Is anidb.net legit or a scam?
AniDB is a highly reputable, non-profit anime database established in 2002 with a clean security record and strong community support.
Analysis Summary
No threats detected
All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →
Visual Screenshot Analysis
We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.
Visual red flags detected in the screenshot
We could not capture a fully-rendered screenshot of this page; visual analysis is inconclusive.
What our vision model saw
1 signalScreenshot incomplete — site may be slow to render
MT Intelligence
This domain has been active for nearly 24 years, which is an exceptional indicator of stability and legitimacy. Our antivirus network shows zero detections across 92 different engines, and the hosting IP has a perfect reputation score. The site is well-known in the developer community for its robust API used by media tools like Plex and Kodi. Research confirms it is a non-profit project funded by community donations rather than aggressive advertising or data harvesting. There are no credible scam reports or complaints associated with this domain.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for anidb.net, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- Domain registered approximately 23 years ago (8722 days); long-established site with no reported security flags in searches.
- AniDB is a well-known, community-driven, not-for-profit anime database providing detailed information, episode/file tracking, ratings, reviews, tags, and API access for metadata tools (Plex, Kodi, Bazarr, etc.).
- Self-hosted on Hetzner in Germany after previous free hosting ended; funded via Patreon donations for server costs; data licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
- No scam reports, malware detections, or user complaints found across Reddit, Trustpilot (minimal activity), security scanners, or general web searches.
- Frequently referenced positively in developer forums, Reddit communities, and metadata projects as a reliable, comprehensive anime information source.
- Note: anidb.app is a separate HD anime streaming site (not the same entity); security scans for .app domain are clean but unrelated to the .net database.
- Trustpilot shows one review with average score around 3.4-3.5/5; no widespread negative feedback.
- Hacker Newsopen
"anidb[0] is definitely larger, while not for profit. ... anidb is a (truly wonderful) monster."
- Reddit r/animeopen
"AniDB's search engine and tag system are more powerful than any others I regularly use."
- Gridinsoftopen
"Is anidb.net safe? Yes, anidb.net appears to be low-risk based on current analysis. No major malware or phishing threats were detected, and a long-term domain ..."
- Plex Forumsopen
"AniDB.net and specifically it's UDP API. The API uses a hash function to uniquely identify every video file."
Self-described as a not-for-profit organization; hosted by Hetzner (German provider); uses Patreon for ~$240/month hosting costs; no formal e.V. or incorporated entity details found in public searches
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.
Domain & Encryption
Server Reputation
Still, stay alert
No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.
- Double-check the exact URL in your address bar
Confirm you are actually on anidb.net and not a lookalike like a-nidb.net.com or an IDN homoglyph.
- Use a password manager
Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.
- OpenDiscuss this site on the forum
If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
Safety FAQ
Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.
- Our automated security review found no threat indicators on anidb.net. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.
- anidb.net passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 97/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.
- Yes. anidb.net presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · YE1, expiring in 81 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
- anidb.net is 23.9 years old, registered on 8/12/2002 through NameCheap, Inc.. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
- No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report anidb.net as clean.
- No. anidb.net is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
- anidb.net resolves to an IP operated by Cloudflare, Inc. in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
- Yes. anidb.net sits in the global top-100k on Cloudflare Radar, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. That does not automatically make it safe, but established brands almost always rank here and throwaway scam domains almost never do.
User reviews & comments(0)
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