Official onion sites only. Verified. No scams.#
thehidden.wiki is a small directory of official .onion addresses maintained by actual organisations such as the Tor Project, the BBC, DuckDuckGo, Proton, Debian and a few others. Each address listed on the site has been linked to a proof page which is published by the organisation in question. If such a proof page cannot be found, then the address will not appear on the list.
That’s precisely the point. It may sound modest, and it is. However, if you’ve ever looked for an onion directory, you’ll understand the need to state this. Generally speaking, the various pages which call themselves a ‘hidden wiki’ are simply long lists of unverified links, many of which are clones designed to steal logins, passwords or cryptocurrency. Individuals go to them in the hope of finding a starting point and end up on a phishing page that is identical to the genuine one.
We created the site with the aim of being the exact opposite of that. It has fewer links, each one carefully checked, and the evidence is displayed alongside it so that you don’t have to take our word for it.
This page sets out who we are, the rules we adhere to, the precise method we use to verify an address, how frequently we recheck the list, and the way in which you can let us know if anything seems wrong. If you only want the addresses, then go directly to the Official Onion Mirrors Directory. But if you’d like to understand why you should trust it (or why you should trust any similar list), keep reading.
The one rule we never break#
We include only the official onion mirrors of actual organisations, and each address must correspond to a proof page which the organisation publishes itself.
Everything else on this site follows from that sentence. In practice, it means three things.
Official means run by the organisation. For example, an onion version of the BBC’s site counts only if the BBC operates it. Even if a fan-created mirror, a “proxy” set up by an individual, or a copy of a news site hosted by somebody else were useful, they wouldn’t qualify. Websites that the organisation has not declared will not be listed.
Proof consists of the owner’s own statements. For each address we note the place where the organisation verifies it, such as a page on its clearnet website, its entry in the Tor Project’s onion index, a TLS certificate issued to its onion name, or an official announcement made from an account it controls. Another directory saying that an address is real doesn’t count as proof, and that includes us. We include links to the proof so that you can verify it yourself.
No exceptions for money or friendship. We do not sell listings, we do not accept payment for placement, and we don’t engage in link exchanges. It is not possible for anyone to buy a position in the directory, and it is also not possible to pay to have a competitor deleted. If an organisation wishes to get listed, the procedure is the same as for everybody else. It must run an official onion service and provide proof of this.
The rule ensures that the list remains short. At present there are 18 official mirrors actively showing on our homepage, and seven additional ones are on hold since their addresses fail our reachability tests. We prefer to give you 18 addresses that you can trust rather than 1,800 that you can’t.
Why the name, and why it needed a clean version#
We know what the name sounds like. “Hidden wiki” has for more than ten years been linked with onion link lists, and throughout most of that period the connection has been a negative one. The initial concept was harmless enough. It was a page edited by the community on which people could share onion addresses. The problem, though, was that anyone could make edits and no one ever checked the content, and as a result copies of the copies were distributed on hundreds of different sites.
What you get now if you look up the term consists of dozens of nearly identical “hidden wiki” pages, all of which claim to be the original and each of which gives the same combination of dead links, markets, and addresses that appear to be those of popular services but aren’t. Many of these lists exist primarily in order to direct traffic to phishing copies. To carry out the scam, the fraudster creates an onion address that begins with the same few characters as a genuine one, places a copy of the real site behind it, and then substitutes their own login form or payment information. On a list that provides no verification, the fake version ends up right beside the genuine one or takes its place.
In Why Most ‘Hidden Wiki’ Lists Are Full of Scams, we explain the mechanics involved and show how to spot a scam directory. Our guide to onion phishing and fake mirrors goes deeper into how the clones are built.
So what is the point of using that name? It’s because people search for it. When someone types ‘hidden wiki’ into a search engine, they are generally trying to find a means of accessing onion services and have no way of knowing which of the results are safe. We prefer that they come across a page which directs them to the BBC’s actual onion address, tells them how to check it, and cautions them about fake sites rather than another list of traps. The name meets people just where they are, but it is the verification policy that makes this site special.
