The free TV Time alternative
TV Time is closing and deleting everyone's watch history. Episodary imports your export in one click and keeps tracking every show and movie you've ever watched — free, no ads, right in your browser.
How to switch (start today — the export takes time)
- 1
Request your TV Time export NOW
Go to gdpr.tvtime.com — the request takes 30 seconds, but TV Time can take a while to email the file, and the servers go offline July 15. Request it today even if you pick an app later.
- 2
Drop the ZIP into Episodary
When it arrives, drag the file in as-is. No unzipping, no CSV surgery — the import itself takes about two minutes. Every episode, rating and watchlist comes across.
- 3
Keep tracking — free
Shows and movies, Up Next, air-date alerts, cast pages, and Movie Match for group nights. No ads, ever.
Episodary vs TV Time
| Feature | TV Time | Episodary |
|---|---|---|
| Still running after July 15, 2026 | Shutting down | ✓ |
| Free without ads | Free with ads + paid premium | ✓ Free, no ads |
| One-click import of your TV Time export | — | ✓ |
| Movies tracked as fully as shows | Limited | ✓ |
| Per-episode progress, ratings, rewatches | ✓ | ✓ |
| Up Next + air-date alerts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Clickable cast & crew pages | — | ✓ |
| Group swipe-to-pick (Movie Match) | — | ✓ |
| No install needed (works in any browser) | — | ✓ |
| Native iOS/Android apps & widgets | ✓ | Not yet — web works on any phone |
| Per-episode comment threads | ✓ | Show comments today; episode threads next |
Other TV Time alternatives, compared honestly
Different apps fit different people. Here's the straight version — whichever you pick, export your TV Time data first.
Trakt
The most established tracker with a huge ecosystem and integrations. The free tier covers the basics; power features (advanced lists, no ads) sit behind VIP. Import from TV Time takes some CSV work.
Simkl
Solid tracker that also covers anime. Free with ads; some stats are premium. Interface is denser than TV Time — some love it, some don't.
Serializd
Letterboxd-style reviews for TV. Great if you want to write and read reviews; less focused on the quick tick-an-episode tracking TV Time people are used to, and movies aren't covered.
TV Watch Time
Open source and self-hostable — the safest possible answer to "what if this app dies too". Needs a bit more setup, and the hosted app is younger.
Episodary (this site)
Free, no ads, browser-based. One-click GDPR ZIP import (no unzipping, unmatched rows are kept, not dropped), movies tracked as fully as shows, and Movie Match — group swipe-to-decide — which none of the others have.
TV Time shutdown — FAQ
Is there a free alternative to TV Time?
Yes — several. Trakt has a free tier, TV Watch Time is open source, and Episodary is free with no ads and no paywall at all. On Episodary you can browse shows and movies without even signing in, and import your full TV Time history in one click.
What happens to my TV Time watch history?
When TV Time shuts down on July 15, 2026, its servers go offline and your history is deleted. Request your export at gdpr.tvtime.com right now — TV Time can take a while to email it, and once the servers are off nobody can recover it. Then import the ZIP into Episodary and every episode, rating and watchlist comes back.
How do I move my data from TV Time to Episodary?
Request your data export at gdpr.tvtime.com (do this first — it can take a while to arrive). When the ZIP lands, drag it straight into Episodary as-is — no unzipping, no spreadsheets. The import itself takes about two minutes. Every row from the export is kept, and anything that can't auto-match is preserved instead of dropped.
What's inside the TV Time export, and what imports?
The GDPR ZIP contains your per-episode watch history with dates, your tracked shows, your movie history, and ratings. Episodary imports all of it: episodes keep their original watch dates, shows land with progress intact, movies and ratings come across, and rows that can't be auto-matched are stored for retry rather than thrown away. CSVs from the TV Time Out extension work too.
Will Episodary shut down too? How is it free?
Fair question — that's exactly what just happened with TV Time. Episodary runs on effectively zero infrastructure cost: community data sources (TVmaze, Cinemeta, Wikidata), no video hosting, no ad-tech, no investor burn rate to outrun. And your data is never locked in — you can export your full library anytime, so even in the worst case your history walks out the door with you.
Do I need to create an account?
You can browse the entire catalog, open show/movie/cast pages and try Movie Match without an account. Signing in (free, with Google) is only needed to save your library and import your history.
What makes Episodary different from other TV Time replacements?
Compared to Trakt, Simkl or Serializd: it's completely free with no ads or premium tier, works in any browser with no install, tracks movies as fully as shows, imports the TV Time ZIP as-is, and it's the only one with Movie Match — a group swipe-to-decide mode for picking what to watch together. What it doesn't have yet: native mobile apps (the web app works on phones).
Don't lose your watch history
Export your TV Time data today and keep it alive on Episodary — free, forever.
Start free