Is a torrent site down for everyone, or is something blocking it on your connection? This checker answers both for the 15 sites on our list of the best torrent sites: our server checks whether each one is up, and your browser tests whether it can reach it.
Check 15 torrent sites
Your connection:
The test asks each site for one small file, the way your browser does when you open it. Nothing is downloaded or stored, but your internet provider can see which sites were asked.
| Site | For everyone | On your connection |
|---|---|---|
| 1337x 1337x.to Court-ordered blocks in UK, Australia, India + 6 more | – | Not tested yet |
| The Pirate Bay thepiratebay.org Court-ordered blocks in UK, Australia, India + 7 more | – | Not tested yet |
| TorLock torlock.com Court-ordered blocks in UK, Australia, Denmark | – | Not tested yet |
| EXT.to ext.to No court-ordered blocks found | – | Not tested yet |
| LimeTorrents limetorrents.fun Court-ordered blocks in UK, Netherlands, Denmark | – | Not tested yet |
| TorrentDownloads torrentdownloads.pro Court-ordered blocks in UK, Denmark | – | Not tested yet |
| Knaben knaben.org No court-ordered blocks found | – | Not tested yet |
| EZTV eztvx.to Court-ordered blocks in UK, Australia, Netherlands + 1 more | – | Not tested yet |
| BitSearch bitsearch.eu No court-ordered blocks found | – | Not tested yet |
| Nyaa.si nyaa.si Court-ordered blocks in Australia, India | – | Not tested yet |
| RuTracker rutracker.org Court-ordered blocks in Russia, Australia, India + 2 more | – | Not tested yet |
| FitGirl Repacks fitgirl-repacks.site Provider blocklist in Germany | – | Not tested yet |
| TorrentFunk torrentfunk.com Court-ordered blocks in UK, Denmark | – | Not tested yet |
| Torrends.to torrends.to Court-ordered blocks in Denmark | – | Not tested yet |
| YTS yts.bz Court-ordered blocks in UK, Australia, Netherlands + 1 more Now forwards to yts.gg, which TorrentFreak hasn’t confirmed | – | Not tested yet |
How the Torrent Site Checker Works
Every result comes from two checks:
- Our server asks each site for its homepage and icon. Any answer counts as up, including a “checking your browser” page. No answer, or only server errors, counts as down. Results are at most five minutes old.
- Your browser asks each site for the same small file, up to three times. If it is refused every time, our server checks the site again on the spot, and only if the site still answers us is it counted as blocked on your connection.
Internet providers block sites in three main ways: they tamper with DNS so the site’s name leads nowhere, they cut the connection when the site’s name shows up in the start of an encrypted connection, or they drop traffic to the site’s IP address. The first two fail fast, which is how the checker recognises a block. Dropped traffic just hangs, and so does a flaky site, so a site that only hangs for you is shown as “No answer for you” rather than blocked.
Nothing is stored. The test runs in your browser and the results stay there. Your provider can still see which sites were contacted, just as it would if you opened them.
The checker has limits, and it tells you when it hits one:
- Some sites can’t be tested in a browser. 1337x puts a bot check in front of every page, which a browser can’t tell apart from a block. For those, the checker falls back on the court orders in your country.
- UK readers get the court-order answer. Cloudflare shows its own “Error 451” page to UK visitors for many court-listed sites, and a browser test can’t see that page for what it is.
- School, office and public Wi-Fi filters count as blocks. From your point of view they are.
- Extensions that block sites can look like a block too. If one site fails and you run a strict blocker, try again with it paused.
What Your Result Means
- Opens for you: your connection reached the site. Your provider can still see that you visited it, and every peer in a torrent swarm sees your IP address.
- Blocked on your connection: the site is up for everyone else, but your connection refused it every time. Your provider, or the network you are on, blocks it.
- No answer for you: the site is up for everyone else, but it only hung on your connection. That can be a quiet block or a flaky moment, so test again in a minute.
- Blocked in the UK / Likely blocked: your country has a court order against the site that the big providers enforce, and the site can’t be tested any other way.
