MyAnimeList (MAL)

MyAnimeList — almost always called MAL — is the largest and oldest anime and manga tracking database. Launched in 2004, it lets users catalog everything they read and watch, score titles, write reviews, and keep public lists. Its scale and community have made it the default reference point that nearly every other manga tracker is measured against.

What MAL Does Well

MAL's strengths are its database and its community:

• A vast, well-maintained catalog of manga and anime
• Standard reading statuses and scoring
• Reviews, forums, and rankings built over two decades

For looking up a title or recording a completed series, MAL is hard to beat.

Where MAL Shows Its Age

MAL was built as a website in an era before smartphones dominated. It doesn't center on mobile reading, and it doesn't offer reliable native push notifications for new chapters. For readers who want to know the instant a chapter drops, that gap is the main reason they look for a MyAnimeList alternative.

Moving Beyond MAL

You don't have to abandon your history to switch. With library import, apps like MangaTime bring your MAL titles, statuses, and progress over intact — so you keep your years of cataloging while gaining a mobile-first tracker with real-time alerts. Other major databases like AniList and Kitsu occupy similar ground.