That's a lot of sites
March 12, 2025 9:02 PM Subscribe
While it's self-proclaimed, it's easy to believe that this is the largest collection of links to free sites on the internet.
I will note that some of the sites are pirate sites. Use those at your own risk. There's a lot of other things there to explore though.
posted by JHarris at 10:02 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 10:02 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]
I tried, I really did. I maintained discounted ad-tier subscription bundles for Netflix, Hulu, Max, Disney+, and Spotify for years. I even tolerated YouTube's ever-multiplying ads after my jailbreak tweak to avoid them died. But after the latest round of price hikes, greedy library culls, and platforming/donating to fash, I swore it all off. And it turns out that in the ~20 years since ThePirateBay + BitTorrent was de riguer, there are newer, much more user-friendly greyzone alternatives to sailing the high seas.
On iOS, I'd long thought that the increasing difficulty of jailbreaking meant being relegated to dodgy 123Movies.com-style sites. But there's a key workaround: sideloading. By installing AltStore on your computer and iDevice, you get a Cydia-like experience that lets you download and install arbitrary apps on un-jailbroken devices, no matter your hardware or iOS version. The only downside is having to renew the certificates on these apps once a week to keep them functioning, which can be automated if you turn on WiFi sync. As a result, you can enjoy unofficial free adblocker/enhancers like EeveeSpotify and YTLitePlus, which manage to 1. replicate the app experience, 2. bypass ads and paywalls, 3. sync with your existing accounts, and 4. add scads of useful quality-of-life features the real apps don't have. Similar tweaks are available for desktop (SpotX, uBlockOrigin if you can manually install it), and even for smart TVs (SmartTube); my favorite SmartTube feature, DeArrow, replaces clickbait titles and thumbnails with community-sourced replacements.
The most impressive thing, though, is the new evolution of torrenting. Back in the day, you'd have to brave shady public trackers or beg your way into a private group to find torrents. This got prettied up by clients like Popcorn Time ~10 years ago, but even that required public seeding that exposed your IP, and the developer was a juicy target.
Now, though, there are a host of "debrid" services (Real Debrid, All Debrid, Premiumize) that take a new approach. Basically, they serve as a remote download and cache service, connecting to and mirroring both torrents and myriad "cyberlocker" platforms where users upload catalogs of content. For a nominal fee (around $5/mo), you get unlimited access to directly download from their temporary mirror of this content. Combine with a simple front-end like Stremio (using an add-on called Torrent.io that scrapes the web for public torrents), and you get a Netflix-like interface that offers virtually every movie and TV show you can think of in the highest quality. There's even an add-on for streaming live TV channels. And because it doesn't directly seed torrents or permanently host public file downloads, users aren't at risk of viruses or copyright strikes; even antipiracy groups grudgingly admit the debrids are in a legal grey area. (Real Debrid recently came under pressure from a French regulator after blowing up on TikTok, but despite the headlines only had to make cosmetic changes to satisfy them). The biggest obstacle to using it is that major payment processors don't support them (Amazon Pay did until they remembered they owned Amazon Prime video, I guess). But you can use a service like Privacy.com or even Apple Wallet to create a "virtual" card number used exclusively to buy the RD subscription without exposing your real payment info, and can even set a monthly limit so there's no chance of being overcharged.
There are probably other free avenues out there -- seedboxes, Plex/Kodi plus the *arr suite for downloading stuff locally, and I'm sure Usenet is still a thing. But Real Debrid + Stremio + Torrentio is pretty simple to set up and it's hard to beat the price.
