According to Search Engine Land, in 2013, Google said that they knew about 30 trillion pages. In 2016 Google knew about a staggering 130 trillion individual pages (and this number is growing constantly). This was also Google’s latest official update on how many pages are in their database. It’s the last part of an internet domain name, stated after the last dot. For example, Google.com and PixelPrivacy.com both belong to the “.com” top-level domain. We are reader supported and sometimes earn a commission if you buy through a link on our site.
Search Anonymously And Explore Dark Web

IDStrong helps you protect your personal and credit information online. Intelligence X is an independent European tech company founded in 2018. Based in the Czech Republic, its mission is to develop and maintain a massive search engine and data archive. The platform also works with breach analysis companies and different law enforcement agencies.
Connect To A VPN Before Opening Tor
They facilitate secure communication over the web and protect from third-party surveillance. Regular browsers can’t open Onion sites because they aren’t part of the standard domain name system. While often used interchangeably, Tor and Tor Browser aren’t the same thing. Tor is a network designed to route traffic through multiple servers. The Tor Browser is a specific web browser, based on Firefox, that utilizes the Tor protocol to enable private browsing.
Only Use HTTPS Sites
- It’s important to discern the difference between the technology of the Dark Web and the activities that occur within it.
- The average person doesn’t share their private life with just anyone; they let specific people know it when the information is needed.
- We’ve talked about the Tor protocol bouncing your traffic through multiple remote servers.
- He travels between the UAE, Turkey, Russia, and the CIS as a digital nomad.
- A Tor Browser from the Tor Project is available for Android, and The Onion Browser from developer and journalist Mike Tigas is available for iOS mobile devices, which the Tor Project links to.
This “onion” structure helps keep user identities secure while they browse the dark web. It is simply a network of websites that are not indexed by search engines and require specialized software to access. Just like the regular internet, the Dark Web is a tool that can be used for both legal and illegal purposes. So, what makes the Dark Web so different from the regular internet? While the surface web consists of websites that are visible and indexed by search engines, the Dark Web intentionally operates under a shroud of secrecy. Websites on the Dark Web use unconventional top-level domains like .onion, which cannot be accessed using regular browsers.
How Do I Protect Myself When Using A Dark Web App?

It hides the use of Tor from your ISP and protects you if your Tor connection is compromised in some way. Using a dark web-specific browser such as Tor or I2P itself is legal in virtually all countries. But using these tools for illegal purposes constitutes a criminal act either way.

Avoid Downloading Files From Untrusted Sources
These can include the previously mentioned illegal offerings, but can also include ultra-private information designed to be shared only with certain parties. In darknet mode, you can select friends on the network and only connect and share dark web content with them. This enables individuals to form groups and only share content in a highly anonymous network of darknet users who they know. The advantages of I2P are based on a much faster and more reliable network.
- The two versions shown indicate the version of Tor Browser these particular binaries were built for and the version of the contained tor daemon.
- Tor Browser prevents someone watching your connection from knowing what websites you visit.
- Accessing the Deep Web can get risky, so make sure to follow the best security practices to keep yourself protected online.
- Yes, while the dark web offers anonymous browsing, law enforcement agencies use various techniques and technologies to track and apprehend illegal activities and users.
- The platform also works with breach analysis companies and different law enforcement agencies.
The dark web hosts numerous sites explicitly designed to distribute malware. Viruses, spyware, ransomware, and other harmful software can compromise your device, steal sensitive data, or enable remote spying. Choosing the right browser and supporting tools depends on individual needs, technical proficiency, and specific privacy objectives. Below is a comparative analysis highlighting key criteria such as connection speed, level of anonymity, ease of use, and support quality for the top options available in 2025. With all of that in mind, you need to tread carefully when browsing, in terms of the sites you visit and the other users you interact with. Bear in mind too that laws about freedom of speech and censorship vary from country to country, which is part of the reason the dark web exists in the first place.
Dashlane Top Features

Then, it grew into a sort of trend to DIY your own, based on closely-guarded secrets (unpublicized 0day vulnerabilities, for example). But now, with the Average Joe being the normal browsing customer of these black market shopping carts, the curve is returning back to closed source. Turnkey web scanner and exploitation kits, botnet time-sharing, and malware generators are nothing new; the ability to sell your warez easily because no one has to run gcc is obvious. I’ve downloaded several TOR browsers and free VPN apps, and by far this combined all-in-one service by OrNET is the best I’ve found. The only issue is that you can’t select a specific server location for VPN (I prefer to use ones outside my home country) unless you use the paid service.
Brave Browser With Tor Integration
SRWare Iron, another Chromium-based browser ardently focused on privacy, eliminates Google tracking services and UI modifications. Epic Browser, staunchly committed to privacy, integrates built-in proxy support. It facilitates access to select dark web content through global proxy servers. While you can’t install the Tor browser from the official website, Chromebook users can configure it via a few simple Linux commands. You are spoilt for choice with an extensive server network of over 7,600 in more than 118 countries. As established, the Tor browser is amazing if you wish to surf the web anonymously and without any restrictions.
As I mentioned previously, using the Tor Browser will slow down your browsing. Since your traffic goes through a series of relays, getting encrypted or decrypted along the way, things slow way down. This means Tor is a lousy option for streaming video, online gaming, or downloading files (torrenting). When you install the Tor Browser, it comes preconfigured with the most secure privacy settings.

All sorts of evil and nefarious individuals with sinister intentions. Because of this, we do not recommend using the dark web without protection. Once the configuration is complete, click “Connect” to open the Tor browser.
Browse Privately
So, even though it does exist on the internet, Google doesn’t index any of these pages or content. Google considers the majority of the content on the entire web highly irrelevant and useless to its users. That’s why such a large percentage (as much as 94%) of the entire web is not returned in Google Search. It is important to only invest what you can afford to lose and to seek independent financial advice if you have any doubts.