The 12 Best Torrent Sites: Ultimate P2P List for May 2023

There are many torrent sites with lots of interesting content. While many torrent sites are shut down now and then, there are a few that have an established history.

Here’s our list of the best torrent websites that are still active in 2023:

Torrenting itself is not illegal, but downloading copyrighted content is. It’s considered piracy and can land you in jail depending on your jurisdiction. We recommend extreme caution and steering clear of any illegal activities.

You should also use a good VPN to hide your identity and online traffic from prying eyes. We recommend going with NordVPN. It offers solid security features paired with great speeds and excellent customer support.

If you want to learn more about the best torrent sites, keep reading our article below.

The best torrent sites are the ones that have an established reputation and have been around for a while. The Pirate Bay has remained a longstanding favorite, despite being targeted by lawsuits and authorities regularly.

We have a few new entries on the list, while some have fallen behind in terms of traffic. We update this list once a month, so check back regularly for any new entries. We also limit this list to only English-language torrent sites.

Our team reviewed 35+ torrent sites to find the top 12 torrent sites that are still active and that support huge torrent libraries in 2023. Keep reading to find out more.

Disclaimer:

Torrenting is legal, but downloading copyrighted material is considered illegal in many countries and may land you in legal trouble. VPNOverview does not condone piracy, and we advise you to always check your local laws and regulations before torrenting copyrighted content.

Your internet service provider might block some of your favorite torrent sites or even track your torrenting traffic. A VPN is the optimal tool for countering this and accessing the best torrent sites easily.

How does a VPN allow you to unblock every torrent site and stay safe and anonymous while torrenting? VPNs encrypt your data traffic and hide your IP address, therefore protecting your identity and online activity.

One of our personal favorite VPNs is NordVPN. It’s a great service, which you can test 100% risk-free for 30 whole days.

Besides the great protection and no-logs policy, NordVPN also has advanced support for torrenting. The app comes with dedicated torrenting servers that feature fast speeds ideal for P2P file sharing.

You also get double encryption for added security and obfuscated servers perfect for free file sharing in countries with restricted internet access.

Now that you’re browsing safely with a VPN, here are the 12 best torrent sites that still work in 2023.

Without further ado, here are the 12 best torrent sites that are still up and running in 2023.

The Pirate Bay has been a crowd favorite for many years and is widely regarded as one of the best torrent sites. It managed to deflect countless blocking attempts, and it’s still going strong with over 18 million monthly users on the main site. However, considering the number of mirrors, that number may be skewed and can go anywhere between 20 and 60 million.

There’s no information on its library size, but it’s safe to assume it’s in the millions. You can expect download speeds of 5 to 6 MB/s, with all other things being equal. Their torrents are often very well-seeded.

The Pirate Bay’s large community ensures at least one seeder on almost any torrent on the site, no matter the age. We were even able to download obscure titles in the public domain released over a decade ago.

On top of all this, the site has a clean interface and helpful tags that separate trusted sources from malicious uploaders.

Without a doubt, The Pirate Bay is the king of all torrent sites, and with almost no ad intrusion and an active community, it basically has no downsides — except for one.

The Pirate Bay is blocked in many countries, so you might need a VPN to change your virtual location and unblock The Pirate Bay.

RARBG is a large directory of torrents that includes multiple links for any piece of content you wish to download. It’s famous for having a very active community of seeders and high-quality torrents. It’s been around since 2008, and it amasses about 40 million visitors each month.

This website competes with The Pirate Bay by offering a more “personalized” experience, complete with top ten lists in different categories and news displayed on the home page. Its library size is decent, and it gets updated often, meaning that you have a high chance of finding new torrents on RARBG.

During our tests, we found that RARBG offers a very similar download speed as The Pirate Bay. The only difference is that ad intrusion is more annoying on RARBG, so take that into account when choosing one of the two. Better yet, use an ad blocker when visiting these sites.

RARBG is easily one of the top torrent sites in the world right now. However, note that it’s banned in a number of countries, including Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Australia, the United Kingdom, and others. In those countries, you won’t be able to access it without a VPN.

