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8 min readOct 21, 2026

HiAnime Alternatives & New Domains: 21 Tested on October 21, 2026

What happened to HiAnime? Which HiAnime domains still load in our latest test, why none of them is the original, whether the HiAnime app is safe, and legal anime alternatives.

Quick Answer

HiAnime shut down in March 2026, and Vietnamese police later arrested seven people linked to it. In our October 21, 2026 test of 21 HiAnime domains, hianime.to did not respond, 12 domains load HiAnime-branded copies run by unknown operators (10 directly, 2 through redirects), 1 pushes an APK, 1 redirects to ads, and 6 are parked, broken or offline. The table shows each result, and legal anime services follow it.

See the 21 tested domainsSee recommended VPNsLegal anime alternatives
Original HiAnime
Shut down Mar 2026
Operators
7 arrested in Vietnam
Copies still loading
12 of 21 domains
“Official” APK
Not from HiAnime
Background

What happened to HiAnime?

HiAnime shut down in March 2026 after a multi-year investigation by US Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Justice and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. Vietnamese police later arrested seven people linked to it. Every site using the HiAnime name today, including ones labelled “official”, is a copy.

That is why “hianime alternative”, “hianime new domain reddit” and “hianime apk” are searched so often. The short answer: the original is gone, the copies and the APK come from unknown people, and most of the same shows are on licensed services, some free.

HiAnime timeline, 2023–2026

  1. July 2023

    Zoro.to rebrands as Aniwatch.

  2. 2024

    Aniwatch rebrands again as HiAnime and grows to well over 150 million visits a month.

  3. March 2026

    HiAnime posts a goodbye message across its domains and goes dark.

  4. July 2026

    Vietnamese police arrest seven people linked to the network; four face copyright and money-laundering charges.

  5. October 2026

    The MPA credits Vietnamese police with dismantling the network, which also ran Sflix, MyFlixer and the Megacloud video host.

Our test

HiAnime new domains: 21 tested

We took every HiAnime domain people search for by name, plus the sites that Similarweb shows getting the clicks for “hianime”, “hianime app” and “hianime apk”, and opened each one. None could be tied to the original team. Out of 21 domains:

  • 12load HiAnime-branded copies (10 directly, 2 through redirects)
  • 2push an APK or redirect to an ad network
  • 3are parked
  • 4are unstable, broken or offline, including hianime.to

HiAnime 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 21 domains.

Results of the HiAnime domain test
DomainSearches (28 days)ResultNote
hianime.to17,610
No response
The original HiAnime domain, offline since the March 2026 shutdown.
hianimes.se1,130
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
Calls itself “(official)” and gets the most clicks for “hianime” (5.6M searches); unknown operator.
hianime.ro1,030
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
About 905,000 clicks in 28 days.
hianime.at92,770
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
The most searched HiAnime domain; about 111,000 clicks.
hianime.ms7,940
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
About 82,600 clicks in 28 days.
hianimetv.su150
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
Gets the clicks for “hianime app” (34K).
hianime.lu4,530
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
Same template as hianime.at, .gy and .ba.
hianime.dk2,840
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
“Stream Anime Online Free in HD”.
hianime.gy1,610
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
Same template as hianime.at.
hianime.ba1,210
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
Same template as hianime.at.
hianime.lol890
Loads: HiAnime-branded copy
Advertises itself as “better than HiAnime.to”.
hianime.city2,330
Redirects to another copy
Forwards to a .yt domain with the HiAnime name.
hianime.cv2,120
Redirects to another copy
Two redirects to a de.com subdomain with the HiAnime name.
hianimeapk.com.in—
APK download page
“Hianime APK [Official App]”; gets the clicks for “hianime apk” (48K). No link to the original team.
hianime.se3,210
Redirects to ads
Two redirects to an ad-network URL.
hianime.do1,060
Parked
Redirects to a parking subdomain.
hianime.tv2,500
Parked
Forwards to a domain-parking network.
hianime.sx—
Parked
Forwards to a domain-parking network.
hianime.com5,650
Unstable
Returned a blank page, then timed out on a second try.
hianime.nz—
Server error (521)
Cloudflare could not reach the origin server.
hianime.me1,130
No response
The old proxy domain; redirects to HTTPS, then times out.

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 HiAnime safe now? Copies, APKs and ads

HiAnime copies

  • The most-clicked “hianime” result calls itself official; nothing links it to the original team.
  • Several copies share one template, which suggests a single operator running many domains.
  • Do not sign in with a password you use elsewhere.

The HiAnime app and APK

  • HiAnime never had an app in Google Play or the App Store.
  • “hianime apk” leads to a page calling itself the “Official App”.
  • An unverified APK on a phone or Android TV gets wide permissions: skip it.

Ads and redirects

  • hianime.se sent our request straight to an ad network.
  • Close pages that ask you to “allow notifications” or update a player.
  • A VPN with an ad and malware filter blocks some of them: see our 2 recommended VPNs.

Was HiAnime legal?

  • No: it streamed anime without licenses, and its operators were arrested.
  • The copies do the same, without even the original’s track record.
  • Licensed services carry most of the same shows.
FAQ

HiAnime 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 “hianime” (1,942 related keywords), 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

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