How to Install Real Debrid: Kodi and Firestick Set Up Guide for the Best Streaming Experience in 2024

by
Frederik Lipfert
Dr. Frederik Lipfert Founder, vpncheck
Updated on 22 Mar 2022

Install Real Debrid: Kodi and Firestick Set Up Guide

In this Real-Debrid setup guide, you’ll learn how to sign up online for this unrestricted downloading service, so you always get the best streaming experience once you install Kodi on Firestick.

Sure, Kodi is no doubt a great tool to stream all the movies and TV shows you want, but it’s a little lackluster on its own. Some streams are low quality, and some just fail to load altogether. To improve your experience with Kodi addons and popular streaming apps, you need to sign up with and install Real-Debrid on Kodi.

Setting up Real-Debrid isn’t too difficult, especially if you have plenty of experience using Kodi in the past. And if you don’t? Well, that’s what this easy setup guide is for!

If you’re ready, let’s get started.

Real Debrid Kodi Installation (TL;DR version)

  1. Sign up on the official Real-Debrid website
  2. Download Kodi onto your Amazon Fire TV Stick
  3. Set up your favorite addons on Kodi
  4. Link Real-Debrid to your account via the My Devices tab on real-debrid.com
  5. Link Real-Debrid to the Kodi addons
  6. Stream in HD and surf everything that Real-Debrid has to offer!

In case you haven’t downloaded Kodi on your Amazon Fire TV Stick yet, VPNcheck.org has put together an updated and easy-to-follow setup guide. 

Install Kodi on Firestick

Real Debrid: The Breakdown

Before we install and use Real Debrid, here’s a breakdown of how it all works.

Real-Debrid Price and Plans

Screenshot of Real-Debrid price and plans

Using Real-Debrid requires you to upgrade to a Premium plan. Thankfully, despite the Premium name, all the plans are extremely affordable and won’t break the bank. They work on a subscription model and you can pay with credit/debit cards, Amazon Pay, via a prepaid ticket from PaysafeCard or Neosurf, and cryptocurrencies through Coinbase.

Real-Debrid has four pricing plans that all offer pretty much the same thing. The only difference is the length of the subscription and the number of fidelity points (kind of like a loyalty system that allows you to pick up extra days with Real-Debrid without paying any extra). All plans allow up to 4 devices to be connected to Real-Debrid for the entirety of the subscription.

Real Debrid No. 1

RD No. 1 is the basic plan and costs €3 (around $3.50) for 15 days. The overall cost of the basic RD No. 1 plan is 20c (23¢) per day. It also offers 150 fidelity points for you to cash in at a later date.

Very affordable for all the great streams you can receive to your Amazon Firestick.

Real Debrid No. 2

The next plan, RD No. 2, lasts for 30 days and comes with 200 fidelity points.

Slightly more expensive, the €4 (around $4.65) RD No. 2 plan is more affordable overall than the RD No. 1 plan. Because it lasts 30 days, you pay only 13c (16¢) per day without losing any of the best streams that RD No. 1 has on offer.

Real Debrid No. 3

RD No. 3 is the most popular plan and offers the best overall deal for new people wanting to try out Real-Debrid.

Lasting 90 days and coming with 450 fidelity points, RD No. 3 will give you plenty of tools to get the most out of Real-Debrid. Available for €9 (around $10.45), you pay just 10c (11¢) a day. Over the course of a year, you will only pay €36 ($41.80) to get access to everything you need from Real-Debrid.

Unless you haven’t guessed it yet, the next plan is more of the same but with a longer subscription time. This is our first multi-month plan.

Real Debrid No. 4

The most premium of all the premium plans, RD No. 4 is still an affordable €16 (around $18.56) for 180 days, working out as roughly half-yearly. This works out as €32 (around $37.12) for the entire year or just 8c (around 10¢) a day. Bargain!

If we were to choose the best Real-Debrid price deal, Real-Debrid No. 4 is the best plan in terms of overall value: it lasts for 180 days and grants you a total of 800 fidelity points. Considering you get free streaming time when you reach 1,000 fidelity points, that’s a pretty good deal from our perspective.

