When it comes to websites for peer-to-peer sharing, there is a plethora of them on the internet. It’s difficult to choose a website that will let you quickly download whatever you need at a high quality, be it music, videos, or even movies and TV shows.
Among all these, ExtraTorrent was a website that stood out and had a massive audience using its services. However, in 2017, the website shut down with no explanation and left many users still in the search for a torrent website they can trust.
Just recently, Extratorrents came back into action which caused many fans to rejoice. But after only a few months in action, it was suddenly taken down again. But no need to stress, because there are many websites out there that provide the same services as ExtraTorrent. Here is our pick of 10 forums for you!
Contents
Top 10 Alternatives to ExtraTorrent
ThePirateBay.org
The Pirate Bay, like ExtraTorrent, is a website that is widely recognized by all users. And no rundown of torrent websites can be complete without it. It is a great forum that has a community of dedicated seeders that allow quick, high-quality downloads.
While this website is up and running again now, just up to a few months ago, it was brutally taken down by the authorities for the sharing of copyrighted materials. Of course, many internet service providers have blocked The Pirate Bay because of its popularity, but a good VPN will help you overcome such barriers.
Highlights:
Millions of torrents
Millions of seeders for fast downloading
Trusted for legitimate Torrents
YTS.mx
YTS is another famous platform that focuses on the sharing of popular releases, especially movies and TV shows. Of course, this can lead to sharing copyrighted merchandise, and often YTS users who don’t use a VPN face heavy fines.
Not to mention the site keeps getting shut down and is forced to regularly change URLs. The best thing about YTS is the availability of perfectly synched subtitles in multiple languages with almost all their content. English subtitles are available for all the torrents.
YTS.mx is an unofficial successor that is kicking for now, but again we are never sure when it will move URLs again due to illegal activity.
Highlights:
Millions of torrents
Trusted for legitimate torrents
Synched Subtitles available for your downloads
KAT.am
When the original Kickass Torrent site was shut down, many clones popped up across the internet. This specific clone copied the original Kickass format providing the users with a familiar interface. It provides a variety of files, including movies, TV shows, and games.
Highlights:
Good User-Interface
Zooqle.com
Zooqle is the new kid on the block, and it fits in just fine with the big players. Mainly targeting gamers, it offers millions of verified game torrents. If there’s a game, you can’t find you’ll definitely find it here.
In addition to the games, it has 50,000+ movies and 600+ TV Shows available as well. While the interface is not as user friendly as that of YTS or The Pirate Bay, it is definitely good at getting what you want for you.
Highlights:
Specialized for Gamers
1337x.to
When it comes to finding a wide variety ranging from music, anime, documentaries, and even applications, 1337x provides all. Unlike most sites that limit themselves to basic entertainment like movies, this will give you everything that you could ever need.
It is especially useful when it comes to downloading applications because often downloading applications normally takes way too much time. But thanks to torrent with peer-to-peer technology, it can allow must faster downloading of the setup.
Highlights:
Trusted for legitimate Torrents
Large Variety
Great User-Interface
Fitgirl-Repacks.site
Yet another site aimed at gamers, but this one is even better. Not only does it let you download a wide variety of games, but it also offers cracked versions of these games.
The games are slimmed down (hence the name repacked) and cracked, so users don’t have to buy the original while keeping the download time as low as possible. They also provide magnet links to torrents for movies and tv shows and is unlike all traditional torrent platforms.
Highlights:
Specialized for Gamers
Cracked versions of popular games
Downloads require less storage space
Nyaa.si
Finally, a website for all the otakus out there, Nyaa is an exclusive website for anime downloads. Yes, some of the more popular portals do provide access to anime torrents.
Still, it’s hard enough to cover the whole world of Japanese animated entertainment especially considering the large fan base out there. This caters to all the otakus out there with dubbed, subbed, and raw (unedited) versions of each anime, even the less well-known ones, all are present.
Highlights:
Specialized for anime geeks
Availability of rare anime
Subbed and dubbed versions available
EZTV.io
This is a traditional torrent site that focuses on movies and basic forms of entertainment. Don’t be put off by its unfriendly interface but welcome the wide variety of torrents it has to offer.
This forum not only offers torrent and magnet links on its own but also links to other legitimate sites for downloading torrents that it doesn’t have itself.
Highlights:
Lots of torrents
Millions of seeders for fast downloading
Large variety
LimeTorrents.info
This is one of the oldest torrent sites around. Like other forums mentioned in our list, this too is available in limited areas globally since it’s blocked due to its popularity. However, using a VPN can help you get around this issue.
It is known for its variety compared to other platforms and how easy it is to search and find exactly what you are looking for.
Highlights:
Millions of torrents
Millions of seeders for fast downloading
Trusted for legitimate Torrents
Large Variety
Great User-Interface
Torlock.com
This is a unique torrent because it focuses on providing legitimate content to the users. Despite their complete crackdown on phony content, if you still download a phony torrent, this site even pays its users 1 US dollar for discovering it.
Most sites tend to have very limited diversity when it comes to international entertainment, focusing on English movies. But this website offers a more diverse option list. Of course, due to its Indian origins, most international options are Hindi Media (Bollywood). And yes, while looking at this website, you might think, why does it look so familiar?
Well, it’s because they have adopted the same interface as that of KickassTorrents to make the users more at home.
Highlights:
Pays users if they download a phony torrent
Diverse variety
Good User-Interface
Bollywood entertainment is promoted
Risks Associated With Torrenting
When you are using torrent or any peer-to-peer technology, you are exposing your IP address and essentially your computer to the internet. This cannot only lead to hackers gaining entry to your personal documents, but a lot of viruses can use it as a gateway as well.
Of course, there are some legal issues with torrents. We have discussed all of these in detail.