That’s the reason why on each page here the verification process is stated first, rather than the links. If you come across a website using our name and offering a longer list which isn’t verified, then it isn’t our site.
What we list, and what we never list#
The directory covers the kinds of organisations that run official onion services for good reasons. They want to protect readers in countries where their sites are blocked, give users a connection that always remains within the Tor network, and make it harder for someone to impersonate their services.
What you’ll find here
- The Tor Project’s own sites. Its main site, the onion index and its support portal, as they appear on onion.torproject.org. See Tor Project’s Official Onion Sites.
- Search engines. DuckDuckGo and Brave Search both offer onion versions of their search facilities. See Search Engines With Official Onion Sites.
- News organisations. BBC News, Deutsche Welle and The Guardian offer onion editions so that readers can access them where the clearnet version of the site is blocked. See News Onion Sites: BBC, DW, The Guardian and SecureDrop.
- Secure email. Proton Mail and Riseup. See Secure Email Over Tor.
- Open-source software. Debian’s onion index, Qubes OS, Whonix and OnionShare can be used for downloading programmes without revealing what is being downloaded. See Open-Source Projects on Onion.
- Web services and institutions. Archive.today, Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver, Reddit and the CIA, which operates an onion site so that people can contact it anonymously.
In the complete directory, the items are grouped by type, each with its full address, a link to its proof and the date on which we last checked it.
What you’ll never find here
- Markets of any kind. This applies to marketplaces, vendor shops and escrow services, whether or not they have been verified.
- Unverified links. If an address cannot be matched with the organisation’s own proof page, it will not be displayed, however popular it is.
- Dark web search engines and link aggregators. Third-party onion search tools and link lists cannot guarantee the accuracy of the content they index. We detail the reasons for this in our guide to privacy search engines on onion.
- Paid listings, sponsored slots or link swaps. There are none, and there never will be.
- Shortened or partial addresses. We always display all 56 characters. Showing only the first few is exactly how phishing clones get away with it.
- Anything illegal. We will not link to any content or services that are intended to break the law, and we also do not have a ‘miscellaneous’ section where such things usually appear.
If the list appears to be short because of that, then it’s intentionally so. A concise list that you can rely on is more useful than a long one which you have to second-guess.
How we verify every address#
An address is only included in the directory after it has passed all the steps listed below. We carry out this process for each new entry, and we repeat the key steps each time an organisation changes its address.
- Find the address at its source. We begin with the organisation itself and not with some other list. Specifically, we look at its own clearnet website (this is usually a help page, a press release or a footer link), at the Tor Project’s index on onion.torproject.org for the services that the Tor Project provides, or at Debian’s onion index for Debian’s. If the organisation does not publish the address anywhere that it controls, then we stop there.
- Record the proof. We save a link to the specific page on which the organisation confirms the address. The link showing the proof appears in the directory alongside each entry, enabling you to carry out our check again in a few seconds.
- Check against a second independent source. We compare the address with the community-maintained list of Real-World Onion Sites, which keeps a record of official onion services and carries out daily reachability tests of them. If the two sources differ, we return to the organisation’s own page and regard that as the authoritative one.
- Compare all 56 characters. A modern (version 3) onion address has a length of 56 characters before the .onion suffix. Since scammers are able to create addresses which match the first few characters of a genuine one, the entire string must be compared, character by character, starting from the first and ending with the last. A match among the first eight characters has no significance.
- Check the TLS certificate, if there is one. Some organisations, such as DuckDuckGo, the BBC, Proton and Reddit, provide their onion site over HTTPS using a certificate for the onion address. A certificate authority will only issue such a certificate after the operator has proven control of that address, which makes the certificate a solid second form of verification. We confirm that the certificate is valid and that it names the organisation.
- Check Onion-Location. A number of organisations include an Onion-Location header on their regular website. In Tor Browser, this displays a purple ‘.onion available’ button which takes you directly to the official address. If the header is present, we verify that the address it leads to is the same as ours.
- Make sure it actually loads. In the end, an address has to work. Our automated checker examines each listed address every day. In order to appear on the homepage as verified, an address must have passed at least 13 of the last 14 daily checks.
