The 12 best torrent sites in 2020 [100% working]
For torrenting enthusiasts, it can be very difficult to find a website that provides constant and reliable access at any time of the day. And given the multitude of attacks they receive from international governments, it is not surprising that it is so difficult.
So what if the almighty Pirate Bay is unavailable? Rest assured, there are alternatives on the market! We, therefore, offer you a complete guide to other torrent sites on the net.
Before embarking on torrenting, it’s important to note that both accessing and downloading from a torrent website is risky. These risks range from announcements, viruses and malware to notifications of copyright infringement by Internet service providers and government fines.
You can protect yourself in several ways. However, if you make sure you’re using an ad blocker and have good antivirus software and a reliable VPN, you should be safe.
While there is a wide range of options available to you for each of these solutions, we consider ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or CyberGhost VPN to be a great place to start.
[Also Read: What Is a VPN, and Why Would I Need One?]
Table of Contents
The 12 best torrent sites
The Pirate Bay (TPB) – The undisputed torrent king
- The most reliable and complete torrent catalogues on the net
- The largest community, providing the fastest download speed on the market
- “Top 100” lists for all types of media
This site is the most proven in the world and offers an extensive catalogue of all types of media. In addition, despite numerous attempts to close since its creation in 2003, it remains the first site that comes to the mind of any internet user looking for torrents.
Its torrents are generally very reliable and well documented. Unfortunately, the site is riddled with ads, so an ad blocker is essential. Overall, it is by far the most reliable and comprehensive torrent site on the Internet. One of its most useful features is its search box, which automatically places torrents with the highest number of “seeds” at the top of search results pages. Thus, you will have no trouble identifying the most reliable, popular, and fast torrents for download on the site.
Unfortunately, it is sometimes difficult to access this site via its usual URL. Fortunately, there is a multitude of proxy sites that you will find through a simple Google search, and that work very well. Namely, the usual URL is thepiratebay.org
Kickass Torrents – An excellent selection of series and films (old and recent)
- A basic and easy to use interface
- A huge community of seeders, just behind that of The Pirate Bay
The original Kickass Torrent site unfortunately no longer exists following its closure by the US government in 2016. However, the site has risen from the ashes.
Kickass is known to change domains as often as every six months and has been removed from Google lists, Twitter posts, and Steam. Fortunately for us, it has since been cloned. At the time of writing, it could be found under the name kickasstorrents.cr.
If you manage to access the site, you will find that its main strengths are minimal or non-existent advertisements, as well as its complete catalogue of torrents and its very responsive loading times.
RARBG – Useful information to quickly assess a torrent
- Fast loading times
- Very little advertising
- Rating features based on a star system and links to similar torrents
RARBG is another giant in the torrenting world. It offers a relatively intuitive user interface, a complete catalogue of torrents as well as useful information on each torrent, which greatly facilitates verification before downloading.
The films are often accompanied by screenshots on the page rather than separate links on other sites, as well as the poster, the album cover, or the image of the software in the two windows which open the mouse.
In addition, it is one of the few large torrent sites to manage a tracker server. Indeed, many sites have given it up in favour of magnet links.
YIFY Movies – The star of high quality movies
- The best quality films on the market
- An intuitive and aesthetic “Netflix-Esque” user interface
- Packed with questionable adware and redirects. Be careful
According to many Internet users, the YIFY video catalogue is the fastest and most complete on the net, without forgetting superior quality. And this does not only apply to the YIFY site (YTS YIFY Movies)itself, but also the many other major torrent sites listed such as The Pirate Bay.
Although the original YIFY site has long since disappeared, many copies have appeared to take advantage of the quality label associated with YIFY. The current yts.am / yts.gd site is full of spam that many popular ad blockers are yet to detect. We, therefore, advise you to exercise caution.
The Yts.gd user interface emulates that of many online streaming services, with an aesthetic design, trailers integrated into the page, suggestions of similar films as well as information on distribution and synopsis.
