I’ve been using Trakt for 5 1/2 years, if you don’t reverse this ludicrous restriction on lists I’m off somewhere else. Simple as that.
26 Likes
I just see the last release note:
- Reduced List and Item Limits: Free users will see a reduction to 2 personal lists up to 100 items.
- Watchlist and Collection Limits: Free users are now limited to 100 items in their watchlists and collections, down from previous limits.
Is this the logical move? I need to understand this…
As a veteran of the platform when I saw that note I ran to the forum right away, my first post. I have been on the platform since December 4th 2016 and as a veteran of the platform I think it was not a wise decision, especially on the points I mentioned above. I was already concerned about the issue of list limits and the maximum items they can contain, so I was carefully selecting the best, because I know one day I will reach the limit. This happened when Trakt limited it in the past and now you have taken a much bigger leap. I can’t even add to the watchlist (default list), because I have over 100 items, this has given me a headache. In my personal case, I can’t afford to pay VIP, I would like to, but I can’t.
I feel like I can’t add anything to any list anymore, and I just can’t, because I have over 100 items and now I have a major headache and don’t know what to do. 
Please, reconsider going back to the way it was before. 
I never complain about Trakt decision before, but this change just killed me and probably other veterans free users too. 
The logical move would be for new accounts to have that restriction (new limits), but not accounts that are 1 year old or older. If they are not abusing the system, then you are punishing the veterans of the platform who helped you grow it, especially the non-VIP users. Now, what? The platform for non-VIP is no usable. I saw a serie that I wanted to add to my list and then said that I already reached the 100 items… my face: -.-" Even the favorites are limited, because I have more than 100… this is just no sense, really.
People who are going to reply me, “it’s free you can’t complain”. Well for those people I have to say that nothing is “free”, if you didn’t know that already, you should know.
Thank you very much for reading me, long live Trakt platform (I hope).
P.S: Press the like botton specially the non-VIP users (VIP users also affected), so they can see the message, no just my message, all messages that make sense. PLEASE. Thank you. 
22 Likes
I agree with you on the ratings up to a point. But if people will flee away and amount of rating drops down, it will be more and more difficult to assess how bad/good something is.
I think bigger point is lists created by free users. There are many good lists (i.e. Oscars, Golden globes, lists based on reddit threads etc) and they will not be edited/maintained because their creators - free users - are now locked behind a paywall. These lists added value to the site for all users, free and VIP alike and now they’ll be gone.
19 Likes
Yep… now it went from something useful for me to practically useless… so question is, do they want to get rid of free users who view their advertisers on the site/app??
Because thats what will happen… if everyone keeps paying the “Randsom” then we might as well go back to PAID cable
6 Likes
This is the WORST.
11 Likes
Hi @Justin,
As a VIP member and app developer who relies on your fantastic API, I kindly urge you and your team to reconsider some of the recent decisions, such as reducing the number of personal lists and imposing limits on watchlist and personal list items.
Trakt thrives thanks to its dedicated community, and these recent changes will significantly impact the users who have supported and grown the platform over the years. I truly believe that focusing on converting free users into VIP members would be far more beneficial than limiting features for the free community.
Always grateful for your time, and I kindly ask that you reconsider these changes carefully.
22 Likes
Just a reminder for EU residents to exercise your rights and request a copy of your GDPR data, which should include this.
This is what the tools generates for example.
Concerns: trakt.tv My reference: 2025-xxxxxxx Date: 2025-mm-ddTo Whom It May Concern:
I am hereby requesting access according to Article 15 GDPR. Please confirm whether or not you are processing personal data (as defined by Article 4(1) and (2) GDPR) concerning me.
In case you are, please, in accordance with Art. 15(3) GDPR, provide me with a copy of all personal data concerning me that you are processing, including any potential pseudonymised data on me as per Article 4(5) GDPR. I am further requesting access to the following information pursuant to Article 15(1) GDPR:
- the purposes of the processing;
- the categories of personal data concerned;
- the recipients or categories of recipient to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed;
- where possible, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, or, if not possible, the criteria used to determine that period;
- where the personal data are not collected from the data subject, any available information as to their source;
- the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, referred to in Article 22(1) and (4) GDPR and, at least in those cases, meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing for me.
