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7 min readOct 21, 2026

Is Aniwave Down? What Happened to Aniwave, and 12 Domains Tested on October 21, 2026

What happened to Aniwave? Why it shut down in 2024, what each Aniwave domain leads to in our latest test, whether the copies are safe, and legal anime alternatives.

Quick Answer

Yes, Aniwave is down for good. The site, formerly 9anime, went offline on August 26–27, 2024 in the wave of shutdowns around the ACE-led FMovies raid, and left a farewell notice. In our October 21, 2026 test of 12 Aniwave domains, aniwave.to is parked, 4 domains load Aniwave-branded copies run by unknown operators, 3 more are parked or for sale, 1 returned a blank page and 3 did not respond. The table shows each result, and legal anime services follow it.

See the 12 tested domainsSee recommended VPNsLegal Aniwave alternatives
Aniwave
Shut down Aug 2024
aniwave.to
Parked
Copies loading
4 of 12 domains
Official app
Never existed
Background

What happened to Aniwave?

Aniwave is down for good. The site, known as 9anime until 2023, went offline on August 26–27, 2024 in the wave of shutdowns around the ACE-led FMovies raid. It left a farewell notice, let users export their watch lists and pointed them to HiAnime. Sites that still use the Aniwave name are copies.

Two years on, “aniwave down”, “is aniwave down” and “aniwave alternatives” are still searched more than 20,000 times every 28 days. If you are looking for 9anime instead, its domains and copies are different, so they have their own guide: 9anime mirrors tested.

Aniwave timeline, 2016–2026

  1. 2016

    The site launches as 9anime.

  2. August 2023

    9anime rebrands as Aniwave, citing legal troubles.

  3. August 26–27, 2024

    Aniwave goes offline with animesuge, anix and other sites, in the same wave as the ACE-led FMovies shutdown. A farewell notice lets users export watch lists to MyAnimeList and AniList and points them to HiAnime.

  4. March 2026

    HiAnime, where much of the audience moved, is shut down too.

  5. October 2026

    In our test, aniwave.to is parked and copies on look-alike domains use the Aniwave name.

Our test

Aniwave domains: 12 tested

We took every Aniwave domain people search for by name, plus the sites that Similarweb shows getting the clicks for “aniwave” and “aniwave down”, and opened each one. None could be tied to the original team. Out of 12 domains:

  • 4load Aniwave-branded copies
  • 4are parked or for sale, including the original aniwave.to
  • 1returned a blank page
  • 3did not respond

Aniwave domain test of

Searches: Google searches for the domain over 28 days (Similarweb estimate, worldwide, to October 18, 2026). “—” means people reach the site through other searches. Result: one HTTPS and one HTTP request to each domain from a US connection. The test does not measure blocks by your own internet provider. We do not link to these sites.

Scroll inside the table to see all 12 domains.

Results of the Aniwave domain test
DomainSearches (28 days)ResultNote
aniwave.to2,690
Parked
The original Aniwave domain; redirects to a parking subdomain.
aniwaves.ru10,930
Loads: Aniwave-branded copy
Gets 97% of the clicks for “aniwave” (3.4M searches) and the top spot for “aniwave down”; spelled with an extra “s”.
aniwave.by280
Loads: Aniwave-branded copy
About 13,000 clicks in 28 days.
aniwave.ro920
Loads: Aniwave-branded copy
“AniWave - Watch Anime Online Free HD Streaming”.
aniwaves.ltd340
Loads: Aniwave-branded copy
“Aniwave — Watch Anime Online Free in HD”.
aniwave.lv—
Parked
Forwards to a domain-parking network.
aniwave.ru1,420
For sale
“This domain is for sale.”
aniwave.su740
For sale
“This domain is for sale.”
aniwavetv.to340
Blank page
Returned a page with no title or content.
aniwave.se2,370
No response
The connection was reset.
aniwave.org550
No response
The connection was reset.
aniwave.vc—
No response
The connection was reset.

Recommended VPNs against rogue ads and fake sites

Before you open any address in the table above, know that most of them run on aggressive ad networks. Pick by risk: Proton VPN Plus to filter ad, tracker and malware domains on all your devices, TV included; NordVPN to get warnings about fraudulent and phishing sites. A VPN also encrypts your connection on public Wi-Fi.

1 · Ad, tracker and malware filter

Proton VPN Plus

Best against the fake players and pop-unders on clone sites: the filter works device-wide, TV included.
  • NetShield blocks ad, tracker and malware domains (default level), included in VPN Plus.
  • On Android TV, a single NetShield toggle blocks ads and trackers.
  • Up to 10 devices on one subscription: PC, phone and TV.
Get Proton VPN Plus
2 · Fraudulent-site warnings

NordVPN

Useful if you often land on fake “official” sites or pages asking for a card.
  • Scam, phishing and malware protection blocks malicious URLs and flags fraudulent sites.
  • On Windows and macOS it also blocks ads and trackers; on Android and iOS only scam and phishing protection is available.
  • Up to 10 devices on one subscription.
Get NordVPN

This page contains affiliate links. If you sign up through them, NAT Checker may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Features checked on October 21, 2026 in the official Proton VPN (NetShield, plans) and NordVPN (scam, phishing and malware protection) documentation.

Risks

Is Aniwave safe? Copies, pop-up tabs and the APK

Aniwave copies

  • aniwaves.ru, with an extra “s”, gets almost all the clicks for “aniwave” and “aniwave down”.
  • Nothing links it, or aniwave.by, .ro or aniwaves.ltd, to the original team.
  • Check a domain against the table before you open it.

New tabs on every click

  • “aniwave new tab opening when clicking anything” is searched over 1,000 times every 28 days.
  • Those tabs are pop-under ads, a common route to scam pages.
  • A VPN with an ad and malware filter blocks some of them: see our 2 recommended VPNs.

The Aniwave APK

  • Aniwave never had a store app.
  • “aniwave app apk” leads to a copy site.
  • Skip unverified APKs on a phone or Android TV.

Was Aniwave legal?

  • No: Aniwave streamed anime without licenses.
  • It shut down in the same 2024 wave as FMovies.
  • Licensed services carry most of the same shows.
FAQ

Aniwave questions, answered

How we tested, and our sources

  • Tested and written by OwoZhero for NAT Checker on . Each domain got one HTTPS and one HTTP request from a US connection; we recorded the status code, every redirect and the page title.
  • Domains come from Similarweb’s keyword data for “aniwave”, including the site that gets the most clicks for each search.
  • We do not bypass bot checks, install apps or test blocks by individual internet providers.
  • The table is re-run every month; the date above changes when it is.

Sources

We do not link to Aniwave copies or APK sites.

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