If you want to learn how to carry out this procedure yourself (and you should), our step-by-step guide, How to Verify an Onion Address Is Official, sets out the same checklist in simple English. It is the most important page on our site, since it means that you won’t have to depend on us.
One honest limitation is that we can confirm that an address belongs to the organisation stating it, but we cannot guarantee that the organisation will never be breached, and we do not audit the way it handles your data. Our responsibility is to help you reach the actual front door.
How often we re-check, and what “on hold” means#
The directory is checked every day by an automated reachability test and is examined by a person once a month, as well as before each update. Both the homepage and the directory display a “last verified” date, and the current list was verified on October 11, 2026.
Daily checks pick up addresses that stop working, while the monthly review picks up changes which a script cannot detect, such as an organisation announcing a new address, retiring an old one, or simply taking its onion service off its help pages. Each change is recorded on the directory page together with the date and the reason, so that you can see what has changed and why.
It can happen that an official onion service is genuine but doesn’t work reliably. If an address fails our tests, we place it on an on-hold list instead of keeping it on a page which promises verified links. Currently, seven official services are on hold.
| Service | Why it’s on hold |
|---|---|
| The New York Times | Failed 14 of 14 checks, likely a TLS certificate issue |
| ProPublica | Failed 14 of 14 checks, likely a TLS certificate issue |
| The Intercept | Failed 14 of 14 checks |
| Bellingcat | Failed 14 of 14 checks |
| Twitter / X | Failed 14 of 14 checks |
| Returned an HTTP 500 error on 13 of 14 checks | |
| Keybase | Failed 14 of 14 checks |
The fact that something is listed as ‘on hold’ doesn’t mean it’s fake. These are, or have been, official services. Since we weren’t able to reach them reliably, it would be contradictory to include an address that no longer works on a page which claims to be verified. The services that are on hold are retested every month and are restored to the list as soon as they pass the test again. Our news onion sites page tracks which newsrooms’ mirrors are currently failing.
If you’re trying to find an outlet that isn’t on the list, you should check the outlet’s own website. Should it have published a new onion address that we haven’t picked up yet, then let us know (see below).
Who runs thehidden.wiki#
thehidden.wiki is an independent initiative managed by Ken Adams.
We have no connection with the Tor Project or with any of the organisations listed in the directory. We do not speak on their behalf, and they have not endorsed us. Whenever we write about releases of Tor Browser, Arti, Tails or the Tor Project’s announcements, we provide a link to the original source and set out the information in our own words.
Here are a few commitments about how the site itself is run.
- Independent. No organisation in the directory pays us, and no listing can be bought, sponsored or exchanged for a link.
- Transparent. Each address displays its proof link and the date it was last checked, and any change made to the directory is publicly logged together with a reason.
- Correctable. When we make a mistake, we fix it quickly and note the correction on the page where the mistake was. We do not quietly edit history.
- Light on your data. No ads, no third-party trackers. For more details, please refer to our full privacy policy.
The website is aimed at individuals who are interested in onion services, at those who need them in order to get around censorship, or at people who simply want to read the news in a more private way. While it is not intended for experts, we do hope that experts will find the directory to be a useful reference.
How to report a dead, changed or fake link#
If you notice that anything on this site is incorrect, please let us know. Reports from readers are one of the best ways for us to catch changes between our monthly reviews.
Please tell us if
- an address in the directory doesn’t load for you over several days
- an organisation has published a new onion address, or retired the one we list
- you’ve found a site copying our name or our list with addresses that don’t match ours
- you’ve spotted a phishing clone of a listed service (send us the full address so we can warn others)
- an official onion service which we do not list has posted proof on its own website.
How to reach us. Fill in the report a link form or email [email protected]. If you wish to encrypt your message, our PGP key is available.
Whenever you report a new address, make sure you include a link to the organisation’s own page which confirms it. We will carry out the same checks on it as we do on every other address. If it passes, it will be added to the list with the date on which it was added. If it doesn’t, we’ll let you know the reason when we can.
We ask that you don’t send us the addresses of markets or of any other services that we do not list, since those addresses will not be included, regardless of the offer that goes with them.
