The independent Letterboxd alternative, with TV shows and anime

Short answer: Refract is the Letterboxd alternative for people who want their diary to stay theirs: independent, free, no ads, no stats paywall. It imports your Letterboxd diary with dates, ratings, reviews, watchlist and lists, and adds TV shows and anime to the same library. For the biggest film community, Letterboxd itself is still the place.

Why people are looking beyond Letterboxd

• Who owns it next. Letterboxd's majority owner, Tiny, put the company up for sale in 2026. Press reports name A24, Sony, Netflix and other studios, platforms and investors among the interested buyers. Nothing had been announced as of October 26, 2026, but many members are asking where their diary would go if the new owner changes the app.
• Films only. TV support has been a stated plan for years. Anyone who also watches series or anime needs a second app.
• Stats behind Pro. The free tier shows ads; personal all-time and yearly stats need Pro ($19 a year) or Patron ($49 a year).

Independent, and staying that way

Refract is built and owned by its two founders. No studio, streaming service or media group owns any part of it, so nobody upstream decides what your diary is for. It is funded by optional cosmetic supporter tiers (badges, frames, name styles) that unlock nothing in the tracker: no ads, no sale of your data, no feature you need behind a paywall.

Your diary comes with you, and can leave with you

Letterboxd exports everything as one ZIP from its settings, and Refract reads that file as it is:

• Watched films and diary entries, with the day you watched each one and your rewatches.
• Ratings, half-stars included, and reviews with their original dates.
• Your watchlist, and your lists recreated as Refract lists if you choose to.
• What stays on Letterboxd: liked films (the hearts), tags, followers and comments.

And it works the other way too: Refract's export downloads your whole library at any time, as readable CSV files plus a complete backup. The step-by-step is in the Letterboxd import guide.

A Letterboxd for TV shows and anime

The diary you know, for everything you watch. Log TV shows episode by episode with real watch dates and per-episode ratings, follow what airs next, and track anime with seasons, OVAs and films matched across TMDB, AniList and MyAnimeList. Your films stay exactly where they were, in the same library.

What Letterboxd still does best

The film community. Letterboxd's reviews, lists and the culture around them have no equal, and Refract does not pretend otherwise: its social layer (profiles, follows, shared lists, an activity feed) is younger and smaller. Many people keep both, Letterboxd for the conversation and Refract as the one library for everything they watch.

Refract and Letterboxd, side by side

Feature	Refract	Letterboxd
Ownership	Independent, founder-owned	Majority owner Tiny; sale process under way in 2026
Films, with diary and dates	✓	✓
TV shows, episode by episode	✓	✗ Films only
Anime series with proper metadata	✓ TMDB + AniList + MAL	✗ Anime films only
Ads	None	On the free tier
Personal stats	Free	Pro, $19 a year
Import your Letterboxd history	✓ Diary, ratings, reviews, watchlist, lists	Not applicable
Full export of your data	✓ CSV + complete backup, any time	✓ CSV ZIP
Film community	Younger, smaller	✓ Best there is
Platforms	iOS, Android	iOS, Android, web

How to move your Letterboxd diary to Refract

1. On letterboxd.com, open Settings → Data (or Import & Export) and choose Export your data. A ZIP downloads.
2. Install Refract on iOS or Android (links below) and sign in.
3. Open Settings → Import → Letterboxd and pick the ZIP as it is.
4. Review the preview, start the import, and read the summary when it finishes. The import does not touch your Letterboxd account.

Other Letterboxd alternatives

• Serializd: a social diary for TV shows, with a strong review culture. TV only, so not a home for your films. Refract vs Serializd.
• Trakt: films and TV with the deepest scrobbling ecosystem (Plex, Kodi). Free tier with ads and limits. Refract vs Trakt.
• Simkl: films, TV and anime with scrobbling; a more utilitarian interface. Refract vs Simkl.

The full head-to-head is on Refract vs Letterboxd, and every tracker that handles films, TV and anime is ranked on the best apps to track TV shows, movies and anime.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Letterboxd for TV shows?

Yes. Refract works like a Letterboxd diary for everything you watch: films, TV shows episode by episode, and anime, each with real watch dates, ratings and reviews. Letterboxd itself is still films only.

Is there a Letterboxd for anime?

Refract tracks anime series and films in the same library as everything else. Anime is matched across TMDB, AniList and MyAnimeList, so seasons, OVAs and films land in the right place, with an episode-level diary.

Is Refract independent? Who owns it?

Yes. Refract is built and owned by its two founders. No studio, streaming service or media group owns any part of it, and it is funded by optional cosmetic supporter tiers, not by ads or by selling data.

What comes across when I import my Letterboxd data?

Everything in the Letterboxd export that describes your viewing: watched films, diary entries with their dates and rewatches, ratings, reviews with their dates, your watchlist, and your lists if you choose to recreate them. Liked films (the hearts), tags, followers and comments stay on Letterboxd.

Can I get my data out of Refract later?

Yes, at any time. Settings has an export that downloads your whole library as one ZIP: readable CSV files plus a complete backup. Your history is never locked in.

Can I keep using Letterboxd as well?

Of course. Plenty of people keep Letterboxd for its film community and use Refract as their one library for films, TV shows and anime. The import does not touch your Letterboxd account.

Is Refract free? Are stats free?

Yes. Tracking, imports, stats, lists and the yearly wrap are free, with no ads and no paywall. Optional cosmetic supporter tiers exist for people who want to fund the project; they unlock nothing in the tracker.