Best onion sites by category

Though the dark web is infamous for hosting all manner of illicit content—dark web marketplaces for buying illegal drugs, gore sites, and worse—there are plenty of legitimate sites and services available if you know where to look.

Here are some of the best .onion sites on the dark web, grouped by category:

Dark web search engines

Ahmia

http://juhanurmihxlp77nkq76byazcldy2hlmovfu2epvl5ankdibsot4csyd.onion/

Ahmia's onion site on the dark web

Search engines on the dark web are a bit of a contradiction because dark web sites by definition are not indexed by traditional search engines.

Ahmia, however, is not a traditional search engine. Founded by security researcher Juha Nurmi, Ahmia is essentially a list of “hidden” sites that do want to be found. Onion sites are “crawled” and added to the list provided their “robots.txt” file permits it, and if it is not on their blacklist of sites with abuse material. Site operators can also submit their own .onion sites for indexing.

 

Haystak

http://haystak5njsmn2hqkewecpaxetahtwhsbsa64jom2k22z5afxhnpxfid.onion/

Haystak's onion site on the dark web

Similar to Ahmia, Haystak also uses a custom dark web crawler and filters out dangerous content.

Haystak also offers a premium version that allows advanced search, access to historical content, and email alerts.

 

Torch

http://xmh57jrknzkhv6y3ls3ubitzfqnkrwxhopf5aygthi7d6rplyvk3noyd.onion/

Torch's onion site on the dark web

Torch is one of the oldest and most popular search engines on the dark web, serving over 80,000 requests per day. Torch is funded primarily through advertising—purchased in BTC, of course—which is why you’ll find the front page blanketed with old-school banner ads of dubious origins.

 

DuckDuckGo

https://duckduckgogg42xjoc72x3sjasowoarfbgcmvfimaftt6twagswzczad.onion/

DuckDuckGo's onion site on the dark web

The internet’s favorite alternative to Google made a name for itself by not logging your search activity yet still providing decent results. This focus on privacy makes it the Tor Browser’s default search engine.

Unlike Ahmia and Haystak, however, DuckDuckGo doesn’t search .onion sites. Use it to search the normal internet from the privacy of your Tor Browser.

 

The Hidden Wiki

http://zqktlwiuavvvqqt4ybvgvi7tyo4hjl5xgfuvpdf6otjiycgwqbym2qad.onion/wiki/

The Hidden Wiki's onion site on the dark web

One of the most popular ways to get around the dark web is not to use a search engine at all. Just like in the old days of the internet, the dark web maintains numerous indexes of sites, like The Hidden Wiki.

This community-edited .onion Wikipedia contains a bunch of links to a wide variety of services and sources running on the dark web. Many of those links are defunct, and even more of them link to scams or potentially illegal activities. Click at your own risk!

 

News, media, and other organizations

ProPublica

http://p53lf57qovyuvwsc6xnrppyply3vtqm7l6pcobkmyqsiofyeznfu5uqd.onion/

ProPublica's onion site on the dark web

The first online publication that won a Pulitzer is now also the first major publication with a .onion address.

ProPublica does a lot of things differently. Its source of funding is the deep wallet of the Sandler Foundation and various other similar organizations.

Browsing ProPublica’s work through its .onion site works well, and the site’s very existence is a big win for privacy and free speech.

 

Archive Today

http://archiveiya74codqgiix?o33q62qlrqtkgmcitqx5?u2oeqnmn5bpcbiyd.onion/

Archive Today's onion site on the dark web

Archive.today (formerly known as Archive.is) is a platform that aims to preserve the web’s cultural and scientific heritage.

Founded in 2012, it stores snapshots of websites, making it possible to “go back in time” and see what websites used to look like and what information they contained.

Archive.today is considered an important tool to track changes across government and corporate websites, preserve cultural heritage, and keep knowledge outside of autocrats’ reach. You can archive any site you want, or retrieve historical records wherever available.

 

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes3xbfgragh.onion/

The New York Times's onion site on the dark web

To make their journalism more accessible to readers around the world, the New York Times launched their onion service in 2017. You won’t find any “hidden” stories here—it’s the same content as the normal web edition—but users in countries with government censorship will appreciate having a secure way to access it.

 

BBC

https://www.bbcnewsd73hkzno2ini43t4gblxvycyac5aw4gnv7t2rccijh7745uqd.onion/

BBC's onion site on the dark web

Following the NYT, the BBC launched a dark web “mirror” of their international edition in 2019. Note that some features of the normal website are not available on the .onion version, including BBC iPlayer.

