Kickass Torrents was the biggest torrent site on the internet until July 2016, when the US Department of Justice arrested its alleged owner, Artem Vaulin, and seized the domains. A group of former staff relaunched the community at katcr.co in December 2016, but the revival never recovered the original library or reliability, and it suffers unpredictable downtime. If you are searching for a Kickass replacement in 2026, these five alternatives are the ones that are actually online and actively indexed.
A note on safety first: torrent sites are routinely blocked by Australian ISPs, and the mirror sites that appear in search results are riddled with fake clones serving malware. Use a VPN before visiting any of them. Our best VPN roundup covers which services handle torrenting properly (port forwarding matters more than raw speed), and a VPN is also how you get around the ISP blocks in the first place.
The 2026 quick guide:
- The original Kickass Torrents was seized in 2016 and never came back officially.
- Mirrors and proxies pop up and get blocked by Australian ISPs routinely.
- Most reliable alternatives today: The Pirate Bay, 1337x, EXT.to and LimeTorrents.
- Torrentz2, once a good search option, is offline: treat any clone as fake.
- Torrenting without a VPN on Australian accounts is how infringement notices happen.
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1. The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay is the cockroach of torrenting: raided, blocked, seized and mirrored more times than anyone can count, and still the largest index of torrents anywhere. Its library covers everything, its interface is unchanged since the mid-2000s, and its “always online” infrastructure means a working mirror is never hard to find. The downside is the same as always: the main domain is blocked by every major Australian ISP, and fake TPB clones are everywhere. Verify you are on a genuine mirror before clicking anything. Our guide to accessing The Pirate Bay when it is blocked in Australia covers the current working routes.
2. 1337x
1337x has become the most reliable general-purpose alternative since KAT’s fall. It is actively maintained, well moderated, and its curated top-100 lists make it easier to browse than raw search engines. The community verifies uploaders, which cuts down (though never eliminates) the fake-release problem. Australian ISPs block the main domain, so you will need a VPN or a working mirror, and the mirror scene for 1337x is cleaner than most because the site’s own community maintains a list of official mirrors.
3. Torrentz2
Torrentz2 is a meta-search engine: it indexed other torrent sites rather than hosting its own library, and one query checked dozens of trackers at once, which made it the go-to for rare content. As of October 2026 there is no working official Torrentz2: torrentz2.eu and torrentz2.is are parked domains and torrentz2.nz has been down since early 2026. Treat any site calling itself Torrentz2 as a clone, and use the current list on our best torrent websites page instead. Our Torrentz2 guide goes deeper on using it safely.
4. LimeTorrents
LimeTorrents has been around for years and keeps a low profile, which has helped it survive where bigger names got seized. Its strength is new releases, particularly TV episodes, and its interface is cleaner than TPB’s. The library is smaller than the top two, and fake LimeTorrents clones are common, so double-check the domain. Like everything on this list, it is blocked at the ISP level in Australia.
5. Zooqle (Use With Caution)
Zooqle was the rising star when this guide was first written, with a strong verified-torrent system and a big TV and movie index. Its current status is murky: the site appears to still exist, but Australian ISPs block it, uptime is inconsistent, and proxy sites claiming to be Zooqle mirrors are a known malware vector. We are leaving it on the list because the underlying index was genuinely good, but treat any mirror with suspicion, run an ad blocker, and do not enter an email address anywhere. If it does not load, move on to the others rather than hunting for working mirrors.
Staying Safe on Any Torrent Site
Whichever site you use, the same rules apply. Run a VPN every time (Australia’s site-blocking regime means your ISP is watching these domains, and rights holders monitor swarms). Use an ad blocker, because the ad networks on torrent sites are the main malware delivery channel. Prefer magnet links over .torrent files. Check uploader reputation and comment threads before downloading anything executable, and never run a .exe that claims to be a movie. If you want a broader view beyond Kickass replacements, our best torrent websites guide covers the full current landscape, and the Kickass proxy guide covers the katcr mirrors specifically if you are set on the KAT community itself. For the other dead giant of that era, our ExtraTorrent alternatives list runs the same checks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best Kickass Torrents alternatives?
The Pirate Bay, 1337x, Torrentz2, LimeTorrents and Zooqle (with caution) are the guide’s current alternatives, with 1337x described as the most reliable general-purpose pick since KAT’s fall.
Is Kickass Torrents completely gone?
The original site was seized by the US Department of Justice in July 2016. The KAT community continues through mirrors and proxies, but those are routinely blocked by Australian ISPs.
Which VPN is best for torrenting?
The guide recommends a VPN that handles torrenting properly, where port forwarding matters more than raw speed, and links to the site’s best VPN roundup for the full comparison.
