Best Simkl Alternatives in 2026 (and How to Take Your History)
Simkl alternatives in 2026: Achriom for shows beside books, albums and anime, Trakt for automatic tracking, and Serializd, Letterboxd or MyAnimeList for one medium.
Some links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Achriom earns from qualifying purchases. For books we prefer Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores.
The best Simkl alternative depends on why you are leaving. Achriom is the pick if you track books, albums or anime next to your shows and want to ask your library questions, Trakt is the closest match on automatic tracking, and Serializd, Letterboxd and MyAnimeList each do one medium well.
Last verified: October 25, 2026. Prices and limits come from Simkl’s documentation, Trakt’s forum posts and the sites linked below. They change, so check before you pay.
Simkl is a good tracker, and for plenty of people it is the right one. Its free plan includes automatic tracking and imports from 14+ services. The reasons people look elsewhere are narrower. Ads on the free tier, no custom lists on the free plan unless you use Simkl 20 days a month, or a shelf that has outgrown shows, films and anime. This page sorts the alternatives by which of those you are solving.
Quick verdict
- Shows, films, anime, books and albums in one library, with a librarian you can ask questions: Achriom
- Automatic tracking from your media server: stay on Simkl, or try Trakt (compared head to head)
- A free TV diary with reviews: Serializd
- Films only, with a film community: Letterboxd
- Anime and manga lists: MyAnimeList
Achriom
Best for people whose Simkl history is one part of what they track, and who want to ask questions about all of it
Achriom keeps eight kinds of media in one library: books, films, shows, albums, anime, podcasts, games and manga. Your shows get real depth. It tracks season by season and episode by episode, takes episode and season ratings, shows what to continue watching, and has a calendar of upcoming episodes and premieres. So you are not trading a TV tracker for a bookshelf app.
What Simkl does not do is read across formats. Achriom’s librarian does. You can ask your own shelf things like ”80s horror I haven’t watched” or “a detective in Victorian London,” and it answers from what you actually keep. It also works inside ChatGPT and Claude, so you can ask from the assistant you already use.
Once you have ten items, Achriom builds a Taste Portrait for you, free. It gives you an archetype, the themes running through your shelf with the titles behind each, and the tension in your taste. Readings that go deeper are Pro. Finish Severance, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and Piranesi and the portrait can name what a workplace thriller, an anime and a novel have in common on your shelf.
Leaving Simkl? Bring your shows with you, then add the books and albums your tracker never held. Free, no item limit, no card.
Start your library →What it does well
- Free with no item limit, and every import is free
- Imports Trakt by username, episodes included, with an optional daily re-sync. It also imports MyAnimeList, AniList, Letterboxd, IMDb, Goodreads and StoryGraph
- Private by default. You can switch on a public profile later, then follow people and share reviews, lists and a diary. Follower counts stay private
- Exports your whole library as CSV, and anime as MAL or AniList XML, so your data is not trapped
- Pro is $9.99 a month or $99 a year and raises the librarian from 10 messages a month to 200. Half-stars, the did-not-finish shelf, notes and export all stay free
The limitation. Achriom does not scrobble. You log what you finish yourself. If automatic tracking from Plex, Jellyfin or Kodi is why you use Simkl, that is a real reason to stay, and nothing here replaces it.
Trakt
Best for automatic tracking and an account other apps can connect to
Trakt is the closest like-for-like swap if tracking itself is what you need. The catch is what the free tier now allows. Trakt’s February 2026 limits post lists 250 watchlist items and 250 items per list on a free account, against 5,000 for VIP. Its July 22, 2026 announcement says a free account includes one community app connection, and VIP is for people who need more than one. VIP costs $60 a year, according to AlternativeTo’s report of the May 2025 renewal change, so confirm that on Trakt before paying.
If you run several apps off one history, that one-app limit matters. Simkl vs Trakt goes through scrobbling and limits side by side, and best Trakt alternatives covers the same ground from the other direction.
Serializd
Best for a free TV diary with reviews
Serializd describes itself as a place to “Track what you watch, write reviews, build lists, and discover your next favorite show.” Its FAQ says it is completely free to use and that it imports from Trakt, and from TV Time exports, which only helps if you saved one before TV Time shut down. If the part of Simkl you miss is writing about what you watched, this is a nicer home for it. Its own copy talks about tracking TV shows, so look elsewhere for films, anime or books. Serializd vs Trakt has the matchup.
