Best Trakt Alternatives in 2026: Simkl, Serializd, TV Time, and More
The best Trakt alternatives in 2026: Simkl for scrobbling, Serializd and TV Time for TV, Letterboxd for films, and Achriom for cross-media AI. Honest trade-offs.
Trakt is the most technically capable TV and movie tracker on the internet. The API integrations alone explain why Plex and Kodi users have stuck with it for years: scrobble what you watch from any media server, keep a clean watch history, and let third-party apps pull from the data. No manual logging required.
But Trakt has always asked you to accept that the experience lives in other apps. The official Trakt UI is sparse by design. If you want social features, recommendations, or an interface that works without a media server, the alternatives below do things Trakt doesn’t.
Last reviewed: June 2026.
Quick verdict:
- Best direct Trakt replacement (scrobbling + movies + TV): Simkl
- Best for social TV tracking: Serializd
- Best mobile-first TV tracker: TV Time
- Best for film-only tracking: Letterboxd
- Best for cross-media AI across everything you watch and read: Achriom
What Trakt does (and what people want instead)
Trakt’s core value: it scrobbles. Connect it to Plex, Kodi, Emby, Infuse, or Jellyfin and your watch history updates automatically. No opening an app after each episode. That’s a real feature and it’s why media server enthusiasts use Trakt as infrastructure rather than a daily app.
What it doesn’t do as well:
No strong official UI. The Trakt website exists, but the experience most users prefer is through third-party clients. That works until you want one cohesive place for everything.
Social features are thin. You can follow people and see activity, but the community layer isn’t built around discussion the way Letterboxd or Serializd is.
No AI. Trakt’s recommendations are algorithmic and basic. There’s nothing that reasons across your full history or cross-references what you’ve rated.
Movies and TV only. No books, no music, no anime treated seriously.
Simkl
Best for: Scrobbling, media server integration, combined movie and TV tracking
Simkl is the most direct Trakt replacement for users who care about scrobbling. It connects to Plex, Kodi, Emby, Netflix, Crunchyroll, and other services to log what you watch automatically. The combined movie and TV tracking in one library works the same way Trakt does, and the import from Trakt is straightforward.
What it does well:
- Scrobbling from Plex, Kodi, Emby, Netflix, Crunchyroll, and more
- Combined movies, TV, and anime tracking in one library
- Trakt import to move your history over
- Free with no major feature limits
The limitation: The social layer is lighter than Trakt’s. Simkl is better at logging than at community. If you want people to discuss episodes with, you’ll need a second app.
If the core reason you use Trakt is “it automatically logs what I watch via Plex,” Simkl does the same job with a better interface.
Serializd
Best for: TV tracking with social features and episode-level discussion
Serializd is a dedicated TV tracker. Not movies, not anime, not books: just shows. The focus pays off. Episode ratings, season-by-season tracking, a diary with timestamps, activity feeds, and a community that takes TV seriously. The UI is modern and mobile-first.
What it does well:
- Episode-level ratings alongside season and series ratings
- A diary that timestamps exactly when you watched each episode
- Social feed showing what people you follow are watching
- Clean, modern mobile app
- Free
The limitation: No movies. If you track both TV shows and films and want them in one place, Serializd covers half the job. Many users run Serializd for TV alongside Letterboxd for film.
TV Time
Best for: Mobile-first TV tracking, large existing community
TV Time has one of the largest communities in the TV tracking space. The mobile app is polished and the notification system (“new episode of X available”) is useful for staying current on ongoing shows. If you want a social tracker with a large audience rather than a small enthusiast community, TV Time has the numbers.
What it does well:
- Large, active user base for social features
- Clean mobile apps on iOS and Android
- Episode notifications for shows you’re watching
- Tracks movies alongside TV in recent versions
- Free
The limitation: The algorithm for recommendations and content served in the feed leans heavily commercial. Users report recommendations feeling like ads for new shows rather than genuine picks based on their taste. The history export options are limited compared to Trakt or Simkl.
Letterboxd
Best for: Film-only tracking with the best community in the space
Letterboxd is the gold standard for film logging. If movies are the primary reason you use Trakt and you don’t care about TV tracking, Letterboxd is unambiguously the better choice: richer reviews, a genuine cinephile community, strong lists culture, and an interface designed around films rather than around episodes.
