Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. Evergreens

Get back in the torrent game with these five Pirate Bay alternatives

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

Infamous torrent site The Pirate Bay went dark on December 9th following a raid by Swedish authorities. While there are signs the domain is not dead, anyone hoping to share information over BitTorrent must find a different service to facilitate their needs.

There’s no shortage of alternatives available. The Pirate Bay is just the most well known among a collection of torrent sites that offer similar services to users, and transitioning to them is a cinch. We’ve picked out five that have a well-deserved reputation for selection, availability and reliability.

Recommended Videos

Keep in mind these are BitTorrent sites. While they don’t taunt the authorities as aggressively as The Pirate Bay they may host illegal content and infected files. Use them at your own risk.

Isohunt

IsoHunt
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Though a relatively new player in the BitTorrent scene — it debuted a little over a year ago — Isohunt boasts an incredibly deep and devoted community. Further, the site cloned Pirate Bay’s entire database after the latter shut down, giving it a massive leg up on its competition. Though Isohunt strives to preserve the sanctity of freedom on the Internet, it did mention it plans to deactivate the clone should Pirate Bay come back online. Still, the site features an easy to navigate website, a list of daily top searches, and provides a consistently updated forum. If you relied on Pirate Bay before its demise, Isohunt no doubt deserves a chance at being your go-to torrent site.

1337x

1337x
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The site 1337x states it began by wanting to “fill an apparent void” where it felt there existed no quality, ad-free torrent sites. The site launched with this thought in mind, and now offers users an easy to navigate and safe system for downloading torrents. For those who like to give back and upload files, the staff behind 1337x goes the extra mile by verifying active users and any content uploaded to the site. It also offers a helpful community forum on which the site’s active user base frequently chimes in on. With the amount of work put in to make sure 1337x brings its users a positive experience, it’s a worthy Pirate Bay replacement.

Torrentz

Torrentz
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Torrentz differs from the other options listed as it doesn’t host a single torrent on the website. Rather, Torrentz acts like Google and operates strictly as a search engine, directing users to sites featuring the torrents they want. Because the site doesn’t host any pirated material of its own, you never have to worry about it coming under fire or going offline. Better yet, if you have a favorite site — say, Pirate Bay — which goes down, Torrentz still helps find the torrent you desire via other BitTorrent sites.

Kickass Torrents

Kickass Torrents
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Before Isohunt, Kickass Torrents established itself as viable competition for Pirate Bay’s crown. Despite blockage in the United Kingdom and Italy, Kickass Torrents remains one of the most popular BitTorrent sites on the web. Featuring an impressive library of both rare and popular content, it doesn’t take long to find exactly what you want to download. For BitTorrent novices, each of the site’s download links features mostly useful comments on torrent accuracy and quality. If the site’s still got you stumped, the gang behind Kickass Torrents offers a helpful list of FAQs and a healthy library of community threads. It’s basically The Pirate Bay without so many “hot, single moms in your area.”

Related: How BitTorrent lets you download virtually anything

RARBG

RarBG
Image used with permission by copyright holder

RARBG’s features look just like other sites on this list, but it does come with a few tricks of its own. For starters, the site offers the ability to filter out any adult content, which is a welcome option for those who hate weeding out various XXX movies from search results. For pop culture junkies, the site’s front page features a list of curated news stories and daily articles from Screenrant. If there are a few rainy days on tap and you don’t know what to download, RARBG’s “Top 10” tab shows the ten most popular TV, movie, or music torrents currently downloading. Like most torrent sites, RARBG produces the occasional pop-up window, but just refrain from clicking on any “downloads” or “special deals.”

[Header image courtesy of: Shutterstock/Gil C]
Brandon Widder
Brandon Widder
Former Senior Editor, Living Articles
Brandon Widder is a multimedia journalist and a staff writer for Digital Trends where he covers technology news, how-to…
Apple will finally stop making iPhone-to-Windows copy-paste such a chore
Your iPhone may finally copy and paste with a Windows PC like it should
Apple Universal Clipboard feature

Copying something on an iPhone and pasting it onto a Windows PC should be one of the least remarkable features imaginable. While this simple process seems effortless between an iPhone and Mac, Windows users are still left waiting.

Now, Microsoft is formally asking Apple to provide interoperable clipboard access through the company’s European Union interoperability process. The request, submitted on March 25, argues that iOS restrictions prevent third-party platforms from creating an experience comparable to Apple’s Universal Clipboard. Apple has now reached Phase III and committed to developing a solution.

Read more
Chrome wants more extension reviews, but good ratings won’t keep malware out
Google is testing built-in extension review prompts, but good ratings can still hide malware
malicious-google-chrome-extensions-on-web-store

Google is preparing to add extension review links directly inside Chrome, putting feedback closer to the menus people already use to manage their add-ons.

A Chromium change, first spotted by Windows Report, points to review options in the Extensions menu, the chrome://extensions management page, and extension context menus. Only eligible Chrome Web Store extensions in good standing would qualify, and the feature is still under development.

Read more
Passkeys were pushed as a safer future. Hackers have figured out ways to break those synced to Google
Google’s “uncopyable” passkeys may be easier to steal than promised
google-lawsuite-AI-Scams

Passkeys have been pushed as the safer successor to passwords. It promised protection from phishing, credential reuse, and password leaks. Google even claims that it cannot be copied or accidentally handed to someone else. But it might not be as secure as the company wants it to be.

Security researchers (Via BleepingComputer) have now found three ways malware can undermine those promises for passkeys synced through Google Password Manager. The techniques, collectively named Pass-ta-key, target Google Password Manager inside Chrome on Windows computers equipped with a Trusted Platform Module. Every attack requires malware to already be running on the victim’s computer.

Read more