Valued at approximately $15 million, Abacus Market is one of the most lucrative platforms in the dark web ecosystem. To expand their reach, some marketplaces established parallel channels on Telegram. This further complicates monitoring efforts because now you need to search for the related Telegram channels and track activity there and on the marketplace itself.

News And Journalism

We are reader supported and sometimes earn a commission if you buy through a link on our site. When I searched for WetheNorth market link, it didn’t show the link or any result relevant. Even I performed searches for a few more terms, it failed to deliver required results.
Verify All onion Links
In other words, someone other than you can take out personal loans, apply for credit cards, or open other financial accounts under your name. This information can be used to target ads and monitor your internet usage. Also, there’s a vast amount of unsavory content on the dark web, as well as a significantly high number of hackers and scammers looming on the platform. This type of government surveillance applies mostly to countries with environments that are hostile to free speech.
Top 10 Dark Web Search Engines Of 2025 For Safe & Private Access
- Haystak, designed for the Tor network, is a dark web search engine boasting an impressive index of over 1.5 billion pages, encompassing more than 260,000 websites.
- The best way to stay up-to-date with the latest happenings is to use an open-source and community-oriented news aggregator like SoylentNews.
- And it’s still essential to use strong passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA) to help keep your account secure.
- Use Norton VPN to encrypt the data you send and receive and surf more anonymously.
- This service is a good source of statistics if you have a school project requiring research on Tor and the dark web.
At Startpage.com, they take into account the privacy dangers of recording people’s search behavior, and given their team’s strong convictions about privacy, they decided to act accordingly. Where the basic version lets you comfortably surf through the dark web, the premium version gives you additional information like Datapoints, historical versions, etc. DuckDuckGo is said to have the content from a million web pages on the dark web which I guess is pretty sufficient for anyone searching on Dark Web.
Secure Your System And Mental Well-being
The invisible web is made up of data and information that is not indexed and cannot be searched for by using traditional search engines. It includes media and archives which cannot be crawled and indexed with current search engine technology. Haystak also has a paid version which offers a number of additional features such as searching using regular expressions, browsing now-defunct onion sites, and accessing their API. To make its journalism more accessible to readers around the world, the New York Times launched its onion service in 2017.

DuckDuckGo (Dark Web Version)
If the above average Joe’s explanation isn’t enough for you, below are some legitimate reasons to use the Dark Web in a bit more detail. Activists and government critics prefer to remain anonymous, fearing repercussions if their identities are revealed. Besides, victims of crime may want to hide their identities from their perpetrators. Nonetheless, if whatever you do is deemed illegal in your country, you can get into trouble. The use of the dark web raises suspicion as it shows there is something you want to do privately.

Tor Search
Some markets are relatively short-lived (thanks to law enforcement), but others are notorious enough that they survive, for instance, Silk Road, AlphaBay, and Hansa. It has a feature called CoinJoin that combines multiple coins from different users into a single transaction. This makes it extremely difficult to find out who you are transacting with. Also, you can set a strong password to protect your message and choose how long it will take to expire. The Tor Metrics is a good place to get more information about the Tor project. It collects data from the public Tor network and archives historical data of the Tor ecosystem.
The Best Onion Sites On The Dark Web In 2025
- In order to properly understand how the deep web works, you first have to understand a few fundamentals of how the regular internet operates, especially as it relates to search engines.
- Also, it doesn’t log your IP address or any information about your browser or device.
- You can’t access the dark web without the use of an anonymous browser known as Tor.
- Discover content, insight and trends from the depths of the darknets.
- It was created by the U.S Navy with the purpose of helping informants in foreign nations to communicate safely over the Internet.
It emphasizes user privacy by not tracking user activity or storing search history. Dark Search delivers unfiltered results and includes a feature for users to report illegal content directly. Tor (The Onion Router) is a free and open-source dark web browser that enables anonymous communication by routing Internet traffic through a volunteer network of over 6,000 relays. The Tor Browser opens access to “.onion” sites, unique addresses within the dark web. Its multi-layered encryption is a cornerstone of anonymous browsing on the dark web.
Illegal Markets

You can also get Proton Unlimited and Proton Duo plans that add even more extras. As I’ve previously said, it’s a good idea to keep your interactions with the dark web to a minimum, unless you can absolutely trust the people you’re dealing with. You’ll often see a sign in stores that says “look, don’t touch,” and it’s not a bad adage to bear in mind as you navigate around the dark web. For obvious reasons—I don’t want to get you or me into trouble, after all—I’m not going to get too specific when it comes to what you can find for sale on the dark web.
If you pair the regular DuckDuckGo engine with the Onion version, you can perform an entire web search. You could try to visit a major site like Facebook’s onion site to check if your browser is working at all. This would verify if it’s a browser issue or just an issue with the site. Using a VPN like Forest VPN not only enhances your security but also contributes positively to global causes. Forest VPN prides itself on not logging user data and offers an environmentally friendly approach by reducing CO2 emissions, thanks to its battery-saving technology.
Directory Of Open Access Journals
That’s why we always recommend using a VPN over Tor—even if you feel you have nothing to hide. This just involves turning on your VPN before you open Tor and connect to dark web sites. Facebook is aware of attempts by many governments to restrict access to a tool that allows strangers across the web to talk and collaborate freely. While its .onion address doesn’t make it much easier to maintain an anonymous account, it does make Facebook more accessible in places where it’s censored. Torch is one of the oldest and most popular onion 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.
Borderless news reporting and uncensored media are among the most important and practical uses for the dark web. Bypassing firewalls and other forms of geo-blocking helps people to access news websites and social media they normally wouldn’t be able to — and do so with less fear of recrimination. Many free VPN providers lack basic security features and track your online activity, so they don’t offer much privacy. Many dark web search engines are available, and no single option is objectively the best. While the best dark web sites listed above are a good starting point for a safe, legal surfing experience on Tor, there really is no substitute for a VPN.