Since Kickass Torrents (KAT) was taken down by a joint government effort in the US, people have found alternatives for their torrenting needs. Here is our top 10 list of the most popular alternatives to KAT that work in 2021:
- The Pirate Bay
- RARBG
- 1337X
- Torrentz2
- YTS
- EZTV
- Zooqle
- TorrentDownloads
- Lime Torrents
- Torrends.to
If you’re planning to download torrents, make sure the content you’re downloading is safe and legal. To protect yourself and to stay completely anonymous while you’re downloading online, we recommend you always use a VPN, such as NordVPN.
Kickass Torrents was one of the most renowned torrenting sites on the internet, until its founder, Artem Vaulin, was arrested and charged with numerous criminal offenses by the United States Department of Justice in 2016. After that, it only took a short time for the original Kickass Torrents (KAT) site to be shut down, too. For a long time after, visitors to the original Kickass Torrents website encountered a very ominous message.
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.
While this site appears often in best torrenting websites lists, we advise against using it. There’s something about this site that makes downloading harder and less straightforward than it should be.
For example, if you want to get a tracker from the current version of KAT, you’ll need to install an extension for your browser. Judging by its name, this extension is some kind of PDF converter. We didn’t trust it and didn’t install it, since it may pose serious security and privacy concerns.
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 many and come up with our recommendations for the 10 best alternatives to Kickass Torrents that work right now
Download legally and safely
Always be very careful when it comes to torrenting. Downloading torrents can be illegal and also comes with several serious security threats. Before you do anything on a torrenting website, make sure what you’re doing is legal in your country. VPNOverview does not condone illegal torrenting activity.
We also recommend using a secure and recommended VPN to keep yourself safe when you torrent. While free VPN providers exist, you may prefer the extra services offered by premium VPN providers when torrenting. You’ll find more information about this at the bottom of 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 torrenting allows. However, people that want to torrent have plenty of alternatives to KAT.
Here is our list of the ten most safe and reliable torrenting sites that work right now. They are all viable alternatives now that Kickass Torrents is offline.
1. The Pirate Bay
Website: Visit a working Pirate Bay Mirror
Best for: General use
The Pirate Bay is a behemoth in the torrenting world, clocking 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 site also stands out thanks to its security quirks: they have a dedicated community that is happy to let you know whenever a torrent seems risky. Moreover, the site features visual tags that let you know when a torrent is flagged as safe or potentially dangerous.
The Pirate Bay is the torrenting world giant, and it’s a more than decent alternative to Kickass Torrents. In fact, it’s probably even better in a lot of categories. However, in some countries, The Pirate Bay has been banned (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
Website: RARBG website
Best for: A personalized experience
RARBG is another top contender in the torrenting world. This site has been around since 2008 and clocks in at 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 by personalizing your experience. Navigating RARBG means being able to see the top 10 torrents in different categories, as well as recent news about famous digital products.
However, RARBG is annoying when it comes to the use of ads. This is enough reason for many to stick to The Pirate Bay for general torrenting needs.
Mirrors: rarbg.is, rarbgunlock.com, rarbgmirror.com
3. 1337X
Website: 1337X website
Best for: Movies
1337X is no behemoth like The Pirate Bay or RARBG. Even so, it still clocks in at 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 3-4 MB/s.
One drawback is that the 1337X library is significantly smaller, and people looking for video games will likely be disappointed. Even so, 1337X is a reliable choice for torrenting.
Mirrors: 1337x.to, 1337x.st, x1337x.ws, x1337x.eu, 337x.se, 1337x.is, 1337x.gd
4. Torrentz2
Website: Torrentz2 website
Best for: Music
Torrentz2 is even more niche than 1337x, as it only focuses on providing music torrents. As a result, 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 the ad intrusion level is high. Moreover, download speeds are in the lower tier, and they don’t have a lot of browsing options to search for music. In general, people use Torrentz2 if they can’t find their favorite album or song anywhere else.
Mirrors: torrentz2eu.org, torrentz.eu
5. YTS
Website: https://yts.mx/
Best for: Rare movies
YTS is hands-down the best torrenting website for users who are interested in finding movie torrents. With over 75 million visits a month, a download speed of 3-4 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 torrent with ease.
However, as is the case with all of the websites on this list, it offers many illegal torrents of popular movies, so be careful what you download.
Mirrors: yts.am, yts.pm, yts.gm (but so far the site was never taken down)
6. EZTV
Website: EZTV website
Best for: TV shows
EZTV isn’t a beautiful site, and their metrics aren’t impressive when compared to other sites: 20 million visits per month and a download speed of 2-3 MB/s. Even so, EZTV is a good Kickass Torrents alternative for several reasons.
First of all, they have the largest collection of TV shows on the net, clocking in at millions of trackers. The community of EZTV is also surprisingly active, with new releases being uploaded instantly. This is why many users decide to use the site despite its downsides.
Mirrors: eztv.unblocked.llc, eztv1.unblocked.is, eztv1.unblocked.si
7. Zooqle
Website: Zooqle website
Best for: Video games
Zooqle lags behind competitors in terms of metrics with only 5 million visits a month and a paltry 1-2 MB/s download speed. However, Zooqle excels when it comes to video game trackers.