Letterboxd
Best for films only, with a community built around them
Letterboxd is a film diary and community. Its paid subscriptions page says a free membership tier exists and will always remain available. Pro adds things like stats pages, filtering by your favorite streaming services, and removal of third-party ads, and Patron adds custom posters and backdrops. It covers films, not TV, so a Simkl history of series stays behind.
MyAnimeList
Best for anime and manga lists with a large community
If anime is what you used Simkl for, MyAnimeList is the established home for it. Its site describes an anime and manga database where you keep a personal list of what you completed, what you are watching and what you plan to watch, with forums and clubs around it. Simkl’s VIP plan has two-way MyAnimeList sync, so the two can coexist. MyAnimeList is one medium, though, and anything else you track needs a second app. Best anime tracking apps compares the anime-only options in full.
Quick comparison
| App | Automatic tracking | What it covers | Free tier | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Achriom | No | Books, films, shows, albums, anime, podcasts, games, manga | No item limit, every import free | Pro $9.99/month or $99/year |
| Simkl | Yes, on the free plan | Films, TV, anime | Ads, no custom lists (unless used 20+ days a month) | PRO (yearly) and VIP ($34.99 every 6 months) |
| Trakt | Through connected apps | Films, TV | 250 watchlist items, one community app | VIP $60/year |
| Serializd | No | TV shows | Completely free, per its FAQ | None listed |
| Letterboxd | No | Films | Free tier, per its subscriptions page | Pro and Patron, billed yearly |
| MyAnimeList | No | Anime and manga | Price not stated on its about page | MAL Supporter membership, price not stated |
Simkl’s plan comparison and billing FAQ give the Simkl rows. They list no PRO price, so check simkl.com before you buy it. For what Simkl’s paid plans add, see Simkl VIP.
Which should you use?
Use Achriom if your shelf has grown past screens, or you would rather ask your library a question than scroll it.
Stay on Simkl or switch to Trakt if automatic tracking is the point and the ads and list limits do not bother you.
Use Serializd if you only track TV and want a free community to write about it.
Use Letterboxd if films are most of what you log.
Use MyAnimeList if anime and manga are most of what you log.
Moving off Simkl
Export first, whichever app you choose. Simkl’s export options page lists what you can get.
- Download Backup gives every account a JSON zip of your full watch history, on demand.
- CSV backup needs PRO. Per Simkl’s docs it holds titles and the last watched episode number, with no timestamps or detailed episode tracking.
- Automatic backups to Google Drive or email, monthly, are VIP.
To Achriom. The import dialog has no Simkl option. It does have “Paste a list” for anything else. The easiest source of titles is Simkl’s CSV backup, which needs PRO, or the free PRO features you get from using Simkl 20 days in a month. Simkl’s docs do not describe the layout of the free JSON file, so open it and see whether the titles are easy to copy before counting on it. Either way, expect titles only: dates and ratings will not carry over. If you use Simkl’s two-way MyAnimeList sync, import your MyAnimeList list into Achriom instead. If you also keep a Trakt account, Achriom imports that by username with episodes.
To Trakt, Serializd or MyAnimeList. Each has its own import page, so check what it accepts before you delete anything on Simkl. Serializd’s FAQ names Trakt and TV Time, though TV Time has shut down, so that only helps if you saved an export earlier. Nothing in Simkl’s export docs promises that a given app will read the file.
Whatever you pick, keep a copy of your data. How to export your Trakt data shows the habit on the Trakt side.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to Simkl?
Achriom is the best fit if your shows share a shelf with books, albums or anime and you want to ask your library questions. Trakt is the closer match for automatic tracking, and Letterboxd is the pick if you only log films.
Can I export my history from Simkl?
Yes. Every Simkl account can download a JSON zip of its full watch history from the export page. A CSV backup needs PRO, and automatic backups to Google Drive or email are VIP.
Is Simkl free?
Yes, with limits. The free plan includes automatic tracking and imports from 14+ services, but it shows ads and has no custom lists, unless you use Simkl at least 20 days in a month, which unlocks PRO features at no cost. PRO removes ads and adds 30 lists, and VIP costs $34.99 every 6 months.
Does Achriom import from Simkl?
Not directly. Its import dialog has no Simkl option, but you can use Paste a list for the titles from your Simkl CSV backup, and it imports Trakt and MyAnimeList.
Does Achriom track shows automatically like Simkl?
No. Achriom does not scrobble, so you log what you finish yourself. If automatic tracking is the reason you use Simkl, stay on Simkl or try Trakt.
Is Achriom free?
Yes. Achriom is free with no item limit, and every import is free. Pro costs $9.99 a month or $99 a year and raises the librarian from 10 messages a month to 200.