However, this means that much of the more technical information that helps you assess torrents before downloading is not readily available, including “seeds” and “leeches”. It should also be noted that there is no comment section.
Be careful not to click anywhere and what you allow in your browser.
EZTV – The fastest TV series downloads on the market
- A simple interface, without ads
- Unable to download full seasons, only single episodes
- Fewer seeds due to fast availability and the availability of single episodes only.
This site was previously a destination of choice for all TV series and wanted to become a non-profit organization, so as to avoid any litigation associated with “profit from piracy”.
Unfortunately, this strategy did not leave EZTV unscathed, and, after various legal controversies, its domain of origin was claimed by crooks. In addition, it no longer appears in Google search results.
If you can access it, you’ll get a clean, ad-free user experience combined with one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date torrents catalogues. In addition, most series are available in multiple resolutions.
Unfortunately, this means that older series are rare, as the user base prioritizes new ones.
1337x (13377x / 13377) – Very user-friendly use
- A very popular torrent site
- An attractive graphical interface compared to the 1337x / 13377x alternatives
- Convenient torrent directories for easy navigation
This site offers a superb graphical interface, comprehensive information on the torrent page, as well as perfectly organized media categories to help you find the torrent you are looking for in no time. Although it’s not possible to filter searches with a single click from the home page, the options appear on subsequent pages.
As the third most popular torrent site on the planet, you will find almost every type of media imaginable.
1337x also offers a film catalogue section, which brings together the different torrents available for each film title in a single space organized graphically.
ISOHunt – An excellent selection of torrents
- The site strongly recommends that you use a VPN
- Seeders do not automatically classify torrents
- Very limited torrent information
Despite what its name implies, ISOHunt offers not only copies of records but also movies, music, games, and TV shows. After the original ISOHunt site closed in 2013, many copies have been produced. However, according to several sources, none of these copies would be managed by the creators of the original site.
The site offers a minimal home page with a complete option, as well as popularity rankings that don’t seem to be very successful.
Several copies of this type are currently available on isohunt.tv or isohunts.to
Lime Torrents – Clean interface and limited ads
- Fast interface
- Unadorned information
- Excellent VPN warnings
Lime torrents are a great alternative to RARBG, with a very similar user interface and speed but less pop-up windows and graphics. The site includes a full list of trackers on all torrents pages, and the directories of their most popular and recent torrents are easily accessible.
The site is ad-free and displays many warnings about the recommended use of a VPN on their site, and rightly so.
Torrentz2 – An ultra-fast torrent search engine
- A quick solution to find sites that host obscure torrents
- Direct links to 60 million files
- Fast, did you say fast?
Torrentz2 is a basic, no-nonsense search engine that consists of little more than a home page with a search field. It just scans all the torrent sites in its database for a given keyword, then displays all the sites offering the file in question.
Just go directly to the site hosting the torrent file, or use the magnet link.
Although it is just a search engine and does not provide links to copyrighted material, Torrentz has also encountered its share of legal problems and has been closed. Its current copy, Torrentz2.eu, lists more than 60 million torrents.
TorLock – A verified search engine and catalogue
- Explore competing for torrent sites
- A considerable amount of “seeds.”
- VPN warnings
TorLock site is another basic option that offers torrents from the four corners of the net via a robot that evaluates and adds them.
Admittedly, the site is not as intuitive as it could be and the download links are misleading and hard to find. However, the list of titles on offer, including movies, music, software, and TV shows, is really impressive.
Zooqle – Films and TV series in all resolutions
- Torrents are checked before being listed.
- No advertising or pop-up windows
- Complies with DCMA standard (in theory)
Zooqle is a referral site focused on movies and TV series but also offers other types of media, including games, software and e-books. The site offers a well-organized gallery display, which allows you to choose from a selection of resolutions. It also displays the content of the torrent on the site before even clicking on download.
