Kickass Torrents (KAT) was an ever-so-popular torrents site where Internet visitors from around the world could go for all their P2P sharing needs. This popular website was founded in 2008 and was already considered one of the very best torrenting websites by 2014.
KAT had a good run, but the original site was ultimately shut down by the US government 5 years ago when its domain was seized and its Ukrainian owner, Artem Vaulin, was arrested.
Shortly after, a site very much like the original Kickass Torrents was launched by some of the original Kickass Torrents moderators, with the new domain name katcr.co.
While this reincarnated torrent site and other mirror sites have popped since the original Kickass website was shuttered years ago, many have also been shut down. Thankfully, there are still plenty of sites available that give you the same impact as KAT and that have managed to keep their doors open to visitors.
So, if you are looking for sites like Kickass Torrents that are currently available on the web, keep reading. But, whichever Kickass Torrents alternatives catch your eye, remember that you should always be using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) when accessing any torrent site.
*VPN Brains does not condone any illegal activity online, including downloading copyrighted materials.
Best Kickass Torrents Alternatives in 2024
If you are looking for the best alternatives to Kickass Torrents, here are our top 7 choices that users can still reach today:
1. YTS
If you are looking for one of the absolute best Kickass Torrents alternatives, YTS is a great option. The main appeal of YTS is that it actually compresses your torrents so you can take advantage of your HD content even if you have limits to your bandwidth.
The downside to YTS is that, unlike Kickass Torrents, The Pirate Bay, or many of its competitors, this site focuses solely on movie content. Because I am a movie addict, I find this site to be a rare gem. If you are looking to torrent TV shows, apps, music, or software, check out one of the other popular torrent website options.
The Pirate Bay is a great Kickass Torrents alternative that offers users a great range of torrent files to choose from, including games, apps, video content, audio content, and porn.
The Pirate Bay has a very user-friendly interface that allows you to search easily by category.
While this popular torrenting site comes and goes, users can always find links to a Pirate Bay proxy. Since its name is so well-known, though, many Internet Service Providers have blocked it. The only surefire way to get around this block and ensure this website is available is by using a reputable VPN.
3. Zooqle
The popular Zooqle website has more than 3 million verified torrents, including movies, games, software, TV shows, and more.
While some people aren’t huge fans of the aesthetics of its interface, I happen to find the interface very usable and intuitive, with the ability to search for content based on category — including actor — and based on size or language.
If you are looking for an up-and-coming torrenting site to use as an alternative to Kickass Torrents, this is a great one to keep your eye on.
4. ExtraTorrent
Compared to a site like The Pirate Bay, I find the ExtraTorrent website to be a bit crowded and a bit trickier to navigate.
If you can get past this issue, there are plenty of great offers in terms of movies, TV shows, music, and software to download from this website.
The element that makes me forgive its cluttered appearance: no pop-ups. In addition to this, when you check out each file, you can see its size, type, when it was added, and also its file health.
5. RARBG
As far as Kickass Torrents alternatives, RARBG has actually done a good job at building its reputation. On this site, you can find a wide range of high-quality files and a very engaging, organized interface. You can search under the tabs for music, games, movies, TV shows, software, and x-rated torrents, among others, and you can also narrow your search to the top 10 or the box office hits.
Since users are blocked from using RARBG in many counties, make sure to use a VPN when accessing this site.
6. LimeTorrents
LimeTorrents made it onto our list of Kickass Torrents alternatives, but it is no mistake that you are finding this website closer to the bottom. This site has some great torrent files available, but it is less reliable in terms of consistent availability.
While you can find popular new hits on this site, many of the older torrent files you would hope to see on torrent websites are often missing.
Overall, though, LimeTorrents delivers good speeds and a sizable number of seeders.
7. 1337x
1337x is a great option if you are looking for easy access to torrent files of any type, including documentaries, anime, apps, games, music, movies, and TV shows.
This platform has recently gone through some updates that have improved the user experience, making the site more secure, less prone to pop-ups, and more intuitive.
Why You Need a VPN for Torrenting Sites
Here are just a handful of reasons you should use a VPN on torrenting websites:
Privacy and Protection:
Whenever you are online, there is a chance that your activity or private information can be intercepted by third parties or hackers. A VPN sends your traffic through an encrypted tunnel, so even if anyone is able to get their hands on your private information, it’s all encrypted and indecipherable.
Keep you out of Trouble:
Even if your intention is to stay completely above board and legal when on torrenting websites, there is really no way to ensure 100% that all of the content you download and all of the links you click on are legal. If you accidentally cross the line of the law when using a VPN, you are safe from any consequences because your IP address and identity are concealed, sometimes even putting you in a totally different country from the country you are where you are located. Instead of your own IP address and location being revealed to authorities, your new server IP address and location are revealed, so no activity can be traced back to you.