(If you're too skittish to try the above, there are plenty of FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming Television) options like Pluto TV, Tubi, Freevee, etc., which replicate ye olde-style "dozens of 24/7 channels you can browse", which nicely solves the "what do I watch?" question. The content is decent, with themed channels like action movies, classic sitcoms, and perma-marathons for I Love Lucy, Bob Ross, etc. The ads are surprisingly tolerable, too.)
posted by Rhaomi at 11:17 PM on March 12 [128 favorites]
On iOS, I'd long thought that the increasing difficulty of jailbreaking meant being relegated to dodgy 123Movies.com-style sites. But there's a key workaround: sideloading. By installing AltStore on your computer and iDevice, you get a Cydia-like experience that lets you download and install arbitrary apps on un-jailbroken devices, no matter your hardware or iOS version. The only downside is having to renew the certificates on these apps once a week to keep them functioning, which can be automated if you turn on WiFi sync. As a result, you can enjoy unofficial free adblocker/enhancers like EeveeSpotify and YTLitePlus, which manage to 1. replicate the app experience, 2. bypass ads and paywalls, 3. sync with your existing accounts, and 4. add scads of useful quality-of-life features the real apps don't have. Similar tweaks are available for desktop (SpotX, uBlockOrigin if you can manually install it), and even for smart TVs (SmartTube); my favorite SmartTube feature, DeArrow, replaces clickbait titles and thumbnails with community-sourced replacements.
The most impressive thing, though, is the new evolution of torrenting. Back in the day, you'd have to brave shady public trackers or beg your way into a private group to find torrents. This got prettied up by clients like Popcorn Time ~10 years ago, but even that required public seeding that exposed your IP, and the developer was a juicy target.
Now, though, there are a host of "debrid" services (Real Debrid, All Debrid, Premiumize) that take a new approach. Basically, they serve as a remote download and cache service, connecting to and mirroring both torrents and myriad "cyberlocker" platforms where users upload catalogs of content. For a nominal fee (around $5/mo), you get unlimited access to directly download from their temporary mirror of this content. Combine with a simple front-end like Stremio (using an add-on called Torrent.io that scrapes the web for public torrents), and you get a Netflix-like interface that offers virtually every movie and TV show you can think of in the highest quality. There's even an add-on for streaming live TV channels. And because it doesn't directly seed torrents or permanently host public file downloads, users aren't at risk of viruses or copyright strikes; even antipiracy groups grudgingly admit the debrids are in a legal grey area. (Real Debrid recently came under pressure from a French regulator after blowing up on TikTok, but despite the headlines only had to make cosmetic changes to satisfy them). The biggest obstacle to using it is that major payment processors don't support them (Amazon Pay did until they remembered they owned Amazon Prime video, I guess). But you can use a service like Privacy.com or even Apple Wallet to create a "virtual" card number used exclusively to buy the RD subscription without exposing your real payment info, and can even set a monthly limit so there's no chance of being overcharged.
There are probably other free avenues out there -- seedboxes, Plex/Kodi plus the *arr suite for downloading stuff locally, and I'm sure Usenet is still a thing. But Real Debrid + Stremio + Torrentio is pretty simple to set up and it's hard to beat the price.
(If you're too skittish to try the above, there are plenty of FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming Television) options like Pluto TV, Tubi, Freevee, etc., which replicate ye olde-style "dozens of 24/7 channels you can browse", which nicely solves the "what do I watch?" question. The content is decent, with themed channels like action movies, classic sitcoms, and perma-marathons for I Love Lucy, Bob Ross, etc. The ads are surprisingly tolerable, too.)
posted by Rhaomi at 11:17 PM on March 12 [128 favorites]
That is an amazing comment Rhaomi!
posted by JHarris at 11:29 PM on March 12 [3 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 11:29 PM on March 12 [3 favorites]
BTW, Shout Factory runs eight free streams of riffing on Youtube, and I wouldn't doubt it if they were duplicated on other platforms. Four of Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies (two general, and a couple themed after monster and space movies), one just of MST3K shorts, one for Rifftrax, one for Cinematic Titanic, and even one of just the four episodes of The Film Crew!
posted by JHarris at 11:33 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 11:33 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
Thanks, JHarris, for the post of the link collection, and Rhaomi for a comment of very useful and time-saving information.
posted by Wordshore at 11:50 PM on March 12 [2 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 11:50 PM on March 12 [2 favorites]
in the ~20 years since ThePirateBay + BitTorrent was de riguer, there are newer, much more user-friendly greyzone alternatives to sailing the high seas.