What it does well:
- The best film logging experience available
- Genuine community of people who care about cinema
- Lists, reviews, and diary-level tracking with timestamps
- Great mobile apps
- Free tier is generous; Pro ($35/year) adds statistics and genre breakdowns
The limitation: TV is not tracked. Letterboxd is for films. If you want one app for shows and movies, this is not it.
For the direct comparison, see Letterboxd vs Trakt.
Achriom
Best for: Cross-media tracking with an AI librarian across films, TV, books, music, and anime
Achriom tracks films, TV shows, books, albums, and anime in one private library with an AI librarian. The AI can reason across all of it: “what connects my five-star films and five-star books,” “what should I watch next based on what I’ve finished this year,” “are there albums that sound like the TV shows I’ve loved.” These questions require a cross-media view that Trakt, Simkl, and Serializd never have.
What it does well:
- AI librarian that reasons across everything you’ve logged
- Films, TV, books, albums, and anime in one place
- Private by default, no algorithmic feed pressuring your consumption
- Web-based with no media server required
- Free with 50 AI messages; Pro $9.99/month for unlimited AI
Want more than a log? Achriom tracks your films, TV, books, albums, and anime with an AI librarian that finds the patterns across all of them. That is what Trakt was never built to do.
Try Achriom free →The limitation: Achriom does not scrobble from Plex or Kodi. If automatic logging from a media server is the core reason you use Trakt, Simkl is the right replacement. Achriom is for people who want their media understood, not just logged.
Quick comparison
| App | Scrobbling | TV | Movies | AI | Community | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simkl | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Light | Free |
| Serializd | No | Yes | No | No | Active | Free |
| TV Time | No | Yes | Yes | Algorithmic | Large | Free |
| Letterboxd | No | No | Yes | No | Large | Free / $35 yr |
| Achriom | No | Yes | Yes | AI librarian | Private | Free / $9.99 mo |
Which should you use?
Use Simkl if: Scrobbling is the core feature and you want Trakt’s function without the sparse UI. It’s the most direct replacement.
Use Serializd if: You primarily track TV shows and want a social layer built around episode-level discussion. Pair with Letterboxd for films.
Use TV Time if: You want a large mobile-first community and episode notifications for ongoing shows.
Use Letterboxd if: Movies are the majority of what you track and you want the best film community on the internet.
Use Achriom if: You want your films and TV understood in context with your books, albums, and anime, with an AI that can reason across all of them.
Moving your Trakt history
To Simkl: Simkl has a built-in Trakt import. Go to Simkl’s import settings, authorize Trakt, and it syncs your history.
To Serializd: Serializd accepts Trakt exports (Settings > Import). TV shows transfer; movies do not, since Serializd is TV-only.
To Letterboxd: Trakt has no direct Letterboxd export. The most practical approach is exporting your Trakt movies as CSV and importing that via Letterboxd’s import tool.
Related comparisons:
Related guides:
Common questions
What is the best alternative to Trakt?
Simkl is the most direct replacement if scrobbling and combined movie + TV tracking matter. Serializd is better for social TV discussion. Letterboxd is better for films specifically. Achriom is best if you want cross-media tracking with AI across films, TV, books, and music.
Does Simkl scrobble like Trakt?
Yes. Simkl connects to Plex, Kodi, Emby, Netflix, Crunchyroll, and other services to automatically log what you watch, the same way Trakt does. The import from Trakt is also direct through Simkl’s settings.
Can I export my Trakt history?
Yes. Trakt provides history exports in CSV format from Settings > Data. Most alternative apps have import tools that accept this data, though the format varies by platform.
Is Serializd free?
Yes. Serializd is free with no paid tier. The core features (episode-level ratings, a diary, social following, and lists) are all available for free.
Does anything replace Trakt’s Plex integration?
Simkl is the strongest Plex alternative. It scrobbles from Plex in the same way Trakt does and supports other media servers including Kodi, Emby, and Jellyfin. The Trakt-to-Simkl import brings your history with you.