NYAA.se, the original site, shut down in 2017 after a long fight with Japanese copyright holders. What most guides won’t tell you: a successor, Nyaa.si, has reportedly been running since a 2020 comeback, and current reports still reference it as active. What’s actually true is that it’s heavily blocked — an Indian court ordered it blocked there, and plenty of ISPs elsewhere (including some in Australia) block it too. So if you’re not seeing it, that’s very likely why — not necessarily that it’s gone.
Worth knowing if you’re still using Nyaa directly: Japanese authorities have been actively escalating enforcement against it — police arrested an uploader tied to the site as recently as July 28, 2026, part of an ongoing crackdown involving Japan’s copyright enforcement body (CODA) and Ministry of Economy. Access and uptime can change quickly as a result.
Either way, here’s how to check for yourself, plus solid alternatives if you’d rather not deal with it.
Is Nyaa.si Still Working? Check With a VPN First
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Before assuming Nyaa is gone for good, try connecting through a VPN and checking again — if it’s an ISP-level block rather than the site actually being down, this resolves it immediately. Private Internet Access is our top pick specifically for torrenting — it’s one of the few major VPNs left that still supports port forwarding, which matters for torrent speeds. See our full PIA review, or our complete best VPN for Australia guide for the full comparison.
Anime Torrent Alternatives
AnimeTosho
Consistently one of the most-recommended current alternatives — no ads, no account needed, aggregates releases from multiple sources, and stays reliable even when Nyaa itself is having issues.
SubsPlease
The top pick if speed matters most to you — known specifically for fast, reliable subtitled releases of ongoing seasonal anime.
Shana Project
Built around RSS-based automation — set your preferred shows and fansub group once, and it fetches new episodes automatically without you checking back. No ads, no login required for basic use.
Tokyo Toshokan
A minimalist, older-style torrent index still actively referenced in current roundups. The interface takes some getting used to and isn’t fully in English, but the content library is genuinely deep, including older and harder-to-find titles.
1337x
Not anime-specific, but a large, well-established general torrent index with a dedicated anime category and a clean interface.
AniDex
An anime-and-manga-focused tracker with strong tagging and filtering by resolution, language, and release group — a similar feel to Nyaa itself.
Crunchyroll (Legal Option)
Worth knowing if you’d rather go the fully legal route: Crunchyroll ended its free tier on January 1, 2026, and raised prices again in February — plans now start at $9.99/month. Tubi is the better free legal pick now that Crunchyroll’s free tier is gone.
A Word on Safety
Every unofficial option above carries the same general risks as any torrent or streaming site outside official licensing — ads, occasional malware risk, and the chance it goes down or gets blocked further, the same way the original Nyaa did. Keep a VPN running regardless of which option you use, and be cautious of any site claiming to be a “Nyaa mirror” that you haven’t verified through a trusted source — fake mirrors are a common way people end up somewhere malicious.