There are also Netherlands-based seedboxes available that provide the equivalent of sailing them in a drug cartel cigarette boat for as little as €5/month.
I switched to using one of those after upgrading my shit-grade National Broadband Network internet service to Starlink (much as I hate paying Elon for anything, I get literally ten times the speed that way) only to find that unlike my previous ISP, Starlink actually monitors BitTorrent traffic and passes along MPAA nastygrams when it notices something being shared that shouldn't be. Should have done it years earlier.
Transfer rates into the seedbox over BitTorrent are insane for any moderately recent release. Download rates from there into my house are capped to 50Mb/s per connection which is plenty good enough to stream HD media over, though I always just download stuff and stream it locally. And aside from drying up all the nastygrams, it's just nice not to have to deal with all the fiddly router setup I used to need in order to make BitTorrent both work well and not crush every other internet application that happened to be active at the same time.
posted by flabdablet at 12:01 AM on March 13 [4 favorites]
There are also Netherlands-based seedboxes available that provide the equivalent of sailing them in a drug cartel cigarette boat for as little as €5/month.
I switched to using one of those after upgrading my shit-grade National Broadband Network internet service to Starlink (much as I hate paying Elon for anything, I get literally ten times the speed that way) only to find that unlike my previous ISP, Starlink actually monitors BitTorrent traffic and passes along MPAA nastygrams when it notices something being shared that shouldn't be. Should have done it years earlier.
Transfer rates into the seedbox over BitTorrent are insane for any moderately recent release. Download rates from there into my house are capped to 50Mb/s per connection which is plenty good enough to stream HD media over, though I always just download stuff and stream it locally. And aside from drying up all the nastygrams, it's just nice not to have to deal with all the fiddly router setup I used to need in order to make BitTorrent both work well and not crush every other internet application that happened to be active at the same time.
posted by flabdablet at 12:01 AM on March 13 [4 favorites]
Many thanks JHarris Rhaomi and flabdablet for all of this info and these links which I suspect will prove to be a treasure trove. I say 'suspect,' not to damn with faint praise but because of my own limited understanding of half the terms you use. Once I've copy and pasted the lot, spent a couple of days learning what this and that term means, what that app is and does then sieve it all thru the mesh of my own hobbies and interests - a process as rewarding in itself as any gold left in the pan, I'll know.
I'm not exclusively quill pen but close enough to be grateful to cling to your coat tails as you and others here (thanks again Ryvar) slipstream across cyberspace.
posted by dutchrick at 2:28 AM on March 13 [2 favorites]
I'm not exclusively quill pen but close enough to be grateful to cling to your coat tails as you and others here (thanks again Ryvar) slipstream across cyberspace.
posted by dutchrick at 2:28 AM on March 13 [2 favorites]
One more for the free site list: Soma FM is still around!
posted by NoMich at 5:49 AM on March 13 [6 favorites]
posted by NoMich at 5:49 AM on March 13 [6 favorites]
I should've a seedbox of course, but in truth I rarely watch anything: Series always feel like stupid filler. I've made a long list of good movies worth watching, but I rarely ever watch them.
Instead, my yt-mp3 script for yt-dlp captures all the music to which I could listen:
#!/bin/bash
exec yt-dlp -x --audio-format=mp3 $*
It's worth knowing --postprocessor-args "-ss 00:01:02.00 -to 00:04:45.00" option too to remove chat or applause from live stuff, although a seperate ffmpeg process maybe makes more sense there.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:16 AM on March 13 [3 favorites]
Instead, my yt-mp3 script for yt-dlp captures all the music to which I could listen:
#!/bin/bash
exec yt-dlp -x --audio-format=mp3 $*
It's worth knowing --postprocessor-args "-ss 00:01:02.00 -to 00:04:45.00" option too to remove chat or applause from live stuff, although a seperate ffmpeg process maybe makes more sense there.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:16 AM on March 13 [3 favorites]
I still don't understand why I cannot get OTA broadband TV for local stations, something like Locast, as an App? Locast had to cease operating because they were sued.