Note:

If none of the mirrors work, don’t try to find another one on your own unless you take some safety precautions. There are a lot of phishing scams going around with RARBG copycats, so it’s important that you avoid visiting fake sites.

1337x has been online since 2007, and has become a fairly trusted source for people looking for movies, shows, and music. Some people also use it to look for game torrents. However, from our research, it looks like RARBG and The Pirate Bay have more torrents in that category, especially older titles.

A few years ago, 1337x was a bad choice for torrenting since it was clunky to navigate and it posed a lot of security risks. Since then, it went through a complete site revamp, making it seamless to browse and a lot safer.

Based on our recent analysis, 1337x receives up to 53 million visits a month, which makes sense — it’s got an average download speed of 3 to 4 MB/s and virtually no ad intrusion.

The creators only make money through Bitcoin donations from what we can see. Regardless, it’s easily one of the best torrent sites in the world in 2023.

Note:

The last time we checked it, Torrentz2 had problems finding some game torrent files. We’ll update this article if the problem persists.

Torrentz2’s predecessor (Torrentz) first appeared in 2003 as a unique torrent search engine. It wasn’t a torrent site but a metasearch engine that indexed files from popular P2P platforms like The Pirate Bay, for example. Unfortunately, it was shut down in 2016 due to numerous legal issues.

Its clone was established the very same year — and it still works today. It follows in the footsteps of the original platform and saves you a ton of time sifting through multiple P2P sites. It gets 10 to 20 million hits each month and indexes all types of content you can imagine.

Overall, Torrentz2 is a great torrent search engine for helping you find what you’re looking for. It will search through torrent sites you never knew existed, and it might just be your saving grace when everything else has failed.

Torrentz2 has nothing to do with the download speeds you’ll get. It just sends you to different sites, which dictate how fast you’ll download your files. If you’re not using an ad blocker, though, Torrentz2 can be quite annoying to work with.

Although not a torrent site per se, Torrentz2 is a great quality-of-life addition to the modern P2P experience.

If you’re looking for a specific movie, YTS is your best bet. This uncrowned successor to the YIFY group is, by all accounts, the second most popular torrent site (after The Pirate Bay).

The site specializes in torrents with HD quality and small size, optimizing for any device or bandwidth. Secondly, ad intrusion is minimal, and the interface is beautiful. It’s simply one of the best torrent sites for downloading movies. You can expect download speeds between 3 and 4 MB/s.

We found that classics are readily available on the platform. In fact, it’s the only torrent site where we could find movies like 12 Angry Men in 1080p. If you’re looking for obscure movies that are difficult to find, this is one of the top torrent sites to check out.

Note that YTS has been hit with numerous lawsuits in the past, resulting in them handing over user info to various organizations. With that in mind, we wouldn’t recommend using it without a strong VPN.

If you want high-definition episodes of your favorite shows, EZTV is one of the best torrent sites to check out. It doesn’t have a huge library when compared to behemoths like RARBG, but it’s focused on TV shows, and it’s the place to find any new releases in HD.

The seeder/leecher ratio is pretty decent thanks to its active community, clocking in at around 20 million visitors per month. We searched for older titles like “Two and a Half Men”, and found that and many other older TV shows.

We even tried going for more obscure titles, like the British show “Midsomer Murders”. EZTV has a large variety of torrents for the new releases for almost all series, and finding older episodes is incredibly easy.

While ad intrusion is sometimes a bit annoying, the library size and decent download speed of 2 to 3 MB/s are enough to keep your binging needs in check.

Note:

On our last check of LimeTorrents, ad intrusion got even more annoying than usual. If this problem persists, we’ll update our list accordingly.

LimeTorrents is one of the best torrent sites for new releases. With a seamless interface and a very good seeder/leecher ratio on new torrents, it’s a solid choice for torrenters everywhere. LimeTorrents has been around since 2009, and its library can give The Pirate Bay a run for its money.

The average download speed from LimeTorrents is 3 to 4 MB/s, and the site has close to 20 million users a month. It’s currently banned only in the UK, France, and Australia but can still be accessed with a VPN.

