Other Fanfic Sites Masterpost.
First off: AO3 ISN’T some monopoly, be-all-end-all of fanfic sites and none of us should act like it is or that it should be.
Its code is Open Source, so, no, these aren’t “copies” nor “rip-offs.”
This isn’t about “ao3 being icky,” platforming material that glorifies, normalizes, sexualizes, and romantacizes abuse and rape especially of children, no matter their *realness,* is a problem. Some of us have values.
For a site that “protects its users,” it doesn’t do much of anything about harassment, bots/spam, nor AI scraping and plagiarism/theft.
It *warned* a volunteer over standing with a being-genocided population in their social media profile bio. Proof. Proof.
It allows csem material just because the US laws aren’t up to date with written material (nor AI, for that matter). It allows Real Person Fiction of nonfictional children. Proof. Proof.
Account. Account. Account. Account. (Tumblr’s search function is broken. You get it; you have net access.)
Mod supported people who want to sexually harm children.
*This user put it all together too.
It’s how old with how much money, and it’s still in beta with a filtering system that doesn’t work! (They’re not even using the money—more than one million USD—to donate to any queer or anti-censorship causes (yknow, like the laws happening in US rn, and the user base is obviously very queer).)
Shout out to everyone who’s helping me discover these other sites.
Allows AI scraping and content?
SQW? “[Both] expressly prohibited.”
Sunset? Content not allowed.
Superlove? Content not allowed.
Inky? Protection against bot spam. (“Stricter focus on creator safety.”)
Allows written scem content?
SQW? Not without an account.
Sunset? Not without an account (assumably).
Superlove? Not without an account.
Discrimination/harassment?
SQW? “Don’t be a dick” rule.
Superlove? Immediate ban.
More inclusive tagging than AO3?
*Edit: Wattpad and FFN aren’t included, they know why. Quora and Quotev, I don’t think are very fanfic-y.
*Royal Road is based in Isreal. It’s a more official site, and has an app. Doesn’t allow harassment and doxing, nor botting and scraping. Couldn’t find anything about AI content. Dark Mode. Has paid accounts. Can link. Has ads and wants engagement/traffic. Allegedly subcontractor of Amazon. Something about not wanting sexual nor romantic (or a hint of) content. Cover art. Basic tagging (not like fandom sites).
*ScribbleHub. Content may not be harmful, abusive, offensive, etc, be or contribute to a harm or crime, or be spam. Nothing about AI. No non-English, porn, poetry, translations, encouraging rape, or mostly AI content. Expects content warnings. Theme: dark. Can link SO LONG as it’s not to a fanfic. Cover art. Only filter genre; it’s genre and then tags.
*Ourchive. Beta. Dark mode. More tags than ao3 but less filtering. Different setup. “This is a beta site! Behave,” literally all the TOS or Code of Conduct.
*Inkitt. Has an app. Based in Germany. Subscription author program. Growing fanfic population. Publishes people (partners with Galatea apparently (hate that app)). Content cannot promote or perform harm, bigotry, harrasment or crimes. Can link. Nothing about AI nor dark mode. Cover art. Feels a bit like Wattpad.
*Commaful. Different setup. A now read-only site.
I’m gonna try to reach out to those three about the AI scraping, because that’s also a really big concern for me.
*AI Scraping update: (These are very small teams with slight resources—especially when compared to AO3.)
Inky’s creator is working on protecting users’ property against AI scraping.
Scraping is banned on Superlove and it utilizes the Anubis proxy to prevent it.
SWQ? I recall it being very short and quick.
Sunset? Projected to wait until 2039 for an invite (4/8/26). (Add a note about yourself.)
Superlove? Projected to wait 13 months (4/8/26). (Add a note about yourself.) *I’m in, 4/9.
Inky? No account needed! The login is for a google account. For fics, click the POST in the upper left menu. This opens to a bunch of text boxes for title, author, rating, summary, fandoms, relationships, characters, additional tags, chapter (if applicable), and the fic itself (copy and paste). I imagine interaction with your fic will be put through your Gmail account and you’ll somehow have the ability to edit and add chapters that way.
The account wait time is an obstacle in getting larger user bases (as is dark mode). I recall AO3 was quick when I’d made an account. I hope these teams are able to figure something out soon! (They are single person or small team. If it bothers you and you know how to handle this stuff, you can offer to help.)
If a list as inclusive as I can manage to make of relationships and tags would help, let me know!
(I’ve done this all on mobile so there could be differences on desktop.) Post subject to be edited.
Any other sites, or another question I should add to this for comparison? Comment or dm me (you need to state your purpose if you dm me)!