- Down for everyone: the site isn’t answering anywhere right now. Torrent sites go down after domain seizures, attacks and moves to new addresses.
- Up, but slow: the site answers, but its pages are failing or very slow for everyone.
- Not loading right now: your browser couldn’t reach the site, but it is struggling for everyone, so the checker won’t call it a block. Try again later.
- Can’t test here: the site is up, but a browser test would be a guess. Open it to see whether it loads.
Why Torrent Sites Get Blocked
Most blocks come from court orders. Film and music companies ask a court to order the biggest internet providers in a country to block a site, and the court adds more addresses as the site moves. UK providers have blocked The Pirate Bay by High Court order since 2012 and 1337x since 2013; courts in Australia, India, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and Belgium have issued their own orders. Russia blocks RuTracker.
Some blocks come from the providers themselves: Germany’s big providers added FitGirl Repacks to their joint blocklist in June 2025. And since July 2025, Cloudflare has shown UK visitors an “Error 451” page for many court-listed sites, even through UK VPN servers.
The table in the checker shows where each site is blocked. Our torrent site list has the details for each one, and our Is It Blocked? tester checks any other website in 24 countries.
How to Open a Blocked Torrent Site
1. Use a VPN. A VPN connects you through one of its servers, so your provider only sees encrypted traffic to that server, and a server in a country without a block gets you to the site. It also swaps your IP address for the server’s, so peers in a swarm see the VPN’s address instead of yours. In the UK, pick a server outside the UK. NordVPN allows P2P on every standard server and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Unblock Torrent Sites With NordVPN
2. Change your DNS. Switching to a public DNS service such as 1.1.1.1 gets past blocks that only tamper with DNS. It does nothing against the other methods, it hides nothing from your provider, and courts in some countries have ordered public DNS services to block sites too.
3. Skip proxy and mirror sites. Sites that promise to unblock a torrent site are often clones that serve fake torrents, pop-ups and malware.
4. Don’t use Tor for torrenting. Tor Browser can open a blocked site, but the Tor Project has said that torrenting over Tor isn’t a good idea: it is slow for everyone, and torrent clients can leak your real IP address around it.
When a Site Is Down for Everyone
If the checker says a site is down for everyone, a VPN won’t bring it back. Give it a few hours, because many outages are short. If it stays down, look for news of a move before you trust a new address: popular sites attract look-alike clones. Meanwhile, our list of the best torrent sites has alternatives that are working, and our guide to how internet providers know you are torrenting explains what your provider sees when you do.
FAQ
Why Is a Torrent Site Not Loading for Me?
Usually because your internet provider blocks it. Courts in the UK, Australia, India and much of Europe have ordered providers to block the biggest torrent sites, and school, office and public Wi-Fi networks often filter them too. If the checker says a site is up for everyone but blocked on your connection, that’s what is happening. If it’s down for everyone, wait or pick another site from our list.
Is It Illegal to Visit a Blocked Torrent Site?
Block orders bind internet providers, not readers, and using a VPN is legal in most countries. Downloading or sharing copyrighted files without permission is illegal almost everywhere, though, with or without a block. I don’t condone it.
Does the Checker Store My IP Address or Results?
No. Your browser runs the test and shows the results only to you. Our server reads your network name and country to show them on the page, like any website can, and keeps neither. Your internet provider can still see which sites your browser contacted.
Why Can’t the Checker Test 1337x in My Browser?
1337x puts a bot check in front of every page, and to a browser that check looks exactly like a block. Rather than guess, the checker tells you whether your country has a court order against it. Open 1337x.to to see whether it loads for you.
Why Does a Site Work on Mobile Data but Not on Wi-Fi?
Because the block belongs to the network, not the site. Your home provider, school or workplace may block a site your mobile carrier doesn’t, or the other way round. The checker tests whichever connection you are on right now.
Can a VPN Get Around a UK Block?
Yes, if you connect to a server outside the UK. Since July 2025 Cloudflare has shown UK visitors a “blocked for legal reasons” page for many court-listed sites, and it treats UK VPN servers the same way. A server in a country without a block gets through.
