Archive of Our Own (AO3), a fan-owned and operated fan fiction publishing site, announced on Oct. 29 that it would be offline for maintenance for at least 12 hours. One day quickly escalated to up to four weeks due to a security incident, with AO3 still shut down. Fan fiction readers are devastated, and writers are trying to find ways to keep sharing their work.
Fortunately, many other fan fiction websites exist. While they aren’t as popular, that may change as people look for alternatives to post their work during AO3’s shutdown.
- SquidgeWorld Archive
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SquidgeWorld Archive is a non-profit archive for fandom works. It was created by Squidge.org, a fan-owned organization. Since SquidgeWorld is based on the same open-source code that AO3 uses, it shares the same tagging and searching system.
SquidgeWorld has routine maintenance every Sunday from 7-9 a.m., so it’s a good idea not to plan on browsing the website that morning. Unlike AO3, whose Terms of Service prioritize maximum inclusivity of fan works, AI-generated content is not welcome on SquidgeWorld.
- Fanfiction.lol
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Fanfiction.lol is a fan work archive run by Brennan Kenneth Brown, an independent author and web developer. It uses the same code as AO3, but it includes more content warnings and inclusive relationship tags.
Given that the site is based in Canada, it abides by Canadian obscenity laws. It also doesn’t allow AI-generated content.
- FanFiction.net
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Launched in 1998, FanFiction.net is one of the oldest fan-fiction archives. You can filter works by fandom, genre, rating, characters, and pairings. It’s great for finding works from older fandoms.
Some fans will be upset to find that there are many restrictions on the types of content people can post. Fan fiction that contains explicit content, uses placeholders for readers to imagine themselves as the character (Y/N fan fiction), or features a real-life person isn’t allowed. It also has ads, which can be annoying.
- Wattpad
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Wattpad is a website for reading and posting fanfiction in addition to original fiction. In August 2026, it updated its content guidelines to clarify that sexually explicit language had to “support the story,” causing many Wattpad users to migrate to AO3.
Shortly after AO3’s shutdown, the website released a “guide” for how to use Wattpad meant for AO3 users. Many protested that they already knew how to use Wattpad but outgrew it or left after the “smut ban.”
- Archives of the Archive
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There are still lots of ways to get fanfiction from AO3 itself while it’s shut down. Thankfully, the internet always finds workarounds.
If you have a specific fan fiction in mind, it might have been saved on the Wayback Machine. If you already have the exact link to a fan fiction piece, you can also use fichub.net to download the work. Be warned, these sites have been getting heavy traffic since AO3 announced its shutdown.
If you don’t have the link, not all hope is lost. Many fans have shared downloaded fan fiction through Google Drive files and forum threads since AO3’s outage. Some have even organized larger collaborative Google Drives that others can add to.
Honorable Fan Fiction Mentions
Sunset & Ad Astra
A few other archives that also use AO3’s code exist. Sunset is a fan work archive dedicated to hosting femslash works, or relationships between female characters. Ad Astra is another fan work archive specifically for Star Trek.
We should take the shutdown of AO3 as a sign that we could use some variety in where we go to search for fan fiction. It would be awesome to see more people create their own AO3-inspired archives and for us to have more places to search for fan works. Variety is the spice of life, and we all know how much fan fiction readers love their spice.
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