The best HiAnime alternative in 2026
HiAnime went offline on 13 March 2026 and its team later confirmed it is not coming back. In July 2026 police in Vietnam announced the arrest of seven people alleged to run it.
By the Rotten Brains team · Updated 23 September 2026 · 4 min read
The short answer
HiAnime closed in March 2026, its alleged operators were arrested in July, and its old community has disowned the "return" sites. If you want somewhere that works today, Rotten Brains is free, needs no account, and has anime with sub and dub where both exist.
What happened to HiAnime?
HiAnime started life as Zoro.to, which launched in 2021. On 4 July 2023 Zoro.to began redirecting to Aniwatch.to, with staff saying the site had been "acquired by a new dev team". It was drawing about 205 million visits a month at the time. On 1 March 2024 Aniwatch renamed itself again, to HiAnime. No reason was given, and TorrentFreak linked the move to getting around blocking, including a dynamic blocking order in India. Through both renames, accounts and the site itself carried over.
Wikipedia puts its peak at 364 million visits in October 2024. In October 2025 the MPA, on behalf of ACE, obtained DMCA subpoenas against Cloudflare and the .to registry covering 46 domains, HiAnime among them, asking for names, IP addresses and payment details. In early March 2026 the US Trade Representative added HiAnime to its list of notorious piracy markets.
On 13 March 2026 hianime.to and its hianime.me proxy went dark, showing only: "It's time to say goodbye. And thank you for a wonderful journey with great moments." About 80 days later, on 31 May, the community management team said operations had "permanently ceased". On 2 July 2026 Vietnamese authorities, working with ACE and US Homeland Security Investigations, announced the arrest of seven people alleged to be behind it. They said the group ran more than 100 sites from 2020 to April 2026 and earned about $12.85 million from ads.
In September 2026 a new domain was promoted on social media as HiAnime's return. The official HiAnime subreddit said it had "no affiliation" with it and warned that fake sites may contain malicious ads and malware. Any site using the HiAnime name now is run by someone else.
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What people liked about HiAnime, and where it is now
Sub and dub for the same show, side by side
On Rotten Brains: every season and episode, with up next →An account and watch list that survived the Zoro and Aniwatch renames
On Rotten Brains: pick up where you left off →A huge anime library with nothing to register before watching
On Rotten Brains: built for your phone too →
HiAnime vs Rotten Brains
Status
HiAnime: Closed March 2026
✓Rotten Brains: Online and updated every day
Who runs it
HiAnime: Domains using the name, disowned by the old community
✓Rotten Brains: One site, one domain
Account needed to watch
HiAnime: Usually not
✓Rotten Brains: No
When a server fails
HiAnime: Pick another by hand
✓Rotten Brains: Switches source by itself
Subtitles
HiAnime: Varies
✓Rotten Brains: Many languages, several versions each
Watch parties
HiAnime: Rarely
✓Rotten Brains: Yes, friends join without an account
Resume on any device
HiAnime: Rarely
✓Rotten Brains: Yes, with a free account
Address
HiAnime: Zoro.to, then aniwatch.to, then hianime.to; all closed
✓Rotten Brains: One address: rotten-brains.com
Anime
HiAnime: Had sub and dub until March 2026
✓Rotten Brains: Sub and dub where both exist
| HiAnime today | Rotten Brains | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Closed March 2026 | ✓Online and updated every day |
| Who runs it | Domains using the name, disowned by the old community | ✓One site, one domain |
| Account needed to watch | Usually not | ✓No |
| When a server fails | Pick another by hand | ✓Switches source by itself |
| Subtitles | Varies | ✓Many languages, several versions each |
| Watch parties | Rarely | ✓Yes, friends join without an account |
| Resume on any device | Rarely | ✓Yes, with a free account |
| Address | Zoro.to, then aniwatch.to, then hianime.to; all closed | ✓One address: rotten-brains.com |
| Anime | Had sub and dub until March 2026 | ✓Sub and dub where both exist |
A look around Rotten Brains
Real screenshots from the site, in the order that matters most to someone coming from HiAnime.
01
Every season and episode, with Up Next
Shows open on a watch page with every season beside the player. The episode you are on is marked, and Up Next sits right above the list, so finishing an episode is one tap from the next.
Anime is here too, with sub and dub where both exist.
02
Pick up where you left off
With a free account, every movie and episode remembers the second you stopped, on every device. Continue Watching sits at the top of the home page, next to what is new in the shows you follow.
You never need the account to watch. It only adds the memory.
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03
Built for your phone too
The site works the same on a phone as on a laptop: the player pins to the top, the episode list scrolls underneath, and the controls are sized for thumbs.
Add it to your home screen and it opens full screen, like an app, with no store and no install.
04
The player finds a working source by itself
On HiAnime a dead server meant going back, picking the next one and hoping. Here every title is checked against several sources before you press play, and the player starts on the one that answers first.
If a source stalls, the player tries the next one and picks up where you were. You can still pick one yourself from the settings menu, with a note on which ones carry extra audio languages or subtitles.
05
Subtitles in dozens of languages
Subtitles come from more than one source, so most titles have several versions per language. If the first one is out of sync with the video, the next one usually is not.
Many get lined up with the dialogue automatically when you pick them, and there is a delay slider for the rest.
06
Watch parties with friends anywhere
Start a party from any movie or episode and send the link. Everyone who opens it watches the same second of the same video, with a chat alongside, and the player keeps them in sync.
Any free account can start one. Friends can join and watch without an account at all.
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Questions
Is HiAnime coming back?
Nothing suggests it. The community team said in May 2026 that operations had permanently ceased, and seven people alleged to run it were arrested in Vietnam in July 2026.
Is the new HiAnime site real?
No. When a domain was promoted as a HiAnime return in September 2026, the official HiAnime subreddit said it had no affiliation with it and warned that such sites may carry malicious ads or malware.
Does Rotten Brains have dubbed anime?
Yes. Anime is listed with every season and episode, with sub and dub where both exist, and Up Next takes you to the following episode.