Top 15 Dark Web Websites You Need To Visit

The dark web is the Internet’s Wild West. It sounds (and can be) dangerous, but you’re curious about what you might find there. 

Since it isn’t exactly searchable, here are the top 15 dark web websites you need to visit there.

Let’s dive in.

Top 15 Dark Web Websites to Visit

Although the dark web used to be frequented by cybercriminals and law enforcement who were looking to catch them, the Tor browser paved the way for regular people to take a sneak peek at what the dark web has to offer. 

And while it’s true that there are many shady sites there, the dark web holds content that you’re unlikely to find on the surface web— and it’s worth visiting. 

Before you do that, you’ll need to find yourself a good dark web search engine, a reliable VPN, and a good antivirus program.

The last obstacle is finding a safe .onion site. 

If you’re unsure where to start, here are the best darknet websites you can visit:

Sci-Hub

Sci-Hub is a library-type website with millions of scientific papers and books. 

The site gives access to research that you could find in scientific journals that charge readers for access.

The site, which bypasses publishers’ paywalls in different ways, was founded by Alexandra Elbakyan in 2011 in direct response to the high fees that academics would have to pay on the surface web.

Sci-Hub hosts more than 88 million files you can view and download for free.

The content on the site is technically pirated and violates copyright restrictions, so it’s best to check the laws in your area before visiting it.

Impreza Hosting

Impreza Hosting is a dark web hosting provider, based in Seychelle.

If you need an onion domain, Impreza can provide you with affordable hidden space for as little as $8 per month. You can use its offshore servers to run darknet websites, host email services, and register domains in complete privacy.

This web hosting service also offers other useful and convenient tools, such as bitcoin payments, business email solutions, and a VPN to encrypt your traffic and hide your IP address.

On top of that, Impreza Hosting doesn’t require users to provide details about their businesses, doesn’t monitor your activity, and its servers automatically encrypt hard disks to ensure complete security and anonymity. 

The Hidden Wiki

The Hidden Wiki is a vast directory that lets users explore the dark web by providing links to active .onion sites and their URLs. 

This means you can find any type of content or website on it. 

Some websites are legit, but since The Hidden Wiki doesn’t discriminate, you may find questionable sites and services on there too, which is why it’s best to browse with caution.

Also, there are a lot of The Hidden Wiki sites on the dark web. 

Some were created for accessibility reasons, mostly due to instability on the main site, while others were launched to filter illicit content.

Archive.today

Archive.today (previously Archive.is) is one of the best dark web archiving sites.

The web archiving website takes care of one of the largest problems on the dark web: losing useful resources due to going down or changing domains, which is a common occurrence on the dark web.

This is where Archive.today comes into play.

The site lets you see an older version of any website or check out a site that no longer exists. It essentially stores snapshots of websites and Tweets, uploaded by users, for anyone to see and allows anyone on the dark web to download archived content as ZIP files.

Since they’re snapshots and not active websites, there is no risk of pop-ups or malware.

Hidden Answers

Hidden Answers is the dark web version of clearnet sites Reddit, Quora, or Yahoo Answers. 

Its advantage over the surface web versions is that, on the dark web, users are unlikely to get censored for asking the “wrong” question.

On the site, users ask questions on a wide variety of topics from personal problems and work-related issues to questions about science and hacking. 

It might look a bit abandoned compared to Quora or Reddit, but there are active users on the site that will make an effort to give an answer to your question or start a conversation about it.

What makes Hidden Answers a good site for anyone on the dark web is that it’s a great place to learn how the dark web works and you’re more likely to find links to safe onion sites there, compared to other places.

Imperial Library

Imperial Library is a public depository where you can find links to books of all genres in English and other languages. 

Unlike Sci-Hub, which focuses on providing links for academic types, this dark web page has a collection that’s more suitable for the general public.

The ever-expanding depository stores over 500,000 books and lets you search for titles by popularity, genre, and authors. 

From there, you can download books quickly and for free in PDF formats. Keep in mind some of the content might violate copyright laws.  

Tunnels

Tunnels is unlike other dark web pages – it is an onion site that allows dark web users to explore the tunnel systems of American universities.

The site is packed with maps, photos, guides, diary entries, and more. 

Tunnels goes into detail about the infrastructure of these buildings, but, since the site owners created it to share information– rather than encouraging illegal activities – there is no information on how to enter the buildings.

That said, infrastructure like this is illegal to access, which is why it’s hosted on the dark web. 