Real Debrid Account Features

Screenshot of Real-Debrid features list

Real Debrid is pretty feature light because it’s not designed to do anything more than let you stream and play in excellent quality.

Because of that, don’t expect a huge array of features that will allow you to fine-tune exactly what you’re streaming. Instead, it will give you a range of premium HD streams that you can integrate with Kodi and your favorite Kodi builds to get the very best streams that a Real Debrid account has to offer.

What Real Debrid does offer includes:

  • Affordable pricing across the board
  • High speeds without sacrificing quality
  • HD streams for even the newest movies and TV shows
  • Plenty of hosts that provide plenty of streams

How to Set Up Real Debrid on Kodi 19.4 Matrix and Kodi 18 Leia

Kodi is constantly being innovated and changed by its dedicated team of developers. That some people will be using different versions of Kodi when they are getting set up, there really isn’t too much confusion.

This guide contains illustrations to set up Real Debrid on Kodi Matrix (and the latest Kodi 19 versions). If you are still using a version of Kodi 18 Leia, there are sections in this guide that will tell you the differences that you can expect. They are very small, so you should be able to complete the setup even if you didn’t have the notes.

And on that note, let’s set up Real Debrid on Kodi.

Note: this guide is written with the presumption that you already have Kodi installed on your system. If you don’t have it yet, check out our guide on how to install Kodi on Firestick.

Open Settings in Kodi

First things first – open up settings in Kodi. You’ll find it in the top-left-hand corner.Kodi Settings button is indicated by a large cog button at the top of the left navigation menu on Home Page

Find System or System Settings

In settings, you will need to find System (on some older versions of Kodi, this is called System settings). Click on this and then we can start to set up Real-Debrid on the device.Kodi System option in settings

Activate Advanced Settings

The System menu that usually appears is the basic menu, so it doesn’t contain the settings we need to set up Real-Debrid. We’ll need to activate the Advanced settings.

At the bottom of the System menu, you will see a button with Standard next to it (this was called Basic on older versions of Kodi). Click on this button until you see that it has changed to Advanced. This will give you all the settings that Kodi has.Kodi System settings menu with Standard button highlighted

Go to Add-ons

When the button is set to Advance, navigate to the Add-ons menu on the sidebar.Kodi settings menu with the Add-ons button highlighted

Click on add-ons and you can start the next stage.

Open Manage Dependencies

Because we need to set Kodi to allow Real-Debrid to be the source of the media that you stream, we need to tell Kodi to depend on Real-Debrid whenever it searches for movies and TV shows.

On the add-ons menu, open Manage Dependencies.System settings Add-ons menu with Manage dependencies highlighted

Click on this button to find the Resolver which will help you link Real-Debrid to your Kodi installation.

As an aside, make sure that Kodi is set to allow Unknown sources. If that toggle isn’t set to allow, you won’t be able to access everything that Real-Debrid has to offer.

Find the Resolver

Depending on the kind of addon that you’re playing with, you may find a dependency called URLResolver or ResolveURL – these are key to installing Real-Debrid on your system.

Open the Kodi addon (in our case, The Oath) and navigate to Tools.The Oath Manage Dependencies menu

Within Tools, you will need to find ResolveURL. It will look like this:ResolveURL highlighted in The Oath’s tools menu

Configure ResolveURL

When you have navigated to the resolver, click on it and then go into configure.

When you open the configure menu, you will see a number of resolver menus. We only want Universal Resolvers.Universal Resolvers button highlighted

You want to select Universal Resolvers (i.e. the resolvers that are used universally on your system where applicable, allowing the add-on to be installed and used on any device) to make Kodi search for Real-Debrid videos.

At this point, you should also authorize your account to make sure that you don’t waste money for no reason.

Keep Your Secret Code

Well, just one. When you have opened your Resolver of choice, you will find the (Re)Authorized My Account setting at the bottom of the ResolveURL menu.ResolveURL Real-Debrid one-time code menu

When you click on this button, it will provide you with a one-time code – make a note of this, because you’ll need it on the Real-Debrid website.