It's already OTA. Why do the broadcasters seem so opposed to making that available in an App form?
posted by indianbadger1 at 1:42 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
It's already OTA. Why do the broadcasters seem so opposed to making that available in an App form?
posted by indianbadger1 at 1:42 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
Here I am still using Tor+TPb and dealing with the stupid little pop-ups with VPN protection and what is this Debrid thing I don't understand
posted by mit5urugi at 2:46 PM on March 13 [2 favorites]
posted by mit5urugi at 2:46 PM on March 13 [2 favorites]
A basic explanation of seedbox usage
Also there is stuff like BTV (link in pt-br)
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 4:28 PM on March 13 [1 favorite]
Also there is stuff like BTV (link in pt-br)
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 4:28 PM on March 13 [1 favorite]
JHarris, my id3set_band_album reads:
#!/bin/bash
TMP="${PWD%/*}"
exec id3tool --set-artist="${TMP##/*/}" --set-album="${PWD##/*/}" *.mp3
I do wish id3tool had some no clobber option, because this easily wipes out cool information. I suppose one could extract only the file with no existing id3 tags.
posted by jeffburdges at 6:27 PM on March 13 [1 favorite]
#!/bin/bash
TMP="${PWD%/*}"
exec id3tool --set-artist="${TMP##/*/}" --set-album="${PWD##/*/}" *.mp3
I do wish id3tool had some no clobber option, because this easily wipes out cool information. I suppose one could extract only the file with no existing id3 tags.
posted by jeffburdges at 6:27 PM on March 13 [1 favorite]
A basic explanation of seedbox usage
What I did:
1. Set up an account with ultra.cc and pay for a year's worth of their cheapest (Lancer) offering, which takes the monthly cost down to €4.46. That's absurdly cheap for what you get.
2. Log onto their control panel and click the name of my Lancer instance under Services in the left-side menu. I'm going to refer to that name as myname.servername.usbx.me in this writeup; you get to choose your own myname, servername gets allocated to you.
3. Use the Installer tab to install the Transmission BitTorrent peer, choosing version 4. Might also have needed to use the Apps tab and choose Start from the Action dropdown for Transmission - can't remember whether it did that automatically.
As a courtesy to other public torrent users, I also followed these instructions to avoid my Transmission instance operating as a pure leech on public torrents. This is easy to achieve in any OS command-line environment now that even Windows has finally got on board with having ssh installed by default.
4. Browse to https://myname.servername.usbx.me/transmission/web and log in with username myname and the password I chose during the Transmission installation.
5. Click the hamburger menu (top right), choose Edit Preferences, and click "Add browser handler" under "Magnet protocol handler".
With all that in place, whenever I click a Magnet link on TPB or any other torrent indexing site, my browser automatically opens the Transmission web interface and hands that link straight to my ultra.cc's running Transmission instance. All I need to do is click Start and it's off and running.
Once the files I'm interested in have been collected by the seedbox, a process that usually happens exceedingly quickly and is easily monitored using the Transmission web interface page, I can
posted by flabdablet at 9:19 PM on March 13 [7 favorites]
What I did:
1. Set up an account with ultra.cc and pay for a year's worth of their cheapest (Lancer) offering, which takes the monthly cost down to €4.46. That's absurdly cheap for what you get.
2. Log onto their control panel and click the name of my Lancer instance under Services in the left-side menu. I'm going to refer to that name as myname.servername.usbx.me in this writeup; you get to choose your own myname, servername gets allocated to you.
3. Use the Installer tab to install the Transmission BitTorrent peer, choosing version 4. Might also have needed to use the Apps tab and choose Start from the Action dropdown for Transmission - can't remember whether it did that automatically.
As a courtesy to other public torrent users, I also followed these instructions to avoid my Transmission instance operating as a pure leech on public torrents. This is easy to achieve in any OS command-line environment now that even Windows has finally got on board with having ssh installed by default.