What we like about LimeTorrents compared to other torrent sites is you can stream movies right there on the site instead of downloading. This saves you a lot of time waiting for downloads to finish. In our tests, we found the streaming to be reliable, too. Once we hit play, the movie streamed smoothly.

However, it’s lower on our list of the top torrent sites because you won’t find plenty of seeders for older torrents, and ad intrusion can get annoying at times.

Note:

Recently, this website seems to be down quite often. During our latest pass, we were able to use the search option but couldn’t click on the results for whatever reason.

Like Torrentz2, Torrends just tracks all torrents from popular sites like The Pirate Bay, 1337x, and RARBG. It’s yet another torrent search engine that saves you a lot of time and effort.

The download speed and all other relevant metrics are the same as you’d find on the specific site Torrends.to pulls data from. However, we do want to praise its seamless design and minimal ad intrusion.

With a little under 5 million hits a month and a quirky data set to show what’s trending, using Torrends.to could be a good choice if you’re looking for obscure titles and want all of your results in one place.

Note:

This website attempts to open an additional browser tab with advertisements. Not harmful, but annoying.

TorrentDownloads is one of the classics in the scene, but their traffic has slowly decreased over time (it’s sitting at around 5 million users a month) due to Pirate Bay’s and RARBG’s considerably larger libraries. Moreover, since it’s been targeted by government investigations, it’s not available in a lot of regions.

Average torrent download speeds range between 2 to 3 MB/s, and the ad intrusion can get bothersome at times.

However, it is a good option for more obscure titles in all categories. So, if you’ve been looking for an old video game or a rare book, you can try a quick search on TorrentDownloads. Asian titles specifically seem to take a big part of their servers.

Now for the private torrenting sites: IPTorrents is one of the biggest private torrenting sites (meaning that you’ll need an invitation to get in), boasting a big library, an active community, and virtually no ad intrusion.

Also, private torrenting sites are generally safer because it’s more difficult for users with bad intentions to get in.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly for many, private torrenting sites generally have significantly higher streaming speeds than public ones because members have seeding quotas they need to comply with. If you’re willing to pay, this is one of the best private torrent sites around.

Bibliotik is the largest private torrenting site for downloading ebooks. Whether you’re an undergraduate doing research or just looking for an obscure franchise like the Nick Stone series, Bibliotik is bound to have what you need.

With a library size and a traffic count clocking in the hundreds of thousands, it’s a decent choice, but it’s unfortunately not accepting new members. That said, if you can get in, it’s easily one of the top torrent sites.

Another fantastic Bibliotik alternative is MyAnonaMouse which is more lenient with invites and has a massive library of eBooks.

For the longest time, TorrentFunk was in the “Torrent sites to avoid” section of this article. Although it was launched over 10 years ago, and it had a decent reputation, its user experience was lacking. The ads were just too annoying. Luckily, that’s not the case anymore.

TorrentFunk had a recent makeover, and it got rid of most of its ads. It’s a good torrent site now, with a nice UX, and a great library of magnet links for direct torrent downloads. All the files are separated by different categories, and you can access a list of the most recent and popular files right from the homepage.

Here’s what to look for when selecting the best torrent site.

A site’s average speed for downloading torrents is important to gauge the quality of trackers. Think of it only as a ballpark, though. Your actual download speed can vary based on the quality of torrent files and your internet connection.

Most sites have their own uploaders, so download speed will vary for new content. Generally, however, they’ll have around the same speed. Torrent sites scrape their competitors for trackers every day. If you browse for an old torrent, the seeder/leecher ratio and download speed will be more or less the same for any site.

The traffic of a torrent site tells us a lot about its popularity. This can further affect metrics like library size or seeder/leecher ratio. When preparing this list of best torrent sites, we chose to factor in website traffic over the number of seeders for popular torrents, as these numbers can change overnight.

The library size for different torrenting sites also plays an important role. Certain sites like The Pirate Bay have considerably vast libraries, which is why they rank higher on our list. We compared library sizes for each when ranking the best torrent sites.