 

 

 

Facebook

https://www.facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjqhye3mhbshg7kx5tfyd.onion/

Facebook's onion site on the dark web

Why would one of the largest organizations known for its invasive stance on privacy and controversial clear-name policy have a .onion address?

While Facebook might collect everything you say and do on its platform, it isn’t happy with sharing this information with others. Facebook is also keenly aware of attempts by many governments to restrict access to a tool that allows strangers across the web to talk and collaborate freely.

Facebook’s .onion address doesn’t make it much easier to maintain an anonymous account, but it does make Facebook more accessible in places where it’s censored.

 

CIA

http://ciadotgov4sjwlzihbbgxnqg3xiyrg7so2r2o3lt5wz5ypk4sxyjstad.onion

CIA's onion site on the dark web

The CIA might seem an odd inclusion in a list for privacy enthusiasts, but Tor actually has an unlikely history with the U.S. government: it was first developed by the U.S. Navy to help informants posted in foreign countries to relay information back safely. In that spirit, the CIA launched an Onion site to help people around the world access its resources securely.

 

Bitcoin wallets

Wasabi Wallet

http://wasabiukrxmkdgve5kynjztuovbg43uxcbcxn6y2okcrsg7gb6jdmbad.onion

Wasabi Wallet's onion site on the dark web

Wasabi Wallet is a Bitcoin wallet that not only hides all your data in the Tor Network but also allows you to ‘join’ your transactions with others to increase your anonymity. This makes it incredibly difficult to find out who you are paying.

The process costs a fee, but unlike with other ‘tumbler’ or ‘mixing’ services, there is no risk that Wasabi or any of its users could scam you out of your coins.

Email services

ProtonMail

https://protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7ozyd.onion/

ProtonMail's onion site on the dark web

Based in Switzerland, ProtonMail is an encrypted email service that is very popular with cryptocurrency enthusiasts. It’s not free, but it’s extremely secure.

 

Riseup

http://vww6ybal4bd7szmgncyruucpgfkqahzddi37ktceo3ah7ngmcopnpyyd.onion

Riseup's onion site on the dark web

Riseup is a volunteer-run email provider for activists around the world.

Founded around 1999 by activists in Seattle, it has since grown to over six million users worldwide. It publishes a newsletter in multiple languages and not only runs Onion services for its website but all its email and chat services.

 

Other privacy tools and services

Keybase

http://keybase5wmilwokqirssclfnsqrjdsi7jdir5wy7y7iu3tanwmtp6oid.onion/

Keybase's onion site on the dark web

Keybase is an exciting identity service that aims to make it easy for you to link the presence of your online identities together in a cryptographic way. You can upload your PGP key, or have the site create one for you, and use it to cryptographically link your Twitter profile, Github account, or Bitcoin address together.

Keybase also offers extremely user-friendly secure chat and file-sharing services through its app.

 

ZeroBin

http://zerobinftagjpeeebbvyzjcqyjpmjvynj5qlexwyxe7l3vqejxnqv5qd.onion/

ZeroBin's onion site on the dark web

Pastebins are text sharing services, useful for sending and sharing large snippets of code or text. ZeroBin offers an extra secure version of this service by only encrypting and decrypting text in the browser, meaning their servers have no knowledge of what is passing through it.

 

SecureDrop

http://sdolvtfhatvsysc6l34d65ymdwxcujausv7k5jk4cy5ttzhjoi6fzvyd.onion/

SecureDrop's onion site on the dark web

A favorite of journalists and their anonymous sources, SecureDrop makes it easy to share confidential information without revealing your identity. Many news publications, like the ones listed above, have a SecureDrop on their .onion sites.

 

MEGATor

http://crqkllx7afomrokwx6f2sjcnl2do2i3i77hjjb4eqetlgq3cths3o6ad.onion/

MegaTor's onion site on the dark web

MegaTor is a super-simple anonymous file sharing service that’s not available on the normal internet. Best of all, it’s free and decently fast.

 

PrivacyTools

http://privacy2zbidut4m4jyj3ksdqidzkw3uoip2vhvhbvwxbqux5xy5obyd.onion/

PrivacyTools's onion site on the dark web

The tools we’ve listed above are just the tip of the iceberg. If you’re interested in privacy and the dark web, take a deep dive into PrivacyTools, an extensive directory of anti-surveillance tools, services, and educational materials.