7 Letterboxd alternatives, picked by why you're leaving
Limelight covers movies and TV in one Watchlist and shows where each one is streaming in your country. No ads, privacy focused. Here's how it compares with six other options.
Movies and TV in one list, with where to stream each one.
Limelight keeps movies and TV in one Watchlist and Seen List, and shows where each one is streaming in your country. Search any title and see where to stream, rent, or buy it in your country, filtered to the services you already pay for. Rate what you've seen in five stars, and Just For You uses it to sharpen what it suggests next.
It pulls data from many sources, not just TMDB, so you also find out which movies and shows started as books. With Limelight+, see what's in the Netflix or HBO Max Top 10 today in 107 countries, compare ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic, and TMDB side by side, and get an alert when a title you track lands on one of your services.
Your lists sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so what you save on one device is waiting on the next. Nothing you log is published to anyone. No ads, privacy focused.
"Why can't I log shows?" is the most common Letterboxd complaint, and Serializd is the answer. Keep a log of every series you've watched, are watching, or want to watch, rate individual episodes, seasons, or whole series, and write reviews that start a conversation.
The community is the point: follow friends, share recommendations, and see what everyone is saying about the latest releases. Personal stats cover watch time, completed shows, and a genre breakdown, and notifications keep you on top of upcoming episodes.
Trakt indexes over a million shows and movies. It handles episode check-ins and a full watch history, and brings an Up Next list, a calendar, and notifications when new episodes air. Imports come from IMDb, Plex, Letterboxd, and TV Time, so your film history can move across.
Streaming links come from JustWatch, covering hundreds of services worldwide, with your own services pushed to the top. It's social in its own way, with comments, ratings, community lists, and friends' activity. VIP adds detailed stats and unlimited personal lists.
Simkl Lists tracks TV, anime, and movies, marks episodes by season or one at a time, and keeps watchlists that update automatically from Simkl's own tracking apps. It tells you the next episode number you need and what's airing next, and alerts you when new episodes have aired.
It imports from Trakt, Netflix, IMDb, MyAnimeList, and Anilist, so a history built elsewhere comes with you. No feed and no audience, just your lists.
Some "Letterboxd alternative" searches are really availability searches. JustWatch lists where to stream, rent, or buy across more than 4,500 providers worldwide, with 90,000 plus titles, trailers, cast, and synopses. A daily timeline covers what's new across the services you follow.
Filters cover your own services, genre, and release year, and age ratings help when you're picking for kids. Tracking is shallower than the trackers here, so it works best as a reference tool. See Limelight vs. JustWatch vs. Letterboxd.
Moviebase started on Android and came to iPhone and iPad in August 2026. It's the most thorough tracker on this list. Episodes are marked season by season, the watch history carries ratings and dates, and rewatches log as separate viewings. Up Next covers every show, and statistics track your watch time and habits.
A TV calendar and episode reminders cover what's coming, and custom lists can be private, unlisted, or public. Two-way Trakt sync keeps everything portable, which is the part worth caring about after this year.
Matinee is the newest name here, built around what your friends are watching. Tonight's Pick puts one recommendation on your home screen daily, scored against your taste, your watchlist, and what friends are watching. Movie Night runs a shared swipe deck for a group.
It logs movies and shows with one tap, rates in half stars, tracks episodes, and filters by the services you pay for. PRO adds mood-based picks. It's new, so treat it as a fresh start. TV Time shutting down this July is a reminder to keep your history somewhere you can export it.
Comparison
Side by side
App
Movies and TV
Episode tracking
Where to stream
Community
Scene recognition
Multi-source ratings
Limelight
Yes
Show level
Yes
No
SceneSnap
Four sources
Serializd
TV only
Yes
Not listed
Yes
No
Not listed
Trakt
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Not listed
Simkl
Yes
Yes
Not listed
No
No
IMDb and MAL
JustWatch
Yes
Not listed
Yes
No
No
Not listed
Moviebase
Yes
Yes
Not listed
No
No
Not listed
Matinee
Yes
Yes
Yes
Friends
No
Not listed
Checked September 2026 against each app's App Store listing. Features and tiers change, so check each app's own page before you decide.
Conclusion
The bottom line
Limelight covers what Letterboxd leaves out: one Watchlist and Seen List for movies and shows, where to stream each one in your country, and which titles started as books. With Limelight+, add the Netflix and HBO Max Top 10s and ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic, and TMDB side by side. It's free to download on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no ads. Letterboxd is still a film diary with a community around it, and that's a real reason to keep it.
Serializd is the closest: a TV log with reviews, ratings by episode or season, and a community around it. Limelight covers movies and TV in one Watchlist if you want tracking without the social side.
Limelight has no ads, free or on Limelight+, and Serializd is free with no ads. Letterboxd's free tier shows third-party ads, and Pro ($19 a year) removes them.
Trakt imports from Letterboxd, along with IMDb, Plex, and TV Time, and Simkl imports from Trakt, Netflix, IMDb, MyAnimeList, and Anilist. Letterboxd offers a CSV export, so keep a copy before you move.
Limelight, JustWatch, Trakt, and Matinee all do. In Limelight you can turn on the services you pay for and see only what you can watch right now, free.
Limelight, Trakt, Simkl, Moviebase, and Matinee all cover both. Serializd is TV only, and Letterboxd is film only, which is what sends most people looking.
Limelight, Simkl, or Moviebase. Your lists are yours, and nothing you log is published to followers.
All seven are free to download. Serializd and Simkl put their tracking in the free tier, and Trakt and Matinee keep extras behind an optional upgrade. In Limelight, search, where to stream, your Watchlist, and your Seen List are free.
Limelight covers what Letterboxd doesn't: TV, where a title is streaming tonight, and what to watch next. Keep Letterboxd for the reviews if you love them.
Movies and TV in one app
Limelight is free on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Movies and TV, streaming availability, no ads.