Malware Risks
You should always be careful when accessing anything on the internet but especially when it comes to downloading torrent files. Often malicious software is attached to the torrent file, and it can wreak havoc on your computer system. It is hard to determine what a torrent file contains exactly before you have downloaded the file, so there is no sure way to know if the file has been corrupted.
Data Safety
Peer-to-peer sharing, although it is a highly effective way of transmitting files across the internet it can also need to unauthorized access. When using torrent, we never know who also has access to the same file that we have downloaded into our computer.
Often users make the mistake of placing downloaded torrents in the same folder as their critical information, which would make it available to almost anybody. To avoid this, it’s better to have a separate folder just for torrents.
Vulnerability
When uploading or downloading torrents, your personal information like your IP address and location light up like beacons on the internet. This is like presenting yourself on a silver platter to hackers.
They can use this information to easily gain access to your devices and use the information to whatever advantage they seek.
Legal Troubles
Of course, while all the above risks are all very real and are a constant threat, they are still very small compared to the legal trouble torrenting can get you in.
Most torrent files on the internet are copyrighted material, usually popular movies and TV shows owned by large companies that don’t want their product to be shared around so easily.
While torrenting itself is not a crime, torrenting such files definitely is. Internet service providers constantly monitor torrenting websites and then take legal action against people taking part in such activities resulting in hefty fines of up to 100,000 US dollars.
Find Torrents On Legitimate Sites
Most popular websites like ThePirateBay.org (despite the sketchy name) have a respectful reputation and ensure that the torrents they provide are malware-free.
Torlock.com even takes such pride in their pursuit against malware that in case one of their users faces such a problem, they are ready to compensate with money. Instead of just googling torrent websites, use trusted forums.
Anti-Virus
Like we mentioned earlier, it is hard to identify if malware is riding along with your torrent file before you download it. The only way to ensure that your computer does not get infected is to scan the torrent file after downloading it. The anti-virus will report any sort of malware content and remove it before your entire computer has to pay the price.
Legal Torrents
Yes, this may be surprising, but there are legal torrents out there too, like independent movies for free viewing, older content which is now free, and open-source applications or games which are made for public distribution. So avoiding torrents of copyright holders is always a good way to avoid any legal troubles.
Use A VPN
This is the most for sure way of staying safe from hackers and legal troubles. Let’s be honest, hardly any of us actually use torrent to download non-copyright materials, but it is nearly always for the latest movie or TV show.
A VPN works to hide your IP address and location from the hackers and also encrypts your internet search so the internet service providers can’t detect which sites you are visiting.
This is extremely useful for unlocking websites not available in your area. VPNs are great for avoiding 100,000 US dollars’ worth of fines in return for a very nominal monthly fee. Not to mention they maintain personal security, allowing you to freely use the internet to your heart’s content.
The Best VPN Service You Can Use
We recommend NordVPN as it is a high-level security VPN made specifically with all torrent users in mind.
Torrent Compatible Servers
NordVPN has over 2600 servers spread all over the globe so you can connect to anyone while using this software. This allows users to bypass any torrent bans in their area and access an even wider range of content by connecting to different countries. Not only does this protect you from the hefty fines, it even gives a better viewing experience.
When it comes to servers, NordVPN has multiple peer-to-peer compatible servers that offer unlimited bandwidth and ensure maximum download speed for the ideal torrenting experience.
These servers were designed especially for the torrenting community because most average servers are not compatible with peer-to-peer technology.
Compatibility
This VPN is compatible with all devices on the market Windows, Mac, Android, and even Linux. So no matter what kind of operating system your device is running, this NordVPN can offer protection to everyone.
Most VPNs have limited compatibility for the most popular gadgets in the market. But NordVPN can cater to a diverse group of customers by offering complete features on every operating system. It also offers 6 connections at once, which means 6 devices can have simultaneous protection.
Protects Data Activity
NordVPN also uses a superior encryption method to keep all your internet searches secure from prying eyes and is almost impossible to crack. If you accidentally download copyrighted material, you could face legal consequences such as hefty fines and arrests if the download traces back to you.
This VPN encrypts traffic and masks your IP address, so your torrenting activity remains private and anonymous. It even offers a strict logging policy to not store any user data on their servers, which means no one will be able to hijack your data from them.
The encryption also makes all your data unreadable even if it is intercepted by hackers. If someone wants to gain entry to your computer system, the VPN makes it seem as if you are using a different IP address from a different region altogether.
Built-in Anti-Virus
When downloading from the internet, you have no idea what is attaching onto the files and coming into your computer as well. NordVPN is equipped with its own powerful VPN that scans the document as soon as it’s downloaded, making sure the user doesn’t open and accidentally run any malicious content in their system.
This is the most full-proof strategy against malware.
Not to mention, this built-in anti-virus automatically disinfects the files as well, so the user doesn’t have to invest in third-party software for additional protection. It is truly an all-in-one package.
Budget-Friendly
NordVPN is not just one of the best VPNs out there, it is also one of the cheapest ones out there. With constant promotional offers that make it more affordable, you know you will get the most bang for your buck with such an amazing VPN.
Cheaper VPNs only offer half the features than this one, and expensive VPNs cost triple the price for the same qualities. NordVPN gives the best of both worlds to all the torrent users out there.
Conclusion
Torrenting is very common now, and new websites are popping up every day with more options. While favorites like ExtraTorrent are repeatedly shut down, we can look at many alternatives to keep us entertained, but we have to be safe when using them.
Accessing torrent files is not just fun and games but can turn very nasty very quickly, so safe torrenting techniques should be applied. These, of course, include being careful of the sites you access and using a VPN to encrypt your searches. NordVPN is an excellent choice as it provides the best security and most value for money.