Always make it a habit to read the comments and ratings from other users who have downloaded the same torrent. This can provide valuable information about the quality and safety of the file. Look for comments that mention viruses, malware, or other issues, and take them into consideration.

The best torrent sites like The Pirate Bay or RARBG have big libraries with torrents from all categories. Specialized sites like Bibliotik or YTS have smaller libraries, but they have a considerable number of book and movie torrents respectively.

This list favors torrenting sites with large, diverse libraries, but don’t shy away from smaller, specialized torrenting sites if you’re looking for a rare gem.

Intrusion can make or break your experience with any given torrent site. Self-clicking pop-ups and fake contests that you just happened to win are beyond annoying. If you have to go through eight ads just to find one file, you should try a different torrent site.

We omitted a couple of popular torrent sites just because of their excessive ad intrusion levels. We believe security is very important when downloading torrents. There are plenty of shady P2P platforms that could compromise your online safety. That’s why our list of the best torrent sites also takes ad intrusion and other security concerns into account.

A torrent is a small file that has metadata about the files you’re trying to get. In order to actually download a piece of content, we need a special program called a P2P client, also known as a torrent client.

To put it simply, torrenting is a form of sharing data with other computers. A P2P client reads the metadata in a torrent file and includes your computer in a relevant P2P network. So, you’re basically downloading the file from people who already have it and are “seeding” it at that moment. If there are no seeders, your download won’t even start.

Here’s a short step-by-step guide on using torrent sites:

The risks of browsing torrent sites aren’t just about privacy. You risk downloading malware, viruses, and even losing your information to phishing campaigns, which are very common scenarios for torrent users.

The first thing you’ll want to do is use a VPN. Check our best VPN section for the best option for you. A VPN will route your connection through a secure server, allow you to access blocked torrent sites, and help you remain anonymous. Make sure you get a VPN with dedicated P2P servers, like NordVPN. This type of server guarantees fast speeds when doing peer-to-peer file sharing.

After that, configure your VPN settings. Make sure you enable connection encryption, leak protection, and the kill switch. Using a kill switch will prevent your connection from being exposed when your VPN connection suddenly drops.

Third, install an ad blocker and other safety-enhancing extensions. Ads on torrenting sites sometimes take the form of a fake download button. Using an ad blocker disables ads altogether. You’ll never have to be confused about what to click or worry about accidentally downloading malware.

And lastly, beware of fake download links. In an attempt to make money from your clicks, torrent sites will display a more predominant button that won’t download the torrent file but rather a different, unrelated software.

You can easily check the validity of download buttons by hovering over the button or link. Doing so should display the URL on the bottom left of your browser.

A lot of countries have their own regional private torrent sites, and they all seem impossible to get into. We took a deep dive into the world of private torrent sites, and we were able to obtain invitations for some of them.

For example, we got in on FileList, which is Romania’s largest private torrent site.

Reddit, 8chan, and anonymity-focused forums have threads on torrenting. Occasionally, invitations will be posted there for a limited time. You can also check the sites themselves periodically (some have open registrations throughout the year) or visit the r/OpenSignups subreddit.

This is the worst-case scenario when you don’t know anyone on the inside. Ideally, you already know someone who has an account with a private tracker, and you can ask for an invitation. That’s how most people access private torrent sites.

There are a few popular torrenting sites that still get a lot of traffic, and you’ll find some roundups recommending them.

While you don’t risk anything per se when using those sites, they’re usually just ad-riddled, inferior versions of the aforementioned platforms.

TorrentGalaxy is like a downgraded version of 1337X. While it does have almost 8 million visitors each month and boasts a decent library, the ad intrusion level is too severe to warrant praise, especially when compared to all the alternatives you have.

Yes, a version of this website is still available online. Unfortunately, this is the KickAss Torrents you’re used to only in name and appearance — the service has changed a lot since the original site was taken down.

