In a dramatic turn of events, DramaFever, the beloved drama streaming service featuring popular Korean shows and videos, was recently shut down after a 9-year run.
DramaFever was an Asian fan-favorite that offered an affordable premium streaming service subscription for only $4.99 per month, giving its users access to more than 15,000 video episodes from a dozen countries — including Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan — all with no ads! (For people who didn’t want to pay, there was a free version that included some advertisements.)
In October 2018, the DramaFever team decided to share the information on its page that it was closing its site:
Essentially, the site closed because of business reasons — namely, the rising cost of licensing and the inability of the service to keep up with rising costs.
But, while the curtains have closed on this site, there are still ways to access your Korean dramas and other Asian favorites.
After testing some of the top DramaFever alternatives, we would like to share a list of some of our favorite services that will help keep you from going into Asian-drama withdrawal.
Here’s the Best VPN to Stream DramaFever Alternatives
We have come up with a selection of 5 DramaFever alternatives that will satisfy your appetite for those juicy Asian dramas that you crave. The problem is that not every streaming website or app allows you to access your videos from every region. Some of the content is geo-blocked, and can only be accessed freely with a VPN — a virtual private network.
We connected to our favorite go-to VPN, ExpressVPN, and it let us view every show on these platforms, with no geo-restrictions.
5 Best Korea DramaFever Alternatives
1. Viki
Rakuten Viki (Viki) is a website/app at the top of our list of DramaFever alternatives, with many Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian TV shows.
The Viki website library contains the best shows and movies, and you can also watch all of your K-dramas on the Viki app for Android, iOS, FireTV, Apple TV, Roku, AndroidTV, and Chromecast.
The coolest Viki feature: you can watch your shows in more than 200 languages, many of which allow subtitles, as well.
Some of the Viki dramas are accessible in multiple locations, but others are only licensed for viewing in certain places, making them geo-blocked in others.
The only way to ensure that you get access to all of your favorite DramaFever alternatives on Viki is by using a VPN to access them. ExpressVPN is our go-to VPN for unblocking Viki streaming services all over the world. It has servers in 94 countries around the globe and has crazy-fast streaming speeds that help you watch each show in HD with no buffering or lag.
2. Netflix
Netflix has a great selection of K-dramas that are accessible from many regions around the world, offering video subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and other languages. The thing is, even though Netflix is not a solely Asian-focused content-sharing site, the popularity and recent success of its Asian dramas have made it strong competitors in the game, now with more than 40 of its own original Korean dramas ready to view on its site, all with great quality production.
While Netflix usually rolls out an entire season at once of any given show, it has an agreement with certain networks in South Korea that dictates that it only rolls out shows on a weekly basis, hours after they are aired live, creating an aura of excitement and anticipation that keeps viewers tuning in.
With ExpressVPN, you can access a huge array of your favorite shows from all different regional libraries, with absolutely no trouble.
3. Kocowa
Another alternative to DramaFever is Kocowa, an Asian streaming service that allows viewers to watch Korean TV when they are not in South Korea. You can easily watch your dramas on this channel from North and South America mere hours after they actually air.
If you try to access shows in many other countries, however, you will get an error message like this:
“We are truly sorry. Kocowa is currently only available in North and South America. We are currently working on expanding our service to reach more countries. Please hang in there!”
If you are in a location outside of the United States, ExpressVPN can easily help you connect to watch your Korean dramas, variety shows, or k-pop series. All you have to do is connect to a server in an American location, and stream your shows.
4. Viu
If you are looking for a good alternate website for DramaFever, Viu is a great choice, with entertainment news, dramas, variety shows, and anime. Unfortunately, Viu is restricted to 18 countries, so if you want to access this streaming service from elsewhere, you will need a VPN. ExpressVPN can connect you to a server in Hong Kong where the site can also be viewed in English.
5. AsianCrush
We definitely have a K-crush on AsianCrush. This site gives users access to action, martial arts, horror, anime, and all-around great K-drama — whether on your Android, iOS, AppleTV, or Roku device.
If you want to share your dramas with someone who doesn’t speak the native language on the screen, AsianCrush offers subtitles on its HD content.
Trying to watch AsianCrush video content from certain areas, you will get a non-specific error message. The quickest way to make this error message disappear is by using ExpressVPN, and connecting to a server in the US, where this site is free for streaming.
How to Watch Korean Drama with a VPN
Check out these 3 easy steps to get you watching your Korean dramas in no time, using a reliable VPN:
1️⃣ Choose a reputable VPN and subscribe. We highly recommend ExpressVPN for its speed, reliability, and premium features.
2️⃣ Connect to one of your VPN’s servers in a country where your streaming site is permitted for streaming. The US is a great option for most of these sites, and ExpressVPN has plenty of servers in the US.
3️⃣ Watch your DF alternatives and favorite Korean dramas from anywhere!
FAQs
According to reports, the costs for licensing and distribution for these DF dramas went up more than 25%, driven partly by the success of bigger on-demand giants like Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Conclusion
While DramaFever subscribers and fans may still be reeling from the loss of their DramaFever shows, they can still get their Korean video fix with similar content on the many DF site alternatives listed above — as well as on other sites, like Hulu, or Crunchyroll.
To access a wide variety of video streaming from all over the world, ExpressVPN is your best bet for getting through geo-restrictions from anywhere.