Go Back to the Real Debrid Website

Open https://realdebrid.com/devices and you will see a screen that looks like this:

RealDebrid website with link account menuEnter the code that you received from the (Re)Authorize My Account section in ResolveURL. When you have entered it, click Continue and Real-Debrid is now approved to call on the HD library whenever it can!

Note: before you get your code, sign up with realdebrid.com – you only have about 6 minutes to enter the code, so signing up before you need to enter it will stop this from being a race against time.

Real Debrid Authorized

If you’ve done everything correctly there, you should see this notification on Kodi saying that Real-Debrid has been authorized.

That means that Real-Debrid is now set up on your system and you are good to go.

Finding Movies and TV Shows

Now that Real-Debrid is set up on your device,you can navigate back to your add-on. In our example, we’ve used The Oath. We decided that we wanted to watch Goldfinger and here are the results:Search result for Goldfinger via The Oath on Kodi

Look at all those 4K versions!

Whenever you see the AD or RD tag on a movie, that has come from the Real-Debrid database and it will be:

  • Ultra-smooth
  • High Definition
  • Available from a variety of sources

When you know what you want to watch, find the AD or RD tag and you can enjoy movies and TV shows whenever you want.

Real Debrid: VPN for Safe & Secure Browsing

As with most situations when you’re using Kodi, it’s wise to use a VPN with Real-Debrid. Why’s that? Even though Real-Debrid isn’t illegal, you can accidentally access restricted content that is under copyright. Depending on which country you’re living in, this could quickly become a problem.

To protect yourself, use a reliable VPN service that will hide your IP address from your ISP. Our choice for the best VPN for Kodi is ExpressVPN thanks to its range of excellent features, watertight security, and easy-to-use interface.

How To Use ExpressVPN with Real-Debrid?

Sign Up for ExpressVPN

On a non-Firestick device, sign up for ExpressVPN. Go to expressvpn.com and follow the instructions on the website.ExpressVPN.com with the Get ExpressVPN button highlighted> Go to ExpressVPN.com and sign up.

Search for ExpressVPN on Firestick

Back on the Firestick, search for and install ExpressVPN.Amazon Firestick ExpressVPN Get Option highlighted

Install ExpressVPN on Firestick

Make sure that ExpressVPN is installed on your system and then sign in using your credentials from expressvpn.com. Amazon Firestick Express VPN highlighted on home screen

Activate Your ExpressVPN Access on Firestick

Now you can connect to an ExpressVPN server and enjoy all your streaming needs without anyone watching you.ExpressVPN home screen with Connect button highlighted

Real-Debrid Streaming Quality: Before and After

Once you have Kodi configured with Real-Debrid, you shouldn’t have to do much more searching. If your sign-up and configuration through Kodi have gone correctly, you should be able to simply plugin and play whatever movies and TV shows you want through the Real-Debrid interface.

When you open your favorite add-ons, you will notice that there is a distinct upgrade in the quality of all content that you can find through Kodi. Just looking at our own journey through Kodi and Real-Debrid – we found that most films were at best 720p before we had played with the configuration settings on Kodi, but Real-Debrid boosted all that content to 1080p.

Don’t believe it? Here’s a before and after for your doubtful eyes. Let’s search for Dune in The Oath’s movies section.Screenshot of Dune movie poster

Before Real Debrid

Link to Dune on Kodi

Before we set up Real-Debrid on Kodi, this was the only version of Dune that I could find. Only in 720p, it’s not the best quality.

After Real Debrid

Links to Dune on KodiNot only are the links now in 4K HD, but I have loads of choices for watching Dune. Not bad at all. Note the AD sign showing that these links have come from the AllDebrid website.

Carry out your own searches to find all of the best content you can get with Real-Debrid over zoom.

What Do I Do if Real Debrid is Not Auto-Enabled?

Depending on your Kodi build, you could face some difficulty in getting Real-Debrid to work. Some are automatically configured to play Real-Debrid streams with all of the addons integrated into the build, but others need a little manual configuration.

If you find that the Real-Debrid streams don’t work, follow these steps to link your HD streams with Kodi.

Open Video Add-ons

In video add-ons, you will see a menu like this:Video add-ons button highlighted

From this menu, select your chosen add-on. For this example, we used The Oath (one of the best Kodi addons).

