What does real-debrid do?

I was looking through the megathread and saw this real-debrid thing. I have heard this name some times so I read what it does but wasn't able to understand it. If someone could explain it to me I would appreciate it.

Also, it caught my attention that "it's a good way to prevent your IP from ever hitting the torrent's swarm, which is the main cause of receiving copyright infringement letters". Does this mean it's an alternative to a VPN when torrenting? Is it like a seedboxes or something? Are there any free alternatives?

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What a debriding service does is download the torrent for you, and cache it on their servers. From there you can download it from their servers without ever "touching" the torrent itself. Common uses for it are with Stremio, to stream cached movie torrents directly from the debrid service's servers.
These services are also used to download from paywalled DDL websites, such as rapidgator, nitrodl, etc, so you do not need to wait 500 hours of 50kbps.
- also really popular in Germany, because if you download the torrent yourself, you can get a huge fine from the copyright owner.
  
  I've wondered if Real-Debrid actually is German made too. The dash in the name gives that vibe.
- So it's similar to a seedbox but with even more utilities? I don't really understand the cache part. It's like they "save" the downloaded files for you?
  
  Yes, and then you stream them from their servers. It's quite different to a seedbox though, and that's because (apart from torrenting) they have premium subscriptions to DDL services, such as rapidgator, to allow them to rapidly download the files for multiple people. Then, you download their "saved" version of it on their server. You have no real access apart from downloading from/streaming from debriding services, whereas a seedbox you have control over it, can install other applications, have storage limits, etc.
  Does this clear it up?

I finally managed to familiriaze myself with it a week ago. Fucking awesome is what it is. In simplest terms Real-Debrid caches torrents so you can stream them from their servers instead of downloading the torrent. The cache is massive and expands constantly because any time something isn't cached already, it is cached when someone wants to watch it.
I use Stremio with Torrentio addon, it just works. The user experience is much like any legal streaming services.
Real-Debrid conceals your traffic from your ISP by using HTTPS, but the service does keep track of your IPs. It's best to create the account using an email untraceable to you, pay for the service with crypto or paysafecard and always use a VPN when logging in to the site or streaming. There's always a slight possibility that someone manages to hack into the service and use your data against you, so don't provide them any traceable data.
Real-Debrid costs 3...4 dollars per month, it's not expensive. The free or cheaper alternatives are not good. A good VPN is another 3...4 dollars so combined it's still cheaper than using a regular streaming service. I very much recommend getting into it, just remember to cover your ass.
PS. Real-Debrid caches torrents from like 20 different torrent sites and once they're cached it doesn't matter how many seeders the original torrent has. That means for example that you can stream stuff that wouldn't even be available on the torrent sites you know or use.
- Excellent overview!
  I have one data point to add: Real-Debrid accepts Privacy.com virtual cards, so this is another payment method to consider if you want to protect yourself from possible data breaches on Real-Debrid's side.
- I've been using it for a couple days, set it up with Sonarr/Radarr but been getting downloads that stay stuck at 99% and more that just don't start. Though I must say it's often with older, maybe much less popular content (been downloading older seasons of Gold Rush). With newer stuff I've been getting very good results though.
- So...does it allow you to eventually download the files, or are you limited to simply streaming from the remote cache?
  
  When you stream something, the link to the file is automatically added to your RD account. You can use that link to download the file. Or you can skip the streaming part and just add stuff to your library and download them.
- Real-Debrid conceals your traffic from your ISP by using HTTPS, but the service does keep track of your IPs. It’s best to create the account using an email untraceable to you, pay for the service with crypto or paysafecard and always use a VPN when logging in to the site or streaming
  In the megathread it says it is a good way of hiding your IP, but you're saying it isn't totally secure. What exactly is the danger of not applying the security methods you've told?
  
  Real-Debrid logs your all data. If they're ever hacked or cracked down by police, you can be in danger. In many countries there's a risk of heavy fines if you get caught pirating media.
- But beware that not all VPNs work with Real-Debrid. Check their website for compatible services.
- The website says that pricing is based on the country you are located in which sounds kinda risky to me tbh, is it still worth it?
  Also if the answer is yes is there a country that I can pick in Mullvad that has the lowest prices? Or should I pick the country I am living it though I don't believe it exists in Mullvad
  
  Hmm I didn't even notice the price would vary based on your location. Are you at https://real-debrid.com/ for sure?
  I really don't know what they'll do if you use the service from an IP unrelated to the location you selected when you pay.
- Hello! I started using the same setup recently. It's fantastic but sometimes obscure stuff or programs not originally in English (don't want to call them foreign, they're not foreign when you're from there) don't have any streams available.
  I understand there's a way to find magnet links yourself and add them in real-debrid. I tried that yesterday but it didn't find any seeds (fair enough).
  Let's say it would've found some, how does it then work to watch it in Stremio? You just restart the app and navigate back to the program?
  BTW if you haven't, maybe try also adding the Trakt addon and managing your feed lists from there, really takes it another step up!

From what I've heard, it scrapes and downloads from public trackers without ever seeding, basically acting as a plague on public trackers.
- Afaik Debrid-Link is very similar, but also seeds like a regular seed box.

Besides the download torrent capabilities. It can download from some hosters (like 1ficher, and mega) as it was premium. So you pay for the real-debrid subscription which is low and has premium in a lot of those hosters. It is awesome and I strongly recommend.
- How can I get started?
  
  I use this https://real-debrid.com/ register for an account and pay the subscription. Then you can generate an API Key that you can use in Torrentio. Through the web interface you can paste links manually to download.
  
  https://pupontech.com/a-netflix-alternative-though-you-will-no-longer-be-part-of-the-navy/

Just want to plug plex_Debrid in here. Guy who made it is awesome and having Debrid functionality in plex is so nice.
- What is this exactly, how does it work?
  
  The GitHub explains it great but in summary you mount your Real Debrid (or other Debrid service) account to your machine via rclone, so anything you’ve downloaded on Debrid is available on plex.
  Then there’s a script that watches the plex watchlist for new requests and then scrapes torrents to get it. (similar to stremio): If it’s cached (already available on real Debrid) then you can watch it instantly. Which is majority popular content. More niche stuff it may have to request Debrid to download and try again later
  Then refreshes plex to scan the library for the download.
  Even works outside of plex with things like overseerr, jellyseerr, trakt to monitor requests. Also can use Trakt to manage your library. Even Support for other scrapers like jackett and torrentio and you can set it to refresh your jellyfin library if you aren’t using plex.

Speaking of, it’s been a while since I’ve looked at these downloaders. What are the most recent and good ones?
- put.io is pretty popular
  
  Put.io only has torrents, though. There’s also premiumize.me which has torrents, Usenet, and some DDL. It has been a bit of hit and miss for DDL, though.

It basically downloads torrents to their servers so you don't directly download torrents. As another person said you can also use it with the torrentio addon for stremio. It fucking rocks
- So happy I read this thread. Had it setup in no time and will be cancelling all of my streaming services. $30/year for this is pretty incredible.
  
  It also works to generate premium links from direct download services like Mega for example.

It’s torrenting 2.0.
- It's Torrenting 0.0
  Thats also their ratio
  
  Well that’s true. They’ve already torrented it for us. So there’s no need for us to actually torrent it again. No time spent waiting, no storage space necessary, no VPN’s- just instantaneous streaming to your TV. Too good to be true.

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