Private Torrent Trackers

oh boy...

Well I'm bored so here's what I'd tell someone, who has somehow never stumbled across this subject.
Private Torrent Trackers are Torrent Trackers that are Invite-Only.
There's a bunch of them out there and most of them share similarities in how they operate.
Namely RULES.

The P2P community on the private side of things has existed almost entirely outside of the constant
drama, frequent shut-downs and issues like TGX introducing ads and paywalls, bypassing Ublock, or 1337x being caught
letting Virus infected game repacks slid by their moderation...

Now, they're obviously not flawless and human error has let to some problems in the past. Even recently so. looking at you FNP
But generally speaking, Private Trackers are where you want to be in 2025 for piracy.
Some private trackers are more reputable than others and there's a lot of elitism, prestige and gatekeeping
going on. Some of it reasonable, due to OPSec Concerns and it has worked out in their favour, being able
to survive for sometimes decades.

Notably, PTP (PassThePopcorn), BTN (BroadcastTheNet), AB (AnimeBytes), GGN(GazelleGames) and others
have established themselves as the Top of the Line of Private Torrenting.
Access is regarded as a high priviledge and often takes months — if not years to gain legitimately.
That being said, competition is key. Many other trackers exist and while none of them Match the Quality, Quantity
and Prestige of the aforementioned, many trackers have just about "enough" to be valid options with much less hassle to apply for or be part of.
They're also still BY FAR better than Public Trackers like
1337x, TGX, and all the other's frequently mentioned on r/piracy. One exception perhaps being RuTracker but only because their
library is vast, not necessarily high quality.

I'd categorize PT's into Tiers.

Trash-Tier <
Low Tier <
Mid-Tier <
High-Tier.

High Tier being the noted ones above.
As for me, I'm in some low, mid and a few high tier ones.
I would say to get started, many people recommend TL (TorrentLeech).
It's a general tracker (low tier).
General meaning it has Movies, TV Series, Some anime and also Games and Software.
Basically, it does not restrict or moderate much of what's being uploaded.
The biggest difference compared to a public tracker like 1337x is their Rules.
And to get this out of the way, if you want to be part of Private Trackers, YOU HAVE TO
follow the rules. There's simply no way around it and 99.999% of attempts, by even
the smartest people — tend to end in disaster, getting them banned for life and blacklisted on all major trackers.
So keep that in mind.

So depending on the content you're looking for TL is good if you want:

• Quick 0-Day access to
• Movies
• TV Series
• Game Repacks
  If you're willing to
• Seed till you bleed. This is going to be your easiest way of building a reputation, which is important.
• Don't break their rules, seriously, don't.
• READ their rules before using the site. This should be obvious but there's a gazillion posts on reddit of people getting banned after not reading the rules properly.
• be happy with whatever is available being the best you're going to get. This could mean some subpar quality or quantity in choice for certain titles, especially older media. TL also has some Quality Control issues and the fact that they sell access through a Seedbox Sponsorship is — problematic.

If you have more ambition however, what you could do is

Pick a Mid-Tier.

There's multiple ways to go about that but generally speaking, the long grind is more rewarding.
To get into anything reputable, you either need to show that you understand how to use private trackers
when applying for one, or get lucky and have a friend that trusts you invite you to one.
As for the reputation, you need to essentially exist on a private tracker long enough with good standing, farming
a decent ratio with a decent seedsize or total upload, in order to prove to
a tracker that you are worth inviting. This could mean joining TL, farming a good stat ratio, then using
your TL account as a gateway. It could also mean starting elsewhere.

Example of TL Account Stats that are desirable for an Application as Reference:

OPS and RED(acted)

Are both Music trackers, both considered the Gateway into Private Trackers.
They're both well known for being the first stepping stone because a certain user rank on
their tracker gives you access to Invite-Forums.
Most sites have one at a certain rank. With access to invite-forums, you can get access to certain other trackers.