Open Tools

From The Oath menu, select tools from the list.The Oath Manage Dependencies menu

Open Settings

In tools, look for Settings.The Oath settings menu

When you find that, navigate to Providers.Providers menu in the Oath settings menu

This is a list of services that The Oath uses to find and stream content straight to Kodi. You can either enable all providers or search for Real-Debrid and enable it through your system. Then you are good to go.

If you don’t do this step, Kodi can’t search for and find the best streams that Real-Debrid has to offer. Do it or you’re wasting your money.

Enable Real Debrid

When you’ve found Settings > Providers, enable Real-Debrid on the menu and you will get HD streams from the Real-Debrid database any time you use The Oath.

Easy.

How To Use Real Debrid with Firestick Apps?

Although you can’t integrate Real-Debrid with apps that are native to the Amazon App Store (and why would they let you? Amazon has no interest in you getting free media whenever you want), you can link them together with a range of third-party apps like Cinema HD.

Cinema HD is one of the most popular apps to link with Real-Debrid because it gives you an even wider selection of content to choose from and lets people who aren’t keen on Kodi still get all that great content.

Open Cinema HD TV

You need to install Cinema HD on your Amazon Firestick to follow this guide. Don’t worry if you haven’t yet as we’ve written the detailed steps to download the app to make things easy for you. 

How to Install Cinema HD on Firestick

Once you’re ready, open up the app and then navigate to the sidebar menu.

Go to Settings

In the sidebar, open the settings menu.Settings menu on Cinema HD

Then scroll down to the Real-Debrid setting.

Login to Real Debrid

Login to Real-Debrid on the Cinema HD settings menuWhen you click on this section, you will be given a code on a screen that looks like this:

Real-Debrid log in code screen on Cinema HDTake that code to the https://real-debrid.com/device website and link your Cinema account to RD.

Link Cinema HD TV To Real Debrid

When you have linked your account, the Cinema HD menu will look like this:Real-Debrid authorized button

Now you can add the Real-Debrid streams to everything that comes through Cinema HD, allowing you to stream content in better quality.

Should I Use Real Debrid on My Firestick?

It’s good to be cautious about online services that seem too good to be true. With a massive array of movies and TV show streams that are readily available whenever you want them, I understand why someone might be doubtful about Real-Debrid.

But Real-Debrid is one of the best service providers for improving the Kodi experience that is available on the market right now. As well as a range of the best movies and TV shows available in HD, all streams are available for a price that is a little more than a few cents a day.

If you like using Kodi, you should use Real-Debrid to get the very best of what your system has to offer.

FAQs

What is Real Debrid?

Real-Debrid is an unrestricted downloader that can be linked to a variety of hosts for the best quality movie and TV show streams that you can link to your Kodi account.

Because Real-Debrid can be easily integrated with a variety of Kodi builds (with many of them automatically using the service’s high-quality streams), it is a fantastic tool for getting the very best out of Kodi and turning the humble media player into a powerful tool for HD streaming.

Why is my Real Debrid not working and how do I fix it?

Because Real-Debrid is pretty lightweight, the number of problems that you will run into with the service is pretty low. If you have Real-Debrid linked to your Amazon Firestick and it’s still not working, you probably don’t have the Real-Debrid service activated for Kodi or for the Kodi build you are using.

It’s an easy fix, though. All you need to do is follow these steps:

  • Open Kodi and go to Add-ons
  • In Add-ons, find Video add-ons
  • Find your build and open Tools
  • Open Settings: Providers
  • Find Real-Debrid and turn the setting to ON

Now you should be able to access the HD streams that Real-Debrid has to offer.

Do I need a VPN to use Real Debrid?

Although you can use Real-Debrid without a VPN, it is always best to obscure who you are when streaming from a service that might have access to copyrighted and restricted content. To cover yourself against any potential illegal activity, use a VPN to hide what you are doing.

Use ExpressVPN, the best VPN based on expert reviews, to ensure that your identity is hidden while you surf and stream with Real-Debrid. Sign up online and get a great starting bonus in your first 2-year plan.