Best AniList Alternatives in 2026: Tested and Ranked
The best AniList alternatives in 2026, tested and ranked: MyAnimeList, Anime-Planet, Simkl, and Achriom. What each one does better than AniList, and how to move your list.
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AniList is good software, which makes leaving it a specific decision. Nobody quits AniList because it is broken. People switch because they want something it does not carry: a bigger community, an official mobile app, automatic episode logging, or a library that holds more than anime and manga. Each of those wants points at a different alternative. MyAnimeList (MAL) for scale and discussion, Anime-Planet for discovery, Simkl for automatic tracking, and Achriom for anime tracked alongside your films, books, albums, and games.
If you want the short version: stay on AniList unless one of those four gaps genuinely bothers you. If one does, the matching app below will fix it.
How we picked: every app here is judged on the same six things: formats covered, platforms, whether you can export your data, AI features, privacy, and price. See the full media tracker comparison for all 17 trackers side by side.
Quick verdict:
- Best for community and seasonal discussion: MyAnimeList
- Best for discovery: Anime-Planet
- Best for automatic tracking: Simkl
- Best for anime alongside everything else you love: Achriom
What to look for in an AniList alternative
AniList sets a high bar in some places and a low one in others. A replacement should be measured against both:
- Episode-level tracking with seasonal awareness, the baseline AniList already does well
- Getting your list in: can it read a MyAnimeList-style XML file, the format community tools export AniList lists into
- Getting your list out later, so the next migration is not a hostage negotiation
- A community or recommendation engine, since AniList’s smaller social layer is a common reason to leave
- Coverage beyond anime, if your watching does not stop at the medium’s edge
No alternative wins all five. The sections below say which each one actually wins.
MyAnimeList
Best for: Community scale, seasonal discussion, manga parity
MAL is the obvious first stop and, for most switchers, the right one. It has been running since 2004, holds the largest anime and manga catalog anywhere, and its score distributions are cultural shorthand across the whole anime internet. When a new season drops, the discussion happens on MAL. Free, ad-supported, with official mobile apps that AniList never shipped.
What it does better than AniList:
- A community an order of magnitude larger, with forums that stay active
- Official iOS and Android apps
- Seasonal charts and airing discussion that the whole hobby references
- One-click XML export, the cleanest data door in the category
The limitation: The interface has not been meaningfully redesigned in a decade, and free-tier ads are aggressive. MAL was also acquired by Gaudiy Inc., a Web3 and AI company, in May 2025; nothing has changed for users yet, but it is worth knowing who owns your list. For the full head-to-head, see AniList vs MyAnimeList.
Anime-Planet
Best for: Discovery-first browsing and human recommendations
Anime-Planet has been running since 2001 and cares more about what you should watch next than about the ceremony of logging. Its recommendation engine is built on direct user-submitted pairings (“fans of X also loved Y”), and its tag system goes past genre into mood, setting, and theme. If AniList’s discovery always felt thin to you, this is the fix. Fully free.
What it does better than AniList:
- Recommendations written by people rather than inferred by an algorithm
- Tagging deep enough to answer “something melancholy, low fantasy, under 26 episodes”
- Strong coverage of older and less mainstream titles
- Manga tracking with the same depth as anime
The limitation: The tracking side is serviceable rather than sharp, and there is no API to speak of. Treat it as a discovery engine with a list attached.
Simkl
Best for: Automatic episode tracking across anime, TV, and movies
Simkl is the lazy tracker’s tracker, meant as a compliment. A browser extension scrobbles what you watch on streaming services and logs it without you touching anything, and it covers anime, live-action TV, and film in one place. It imports from MyAnimeList and other trackers, so a converted AniList list comes in cleanly. Free for the core experience, with an optional VIP tier.
What it does better than AniList:
- Automatic logging, which AniList has never offered
- Anime, TV, and movies in a single watch history
- An episode calendar across everything airing, anime or otherwise
The limitation: The anime community layer is thin, and discovery is weaker than either MAL or Anime-Planet. Simkl records your watching; it has little to say about it.
Achriom
Best for: Anime as part of your whole library
Achriom holds your anime next to your films, TV, books, albums, podcasts, and games, with an AI librarian that reasons across all of it. That changes what tracking is for. An anime-only app can tell you that you rated Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood a 9. Achriom can notice that the ending of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End hit you the way the last chapters of The Lord of the Rings did, and recommend from that pattern. Ask it what to watch after a novel, or what your seasonal picks have in common with your record shelf, and it answers from your actual library.