ProPublica

ProPublica is a news outlet that has had a dark web version of its site since 2016. 

The non-profit, Pulitzer Prize-winning news site focuses on investigative journalism and more specifically, on issues of public trust and abuse of power. 

The site joined the dark web because it offers an extra layer of privacy and anonymity for anyone – both readers and journalists– that wants to read its content and allows whistleblowers to contact ProPublica and send materials without fear of reprisal and free of government surveillance.

On top of that, ProPublica has one of the most polished sites on the dark web. 

It’s also not the only news site to have a presence on the dark web: You can also find The New York Times and other news sites there that are there for whistleblower purposes.

The CIA

The U.S. The Navy created the Tor project to help informants relay information safely over the Internet. 

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) expanded its presence to the dark web for similar reasons and let people from around the globe browse its resources anonymously.

The CIA’s .onion site provides the same services and information that you can find on the agency’s clearnet site, including declassified maps, documents, intelligence studies, and references. 

The dark web version of the site exists for those who want to keep their browsing on the site to themselves and for anyone that’s looking to provide the CIA with sensitive information without raising any alarms.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that was built on the idea of privacy and neutrality. It collects as little user data as possible and unlike Google, provides search results that are neutral.

DuckDuckGo has both a clearnet and a darknet version. You can use it to find onion sites and dark web links that aren’t indexed by regular search engines. 

As such, it is usually the top choice for anyone that is looking to explore websites on the dark web. 

Its interface is user-friendly and Google-like, and its biggest advantage is that it filters out potentially malicious sites on the dark web.

Riseup

Riseup is one of the best dark websites that provide email and chat services.

The volunteer-run service was created to allow activists to communicate securely and anonymously with each other. 

To that end, Riseup doesn’t keep a record of your activity, won’t cooperate with any government, and also makes an active effort to protect those who use its services from malicious attacks.

In addition to email services, Riseup also offers mailing lists and organizational tools.

The only downside is that you’ll need an invitation code to create an account with the site. Without one, all you can do is browse its security section, where you can find tips on how to improve your online security.

Google Feud

Google Feud is a browser-based trivia game, based on the widely popular show “Family Feud,” which pulls answers from Google. 

The game follows the same format as the show: Players pick a category, get an unfinished question, and then have to guess how that Google search would end, based on Google autocomplete suggestions.

Google Feud now has an onion equivalent, where the questions and autocomplete suggestions are not as family-friendly as the ones in the clearnet version.

Mail2Tor

The biggest threat to email communication is phishing attacks. In 2021, 74% of businesses in the US were on the receiving end of a phishing attack.

Although there are plenty of tools on the clearnet that you can use to reduce the number of malicious emails you receive, email services are not exactly anonymous.

If you’re looking for complete anonymity and privacy in your email communications, you might have to resort to the dark web, where one of the best options is Mail2Tor.

Mail2Tor exists on a hidden server that’s separate from the Tor network and its email servers that act as relays and are untraceable.

The provider does not keep any logs or anything else on these servers – which means shutting them down would have no effect on its users – and deletes and encrypts the contents of the relays to prevent snoopers from getting any kind of useful information out of it.

SecureDrop

SecureDrop, as its name suggests, is a file-sharing site on the deep web. It is primarily used by whistleblowers looking to share information with journalists who are willing to look into their stories.

Specifically, this .onion site lets whistleblowers send sensitive files and materials to media outlets through a unique URL. SecureDrop does not log the sender’s IP address and it automatically encrypts any type of data in the file.

As such, the site can be used both by whistleblowers in the US and anyone living in a country where they’re not allowed to share stories that are critical of the government or similar power.

Many news sites and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) use this file-sharing platform for whistleblower purposes. Some notable examples include The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Forbes. 

ZeroBin

ZeroBin is one of the best sites on the dark web.

The communication platform ZeroBin allows users to share media and other information and files with other dark web users on the Tor network, with complete safety and privacy. 

The site encrypts the links you’re sending as soon as you paste them into the browser, with the encryption taking place before the information makes it to the server. 

ZeroBin deletes your pastes after a while and lets senders add password protection to ensure that only the person it was meant for can access the contents of your message. You can also opt to have the paste removed immediately after it’s sent and set a time when you want the link to expire.

Bottom Line

The dark web, which accounts for 48% of the Internet, is a vast online space that’s a lot different than the clearnet most of us are used to, but it’s not exclusively used by cybercriminals and law enforcement. There are plenty of useful onion sites that are worth visiting if you’re willing to abandon the surface web for a little while.