The site has a large library of video games, both for console and PC. On top of that, visitors can subscribe to their favorite categories to stay up to date on new releases. This makes Zooqle one of the best Kickass Torrents Alternatives for downloaders looking for video games. However, before you download, always make sure the torrent you’re about to get is legal.
A few downsides to note: the repetitive ads are annoying at times, and you won’t find a lot of digital products on the site.
Mirrors: zooqle.g2g.casa, zooqle.nocensor.club, zooqle.u4m.pw
8. TorrentDownloads
Website: Torrentdownloads website
Best for: Obscure titles and Asian content
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 2-3 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 content. When users are looking for that kind of content, they’ll turn to TorrentDownloads.
Some reasons TorrentDownloads has dropped in popularity over the past few years include the annoying ads that spew all over the place. In fact, the website will attempt to open an additional browser tab with advertisements. The ads aren’t harmful, but annoying. Very annoying.
Mirrors: torrentdownloads.unblockproject.uno, torrentdownloads.123unblock.cyou, torrentdownloads.mrunblock.cyou, torrentdownloads.nocensor.club
9. Lime Torrents
Website: Lime Torrents website
Best for: New Releases
Lime Torrents reached a number 9 spot on our list because of its seamless interface and good seeder/leecher ratio on new torrents. It also boasts a download speed in the 3-4 MB/s range and has just under 20 million users a month across all mirrors. Moreover, it offers many search options.
The reason it’s lower on our best torrent sites for alternatives to Kickass Torrents, is because you won’t find plenty of seeders for older torrents. The ad intrusion also gets annoying at times.
Mirrors: limetorrents.asia, limetorrents.zone, limetorrents.co, limetor.com, limetor.pro.
10. Torrends.to
Website: Torrends.to
Best for: Access to a large library of files
Torrends.to 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. Then they display all of these torrents so users can easily download them on the platform. As such, we can’t really measure any metric, as the download speed and seeder/leecher ratio will depend on the original site Torrends.to pulls data from.
However, people like using Torrends.to because they can access a large library 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.
Private Sites: Good Kickass Torrents Alternatives?
An alternative to classic torrent sites are private sites, which work a bit differently than the websites we’ve discussed up to now. Private torrent sites won’t make their library accessible to everyone. Instead, people gain access by invitation only, become a member, and only then are able to access and download content from these private sites.
However, getting in isn’t the end of it. Most private torrent sites require users to maintain a positive ratio between their uploaded and downloaded content, which incentivizes a 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:
- You know someone who’s already a member and ask them for an invite. A tactic many attempt is befriending people on internet freedom forums or Discord servers.
- You keep an eye on Reddit and torrenting forums. Sometimes, admins of private torrent sites will release invites for a limited time. However, this is more a thing of the past and happens less and less these days.
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.
IPTorrents
Website: https://iptorrents.com/
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 having to find a way to get a personal invite.
Bibliotik
Website: https://bibliotik.me/
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 that isn’t allowed to be shared this way, however, so be mindful of that.
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.
Torrenting 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 you 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 find yourself breaking the law. So how can you minimize risk when you torrent?
Beware of illegal downloads
We’d like to reiterate that we don’t condone illegal downloading. Although the laws on downloading and copyright differ per country, many regions of the world agree that illegally shared copyrighted content is wrong. Therefore, we advise readers not to take part in this. Torrenting in itself isn’t illegal. You just have to make sure that the files you download are being shared legally.
Use a VPN to stay safe while downloading
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. There’s no denying the value of anonymity and safety on the net.
That’s why we’d advise you to install a VPN for anonymous downloading. A VPN (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. If you’re unsure about where to start when it comes to VPNs, have a look at our “What is a VPN?” article or find out about the best VPN services right here.
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, for example. If you want to find out more about these and other general safety tips, you can consult our 8 steps to stay safe online.
Final Thoughts
Kickass Torrents may have met its demise years ago, but that didn’t mean 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.
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!
Kickass Torrents Alternatives – FAQ
Do you have a question about Kickass Torrents, its alternatives, or downloading torrents in general? Have a look at our FAQ below.
Is Kickass Torrents still available?
The original KAT website is no longer online. It was taken down by the US government several years ago after the arrest of site founder Artem Vaulin. The original site has been inaccessible ever since.
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.
What is the best Kickass Torrents alternative?
The best alternative to KAT is, hands down, The Pirate Bay. It’s one of the most resilient torrenting websites on the net. It has a huge library, decent download speeds, and an active community. However, there are cases in which this platform also isn’t an option. Read our article on alternatives to the Pirate Bay to get the full picture.
general? Have a look at our FAQ below.
What happened to Kickass Torrents?
The original Kickass Torrents site was taken down in a joint law enforcement operation by the Homeland Security Department and the IRS. It’s been unavailable ever since, but that doesn’t mean no one is torrenting anymore. Read our article about the best Kickass Torrents alternatives to find out which websites people use instead.
