Internet Archive

Q: What are the best Internet Archive alternatives?

It depends on what you need. Other web archives can fill gaps when the Wayback Machine has no copy, and website copiers let you keep your own offline copy. See our Internet Archive alternatives.

Q: Are there sites like the Internet Archive?

Yes, but none at its scale. Its Wayback Machine passed one trillion pages in 2025. Smaller public archives and self-hosted tools are best used alongside it.

Q: What tools does the Internet Archive offer?

Several, all under archive.org. The main ones are the Wayback Machine, text and media collections, Open Library and Archive-It, its paid service for institutions.

Q: Is the Internet Archive free?

Yes. It is a nonprofit, and its public collections are free to use. Archive-It is the paid exception.

Q: Was the Internet Archive hacked?

Yes, in October 2024. Attackers took the site down and exposed about 31 million accounts' emails and hashed passwords. Services were fully restored by 25 October 2024.

Q: Who runs the Internet Archive?

A nonprofit founded by Brewster Kahle. It was founded in 1996 and is based in San Francisco.

Nonprofit digital library of web pages, books, audio and video. Free to use.

FreeNonprofitWayback Machine

Visit archive.org ↗Last verified: 5 Nov 2026

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FreeTo use

1996Founded

1 trillion+Web pages saved

San FranciscoHeadquarters

The short version

What is the Internet Archive, and what are the alternatives?

The Internet Archive is a free, nonprofit digital library founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle. It runs the Wayback Machine, which passed one trillion archived web pages in October 2025, along with large collections of books, audio and video.

Beyond web pages, it holds more than 47 million texts, over 15 million audio recordings and about 13 million videos, and it runs Open Library for borrowing books. Two things changed recently. After publishers won a lawsuit over its book lending, upheld in September 2024, more than 500,000 books were removed. In October 2024 a cyberattack took the site down and exposed about 31 million user accounts; services were fully restored by 25 October 2024.

Bottom line: for old versions of web pages, the Wayback Machine is still the first place to look. If it has no copy, or you want to save and keep pages yourself, use the archive tools and alternatives below.

What it does

Key features

Wayback Machine

Look up old versions of web pages by URL. Public since 2001, it passed one trillion archived pages in October 2025.

Texts and Open Library

More than 47 million texts, plus Open Library for borrowing books and reading public domain titles.

Audio and video

Over 15 million audio recordings and about 13 million videos in its media collections.

Archive-It

A paid web archiving subscription for institutions that need to capture and keep their own collections.

What it costs

Internet Archive pricing (2026)

Plan	Price	What you get
archive.org and the Wayback Machine	Free	Search, read, watch, listen and look up archived web pages.
Open Library borrowing	Free	Borrow digital books through Open Library. Some publishers' books were removed after the 2024 court ruling.
Archive-It	Subscription	Web archiving service for libraries, museums and other institutions. Price on request.

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and charges nothing to use its public collections. Archive-It prices are not listed here.

Honest fit

Who it's for, who it isn't

Pick the Internet Archive if

You want to see an old version of a web page
You want free public domain books, audio or video
You research how a site or topic looked in the past
You need a free source to cite archived pages

Look elsewhere if

The Wayback Machine has no copy of the page you need
You need an offline copy of a site on your own disk
You need books that publishers removed from lending
You need guaranteed, scheduled archiving of your own site without a paid plan

What people ask

Internet Archive FAQ

What are the best Internet Archive alternatives?

It depends on what you need. Other web archives can fill gaps when the Wayback Machine has no copy, and website copiers let you keep your own offline copy. See our Internet Archive alternatives.

Are there sites like the Internet Archive?

Yes, but none at its scale. Its Wayback Machine passed one trillion pages in 2025. Smaller public archives and self-hosted tools are best used alongside it.

What tools does the Internet Archive offer?

Several, all under archive.org. The main ones are the Wayback Machine, text and media collections, Open Library and Archive-It, its paid service for institutions.

Is the Internet Archive free?

Yes. It is a nonprofit, and its public collections are free to use. Archive-It is the paid exception.

Was the Internet Archive hacked?

Yes, in October 2024. Attackers took the site down and exposed about 31 million accounts' emails and hashed passwords. Services were fully restored by 25 October 2024.

Who runs the Internet Archive?

A nonprofit founded by Brewster Kahle. It was founded in 1996 and is based in San Francisco.

Keep comparing

Internet Archive alternatives

Internet Archive alternativesSites that do a similar job

Wayback Machine alternativesIf the Wayback Machine has no copy

Internet archive toolsTo save and store pages yourself