Torrents alternatives. There are some exceptions, like Poland, Spain, and Switzerland. Here, torrenting copyrighted material is legal for personal use. However, most governments punish copyright violations. Some countries — like the US, UK, India, Japan, and the UAE — even enforce fines for downloading illegal torrents. This article has an educational purpose. We advise you against torrenting in general, just to be on the safe side. If you do torrent, however, make sure the files you download are shared legally in your country.
Use a VPN and antivirus to stay safe
Even when you don’t download illegal content, it’s important to protect your anonymity and safety on the internet. Viruses and other malware could still be hiding anywhere. On top of that, your online privacy matters, no matter what you’re doing online. That’s why we’d advise you to install a VPN for anonymous downloading. A virtual private network will hide your IP address and make sure your internet service provider (and many other parties) won’t be able to see what you’re doing online. A great VPN provider we recommend when you want to protect your online anonymity and safety is NordVPN. This VPN offers thousands of servers and has proven many times over that it has all the right securities in place to protect its users. Besides using a VPN, there are some other safety measures you can and should take. Install an adblocker and use a proper antivirus program. During our extensive testing, we found Norton to be the best antivirus out there. Definitely give it a try if you’re worried about malware and viruses on your PC.
Keep your wits about you
A VPN and antivirus are usually enough to keep you safe while torrenting. But if you go out of your way to find trouble online, then malware, viruses, and other cyber threats can sometimes circumvent strong security suites. So here are a few more tips to torrent safely:
Check the reviews and comments of everything you download. Most torrent sites let users add comments to the torrents they download. Always read them. If the file you want to download is infected with a virus, other users will point that out. Don’t share your credentials with anyone. Almost nobody representing torrent sites in a formal capacity will ask for your login details. Beware of the links you click. Only click on links that download a torrent tracker, not links from random banner ads.
Final Thoughts: Surf Safe on These Kickass Torrents Alternatives
Kickass Torrents may have met its demise years ago, but that didn’t signal the end of torrenting. There are still plenty of other websites that work perfectly as Kickass Torrents alternatives. Countless people still use these platforms to get digital content. Just be cautious of illegal downloading! Before you do anything, make sure you’re aware of your local laws and the rules of whichever torrenting site you’re using. Whatever you do online, don’t forget to stay safe on the net and hide your identity with a VPN. If you want to know more about online privacy and safety, check out our other articles:
How to Be Safe Online: 8 Cyber Hygiene Tips to Keep You Safe Torrent Privacy Flaws: Is an IP Leak Putting You at Risk? How to Bypass The Pirate Bay Restrictions
There is a copycat site online that uses the same name and design, but this platform looks dangerous and we don’t recommend using it. Want to know which sites people use instead? Have a look at our Kickass Torrents alternatives article.