What it does differently:
- One library across seven media types, with anime first-class
- Conversational recommendations that cross format lines
- Private by default: no followers, no public profile, no score discourse
- Imports MyAnimeList XML directly, the same format community tools export AniList lists into
- Full export back out any time
- Free tier with unlimited items and 10 AI messages a month; Pro is $9.99/month for 200
The limitation: No seasonal airing forums and no auto-scrobbling. If community discussion is why you are leaving AniList, pair Achriom with MAL rather than replacing one with the other.
This is your second tracker migration, and it will not be your last. Every single-medium app eventually sends you searching for alternatives again, for your shows, your books, your music. Achriom ends the cycle: one library for anime, films, TV, books, and albums, an AI librarian that connects them, and full export back out any time. Free to start, no card.
Consolidate once →Quick comparison
| App | Scope | Community | Auto tracking | AI features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MyAnimeList | Anime + manga | Very large | No | No | Free (ads) |
| Anime-Planet | Anime + manga | Medium | No | No | Free |
| Simkl | Anime + TV + movies | Small | Yes (browser ext) | No | Free / VIP |
| Achriom | Anime, films, TV, books, albums, games | Private | No | Yes (AI librarian) | Free / $9.99 mo |
| Kitsu | Anime + manga | Inactive | No | No | Free (unmaintained) |
What about Kitsu?
Kitsu used to be the standard third name in this conversation. It no longer belongs in it. The Android app was removed from Google Play in April 2024, web development has stalled, and the payment integration was stripped from the codebase. The site still loads, but nobody is home. Do not move your library into an unmaintained tracker; if you are already on Kitsu, migrate to one of the four apps above while the export still works.
Which should you use?
Use MyAnimeList if: the community is the point. You want seasonal discussion, forums, and scores the whole hobby recognizes, and you can live with the dated interface. It is the safest landing spot for a straight AniList replacement.
Use Anime-Planet if: your list is fine but your queue is empty. The user-built recommendation pairings and deep tags are the best discovery tools in the category.
Use Simkl if: manual logging is the part you keep abandoning. The scrobbler does the work, and your live-action watching lands in the same history.
Use Achriom if: anime is one thread of a wider taste. You read, you listen, you watch live-action, and you want one library that sees all of it. The best anime tracking apps guide covers the anime-side detail; the all-in-one media tracker roundup covers the cross-media field.
Moving your list out of AniList
AniList has no official export button. The practical route: free community tools read your list through AniList’s public API and produce a MyAnimeList-style XML file. That format is the lingua franca of anime trackers. MAL reads it natively, and Achriom imports it directly. Do the export before you commit anywhere, and keep the XML file; it is your library’s passport for every future move.
The honest answer
- Community and discussion: MyAnimeList
- Discovery: Anime-Planet
- Automatic tracking: Simkl
- Cross-media understanding: Achriom
- Kitsu: no longer a real option
Most AniList switchers land on MAL and give back the modern interface to gain the community. That trade is real, and only you know if it is worth it. The quieter option is running two: MAL or AniList for the seasonal social layer, Achriom for the library that holds everything you love in one place. They solve different problems and do not compete for the same hour of your day.
Common questions
Is AniList shutting down?
No. AniList is free, actively developed, and healthy as of 2026. People leave it for what it lacks (an official app, a bigger community, cross-media coverage), and stability is one thing it has.
Does AniList have an official mobile app?
No. AniList is a website with a public API, and the mobile experience comes from third-party clients built on that API. They range from good to excellent, but they can break when the API changes, and none is maintained by AniList itself. MyAnimeList and Simkl both ship official apps.
Can I import my AniList list into Achriom?
Yes, through the MyAnimeList XML format. Use a free community tool to export your AniList list as MAL-style XML, then import that file into Achriom. Your titles, statuses, and scores come across, and Achriom lets you export everything back out later.
What is the best free AniList alternative?
All four picks here are free at the core. MyAnimeList and Anime-Planet are fully free with ads, Simkl is free with an optional VIP tier, and Achriom’s free tier includes unlimited items with 10 AI messages a month.
Should I switch from AniList to MyAnimeList?
Switch if you want the larger community, the official apps, and the seasonal discussion, and you can tolerate an older interface with heavier ads. Stay if the clean UI and API matter more to you than the social layer. The full comparison is in AniList vs MyAnimeList.
Can any AniList alternative track my manga too?
MyAnimeList and Anime-Planet both track manga with the same depth as anime, chapter by chapter. Simkl does not cover manga. Achriom covers books as a first-class type, so manga volumes can live on the same shelf as your novels, alongside your anime.