Using the directory safely#
A verified list is only of any use if the rest of your setup is sound, and four habits are more important than anything else.
Obtain Tor Browser from torproject.org and not from anywhere else. Fake ‘dark web browser’ apps are frequently found in app stores and on download sites, and some of them include adware or collect login details. The guide How to Download and Install Tor Browser Safely explains how to download the official version and how to verify its signature. For phones, refer to Using Tor on Android and iPhone to find the genuine apps, and see our overview of the Tor VPN beta for Android.
Copy the addresses rather than retyping them, and then check everything. Use the copy button located next to each address in the directory. After you have pasted the address, quickly look at the beginning and the end of it in your address bar. Even better, once you have checked the official address, bookmark it and use that bookmark from then on.
Go for the Onion-Location option whenever it’s available. If you go to an organisation’s usual website using Tor Browser and come across the purple ‘.onion available’ button, then it is the organisation itself that is directing you to its onion address. This is one of the safest methods of reaching it.
Be wary of any unexpected request for money or login details. Phishing replicas usually appear flawless. When a website that you’ve reached via a link (whether it’s someone else’s link or one of ours) asks you to log in, make a payment, or ‘verify’ your account in a manner that seems suspicious, stop and compare the address with the organisation’s official proof page. For more, see our guide to onion phishing and fake mirrors.
It’s also important to understand the effect that Tor Browser’s security settings have. If you increase the level to Safer or Safest, features like JavaScript are turned off on some or all websites, reducing the risk even though this causes certain pages to stop working. We explain the trade-offs in Tor Browser Security Levels: Standard vs Safer vs Safest. And whatever you use, keep it up to date. Our summary of Tor’s September 2026 security fixes shows why.
Frequently asked questions#
Is this the original Hidden Wiki? No, and we don’t claim to be. There is now no single reliable ‘original’. Instead, there are numerous copies, the majority of which are unreliable. thehidden.wiki is a different project with another aim. It provides a brief, verified list of official onion sites.
Why don’t you list more sites? Because each entry has to be official and backed by verifiable evidence. Although there are thousands of onion addresses, only a small number belong to real organisations that can provide proof of them. We prefer to omit something rather than include an address that we can’t stand behind.
Can I trust your list without checking it? You shouldn’t have to take our word for it, and in fact we’d prefer that you didn’t. That’s the reason why each item comes with a proof link. It only takes a few seconds to check one, and our verification guide will show you how.
Why does the BBC (or DuckDuckGo, or Proton) even have an onion site? Onion services enable people to access a site without having to leave the Tor network, a feature which helps users in countries where the regular website is blocked and also protects the connection end to end. Moreover, they are difficult to impersonate when users verify the address. For more information on how they work, see our explainer What Is an Onion Service?
Is it legal to use Tor? In most countries it is. The activities you carry out while using Tor are still subject to the law, and in a few countries the use of Tor itself is restricted. For further information, see Is Tor Legal? Using Onion Services Responsibly. If Tor is blocked where you are, bridges, Snowflake and WebTunnel can help you connect.
An address on your list doesn’t load. Does that mean it’s fake? Not necessarily. Onion services may be slow or temporarily unavailable, and Tor circuits can sometimes fail. Wait a few minutes or use a new circuit, and then try again. If it still isn’t working after a day or two, please let us know.
Can my organisation be listed? Yes, provided that you are running an official onion service and publish its address on a page that you control. If you are setting one up, our article How to Host Your Own Onion Service explains the process, which involves adding an Onion-Location header and publishing a proof page. You then just need to send us the link.
Where to go next#
- Want the addresses? Go to the Official Onion Mirrors Directory, verified on October 11, 2026.
- Want to check them yourself? Start with How to Verify an Onion Address Is Official.
- Wondering why other lists are dangerous? Read Why Most ‘Hidden Wiki’ Lists Are Full of Scams.
- New to all of this? Browse the rest of Getting Started.
- Following Tor news? See what’s coming in the Tor Browser 16 alpha.
Official onion sites only. Verified. No scams. That’s the promise, and this page is how we keep it.
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