A new website called FringeRat has launched to help people discover comedy acts among the hundreds at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Visitors to the site are shown a short video of a randomly selected act. They can either click “Get tickets” to go to the Fringe website and see details of the act’s show, or click “Scamper on” to see another act.

Filters can be used to limit acts to certain comedy genres, or to past winners or nominees of industry awards. Acts can also be added to the user’s list of favourites, which can be exported to a spreadsheet.

The website’s developer Alexander Minto said: “FringeRat is inspired by my old method for finding new comedy acts at the Fringe: I would make a big list of people I hadn’t heard of, and watch five minutes of each on YouTube.

I found it brought them to life more than just seeing their picture and a description of their show, and I discovered a few of my favourite comedians that way. Hopefully the site can help other people do the same thing, but with less effort.”

Available now at fringerat.com, the site has already been loaded with over 700 acts from the 2025 festival. It works on desktop and mobile, and can be installed as an app on iOS and Android by adding the website to your home screen.

 

FringeRat is not an official festival website. It is not affiliated with the Fringe Society or any Fringe performer or venue.

 

The site does not feature all comedy acts with a show at the Fringe because suitable videos cannot be found for some of them; nor does it feature most mixed-bill shows.