Key points in a minute
- A version 3 onion address is 56 characters long. Short old-style addresses have not worked since 2021.
- Check the address against the service’s official page: fake copies of popular onion sites are common.
- If Tor won’t connect, use a WebTunnel or obfs4 bridge, or turn on a VPN before launching Tor Browser.
- Tor hides your IP address, not your identity: don’t sign in to personal accounts, and don’t open downloaded files while online.
What onion sites are
An onion site is a service you can reach only inside the Tor network. Its address ends in .onion and isn’t bought from a domain registrar: it’s derived from the service’s cryptographic key. That’s why the address won’t open in a regular browser, and it can’t be spoofed through DNS.
A connection to an onion service passes through several Tor relays and stays encrypted all the way to the service. Neither your internet provider nor the relays in between can see both who is connecting and which site they’re connecting to. The service itself never learns the visitor’s IP address.
“Dark web” sounds sinister, but many onion sites belong to ordinary organizations. Search engines, newsrooms, email providers and free software projects run onion mirrors so people can reach them without blocking or network-level surveillance. Those are the addresses collected below. We checked all of them against the services’ official pages on October 29, 2026.
How to open an onion site from Russia
You’ll need Tor Browser from the Tor Project. Download it only from the official website or official mirrors. If the project’s site is unavailable, the GetTor service will send you links to the installer: message the Telegram bot @GetTor_Bot or email gettor@torproject.org with the word windows, osx, linux or android.
Since December 2021, many Russian internet providers have blocked direct connections to Tor, so you’ll usually need a bridge — a non-public entry relay. On first launch, Tor Browser tries to connect through a bridge on its own using Connection Assist. If that doesn’t work, click “Configure Connection…” and choose the built-in Snowflake bridge or request a new one.
According to the Tor Project, obfs4 bridges are the most widely used in Russia, but some mobile carriers have learned to block them. In that case, WebTunnel bridges help: you can get them from @GetBridgesBot with the /webtunnel command or at bridges.torproject.org.
Another option is to connect to a VPN first and then launch Tor Browser. This setup is called “Tor over VPN.” Your provider sees only an encrypted connection to the VPN server and doesn’t know you’re using Tor, while the Tor network sees traffic coming from the VPN server’s address. Tor Browser needs no extra configuration.
A VPN doesn’t make Tor more anonymous by itself. It hides your Tor connection from the network you’re on and helps out when bridges are unreliable. Choose a VPN you trust: in this setup it can see that you’re connecting to Tor, but not which sites you open.
- If a direct connection doesn’t work, turn on a VPN or have a bridge address ready.
- Launch Tor Browser and wait until it connects to the Tor network.
- Raise the security level in the browser settings. The “Safest” level disables JavaScript: some sites will stop working, but the risk of an attack through a web page is minimal.
- Copy an address from the list below in full and paste it into the address bar.
Search engines
Onion versions of familiar search engines let you search without leaving the Tor network. Ahmia and Torch, by contrast, search the onion sites themselves. Ahmia filters out known pages with child sexual abuse material; Torch returns unfiltered results.
DuckDuckGo
Searches the regular web without building a personal profile. Your query never leaves the Tor network through an exit relay.
Brave Search
A search engine with its own index. Handy when DuckDuckGo doesn’t turn up much.
Ahmia
Searches onion sites and filters out prohibited content. Helps you find the onion mirror of a well-known project.
Torch
One of the oldest Tor search engines, with a large index. Results aren’t filtered, so open the links you find with care. Torch has no official website on the regular web: its address is listed in major onion directories.
Tor Project: bridges, support and statistics
The Tor Project’s own onion mirrors come in handy when the project’s regular website is blocked.
Tor Project website
Tor Browser downloads, project news and documentation.
Tor bridges
obfs4 and WebTunnel bridge addresses for another device, or for when your current bridge gets blocked.
Tor Project support
Answers to questions about setting up Tor Browser, using bridges and getting around blocks.
Tor Metrics
Network statistics by country. It also hosts ExoneraTor, which checks whether an IP address was a Tor relay on a given day.
