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If you’ve ever snooped around on the internet, you may have encountered the term “onion sites” or “Tor.” Onion sites are unindexed websites on the dark web that can be accessed using the Tor Browser.
That said, using Tor can be a little intimidating, if not technically challenging. If you’d still like to visit onion sites and see what the other side of the internet has to offer, there are alternative ways you can try.
What Are Onion Sites?
Onion sites get their names from their “.onion” suffix. Unlike traditional websites that you visit every day in your regular browser, where you enter the site’s name followed by a .com or any other domain, an onion site is a rather long, unintelligible string of characters and numbers followed by “.onion.”
For example, instead of typing “makeuseof.com,” you’d enter something like “asdjkh1239hasd9ad2ead.onion.” These websites are part of the invisible internet known as the dark web or, more precisely, the Tor darknet. You typically can’t access them from everyday browsers like Chrome, Edge, or Safari.
This is where Tor comes in. Tor stands for “The Onion Router,” and the Tor Browser is essentially a modified version of Mozilla Firefox with integrated scripts and other add-ons to protect your privacy. The browser is preconfigured to connect to the Tor Network and mostly works independently.
However, it can be a little intimidating if you’re a newcomer. For example, many things can go wrong if you try to change any settings inside the browser, including exposing your private browsing information on the dark web. But if you still want to crack on, we’ve previously looked athow to install and use the Tor browserand find onion sites you can visit without getting into trouble.
There is a lot of misinformation surrounding the entire Tor Project and the dark web in general, which drives many people away from the browser. It can also be technically challenging to use, which may push those curious about the dark web to find alternatives—which, unfortunately, often aren’t safe options.
How to Access Onion Sites Without Tor Browser
If Tor seems too complicated to you, there are ways you can access onion sites and the dark web, in general, using your everyday browser. All of these methods work more or less the same: by routing your internet traffic through the Tor network via proxies. While this lets you access onion sites in your browser, it also removes most of the protection and anonymity you get with Tor Browser.
Doing so is not recommended, and depending on the method you’re using, you can leak your private browsing information to the site you’re trying to visit. You can also run into scams or phishing pages that might fingerprint your device and information, so be very careful going forward.
Using Tor Proxies
One of the easiest and most popular ways of accessing onion sites on regular browsers is via a Tor proxy. Many websites are available on the clear web that let you access any onion link by simply routing it through a Tor proxy and rending the output in your browser.
Tor2Webis a rather popular proxy that works with the Tor network. Using the proxy is also rather easy. All you have to do is replace “.onion” at the end of the onion URL with “.onion.to”, “.onion.city”, “.onion.cab”, or “.onion.direct” and you should be good to go.
Onion.petis another similar service that works slightly better than Tor2Web. Using it is also the same. Just replace the “.onion” suffix with “.onion.pet,” and you should be able to access onion sites in your browser.
As the Tor2Web website rightfully points out, this method trades security for convenience. Only the site publisher is protected when accessing onion sites using a proxy, meaning all your browsing information is visible to the server.
Browser Extensions
There are dozens of browser extensions for Chromium-based browsers that let you access onion sites in your browser. Depending on the extension you’re using, it might run a script to connect your computer to a Tor proxy or route your traffic through a proxy, as in the method above. Regardless, you should be able to access onion sites once the installation and setup are complete.
It’s hard to recommend browser extensions that you can use, as many of them are scams or malware that might skim your computer for data. Regardless, if you’re looking for something easy to use, try theTor Browser extension on the Chrome Web Store. Note that despite the name, the extension isn’t affiliated with the official Tor project, so proceed with caution.
You also can try using theOnion Browser Button extensionwhich is available on Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and other Chromium browsers. Do keep in mind that it requires a Tor connection, so we recommend going through theofficial Github repositorybefore you start using it.Browse with Onionis another alternative that routes your traffic through Tor proxies to open onion sites.
Using Brave Browser
Brave integrated the Tor browser in 2018 and runs several Tor relays to contribute to the network. Using Brave to access onion websites is one of the easiest and safest alternatives to using Tor.
Alternatively, you can also use theAlt + Shift + Nkeyboard shortcut.
This will open a window that will automatically connect to the Tor Network and let you access any onion sites you want. Even if you’re in a normal Brave window, the browser automatically detects when you enter or paste an onion URL in the browser and shows a Tor button to open the proper window.
Using Firefox
This is a lesser-known feature, but Firefox can also connect to the Tor Network, similar to the full-fledged Tor browser, except it isn’t as secure. The connection is blocked by default, but you can enable it to access onion sites in Firefox.
And that’s all you need to do. Firefox should be able to access the Tor Network and open any onion sites you want. Once again, this isn’t as secure as the Tor Browser, and your browsing information, including your IP address, might be exposed to any servers you connect to.
Using Proton VPN
Proton VPN also offers a one-click Tor connection option that lets you route all your PC’s internet traffic via the Tor Network. This is more or less the same process the Tor Browser uses to connect to its network, which is one of the safest alternatives to the Tor Browser when it comes to accessing onion sites.
All you need to do is connect to one of Proton’s Tor-enabled VPN servers, and you’re good to go. This method works across devices, meaning you can do this on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and every other device that Proton VPN supports.
The only catch is that you need a paid subscription to the service to use the feature. Other popular VPNs, such as Surfshark or NordVPN, have similar offerings, but Proton VPN does the best job in terms of convenience and security. Be careful when picking a VPN to connect to Tor, however.Using a VPN on the dark webis very different from simply connecting to it.
Onion Sites Can Be Accessed Using Everyday Browsers
If Tor’s complexity puts you off, you’re able to access onion sites and the general dark web using regular browsers. That said, it comes at the cost of a massive security and privacy breach. With the dark web as dangerous as it already is, it’s best not to take the easy way out.
Whatever your way of accessing onion sites, verify to read before you click a link, keep an eye on your browser’s address bar, and stay away from anything that even remotely resembles a phishing attempt or similar.
