Letterboxd for TV Shows: What Are Your Options?
Letterboxd solved film tracking. It gave movie fans a beautiful diary, a social layer, and a way to build a permanent record of what they've watched. TV has never had an equivalent. There are several serious attempts — here's how they compare.
Why TV tracking is fundamentally harder than movies
A movie is one thing. You watch it once, mark it done, rate it, move on. TV shows are ongoing, multi-season, episode-level experiences. Tracking them requires understanding not just what you've watched but where you are in an ongoing series — which season, which episode, whether it's finished or still airing.
This creates requirements that Letterboxd was never designed to meet: episode-level progress tracking, season completion states, airing calendars for shows currently running, notification systems for new seasons, and a way to distinguish between shows you're actively watching and shows you've abandoned.
Every app that tries to be "Letterboxd for TV" has to solve these structural differences. How well they do so is the main differentiator.
Trakt
Best for: Power users who want exhaustive, granular watch history
Trakt is the oldest and most feature-complete TV tracker in this space. It's been around since 2010 and has accumulated a deep feature set and a committed user base. The tracking capability is genuinely excellent — episode-level granularity, season progress, show history, viewing statistics, an airing calendar.
The social layer is real: friends can see what you're watching, you can see what they're watching, and the community has built lists, ratings, and commentary around thousands of shows. For a certain type of viewer who wants a comprehensive public record of their TV watching, nothing comes close.
Strengths
- check_circleEpisode-level progress tracking across thousands of shows
- check_circleLarge active community with social features
- check_circleExcellent third-party app integrations (Plex, Kodi, Emby)
- check_circleDetailed statistics and viewing history
- check_circleCalendar view for upcoming episodes
- check_circleImport from other services
Weaknesses
- cancelNo subscription awareness — recommendations aren't filtered to your services
- cancelUI is dated and dense — not built for casual users
- cancelSetup takes real effort
- cancelMobile apps lag behind the web experience
- cancelNo leaving-soon or expiration alerts
Verdict
Trakt is the most capable TV tracker available and has been for years. If you want comprehensive tracking, solid third-party integrations (particularly with Plex and Kodi), and don't mind a learning curve, it's the strongest option. What it doesn't do is anything around the streaming subscription layer — it won't filter recommendations by what you subscribe to, won't alert you when content is leaving a service, and doesn't help you manage the cost of your subscriptions. It's a pure tracker, and within that scope, it's excellent.
Simkl
Best for: Trakt users who want a slightly simpler experience
Simkl launched as a direct Trakt competitor and has carved out a modest but loyal user base. It handles the core tracking loop — mark episodes watched, see what's coming up, view your history — without requiring the setup investment that Trakt does.
The anime community specifically has adopted Simkl strongly, and that shows in the anime tracking features, which are more developed than in most competing apps. For Western TV, the experience is more generic but functional.
Strengths
- check_circleTV, movie, and anime tracking in one app
- check_circleCleaner onboarding than Trakt
- check_circleGood import tools from Trakt, IMDb, and other services
- check_circleCalendar view for upcoming episodes
- check_circleSome streaming service auto-tracking support
Weaknesses
- cancelSmaller community than Trakt
- cancelDiscovery and recommendations are weak
- cancelNo leaving-soon or expiration alerts
- cancelNo subscription-aware filtering
- cancelThird-party integrations are fewer than Trakt
Verdict
Simkl is a solid, underrated option that occupies a useful middle ground between Trakt's power-user complexity and lighter tracking tools. The anime tracking is notably strong. For TV in general, it covers the basics well. Where it falls short is in discovery and recommendations — there's no subscription filtering and the suggested content feels generic. If tracking is your primary goal and Trakt feels like too much, Simkl is the alternative worth trying.
Letterboxd (TV)
Best for: Nothing in TV — use it for movies only
The short answer for anyone who uses Letterboxd and wonders if it handles TV: it doesn't. Not really. You can log that you watched a show, but episode-level tracking, season progress, and the airing calendar features that make TV tracking useful simply don't exist in a meaningful form.
Letterboxd's community, its cultural cachet, and its interface are all built around the unit of a film. TV shows are structurally different enough that grafting them onto the same framework doesn't work well.
Strengths
- check_circleBeautiful interface you already know if you track films
- check_circleConsistent with your existing Letterboxd activity
Weaknesses
- cancelTV tracking is severely limited — no episode progress
- cancelNo season or episode-level granularity
- cancelNo airing calendar or new season alerts
- cancelNo subscription awareness
- cancelThe community and social features are built entirely around film
Verdict
Letterboxd has added some basic TV functionality but it is not a TV tracker in any meaningful sense. The film diary, the social layer, the list-building — none of it translates well to episodic television. If you came to this article hoping Letterboxd has solved TV tracking, it hasn't. Use it for movies; use something else for TV.
WatchDeck
Best for: Multi-service subscribers who want tracking + subscription-aware discovery
WatchDeck is the newest entrant on this list and takes a different angle than Trakt or Simkl. Where those tools are primarily trackers that added discovery features, WatchDeck is primarily a streaming companion that happens to include strong tracking.
The subscription-aware recommendation engine is the key differentiator. Every other app on this list will recommend content regardless of whether you can actually watch it. WatchDeck shows you only what's available on services you've connected — which sounds like a small distinction but fundamentally changes the experience of using it.
Strengths
- check_circleShow tracker with episode-level progress
- check_circleRecommendations filtered to only your connected services
- check_circleGenre preferences and exclusions that actually change results
- check_circleLeaving Soon alerts integrated into the watchlist
- check_circleMonthly editorial (Worth Watching) for each service
- check_circleClean, modern interface — built for the couch, not the desktop
Weaknesses
- cancelNewer product — smaller community than Trakt
- cancelNo social diary or friends features yet
- cancelAuto-sync from streaming platforms not yet available
Verdict
WatchDeck approaches the problem differently than Trakt or Simkl. Rather than building the best pure tracker, it's built around the specific experience of managing multiple streaming subscriptions — tracking what you watch, discovering what's worth watching on the services you already pay for, and knowing when content you care about is about to leave. The tracking is solid; what separates it from alternatives is the recommendations layer, which filters strictly to your connected services. If you subscribe to four streaming services and want one app that handles all of it, WatchDeck is the most coherent answer.
Which one should you use?
You want the most powerful tracking tool available and don't mind setup
→ Trakt
You want solid tracking with a gentler learning curve
→ Simkl
You want the Letterboxd-style experience specifically
→ Letterboxd for movies; Trakt for TV — use both
You subscribe to multiple streaming services and want one app that manages all of it — tracking, recommendations, watchlist, and expiration alerts
→ WatchDeck
Related reading
Track every show. Watch everything worth watching.
WatchDeck is free with unlimited access during the beta period — $2.95/month after. Connect your services, set your genre preferences, and get recommendations that actually respect what you pay for.
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