Tor Project onion directory
The full list of the project’s official onion services. Check against it whenever you come across a Tor Project address somewhere else.
Email and file sharing
These services also work on the regular internet. An onion mirror makes them harder to block and hides your IP address from the service.
Proton Mail
Email with end-to-end encryption for messages between Proton users.
Riseup
A nonprofit provider of email and mailing lists for public-interest projects. Sign-up is by invitation.
OnionShare
An app for sharing files and running a temporary onion site right from your own computer.
Operating systems for working through Tor
For sensitive tasks, a browser alone isn’t always enough. These projects route traffic through Tor at the level of the whole system.
Whonix
A system made of two virtual machines: all traffic from the work environment is forced through Tor.
Qubes OS
An operating system that isolates tasks in separate virtual machines. Compatible with Whonix.
Debian
A directory of Debian’s onion mirrors: you can get packages and updates over Tor.
International media
Major newsrooms run onion mirrors for readers who can’t reach the regular version of their site.
BBC News
The BBC’s English-language news site.
The New York Times
An American daily newspaper. Some articles are available to subscribers only.
The Guardian
A British newspaper whose articles are free to read.
ProPublica
A nonprofit investigative newsroom. In 2016, it became one of the first major news outlets to launch an onion version.
Archives and contacting journalists
These services help you preserve material or get it to a newsroom safely.
Archive.today
Saves copies of web pages. Useful for reading material that has since been changed or deleted.
SecureDrop
A directory of newsrooms that accept documents through SecureDrop, a system for sending material to journalists anonymously.
How to check that an address is real
Popular onion sites have plenty of fake copies. Scammers generate an address that matches the original’s first and last characters and count on nobody checking the middle. A copy like that steals passwords or swaps in different cryptocurrency wallet details.
- Take the address from the service’s official page on the regular web or from a trusted directory, not from a forum or a comment.
- If a site has an onion version, Tor Browser shows a “.onion available” button in the address bar. That’s a reliable way to get to the real address.
- Check the whole address. A version 3 address has 56 characters before .onion.
- Save verified addresses as Tor Browser bookmarks and open them from there.
- Leave any page that asks you to install software, enter a seed phrase or pay for “access.”
Rules for staying safe
Tor hides your IP address, but it can’t protect you from actions that give you away.
- Don’t sign in to accounts you use on the regular web if the session must not be linked to you.
- Don’t open downloaded documents and PDFs while you’re online: they can reach out to the network and bypass Tor.
- Don’t install extra extensions in Tor Browser: they make your browser recognizable.
- Update Tor Browser as soon as a new version comes out.
- If you stumble on clearly illegal content, close the page and don’t download anything from it.
What’s not on this list
We deliberately left out marketplaces, private forums and link collections like the Hidden Wiki. Addresses in directories like these change often and lead to phishing copies or to pages with illegal material.
You also won’t find short addresses from old link lists here. Tor dropped support for version 2 onion services in October 2021, and those links no longer open.
Tor and VPNs don’t put you above the law. Searching for, storing and distributing prohibited material carries liability no matter how you connect. The rules change, so for an assessment of your specific situation, it’s best to consult a lawyer.
FAQ
FAQ
Can I open an onion site in a regular browser?
No. Onion addresses work only inside the Tor network, so you need Tor Browser or another app with Tor built in. Gateway services that open onion sites in a regular browser see all of your traffic, so you shouldn’t use them.
Why won’t Tor Browser connect in Russia?
Many providers block direct connections to the Tor network. Use a bridge: start with Connection Assist or the built-in Snowflake, then try WebTunnel or obfs4 from @GetBridgesBot. Another option is to turn on a VPN before launching Tor Browser.
Do I need a VPN if I have Tor?
Not necessarily. A VPN is useful if you don’t want your provider to see that you’re connecting to Tor, or if bridges are unreliable. Turn on the VPN before launching Tor Browser.
Why is an onion address so long?
A version 3 address is the service’s encoded public key, and it’s 56 characters long. That means no other service can take over the same address, but it also makes the address hard to remember. Save verified addresses as bookmarks.
Byte VPN