If you are transferring my personal data to a third country or an international organisation, I request to be informed about the appropriate safeguards according to Article 46 GDPR concerning the transfer.
Please make the personal data concerning me, which I have provided to you, available to me in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format as laid down in Article 20(1) GDPR.
My request explicitly includes any other services and companies for which you are the controller as defined by Article 4(7) GDPR.
As laid down in Article 12(3) GDPR, you have to provide the requested information to me without undue delay and in any event within one month of receipt of the request. According to Article 15(3) GDPR, you have to answer this request without cost to me.
I include the following information necessary to identify me:
Name: name name
Email address: adress[at]adress[.]com
Username: username
If you do not answer my request within the stated period, I reserve the right to take legal action against you and to lodge a complaint with the responsible supervisory authority.
Thank you in advance.
Yours sincerely,
name
First doubling the price, complete design overhaul without any notice and now this terrible change, trakt has officially lost me as a paying customer - I hate it. 
10 Likes
Hate to be that person but if you expect to get watching history that way. And not just by asking for that, I don’t know if that’s the way to get it.
GDPR is about personal data.
Even names aren’t always personal data.
Now if Trakt would log you geolocation or something, that would be personal data. I doubt your watch history falls under that category.
Maybe it would fall under “what someone does or buys on the internet” but it seems a stretch. Thats more browsing activity.
See also:
//EDIT:
This is not an attack or anything. Just like prepare to be disappointed until Trakt of course reads between the lines and still send you watch history data.
2 Likes
No worries (because of the edit 
) - usually watch history or logs qualify as personal data as it indirectly can be associated with someone (and their taste, religion, etc.).
The article you shared has something on this, well at least in my opinion.
information about what someone does or buys on the internet
At least that’s my experience with these types of requests in Germany, but we love our privacy here. Germany also has the TDDDG which also applies here.
The trakt Android app has Google analytics enabled by default by the way, which violates § 25 TDDDG , if any of the developers is reading this.
3 Likes
Now if Trakt would log you geolocation or something
Yes, they already doing, when you create your account, your timezone (geolocation) is there, in the log, so GDPR law can be applied perfectly.
I hope, Trakt, go back with their decision, so I gonna wait. Because we put the trust with you, do not fail the users that growed up with you.
3 Likes
Without derailing the topic, a question for all those who’ve said they’re dumping Trakt and going to use Simkl, doesn’t that already have the same restrictions as regards lists, etc. at essentially the same price? In fact it appears to me Trakt is cheaper.
Not exactly. Simkl VIP (can be) more expensive at $70 a year, unless purchasing the $149 lifetime (which works out a lot cheaper in the long run), but lists can be had on the PRO subscription of $35 a year (or free if logging into Simkl at least 20 days in every 30). In fact, I have been doing this since the “we are thinking about reducing limits” by Justin, so I can already create unlimited lists there.
Unfortunately, Simkl is not as slick as Trakt and does not work very well for my usecase.
For clarity, I was not one of the ones that said they were dumping Trakt but I have been vocal in trying to get Justin to reconsider dropping the VIP price back to $30.
I think if he were to do that, even if only with a few days window, a lot of users would now bite and take up the offer, Trakt would be making more money, and everyone would be happy again. 
6 Likes
Trakt has been very useful since I joined back in 2014, shame I might not be able to make use of it going forward
Collected items: 22100 / 22212. Now I can’t add to that as it is slightly over the new limit of 100.
Thanks for just over 9 years of good service at least.
Edit: 34,730 total collected items, 68% watched.
5 Likes
What was the previous limit for lists?
5 Likes
I want to give a peak behind the scenes and offer additional info related to the recent changes. Trakt is a small business, and we make decisions to help grow Trakt and remain sustainable for the long haul. Trakt has been around for 15 years and we want it to exist another 15+.
Trakt does not sell user data!