Here's an semi-outdated graph, showing common invite-paths to take to reach different trackers through invite forums. Link
and if you're thinking to yourself, 10TB+??? that's a lot... you'd be right. This way of grinding can take many months and requires a hefty amount of storage (or a fast seedbox that can get a lot of Upload in a short amount of time. Upload Priority is based on Upload speed, so a 10Gig Seedbox will be prioritized on every torrent and therefore get a majority of the Upload Credit.

Me personally, I don't use a seedbox. Just my personal PC with 30TB storage, I have accumulated over the years. If you check in religiously on r/OpenSignups You'll often find that Private Trackers will graciously allow for a time-limited Open Signup event. You can then apply for an invite to some tracker and hopefully be accepted in, for free.

Some trackers do this while demanding "Proofs" in application.
This is a screenshot of your Profile Page (like the one of TL I showed you) on another tracker, showing your username, email, ratio, upload, etc.
Hence why something like TL is a good start.
if you're lucky and the timing is right, you might get into a decent Mid-Tier tracker off of TL reputation alone.
You could of course enter some other easy private trackers alongside it and farm ratio there as well for additional "Proofs". The more the better.
Once you're in a medium tier tracker, they tend to specialize,
Trackers like Aither, BLU, ANT, etc do mostly TV, Movie and sometimes Anime. No games though.
Trackers like AnimeTime, AvistaZ and CinemaZ cater to very specific nieches, doing only Anime, only Asian Movie/TV and only rare Movies respectively. Same is common on High-Tier's like PTP (Movies)
BTN (TV) AB (Anime/Asian Music/Manga) GGN (Games only).
But they're all the best at what they do.
Here's some more resources on Private Trackers if you care to look into it.
I highly encourage anyone who's still dealing with Public Trackers to delve into PT's instead.
It's much more convenient, chill and you'll be enjoying better quality control, better UI, no ads, no random shutdowns (usually). And a fun grind to engage in.

The Grind

A good way to grind stats and a good ratio on Private Trackers is cross-seeding.
Make sure it's not against the Rules on the Trackers you're using!!!
You basically grab a release from One Tracker (be it private or public)
and then download the torrentfile of the SAME release from a private tracker you're on and add it to your Torrent Client (in a stopped state)
Then force re-check and it will find your downloaded file and seed it to the private tracker.
This way you increase your seedsize and get to upload a torrent that you've never incurred download stats for (on the private tracker)
Whenever it's allowed, this is a huge advantage in getting your stats up.

Example of the same release on Aither and BLU

It's also a good idea to familiarise yourself with the Tracker's Economy. Most PT's have a Bonus Point system.

Usually, for every torrent you download and seed, you'll get Bonus Points. Sometimes Per torrent, sometimes Hourly.
They'll acumulate and you can buy things like Upload Credits, Freeleech Tokens or even Invites.

If you spend them on Upload Credits, you might have an easier time maintaining a positive Ratio (Upload to Download)
Or reach requirements for Invite-Forums.

If you purchase something like 24 hour freeleech, you get to download as many Torrents as you want within 24 hours without getting any download stat added to your account. So you might have a chance to then seed all of them and grind a lot of upload or BON (Bonus Points)

Examples of BON System on Aither and TorrentLeech's Marketplace

ALSO WHATEVER YOU DO, NEVER. I REPEAT NEVER BUY AN INVITE FROM A FORUM THAT SELLS THEM. It's basically a Death-Sentence to any sort of chance for you to EVER be part of this space.

Private Tracker Gentoo Wiki
r/trackers
r/Trackersinfo Wiki
r/OpenSignups
HDVinnies Torrent Tracker Ranking (I do not 100% agree with this ranking but it's a good resource.

additionally the unofficial AV1 Discord server.
Access to which you can find with a minicrum of digging, this is your first challenge to overcome. Which I will make the prerequisite for you to be able to join as a responsible member of the PT space — it's not that hard.

Also sorry for the messy formatting, I'm just jotting this down for u guys, might make it pretty in the future but there's many other resources on this thing so...

Who knows...