It offers a Reddit-like interface, where you can learn everything you need to know about darknet websites and spotting the real from the scammers. The service remains free to use, and the secure design prevents access to third parties, eavesdroppers, and other malicious agents. 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.
How To Access Onion Sites

This information can be used to target ads and monitor your internet usage. The nice thing about Ahmia is that it lists .onion sites that want to be found. Privacy advocates frown upon it because of the way it harvests data and profiles users.
BBC World News
It offers multiple security protocols, including OpenVPN UDP/TCP, L2TP/IPSec, and PPTP. This means that there will be no data to track your activities. This will help you to remain anonymous and secure at all Tor entry and exit nodes.
The story of dark web marketplaces kicks off with Silk Road, launched in 2011. The first category includes classic marketplaces, which serve as one-stop shops for a wide range of illegal goods. Despite growing crackdowns from law enforcement agencies, the dark web remains a hotbed of criminal activity, offering everything from drugs to stolen data. Many free VPN providers lack basic security features and track your online activity, so they don’t offer much privacy. Android users need to download the Tor Browser app, while iPhone fans should get the Onion Browser app. Yes, you can access the dark web on mobile — you just need the right app.
This feature is especially useful for preserving evidence of web content that may be legally or historically significant. This is particularly crucial in the context of social media posts, news articles, and other web content that may be subject to censorship, retraction, or editing. Launched in the early 2010s, Archive Today's primary mission is to combat the transient nature of the internet, where web content can change, disappear, or be altered without notice. Riseup’s suite of services includes encrypted email, mailing lists, VPN (Virtual Private Network) services, and collaborative tools, all designed with a focus on security and ease of use for its user base.
Search Engines

To stay safe and private when visiting any listed sites, ensure you have a VPN and anti-malware installed and enabled. However, note that Dark.fail monitors site uptime status and cannot tell whether the site is safe. The site offers access to PGP-verified URLs and runs free of JavaScript or tracking.
Is The Dark Web Illegal?
Its primary focus is on delivering reliable results, allowing users to explore the dark web with fewer risks. Since activists, journalists, and advocates need the dark web to communicate securely, find evidence, and bypass censorship, it remains a tool for privacy and free expression. One can also find drugs, crime services, stolen cards, and other illicit activities being offered by hackers. However, since the dark web is also used for criminal activities, it is not advisable to visit and surf this part of the internet. Stick to verified directories, question everything, and always put your privacy first.
What's The Difference Between The Deep Web, Dark Web, And Tor?
The second category consists of data stores, which specialize in stolen information. As of 2020, nearly 57% of the dark web was estimated to contain illegal content, including violence and extremist platforms. Telegram channels supplement traditional onion sites, blurring lines between the dark web sites and more mainstream communication tools.
The Tor Times

Few countries operate with strict censorship on citizens’ internet access, preventing them from getting information in or out. This duality allows users to choose whether to access the platform openly or anonymously. You can sort pages on this search engine by age, date, local address, and AI overview for quick assistance.
Avoid Sharing Personal Information
This article aims to inform you about how to access restricted news and stay safe while doing so. The dark web hosts websites that disseminate truthful and accurate information worldwide. The dark web is a small section of the deep web that is hidden on purpose, requiring specific software to access. Use .onion URLs from reputable directories only.
- Every time you log in, you’re risking scams, having your own data stolen, or facing serious criminal charges.
- Operating through Tor, DuckDuckGo provides a non-censored search engine experience without logging personal data.
- Many free VPN providers lack basic security features and track your online activity, so they don’t offer much privacy.
- Back when reliable dark web search engines were limited, the Hidden Wiki served as a trusted compass for exploring the hidden layers of the internet.
- It is built on the idea of “the Hidden Wiki,” which is a vast repository of many of the popular dark websites on the Tor network.
Anyone and everybody can access it without any setup. The Surface web is the narrowest space of the internet. On the other hand, tor is not always appropriate. You can use the Tor browser to surf the regular HTTPS sites on the web.

It indexes a large number of .onion links and offers a premium version that includes tools to filter searches, track search history anonymously, and browse with stronger protections. While this filtering is intended to improve user safety, it can also prevent access to content that is relevant for research or dark web activity monitoring purposes. Although they all serve a similar purpose, these search engines differ significantly in terms of usability, safety features, and how they index content. Their crawlers run through the Tor network, allowing them to load .onion websites anonymously. However, these search engines serve as an entry to the internet's underbelly. Instead of browsing indexed links, dark web engines scour encrypted, often anonymous websites (“.onion” sites) that do not exist on the clear or surface web.
One option is to try DuckDuckGo’s .onion version, which is great for privacy. The best thing is to actually understand how to find the fresh, new links. Though it’s still helpful, a static list isn’t enough (we try to keep our own, the one above, up-to-date, though). Hence, you never know when a popular .onion site is going to vanish, or even die. The US Navy’s main reason for creating Tor was to help informants relay information safely over the internet. This .onion link makes it impossible for hackers to impersonate your profile.
Our continuously updated content provides in-depth insights into marketplaces, ransomware actors, and hacking forums, helping you stay informed and proactively address challenges to safeguard your organisation or community. The dark web is estimated to be significantly larger than the surface web, but much of it remains hidden or inaccessible. Yes, they may use them for investigations, monitoring marketplaces, or tracking illegal activity. Search engines only index publicly known .onion links. No, many dark web sites are hidden or require invites.