About dark.cfd

What this directory is

dark.cfd lists public onion services run by organisations we can identify: newsrooms, privacy tools, whistleblowing platforms, rights organisations, archives and a handful of institutions that publish official Tor endpoints. We don't list anonymous operators. We don't list marketplaces. We don't list mirrors of mirrors.

How we verify each listing

An address is only added to the directory if at least one of the following is true:

• The operator publishes the address on their own clearnet site (an HTTPS-served page under a domain we can tie to the organisation).
• The operator has issued a signed announcement — a PGP-signed message on a verifiable keyserver, a post on an official blog or a well-known mailing list.
• The address appears on a canonical third-party reference such as Alec Muffett's real-world-onion-sites tracker or the SecureDrop directory.

If none of those hold, the address doesn't get added — regardless of how plausible it looks.

What we refuse to list

• Marketplaces of any kind.
• v2 onion addresses (16-character). They were retired in 2021 and should be treated as dead or potentially hijacked. A runtime assertion in the source rejects them.
• Services whose operator can't be identified — even when the site itself looks legitimate.
• Anything illegal under the laws of the country we operate from.
• Anything designed to deanonymise users or exploit vulnerabilities in Tor Browser.

How the site is run

The directory is statically rendered; there are no analytics, cookies or third-party scripts. The source is MIT-licensed. If you want to audit the exact content served, you can read the repository behind this site and reproduce it yourself.

We do not accept payment for listings. We do not run ads. We do not carry affiliate links. The service costs us the price of a domain and a small server, which is covered out of pocket.

Corrections and new submissions

If a listing is wrong, outdated, or an address has rotated, email [email protected] with the details. A PGP key is available on request. Submissions for new services follow the same verification process described above; please include whichever of the three proofs applies.

Safety note

Using Tor and reading legal content on the dark web is legal in most countries. What you do on it — not where you are — is what determines the law that applies to you. If you are reporting to a newsroom, read the SecureDrop instructions on the newsroom's site before submitting anything.

Explore the directory

Browse the full directory on the home page, or jump straight to a category:

• Search engines — Search engines and community-driven directories that index the Tor network. Start with Deepr.
• News & journalism — International newsrooms with an .onion mirror for readers in censored regions.
• Privacy & email — Encrypted email, private communications and digital-rights orgs.
• Tools & anonymity — Free software projects focused on anonymity and digital sovereignty.
• Whistleblowing — Secure channels for investigative journalism and reporting wrongdoing.
• Archive & knowledge — Archives and software-project mirrors reachable over Tor.
• Institutions & platforms — Institutional services, public utilities and major platforms with an .onion version.

For background on the network itself, the guides cover what the dark web is, how Tor works, and the legality question — 9 short articles in plain English.