RARBG Shut Down: Best Alternatives That Still Work in 2026

Last Updated on August 30, 2026 by Walter

RARBG is gone for good, and that is the honest answer you came for. The torrent site permanently shut down on May 31, 2023, and the team has not brought it back, so every page you find today claiming to be a RARBG proxy or RARBG mirror is a third-party clone, and many of them serve malware or collect your data.

Heads up before you click anything: the original RARBG site no longer exists. Any current domain using the RARBG name is an unofficial clone, and clone torrent sites are a known source of malware and fake download links. Skip them and use the verified alternatives listed below, with a VPN running.

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Table of Contents

Why did RARBG shut down?

RARBG's operators posted a goodbye message on May 31, 2023, and explained that the decision came from several pressures stacking up at once. Members of the team had died from complications related to COVID-19, and others were still dealing with long-term health problems. Some of the staff were directly affected by the war in Ukraine, with team members serving in the fighting. On top of that, rising electricity prices, inflation, and growing server costs made the site impossible to run at the scale it had reached.

Unlike other torrent sites that have gone quiet and later returned under a new domain, RARBG has not come back. There has been no official relaunch, and the original team has not announced any plans to revive it. That is why the torrent sites that still carry the RARBG name today are operated by unrelated third parties who registered the domains after the shutdown.

Is RARBG still working through a proxy or mirror?

No, RARBG is not still working. The original website, its proxies, and its mirrors all stopped when the site shut down, because proxies and mirrors were just front doors into the same service. When the service behind them closed, the front doors closed with it. The current crop of RARBG proxy and mirror domains you might find in search results are not connected to the original site in any way. They are clones built after the shutdown to catch people typing RARBG into a search bar, and the risks on those pages are real: malicious pop-ups, fake download buttons, and pages that look identical to the old RARBG but exist only to serve you ads or malware.

Trusting a RARBG clone is not a small gamble. Torrent sites already sit at the risky end of the internet because of their ad networks, and a clone that has no reputation to protect is far more dangerous than an established index. If your search for a RARBG mirror leads you to a site that asks you to disable your ad blocker, download a player, or verify your account, close it immediately.

What can I use instead of RARBG?

The good news is that the same torrents RARBG indexed are still being shared on the major public indexes that survived the shutdown. These sites have long track records, active communities, and moderators who keep fake uploads under control. The list below covers the categories RARBG was best known for.

1337x (1337x.to) – the closest overall replacement, with a strong library of movies, shows, games, and music.
YTS (yts.mx) – the go-to for high-quality movie torrents in compact file sizes.
EZTV (eztv.re) – the best-known TV show torrent index, with new episodes posted fast.
LimeTorrents – a clean interface with a huge cross-category catalog.
Torrentz2 (torrentz2.eu) – a meta-search engine that pulls results from many indexes at once.
Torlock – pays users to report fake torrents, so its library is heavily vetted.
The Pirate Bay (thepiratebay.org) – still the most famous index, with mirrors for when the main domain is blocked.

For more detail on the Pirate Bay side of things, we have a full breakdown of the best Pirate Bay alternatives, and a dedicated list of the best anime torrent sites if that is your lane.

How to stay safe while torrenting in 2026

Torrenting through public indexes exposes your IP address to every peer in the swarm, and ISPs and copyright holders both watch those swarms. That alone is a good reason to route your traffic through a VPN before your torrent client ever connects. Beyond the swarm, public torrent sites depend on ad networks, and those networks push malware at anyone who clicks the wrong thing, so a VPN with an ad blocker is the standard toolkit for safe torrenting.

For P2P work you want a VPN that runs dedicated torrent servers, keeps no activity logs, and does not slow your connection to a crawl. We recommend NordVPN for this, because its P2P-optimized servers are built exactly for this workload and its speeds hold up on large downloads.

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How to unblock torrent sites if they are blocked in your country

Some countries block public torrent indexes at the ISP level, which is why people originally went looking for RARBG proxies in the first place. The most reliable way around that block is a VPN, because it reroutes your traffic through a server in a country where the site is accessible. Connect to a server, open the torrent site, and the block simply does not apply to you anymore, since your ISP only sees encrypted traffic to your VPN server.

The alternative is changing your DNS settings, which can help with domain-level blocks but does nothing for IP-level blocks and does not protect your privacy. On your router, open the network settings, switch the DNS to a public resolver like Google DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1), and save. This is a quick fix worth trying, but a VPN remains the safer and more complete solution, because it hides your activity rather than just relocating it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did RARBG come back after shutting down?

No, it has not come back. RARBG shut down permanently on May 31, 2023, and there has been no official relaunch. Any site using the RARBG name today is an unofficial third-party clone, not the original service.

Are RARBG mirror sites safe to use?

No, they are not safe to use. Modern RARBG mirror domains are clones built after the shutdown, and clone torrent sites are a well-documented source of malware, fake download buttons, and phishing pages. Use a verified alternative index with a VPN instead.

What is the best replacement for RARBG?

1337x is the closest overall match for RARBG's mix of movies, shows, games, and music. YTS is better if you mainly want compact movie torrents, and EZTV is the strongest choice for TV shows.

Is torrenting legal?

The BitTorrent protocol itself is legal, and torrenting public-domain or Creative Commons content is fine in most places. Downloading copyrighted material you do not own is illegal in most countries, and penalties vary widely from warnings to large fines, so check your local laws before downloading anything.

Do I need a VPN to use torrent sites?

Not strictly to load the sites, but you should use one while torrenting regardless. A VPN hides your IP from the swarm, stops your ISP from seeing what you download, and protects you from the malware-heavy ad networks on public torrent sites.

Final Thoughts: Moving On From RARBG

RARBG closing in 2023 left a real gap for people who liked its clean interface and reliable releases, and it is understandable that the search for a working proxy keeps happening years later. But the honest truth is that the site is not coming back, and every current RARBG mirror is a clone with unknown motives. The smart move is to let the name go and switch your bookmarks to 1337x, YTS, or EZTV, all of which still carry the same movies and shows the old RARBG indexed. Pair whichever you pick with a VPN, keep your ad blocker on, check your local torrenting laws, and you will not miss RARBG as much as you expect.

Disclaimer: The torrent websites listed here are provided for informational purposes only. MyVPNHub.com does not encourage downloading copyrighted content, which is illegal in most jurisdictions.