It is a private search engine that lets you search the regular internet via Tor. This allows you not only to visit sites with the added privacy provided by the Tor network, but also search the web as privately as possible from inside the Tor browser. This is a public domain, where you can talk about anything from crony capitalism and animal liberation to pandemics. Raddle has forums for every subject you want to express yourself on. Speak your mind here without fear, as onion links are immune to censorship.
Is Tor Browser Free?
Many dark web links could get you mixed up in some kind of criminal activity of another, whether you’re looking for it or not. The deep web is rife with sales of illicit drugs, weapons, and goodness knows what else, and steering clear of these nefarious web pages is easier said than done. Tor Metrics highlights that about 22% of daily Tor users come from Russia, while the USA ranks second at 15%.
The Hidden Wiki & Co
It often hosts copyrighted materials without permission, violating many countries’ copyright laws. Downloading or distributing such material is against the law and can have legal consequences. This means that using the dark web may attract attention from your ISP or even law enforcement. To reinforce your privacy while on the dark web, consider adding on a VPN like Windscribe as an extra layer of protection.

What You Need To Securely Browse The Dark Web
The dark web draws not only serious cyber criminals but also law enforcement agents aiming to catch them. Many exit nodes are actually operated by law enforcement and scammers. All you need to do is click connect and you are officially connected to the Tor network and can now access dark web websites. They offer user generated reviews of forums and darknet markets, alongside breaking stories and news from the Tor-sphere. SimplyTranslate is an onion based language translation service using the google translate engine. It’s an easy and simple way to de-couple your internet usage from Google’s monopoly over the web.
The CSO Guide To Top Security Conferences
Also, even in countries where accessing the dark web is legal, it’s still against the law to use or host sites that promote criminal activities. Keybase is a secure platform that lets people chat, share files, and collaborate — kind of like a privacy-first version of cloud storage service Dropbox or communication platform Slack. Everything you send through Keybase is end-to-end encrypted, which means only you and the person you’re talking to can see what’s being shared. Whether you’re sending personal photos, important documents, or just having a conversation, it all stays private and protected from prying eyes. So, I put together a list of the best dark web sites in 2025 to help you get started. I also included instructions on how to access the dark web, and outlined how to stay safe when browsing dark web links (the dark web is also home to many scams and malicious sites).
Excavator Search Engine

Even though it can be used for illegal purposes, simply using the Escrow service won’t land you in jail as long as your goods are legal. Apart from that the search engine does a pretty slick job of bringing up results when asked for. The Beauty of Boys may be a creepy Tor link, not entirely morally correct either but it, without doubt, is one of the many Legal Tor links. It’s a site where photos of boys are shared, the photos contain nothing of pornographic nature, although they surely are sensual as most boys are without proper clothes.
Recommended Verification Tools:

Digital crime is yet another face of criminality in the real world. The famed criminal justice writer Peter Grabosky in 2001 called this so. The same crime as human beings with weapons are committed by programs written or created using computers. In addition, the crimes committed using a machine only vary to a certain degree in the medium. As it’s a safe haven for them, dark web sites are often relied on by terrorists.
- Even one of the best search engines, called Grams, returns results that are repetitive and often irrelevant to the query.
- Use Norton VPN to encrypt the data you send and receive and surf more anonymously.
- ExpressVPN is an excellent choice for Tor and accessing the Dark Web.
- After all, it enables users to connect and communicate with each other from around the world.
- It provides safety and anonymity for journalists, privacy-conscious users, or those in high-censorship countries.
- Because of its extra anonymity, the dark web is a haven for privacy-conscious users, like whistleblowers, activists, investigative journalists, and ordinary people living under repressive regimes.
Disgruntled Developer Gets Four-year Sentence For Revenge Attack On Employer’s Network
You’re also open to threats like end-to-end correlation attacks, so while Tor is a lot more secure and private, it’s by no means completely safe. From Flickr to Facebook posthaste – that would be an accurate description of Dark Lair, an image hosting platform turned social media. Dark Lair allows you to post comments, share music, upload photos, message your dark web ‘friends’, and everything in between.

A lot of transactions are handled via cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which is relatively (but not completely) private and anonymous. Another private cryptocurrency you’ll find being used is Monero, which prides itself on being untraceable. The dark web, for the uninitiated among you, is a virtual neighborhood beyond the borders of the normal, everyday internet (which includes the website you’re looking at right now).
- It’s similar to Reddit or Quora but designed for anonymous users.
- Our search engine at GOTDW is here to help you explore more safely, but we still urge extra caution as you dive in.
- Info like your name or email address never needs to be shared on the dark web.
- Though people usually think of dark websites as the wrong online place, that’s not the complete truth.
- However, note that Dark.fail monitors site uptime status and cannot tell whether the site is safe.
Is It Illegal To Visit Websites On The Dark Web?
Norton VPN fortifies your internet connection with ultra-secure AES-256 encryption, masks your IP, and never logs your activity. And, with an automatic kill switch that guards against unexpected exposure if the connection drops, you can enjoy powerful privacy protection as you navigate even the darker corners of the web. The CIA’s onion site allows users to securely report threats or suspicious activity, especially in regions where online surveillance is common. Its presence on the dark web also supports intelligence gathering and helps track cybercriminal activity. On the dark web, traffic is routed through multiple server nodes that don’t log activity, obscuring the user’s origin and enabling anonymous communication. Staying safe on the dark web requires even more vigilance than the public internet.

Regularly Reassess Your Practices
Engaging with certain types of content—such as copyrighted materials, illegal drugs, or illicit services—can lead to serious legal consequences. If you’re unsure about the legal boundaries in your country, consulting a knowledgeable attorney or reviewing reputable sources of legal information is a prudent first step. Compared to these alternatives, our site stands out by offering more frequent updates, rigorous link verification, and a strict no-tracking policy that protects your privacy. We continuously monitor and remove malicious or outdated links faster than most directories, reducing the risk of scams. Additionally, we provide detailed descriptions and safety advice for each link, empowering users to make informed decisions. Unlike many alternatives that allow user submissions without thorough vetting, we prioritize quality over quantity to maintain a safer browsing experience.
Advocacy groups are also reaping the advantages of the darknet because, here, the term of censorship is as popular as HTTPS. Always remember that the dark web is a people-centric community. So, it’s only natural to find ways to keep in touch with your darknet buddies and/or customers.