top 15 torrent sites

This list is the text version of the Visual Guide to Torrent Sites.

NOTE: this list is in random order. Special thanks to all the readers who contribute their recommendations so that this list stays current.

Disclaimer and legal warning for new torrent users: About.com does not condone illegal sharing of copyrighted material. While P2P file sharing technology is completely legal, many of the files traded through P2P are indeed copyrighted. Uploading these copyrighted files puts you at risk of a civil lawsuit in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK. While these lawsuits are often class-action suits, filed against groups of users who blatantly copy and distribute copyrighted materials, some lawsuits are harshly targeted at making examples of individual downloaders. These P2P civil lawsuits are very real, and whether or not they are successful, they are extreme financial and emotional burdens on the defendant.

1. ExtraTorrent.com: ExtraTorrent.com is very visual and very busy.  But the thumbnails and file information at this site are tremendous. This site is definitely worth trying, as it is very browsing-friendly for discovering movies and music artists.
    
2. KAT.cr: this site is an absolute favorite amongst our readers. Kick Ass has also struggled with authorities clamping down on its operations. Kick Ass has gone through domain names of .to, .so, .im, .ph, and now they are working with a .cr domain name.  This site is definitely worth following as it moves its servers about, though. Kick Ass Torrents offers an excellent comment and feedback system, where the community watches the quality of torrents closely, and offers their recommendations and warnings. The adult advertising can be annoying, but Kick Ass Torrents has an excellent library of files and is run by very attentive administrators.
    
3. Bitport.io:  Bitpot is a newer 3rd party service in the Czech Republic.  They don't give you torrents, but instead will download torrents for you onto their own private servers. Once your large files are transferred to them, you then log on and download the completed file directly to your computer.  The free version allows 100MB per hour transfer.  You can subscribe to get faster transfer speeds.  Bitport is an excellent service, and considering the risks that they incur, the small $5/month fee is an excellent value for the customer.
    
4. Torlock: Torlock is special. These folks actually pay their users commission for uncovering fake torrents and reporting it to their community. In a world of phony files, this is a tremendous service. If you are a regular downloader, and are tired of wasted downloads and fraudulent files, give Torlock a try.
    
5. Boxopus: Boxopus is like bitport.io, a 3rd party cloud downloader.  The service does charge $1.50 to use for a week, or $50 for a year.  If you want to integrate with Dropbox, then you'll need to look elsewhere, as Dropbox has blocked Boxopus torrents. But there are some very convenient features here that some readers really rave about.  The price is actually very reasonable if you plan your downloads so that you can use the week-long access to its maximum.
    
6. btscene.com: btscene is a longtime player in the file sharing game. This website does have annoying popups and adult advertising, but it does offer a solid library of torrents. It does a good job of featuring very recent torrents (good for people who follow television shows), and presenting many browsing choices at a glance.
7. Toorgle.com: Toorgle is a torrent metasearch engine based on Google technology. Like any metasearch service, your searches result from multiple other search engines on the Web. Toorgle retrieves the location of these files for you as a kind of matchmaking service. It's quick to use and can help you find rare or obscure torrents. Just make sure you are careful in which torrent you choose at Toorgle; because Toorgle will show results from dodgy torrent sites, take the time to check that a torrent has positive comments and is verified by users before you download. Careful and experienced users comment that Toorgle can be very helpful, if you know how to pick the good torrents from the bad.
    
8. Demonoid.ph:  this private membership community has resurrected itself at new domain name Demonoid.ph and Demonoid.pw. Some of you will remember how Demonoid was a very popular and trusted place to get files and stay informed on which torrents to avoid.  Let's see if Demonoid can regain the same eminence at this new server site!
    
9. SeedPeer.me: SeedPeer is a very large database of over 3 million torrent files. The search interface is simple, and the keyword cloud map helps as a discovery means to find interesting movies, tv shows, and music artists. Fans speak very highly of SeedPeer, so do consider trying it out.
    
10. Isohunt.to: Isohunt is reborn!  After being shut down by the MPAA on October 17, 2013, Isohunt has been resurrected with a new domain name in a new country.  Please support this longtime champion of P2P file sharing!
     
11. BitSnoop.com: is the largest known database of torrents today.  With over 18 million indexed files, one could argue that this is the only site you'd need to search at.  Try BitSnoop for yourself and see how it presents its results with its comments and ratings... you might like this site as much as other readers do.
     
12. VCDQ.com: VCDQ.com isn't technically a torrent search site; rather, VCDQ specializes in verifying torrents. VCDQ employs a committee of serious users to confirm that torrents do indeed exist for thousands of titles, especially brand new movie releases. Use VCDQ to confirm that a title is available, then copy the torrent name to paste into a search engine like Isohunt.com. Definitely give VCDQ.com a try; this is a great resource for avoiding fake torrent files.
     
13. TorrentHound: at over 4.7 million torrents, TorrentHound is one of the largest players in the torrent P2P game. The site does enforce good use of 'white space' in the sidebars, so scanning the pages can be easier for most readers. Unfortunately, the comments counts are not included in the initial search results, so you'll have to click into the individual files to see reader comments.
     
14. Torrent Funk: Torrent Funk is a very popular torrent search site that now supports commenting. While Torrent Funk also supports 'verified status' tagging, which some people prefer to comments. The interface can be difficult to discern between sponsored ads and the actual torrent links. But the Torrent Funk site layout is pleasing, the cross- movie recommendations are very helpful, and several About.com readers highly recommended Torrent Funk. Give this site a try, and watch if it will grow over time.
     
15. Torrents.to: this site has a Tonga country domain name, but certainly offers plentiful metasearching of movies and music in English and Spanish. There are some popup advertisements that are annoying, but perhaps you might like the framed interface for searching other torrent sites.

Tip: How to Spot Fake Torrents

Tip: How to Speed Up Your Torrent Download Speeds