If you want to download anything using the current version of the site, you’ll have to install an obscure browser extension first. We don’t know what it may contain, but we do not recommend installing it under any circumstance, as it may pose serious privacy and security risks. It’s better to use one of the many Kickass Torrents alternatives.

ExtraTorrents was a popular torrent website that operated from 2006 until it was shut down in 2017. It was one of the most visited torrent sites only rivaled by The Pirate Bay. It offered a wide selection of content such as movies, TV shows, music, software, and games.

However, despite its popularity, ExtraTorrents faced numerous legal challenges over the years, leading to its eventual shutdown. Clone ExtraTorrent alternatives started popping up after that but they proved to be malicious and unofficial. You can read our ExtraTorrent Alternatives guide for legitimate alternative ExtraTorrent sites.

Torlock is a solid torrent site. For a long time, we even recommended it as one of the best torrent sites. Unfortunately, a recent update riddled the website with ads of all kinds. It’s hard to navigate now, so we don’t recommend it for the time being. We’ll update this page in the future if Torlock improves its user experience.

The Pirate Bay, RARBG, and other private torrent sites on this list are as safe as you can get when downloading torrents. That being said, you shouldn’t have a problem downloading anything through the sites in our roundup as long as you employ the best safety practices we mentioned.

We advise against downloading torrents from any random site that pops up after a Google search, and we definitely recommend you stay up to date with your safety-enhancing software. If you do that, your computer should be safe from harm when downloading torrents.

Torrenting itself is legal since it’s just sharing data between people. However, you need to beware of torrents that contain copyrighted content. Some scammers even mislabel their torrents to trick you into illegally downloading copyrighted movies, shows, games, or music.

Remember that downloading and sharing copyrighted material without the approval of its creator is illegal, and in some countries, it may lead to legal repercussions.

Different countries have different approaches to torrenting. Here’s an overview to give you an idea of what to expect:

Stay safe on the web with the right VPN and by taking the right security measures. And, of course, check the jurisdiction of the country you’re in, and steer clear of illegal activities when using torrent sites.

Are you curious to see what other people download from torrent sites? Below, you can see a top 10 list of the most downloaded HD movies and TV shows from this month.

We use The Pirate Bay data to create this roundup, as it’s the most popular platform, and the popularity of files from this site is the most indicative of popularity in general.

P2P file sharing revolutionized the internet. It enabled people to access and share files with each other across the internet. Unfortunately, it’s also used to breach copyright laws.

Torrenting sites are fantastic communities and libraries of file trackers. However, it’s important to remember that downloading copyrighted material without permission is illegal in many countries and can result in legal consequences.

On top of government restrictions on P2P file sharing, torrent sites also pose the risk of contracting malware and viruses. Our studies showed that most torrent sites display ads, which can be used to track your activity across different websites.

Avoiding the pitfalls of torrenting requires using a privacy-first and ultra-secure VPN, plus sticking to verified and trusted torrenting sites like our top 12 list. We recommend using NordVPN to encrypt your online activity while browsing the best torrent sites on this list.

Do you have a question about torrenting and the best torrent websites? Read our FAQ!

The Pirate Bay is one of the best torrenting websites of 2023. YTS on the other hand, mainly offers HD movies and a very nice interface, whereas Bibliotik is a great torrent site for books.

Whatever your preferences, you’re bound to find the right torrent site for you if you check out our list of the best torrenting websites of 2023.

There are some shady torrent websites on the web that might show you a lot of (questionable) intrusive ads or even spread malware on your system.

Nevertheless, there are also good and safe torrent sites, such as The Pirate Bay. Whichever torrent site you use, it’s important to take a few safety measures (such as using a VPN) to keep your data safe and your identity anonymous.

Torrenting itself is legal. After all, it’s just data sharing between two devices. However, torrenting copyrighted material can land you in trouble. This is illegal in a lot of countries, punishable under many jurisdictions, and something we discourage.

Curious? Read more about the legality of torrenting.

David is a cybersecurity analyst and one of the founders of VPNOverview. Since 2014 he has been gaining international experience working with governments, NGOs, and the private sector as a cybersecurity and VPN expert and advisor.