Access Content from Anywhere:
Certain content and certain websites are only accessible from specific countries. If you are trying to access your favorite movies on your favorite torrent site, it is possible that you will be blocked simply because you are in the wrong country.
In addition to this, some torrenting sites may be blocked from your country simply because certain countries discourage torrenting.
Using a VPN to access torrenting sites is the simplest and quickest way to bypass these geo-restrictions. If you are using a provider with a broad server network, like ExpressVPN, you can connect to a server in any of its 94 server countries, which will make it appear to your ISP that you are torrenting from a permitted location.
Differences Between Legal & Illegal Torrenting
The line between legal and illegal torrenting is a very fine one. While you might have the best of intentions when using a torrenting site, it is is fairly simple to download illegal files accidentally or to click on links that may bring you to an illegal site.
While torrenting is legal in many areas around the world, the second you share or download content that is copyrighted, torrenting is illegal.
Because it is so easy to inadvertently wind up downloading copyrighted songs, movies, TV shows, or files, torrenting tends to be frowned upon, and is even illegal, in some locations.
Whether or not torrenting is legal or illegal, using a VPN when torrenting can ensure that you are doing so safely and without getting caught by your ISP or authorities. But remember, the use of a VPN offers you protection, but it does not make it legal to download illegal files!
*VPN Brains does not condone downloading any copyrighted or illegal materials online.
3 Best VPNs For Torrenting & Accessing Torrenting Sites
When you are trying to access your favorite Kickass Torrents alternative sites, you can’t just pick any VPN from the lineup. It is important to take into consideration that a VPN for torrenting must have top, military-grade encryption, a broad server network that supports torrenting, and speeds that will support buffer-free streaming of your content.
There are tons of cheap VPNs that will protect you while torrenting, but these are the top three VPN options that, after much testing, we have found to be the most reliable and effective at unblocking all of the popular Kickass Torrents alternatives and torrenting safely:
1. ExpressVPN
If you are looking to use a virtual private network to surf torrent sites, ExpressVPN is a great option. ExpressVPN not only has over 3,000 servers in 94 countries around the world, but all of these servers support P2P sharing.
ExpressVPN offers users unlimited bandwidth, great connection speeds, split tunneling, and top security and privacy protocols, so you can torrent anonymously and without risk.
ExpressVPN has AES 256-bit encryption, a no-logs policy, and a Kill Switch that will protect you in case your VPN cuts out while you are downloading torrents — killing your online connection until your protection resumes.
ExpressVPN is located in a privacy-friendly country outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance, so you can feel even more secure knowing that nothing you do online will ever come back to haunt you.
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 live chat support
- 5 simultaneous user connections
- Fastest speeds
- Great privacy and security
- More expensive than its competitors
2. NordVPN
With hundreds of P2P servers in a number of locations around the world, NordVPN is one of the best VPNs, offering great download speeds on all of your Kickass alternative torrent sites.
NordVPN offers users unlimited bandwidth so there is no cap to the number and size of the files you can download. It also boasts top-notch security and privacy features with AES 256-bit encryption, a no-logs policy, a Лill Іwitch, and up to 6 devices connected to a single user account.
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 live-chat
- 6 simultaneous device connections
- In privacy-friendly country
- P2P sharing is not on all servers
3. Surfshark
If you are trying to access your torrent sites with the use of a VPN, Surfshark is another great option. All of Surfshark’s 3,200 servers in 65 countries around the world are P2P-friendly, with great download speeds and reliable connectivity for all of your movie torrents, music torrents, or file sharing.
Surfshark offers users military-grade encryption, a Kill Switch, IP and DNS leak protection, and a strict no-logs policy. Because it is located in a privacy-friendly location, none of your activity on torrent sites will come back to haunt you.
This VPN allows for an unlimited number of devices to connect to one user account, which none of its top competitors offer.
- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Great privacy and safety features
- Most affordable
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 live-chat
- Slower speeds than its competitors
Conclusion
While torrenting in and of itself is not illegal, downloading or sharing copyrighted material is. Even if you are not setting out to download copyrighted content, it is too easy to accidentally do so on any of the torrent websites — new and old.
If you are not in the mood to be in entangled in lawsuits over copyright laws or to find yourself confronted by law enforcement, it is good practice to make sure to use a VPN any time you use any alternative to Kickass Torrents; or really any time you click on any links or download any type of file on any torrent website.
When you use a VPN to torrent, you are completely unidentifiable, so you won’t be punished if you inadvertently share or download copyrighted material.
