xREL.v3
- Free allowance
- The release lists are readable without an account; the JSON API at api.xrel.to answered a page reader with HTTP 403 and a 5-word bot challenge instead of content.
- Verdict
- caveatusable, with a named limit or an unprobed read path
- Cost
- free tier
- Identity
- anonymousno card, no phone
- Binding limit
- noneno named constraint binds
- Evidence
- documented3 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-11-23checked 2026-10-23 (live); stale on 2026-11-23
| Free tier | The release lists are readable without an account; the JSON API at api.xrel.to answered a page reader with HTTP 403 and a 5-word bot challenge instead of content. unit unlimited; metered on none |
|---|---|
| Price | USD 0 |
| Limits |
The challenge is the first obstacle, not a quota: the reader saw 'bot challenge' with a 5-word body at HTTP 403. |
| Binding | none An API challenge is not one of the seven constraints and no byte quota exists; a user meets the challenge first and would then meet an unpublished rate. |
| Identity | anonymous The HTML lists were readable without an account. The API's authentication requirement was not established beyond the 403 challenge. |
| Egress | no byte allowance: the site serves NFO text, screenshots and metadata, not files free allowance: none |
| Per-object cap | not applicable: release metadata, not an object |
| Retention | records persist; the release lists carry dated entries per category (console, TV, movies), newest first |
| Interface | rest A documented JSON API under api.xrel.to/v2/ (the v2 index path returned 404 from nginx, and /v2/ returned a 403 challenge), plus HTML release lists per category. endpoint: https://api.xrel.to/v2/ |
| Tooling | HTTP client for the API when the challenge permits; otherwise HTML scraping of the release lists. Nothing to download, so no rclone or debrid tool applies. |
| Composes with | Use it as the metadata layer: given a release name from a DDL index, xREL gives the group, the date, the NFO and the IMDb/TVDB id, which is what makes a release name resolvable to a title. |
| Reliability | Cloudflare-style bot screening sits in front of the API, so a client that works today can be challenged tomorrow; the HTML surface answered normally. |
| Evidence note | documented The home page was read on 2026-10-23 and the API challenge was captured. |
| Parsed numbers |
|
Evidence 3
| date | source | what it proved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-23 | www.xrel.to/ | live German scene release database, title 'xREL.v3 - Release & NFO Source #1', release lists with NFO links and sizes |
| 2026-10-23 | api.xrel.to/v2/ | HTTP 403 with a 5-word body: the reader classified it as a bot challenge, so no API content was read |
| 2026-10-23 | api.xrel.to/v2/index.html | HTTP 404 from nginx, so that documentation path does not exist |
More fields 3
| api status observed | 403 |
|---|---|
| challenge | yes |
| has download links | no |