Openload Kodi addon: What is Openload and is it legal and safe to use?

For a long time, Openload was one of the most popular addons for streaming movies and TV shows. However, like many third-party addons, it failed to use properly licensed sources. This led to Openload being threatened with legal action by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which ultimately led to this service shutting down, along with competing addons like Neptune Rising and Colossus.

Don’t worry, though: there are still plenty of ways to legitimately watch TV on Kodi. Below, we’ll reveal some of the best addons for streaming and explain why third-party addons like Openload usually aren’t as good as they might appear at first glance.

Warning: Kodi should only be used for content to which you have the legal right to access. Neither the Kodi Foundation nor Comparitech advocates the use of Kodi for piracy.

Always use a VPN with Kodi

Unfortunately, your online activities aren’t as private as you might think. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can see everything you get up to, and many use this information to automatically reduce your speeds when they detect that you’re streaming or torrenting.

Both of these problems can be resolved with the help of a Virtual Private Network (VPN). These services encrypt your data, rendering it unreadable and allowing you to do whatever you like without fear of surveillance or throttling.

We recommend NordVPN for Kodi users. This provider is well-respected, extremely fast, and second to none when it comes to security. What’s more, it has its own Amazon Firestick app and a proven no-logs policy.

What was Openload Kodi addon?

Openload was a classic example of a “link scraper” addon. Essentially, these gather links to content from a wide range of websites and deliver them to the user so that you can access them all in one place. There are several problems with this kind of addon, though, so let’s explore those a little more fully.

First off, Openload did not use official sources. In other words, it provided unrestricted access to movies and TV shows by finding links on piracy sites. That’s why users were able to view content from premium streaming services without paying or logging in. In addition to this being illegal, piracy sites tend to be full of dead links and mislabelled content, so they’re usually not even a good experience for the user.

The other issue is that to get Openload, Kodi users had to install a third-party repository. There’s really no way to verify whether one of these is safe, especially since they frequently change location and there’s no official support platform for most. We’ve seen plenty of instances where an attacker will claim to host a popular third-party addon, when in reality, they’re simply trying to trick users into installing malware. This makes installing any unofficial repo a risky proposition.

Best alternatives to Openload for Kodi

Kodi actually has a thriving addon development scene, and there are more official addons to choose from than ever before. Here are a few of the best Kodi addons for streaming that still work:

Crackle

Crackle is a free streaming service that’s owned by Sony. It’s completely legal and there’s no need to sign in, though the available content does change depending on where you are in the world. At the time of writing, some of the movies we could stream included The Host, Vacation, and I Give It a Year. There’s also a solid selection of TV shows, like Hell’s Kitchen and Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction.

This addon can be found in the official Kodi repository.

Pluto TV

Pluto TV works differently to most streaming services. Instead of providing a huge range of on-demand content, it offers over a hundred different live channels. These cater to every type of viewer, with a rolling schedule of reality TV, movies, and sports. Best of all, this service is completely free to use, with no registration or payment information needed.

Pluto TV is included in the official Kodi addon repo.

Adult Swim

Adult Swim might not be your first choice given that the official repo also has addons for NBC, ABC, and BBC iPlayer. However, it actually has quite a wide range of high-profile shows, and they’re all free to watch. Users can stream titles like Bob’s Burgers, King of the Hill, and Rick & Morty, plus there’s a decent selection of anime. For instance, you could catch up on classics like Cowboy Bebop or watch some of the biggest hits from recent years, like Made in Abyss or My Hero Academia.

You’ll find the Adult Swim addon in the official Kodi repo.

Kodi: Your questions answered