The site claims to host no illegal or copyrighted information and may have managed to keep its domain name by removing torrents at the request of copyright holders.
Torrentseeker – Another solid search engine
- A search engine that queries a wide range of sites
- Google-style layout and results
- Very little technical information
Torrentseeker is another light torrent search engine that claims to search a large number of sources, including niche and language-specific sites. This means that this Google-like site can undoubtedly save you a lot of time by locating the files you are looking for.
Unfortunately, the search results provide very little technical information beyond the name and site where the torrent is located. As a result, you will find it difficult to identify the most abundant seeders.
How to use torrent software?
Found a good torrent site? Great! Unfortunately, you’ve only done half the work. Indeed, you will also have to download a torrent client, that is to say, the software installed on your computer which communicates and exchanges pieces of the files that you download with all the users interested in, or having the files in question.
The options are plentiful, and many of them bombard you with ads and entice you to purchase professional or paid features. We recommend qBittorrent because it is free, without ads and offers all the features you will need.
Generally, the client works immediately after installation, without you having to change any parameters. Simply navigate to the torrent site of your choice and click on the magnet link, or download the torrent file of your choice. Your torrent client should automatically detect it and start downloading the file after confirmation through a dialogue.
Depending on the popularity of the torrent, the file size and the speed of your Internet connection, the download will take longer or shorter. It’s a good idea to scan all downloaded files before opening them for viruses. All you have to do is enjoy your file!
Are torrent sites secure?
Since torrents are a peer to peer network, there is no guarantee of total security, regardless of the website visited. With the numerous closings of torrent sites and the plethora of counterfeit or copy sites, the pitfalls are numerous.
Just remember that common sense (combined with a strong VPN) is one of the best defenses. If a link takes you to a page you weren’t supposed to go to, or if something looks suspicious to you, chances are.
Make sure to scan the downloaded files with an antivirus before opening them, and that all your traffic is routed through a quality VPN that will not sell your data.
Download torrents anonymously with these 3 VPNs
Not all VPNs support torrenting. Therefore, it’s a good idea to educate yourself and take advantage of free trial periods before paying anything. It mainly depends on the country in which the VPN is registered.
Fortunately, some VPNs still support torrents. In particular, we recommend the following three suppliers:
NordVPN – A strict log-free policy to guarantee your anonymity
With more than 4,600 servers worldwide, NordVPN has established itself as one of the best VPNs on the planet. The system will detect your torrenting activity and recommend that you use one of its specialized P2P servers.
Available on a comprehensive range of devices and equipped with military-grade encryption protocols, NordVPN does not keep logs so that users can protect their identity while accessing the service as they wish. NordVPN offers fast download speed and has no bandwidth limits. The service also includes DNS leak protection and a kill switch stop button.
ExpressVPN – Incredibly fast download speeds
ExpressVPN allows its users to access its software via multiple platforms. Although it doesn’t offer a specialized server for downloading torrents like NordVPN, you can use one of 2,000 servers (or more) when downloading.
The service protects with 256-bit AES encryption, a log-free policy, DNS leak protection, and network lock (“kill switch”). Besides its thousands of servers, ExpressVPN also stands out for its fast download speed and unlimited bandwidth.
CyberGhost VPN – Optimized servers for torrenting
With military grade encryption and unlimited bandwidth, CyberGhost VPN is a great option. To enhance your security, the service offers protection against DNS leaks and, recently, a kill switch stop button. Its more than 2,700 servers in nearly 60 countries mean they are there wherever you need them.
CyberGhost offers several profiles designed for specific online activities. You can choose the Anonymous Torrenting Profile for an additional layer of protection before clicking on a magnet link.
Conclusion
Torrenting can be a real minefield, but it’s also the easiest, most convenient, and fastest way to share files on the Internet.
The difference lies in adequate protection via ad blockers, antivirus and VPN, combined with a good dose of common sense.
[Also Read: Are Torrents Sites in Danger? What Are the Dangers of Torrents? ]