# | Name | Interface | Free | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Newznab Plus | 5 Free NZBs / Day | €10/Year | |
2 | Newznab | 1000 NZBs | $20/yr | |
3 | newznab | 30 NZBs for 3 days | $12/yr | |
4 | newznab | 5 NZBs/day | $10/yr | |
5 | newznab | 10 NZBs | £6.50 |
NZB Sites and USENET Search Engines help you find exactly what you are looking for quickly. Usenet has so much data that it can be overwhelming. By using a NZB Site or a USENET search engine you can easily find exactly what you are looking for quickly.
USENET is famous for the staggering amount of content it makes available. Like any other vast reservoir of content, one needs a way to search through it all, and that’s where the services on this page come in.
NZB files are specific to USENET. If you’re already familiar with what NZBs are and what they do, scroll down to the end of this paragraph to see our list of top NZB sites. If not, scroll down below the recommendations to get more information on what NZBs are and how they make life a lot easier when you’re searching for binaries on USENET.
NZBFinder has video and audio groups, and a lot of the binaries they index are very high quality, from full BluRay releases and beyond. We highly recommend this site. Try out their free membership to get an idea of what they have to offer.
This site is great for privacy. They don’t keep any logs of your downloads and they offer an HTTPS connection, so you can download content without having to worry about prying eyes.
This is one of the newer sites on this list, but don’t let that dissuade you from giving Usenet Crawler a shot. The site is based on the tried-and-true Newznab system, it’s very easy to use, and they have more than 10,000 members already.
You can download five NZBs per day as a free member, but upgrade to a VIP membership for $10 per year and you get unlimited NZB downloads and 5,000 API calls per day. While the free account is really quite limited at NZBPlanet, it still offers enough for most users to figure out whether or not they want to upgrade to a VIP membership. If you do decide to take the plunge, this provider takes Bitcoin and credit cards, so it’s’ very easy to sign up.
NZBGeek has a bulletin board system and a USENET indexer on their site, so there’s plenty of community interaction. The community seems to be a big draw, judging by the comments here at usenetreviews.org. This is particularly good for people who need a bit of help learning to use USENET to its best effect. Don’t be afraid to ask your fellow geeks if you need help with something!
If you haven’t used USENET before, you probably haven’t heard of an NZB file. NZB files don’t contain the binary you want; they contain information that allows your newsreader to find that binary on your USENET service. They’re often referred to as a type of pointer file. They contain XML information, which is just text, so they’re very small. That’s how NZB sites allow you to download so many NZBs per day.
There’s something important to keep in mind when downloading NZB files that bears mentioning. Our top USENET providers all offer SSL protection when you’re downloading binaries, but NZB files are downloaded in your browser, so the connection isn’t necessarily encrypted. For privacy’s sake, make sure the site from which you’re downloading uses HTTPS instead of HTTP–check in the URL bar–or use a VPN. Some of our top providers offer free VPN service with their USENET packages, which is, in fact, one of the reasons they top our list!
In all likelihood, when you installed your USENET downloader or newsreader, it associated itself with NZB files. To open an NZB and download the binary it points to, double click on the NZB and your downloader program should open it up automatically. If not, associate NZB files with your downloader however you do it on your operating system.
No. While a lot of sites might mix up listings for NZB sites and USENET search engines, we believe there’s enough distinction between the two to make this inappropriate. The big difference between the two is that NZB sites are curated, which means that human beings check the indexes and take out all the spam. On USENET search engines, there isn’t that level of filtering of the indexes, so you’re more likely to get spam listings on a USENET search engine than you are on an NZB site. Most often, that means NZB sites will save you time and get you better results compared to USENET search engines, but don’t discount USENET search engines altogether. They can still be very handy if you can’t find what you want on an NZB site.
If you go with one of our top USENET providers, featured on our Best USENET Providers of 2024 page, you’ll find most of the binaries you’re after. However, if you don’t, consider getting a block account from another provider for backup. This is a great way to make sure the binaries you’re after will be available for you to download.