Trakt’s revenue is all from VIP memberships. I’ve seen a big misconception saying we sell user data. We don’t and its listed right up top in our privacy policy and I added this to the VIP page too. Many similar sites do in fact sell your user data and build their entire product around it. At Trakt, you are not the product.
We don’t have 3rd party ads
As of several months ago, we don’t serve any 3rd party ads and therefore have no ad revenue. The ad units you see on the website and mobile apps are in house ads, typically for Trakt VIP. 3rd party ads really suck and we determined the overall Trakt experience was more important than ad revenue.
Trakt team
We currently have 10 full time and 2 part employees. VIP revenue pays our salaries and also the server costs. The infrastructure cost required to run Trakt is quite large.
Your data is yours
I’ve also seen many mentions that we don’t allow your data to be downloaded, which isn’t true. The free Trakt API has always been available to get all of your data. There are also many 3rd party tools built on top of the Trakt API to help with this. VIPs get the extra convenience of automatic backups, CSV exports, and RSS feeds. GDPR requests are handled through support and we send you a zip with JSON files for all data in your account.
I added a new Data Export option, which is available starting today for all members. This is essentially a self service GDPR request. You can request your export every 7 days, and we’ll automatically email you the zip file. We limit the frequency since it takes some server effort to produce this export.
List limits
I will admit the initial announcement was too focused on the new free features while downplaying the limits too much. When making the decision to lower the limits, we ran the percentages and also sent out an email in December to test our theories. Here are some numbers based on our active members:
- 2.9% have a list with > 100 items
- 5.8% have a watchlist with > 100 items
- 5.8% have > 2 lists
Other notes
Here are a few other notes for common comments I’ve been seeing.
- There have been list limits in place since 2022, free users did not have unlimited items or lists.
- VIP pricing plans were changed in September 2024.
- Trakt is a healthy company and does not have a revenue problem.
- Additional regional pricing does indeed make sense.
Moving forward
After taking in the feedback, there are some good ideas in the forum and reddit comments that deserve a deeper dive. We will explore some these as we plan future updates. For example, expanding our regional pricing beyond India and Brazil to be more global makes a lot of sense. Figuring out something for the popular, free lists makes sense. We know the list limits suck for some of you, but we’re trying to normalize our features with all of the above in mind.
19 Likes
If this is the case, why put the squeeze on free users with these sharply reduced list/collection limits?
Why was it a big deal to remove “duplicate plays” months ago?
A healthy company doesn’t need to worry about a few hundred (or a few hundred thousand) extra rows in a database.
28 Likes
Well done for ruining what was once a good community. You made a great service, but you appear to have a poor outlook on your business and not really taken into account how it’s the community that keep you relevant. If your pricing structure wasn’t ludicrous and frankly outdated many people wouldn’t feel too bitter about this.
Bottlenecking people who already exceeded limits is an extremely poor move. Grandfathering existing users who have been with your service from the start is what someone educated in business would likely do, yet you’ve alienated a lot of people and made using the service almost impossible in some cases.
Those 2.9% that you say have lists with over 100 items likely equate to the majority of the popular lists out there. You can’t count every single user subscribed to your service in this because it’s likely only a small % actually contribute, the small % that you’ve alienated causing the community to suffer.
37 Likes
So instead of doing this to keep the lights on you did it 'just ‘cuz.’ Thank you Justin, very cool
39 Likes
If you were planning to lower list limits like you did, I felt like a more positive change was revert back to $30/yr. I think if the list lowering and reverting back to $30/yr would have struck a better taste for users. As much more who have been a loyal free trakt user would probably join VIP.
Also, I can’t understand how 100 items for collection seems reasonable. Collection collects episodes rather than top level shows. So if one show collected has over 100 episodes, free user is already screwed just by collecting one show with many episodes.
Like another thread discussed, it might be a better idea to bring together different tiers for subscription. I think this would keep more of the userbase happy while understanding that trakt is a small business that needs to grow and earn money for ppl who work at trakt. But forcing ppl to pay one fee for everything when most ppl probably don’t care for some features vs other features is another thing.
25 Likes