It is a tool for those looking for onion sites and also to find onion sites. This is because onion sites rarely link to each other, there is very little means of creating a PageRank on the Dark Web, and onion sites don't stay active for long. However, not Evil is not a repository for illegal services and illegal material.

Malicious Software
- The anonymity provided by onion routing comes at the cost of slowing your internet considerably.
- That’s why we recommend connecting to VPN before accessing Tor—VPN encryption protects your data, and changing your IP adds an extra layer of privacy to protect you.
- Purchases through links on our pages may yield affiliate revenue for us.
- It aims to preserve the internet’s scientific and cultural heritage.
- To make its journalism more accessible to readers around the world, the New York Times launched its onion service in 2017.
Sci-Hub provides free access to scientific papers, with millions of documents. The darknet version of DuckDuckGo is not a search engine for the dark web, but a private browsing tool for the dark web. The dark web may be the Wild West of the internet — a place without rules, gatekeepers, or censorship — but there are still reasons to visit. Do not utilize this information for illegal, unauthorized, and unlawful activities.
Is It Illegal To Visit Onion Sites?
- Browsing onion sites safely requires using the Tor Browser, which anonymizes your internet traffic.
- It is a good website for finding out which websites are currently working.
- The dark web contains content that’s only accessible through networks like Tor.
- If you have to enter your data, never do this without checking if an SSL certificate protects your information.
- The Hidden Wiki is a gateway to these deep web resources, offering links to .onion sites that cannot be found via Google or other surface web search engines.
For instance, you may want to tease your brain with one of these intellectual websites serving every category. Opening the onion links is very easy from the Tor browser, which you need to download and install in advance. Nevertheless, the dark web is home to certain disturbing and illegal content you’ll never find on the surface web. As long as you are not looking for anything illegal in the real world, it’s perfectly legitimate to use the dark web to find whatever you need. For the record, there are more scam sites for every genuine one, and it’s good to have a discussion forum about this.

Switzerland-based Proton (formerly ProtonMail) is one of the most secure email services, and has a reputation for not logging IP addresses. Hence, it’s quite useful to be able to connect to its onion link. Speak your mind here without fear, as onion links are immune to censorship. The main advantage is that you can also access other dark web directories without running into malware. You’ll find links to many of the sites we’ve covered in this list.
Best Dark Web Websites
Right now, you can use many cryptocurrency .onion sites to buy or sell all types of cryptocurrencies. This is the best place to get short and reliable links to an unalterable record of any webpage across government and corporate websites. Formerly known as Archive.is, it is one of the best onion sites on the dark web. However, data is required for understanding, monitoring, and improving the network. The goal of an anonymous and privacy network, Tor, is not to engage in the extensive collection of data. It collects data from the public Tor network and archives historical data of the Tor ecosystem.
News, Media, And Other Information Organizations

Want to know how to access onion sites? A lot of illegal activity occurs on the dark web, and onion websites are popular hangouts for cybercriminals and scammers. Dark web websites are not indexed by standard search engines and can only be accessed using specialized tools, such as the Tor web browser. Due to the privacy-forward ethos of the Tor project, Tor Metrics stresses that the data it collects must not undermine the anonymity or security of the network. Deep web websites have to be hosted somewhere, and Impreza Hosting is one of those anonymous dark web hosting services. The Hidden Wiki is the dark web’s unofficial Wikipedia, where you can find “.onion” links for many dark web pages, services, and other content.
SearX is a metasearch engine that you can use on the clear web and dark web. Visiting the links from specific questions may be a bit safer. However, that part of the internet is unfiltered, so you might encounter unpleasant conversations.
Your Go-To Tools For Online Safety
The surface web consists of all websites indexed by traditional search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. This specialized web browser is designed to route your internet traffic through the Tor network, which anonymizes your connection by bouncing data through multiple volunteer-operated servers around the world. OnionShare is a popular open-source tool that allows users to share files securely and anonymously via Tor, widely used by activists and journalists for confidential document distribution. The ProtonMail Onion site offers the same encrypted email services trusted globally, now accessible anonymously through Tor. Dark web marketplaces remain the backbone of many users’ dark web experience, providing anonymous platforms for buying and selling goods and services that range from digital products to physical items.
How To Access Onion Sites?

While this is not much compared to standard email services, it is enough for PGP-encrypted messages. The downside is that it limits data to only 25mbps per user. SecMail is one of the most popular email services on the dark web. Even without the code, you can visit the security section to get tips on improving your daily life privacy. In addition, it ensures that no record of communication is stored. However, note that the site only uses non-sensitive and public data for the metrics.


You can use these browsers to access the Onion sites. Darkweb sites are designed in a way that they cannot be accessed through normal web browsers like Chrome or Firefox. Scammers know this and often insert logos of social media sites on their websites. The easiest way to do this is to simply check out the same product at competing websites (that you trust). As the influence of the internet rises, so does the prevalence of online scams.
For those needing an additional layer of security, you can set it to disappear right after viewing. The editor will then create a link for you to forward to the sender. With 256-bit AES encryption, this platform enforces its two-fold service of secure messaging and zero logs of your activity. To increase the security level, add password protection and determine the expiration time for messages. Keybase is a dark web messaging application that functions much like Signal and WhatsApp, except it is secure and private. Many news organizations and publishers now trust and rely on the value of anonymous whistleblowers on forums like SecureDrop.
As always, use Tor Links with care, as it includes onion links to dubious or illegal activity. It's divided into commercial links (from crypto services to gambling sites) and non-commercial links (like social media). This community-edited .onion Wikipedia contains a bunch of Tor links to a wide variety of services and sources running on the dark web. Similar to Ahmia, Haystak is also an onion search engine that uses a custom dark web crawler and filters out dangerous content. Needless to say, it takes your data much longer to travel this way, which means dark web links load slowly compared to indexed sites. Onion sites (aka Tor sites) are websites only accessible on the dark web; you can’t view them using a regular browser.
A Quick Guide On How To Use A VPN With Tor
Copy the .onion link carefully to avoid mistakes, as typos can lead to error pages or potentially malicious sites designed to impersonate the Hidden Wiki. Once you have the Tor Browser installed and optionally connected to a VPN, you can access the Hidden Wiki by entering its .onion URL directly into the browser’s address bar. A VPN encrypts your internet traffic before it enters the Tor network, hiding your Tor usage from your internet service provider and shielding your IP address from the first Tor relay. While the Tor Browser provides strong anonymity, using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) alongside it adds an extra layer of security and privacy. This connection can take a few moments, depending on your internet speed and network conditions. EscrowBay offers escrow services tailored to dark web transactions, holding funds securely until both buyer and seller confirm satisfaction, reducing fraud.
It adds an extra layer of encryption and anonymity creating an untraceable connection and environment. VPN services help make tracing virtually. When we talk about deep web/dark web, our anonymity and privacy become a major concern which you can’t put at risk in any way.
However, remember you must use the Tor browser to access them. You can choose the best darknet (.onion) website that suits you and start surfing. If you choose to visit the dark web, you must take the necessary measures to protect your privacy and security. Some of these sites are very helpful (but unseen as Google doesn’t show them), while others are just for fun. Although the underground internet world is rife with everything bad, it also hosts positive elements. The dark web is a part of the internet that you only step into with a specific tool (Tor, more on this later in the article).