4. Browse to https://myname.servername.usbx.me/transmission/web and log in with username myname and the password I chose during the Transmission installation.
5. Click the hamburger menu (top right), choose Edit Preferences, and click "Add browser handler" under "Magnet protocol handler".
With all that in place, whenever I click a Magnet link on TPB or any other torrent indexing site, my browser automatically opens the Transmission web interface and hands that link straight to my ultra.cc's running Transmission instance. All I need to do is click Start and it's off and running.
Once the files I'm interested in have been collected by the seedbox, a process that usually happens exceedingly quickly and is easily monitored using the Transmission web interface page, I can
- use my web browser to download them one at a time from https://myname.servername.usbx.me/files (a username and password are required for the first download in a browsing session)
- use scp or rsync to copy whole folders recursively from servername.usbx.me:/home/myname/files/ to a local folder (I've set this up with my own ssh keys so I don't need to enter credentials every time)
- use the control panel's one-click installer to bring up an instance of File Browser on my seedbox, which lets me download whole folders using just the web browser as well as set up extra usernames and passwords for friends and family to do likewise
posted by flabdablet at 9:19 PM on March 13 [7 favorites]
The linked FMHY site is a mirror on the Vercel serive, which recently started updating again. This is the main site - links can be submitted here.
posted by BiggerJ at 5:35 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]
posted by BiggerJ at 5:35 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]
And here I thought I was clever by using VPN to watch BBC television.
posted by jokeefe at 1:30 PM on March 14 [1 favorite]
posted by jokeefe at 1:30 PM on March 14 [1 favorite]
mit5urugi: "Here I am still using Tor+TPb and dealing with the stupid little pop-ups with VPN protection and what is this Debrid thing I don't understand"
There are tons of free "cyberlocker" services out there that allow users to upload and share files -- think Mega, MediaFire, RapidGator, etc. One popular use case is distributing high-quality copies of movies and TV shows. It's basically similar to people uploading unauthorized film clips or music to YouTube -- the hosting provider has to take it down if it's reported, but until they do, DMCA safe harbor provisions mean it's legal for third parties to index these files and for end users to watch them.
Normally these filesharing sites are rate-limited or require a subscription to access. Debrid services negotiate bulk purchasing deals with them, mirroring their files on demand and making them temporarily available through their own servers. They do the same with torrent files, downloading the torrented file themselves and then making it privately available for direct streaming for a limited time.
Once you have a debrid subscription, you can then configure Stremio to automatically query the service for cached content; the Torrent.io addon augments this by scraping the web for torrent links and then passing them to the debrid service to swiftly turn them into streaming video. Result: search for a title, and you get multiple available copies in a variety of resolutions and formats. (The USA TV addon, meanwhile, just points to publicly-available IPTV streams.)
posted by Rhaomi at 3:29 PM on March 14 [1 favorite]
There are tons of free "cyberlocker" services out there that allow users to upload and share files -- think Mega, MediaFire, RapidGator, etc. One popular use case is distributing high-quality copies of movies and TV shows. It's basically similar to people uploading unauthorized film clips or music to YouTube -- the hosting provider has to take it down if it's reported, but until they do, DMCA safe harbor provisions mean it's legal for third parties to index these files and for end users to watch them.
Normally these filesharing sites are rate-limited or require a subscription to access. Debrid services negotiate bulk purchasing deals with them, mirroring their files on demand and making them temporarily available through their own servers. They do the same with torrent files, downloading the torrented file themselves and then making it privately available for direct streaming for a limited time.
Once you have a debrid subscription, you can then configure Stremio to automatically query the service for cached content; the Torrent.io addon augments this by scraping the web for torrent links and then passing them to the debrid service to swiftly turn them into streaming video. Result: search for a title, and you get multiple available copies in a variety of resolutions and formats. (The USA TV addon, meanwhile, just points to publicly-available IPTV streams.)
posted by Rhaomi at 3:29 PM on March 14 [1 favorite]
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