November 16, 2025

55 Tor Onion Service & Network Statistics You Need to Know in 2025

Onion Address & Hidden Service Statistics

  1. Approximately 54,602 unique v3 onion addresses were tracked in recent studies of the Tor network. Source: SQ Magazine
  2. 38% of onion addresses were advertised only once, indicating high churn and temporary services. Source: SQ Magazine
  3. 42.74% of onion addresses were advertised 2-5 times, showing moderate persistence in the network. Source: SQ Magazine
  4. 16.45% of addresses appeared more than 5 times, representing the most stable hidden services. Source: SQ Magazine
  5. A crawler collected 48,745 unique v3 onion addresses in 20 days crawling over 2.9 million pages in April 2024. Source: Digidow
  6. The largest known collection contains 482,614 unique v3 onion addresses, representing the most comprehensive dataset available. Source: FOCI Proceedings
  7. A Big Data system identified 80,049 onion services in 93 days and characterized 90% of them successfully. Source: ScienceDirect
  8. 50% of onion addresses were listed solely via public websites, while 6% appeared only on the dark web, and 44% on both. Source: SQ Magazine
  9. 67% of onion addresses were classified as “predominantly active”, with 7% intermittent and 26% mostly inactive. Source: SQ Magazine
  10. HTTP appeared in 99.75% of hidden services, making it the dominant protocol for onion sites. Source: SQ Magazine
  11. SSH was used in approximately 4.95% of hidden services, providing secure shell access. Source: SQ Magazine
  12. HTTPS appeared in only 0.64% of onion services, showing low SSL/TLS adoption on the dark web. Source: SQ Magazine
  13. Most onion services run only one protocol, while approximately 6% operate between 2 and 8 protocols. Source: SQ Magazine

    14. Tor Relay Network Infrastructure

  14. As of July 2025, the Tor network runs approximately 8,000 active relays operated by volunteers worldwide. Source: SQ Magazine
  15. About 5,300 relays act as guard/entry relays, forming the first hop in Tor circuits. Source: SQ Magazine
  16. Approximately 2,500 relays serve as exit relays, providing the final connection point to the internet. Source: Electro IQ
  17. Over 7,500 relays are flagged as “fast and stable”, indicating high-quality network infrastructure. Source: SQ Magazine
  18. Tor created over 145,000 circuits to route user traffic through multiple relay hops. Source: Electro IQ
  19. The Tor network relies on around 6,000 volunteer-run relays to provide anonymity services. Source: Electro IQ
  20. Historical data shows Tor had approximately 6,559 relays in 2022, indicating steady network growth. Source: SQ Magazine
  21. Relay bandwidth has seen 50-70% increases during periods of network expansion, improving overall capacity. Source: SQ Magazine
  22. Relays are distributed across fewer Autonomous Systems than before, reducing diversity at the network level. Source: SQ Magazine
  23. Germany leads in relay capacity among countries, contributing the largest share of bandwidth. Source: SQ Magazine
  24. Only approximately 14 country codes historically supplied more than 1% of bandwidth, showing concentration of resources. Source: SQ Magazine

    25. Daily User & Traffic Statistics

  25. Tor is accessed by more than 2.5 million daily users globally as of 2025. Source: Electro IQ
  26. The number of Tor browser users worldwide was 1.95 million on October 26, 2024, showing continued high adoption. Source: Electro IQ
  27. Daily users increased from 2 million to 3+ million between early and late March 2025, marking significant growth. Source: Panda Security
  28. The United States accounts for 18.12% of daily Tor users, representing 406,124 users between November 2024 and February 2025. Source: Electro IQ
  29. Germany represents 13.58% of global Tor usage with 304,400 daily users. Source: Electro IQ
  30. Finland has 5% of the global user share with 112,110 daily Tor users, showing high per-capita adoption. Source: Electro IQ
  31. India accounts for 4.64% of Tor users with 103,866 daily users. Source: Electro IQ
  32. Russia often leads in mean daily Tor users, frequently surpassing 10,000 daily users. Source: SQ Magazine
  33. Approximately 6-7% of users access hidden services (.onion sites) daily, though precise measurement is difficult. Source: SQ Magazine
  34. Only 1.5% of all Tor traffic goes to dark web websites as of 2024, with most traffic going to surface web sites. Source: Electro IQ
  35. Tor Browser exceeded 200 million downloads cumulatively by 2024. Source: SQ Magazine
  36. Daily downloads in earlier periods hovered around 100,000 per day, indicating sustained interest. Source: SQ Magazine
  37. 75% of Tor users are male and 25% are female according to 2024 demographic data. Source: Electro IQ
  38. People aged 25-34 use Tor the most, followed by those aged 18-24. Source: Electro IQ

    39. Bridge & Censorship Circumvention

  39. Tor Metrics has recorded around 1,800 to 2,200 bridges active at various times in recent years. Source: SQ Magazine
  40. There are approximately 2,000 bridges helping users connect in restricted regions as of July 2025. Source: Electro IQ
  41. Bridge usage spikes significantly when public relays are blocked, especially in countries like China. Source: SQ Magazine
  42. Bridge adoption rates sometimes grow by factors of 50-70x during crackdowns in censored nations. Source: SQ Magazine
  43. Russia had 61,979 daily indirect Tor users using hidden servers to connect from July to October 2024. Source: Electro IQ
  44. Iran averaged 17,875 indirect users per day, making it second-highest for bridge usage. Source: Electro IQ
  45. Bridges use pluggable transports like obfs4 and meek to evade detection and blocking. Source: SQ Magazine

    46. Network Performance & Bandwidth

  46. FlashFlow found that Tor underestimates true relay capacity by approximately 50% under current measurement systems. Source: SQ Magazine
  47. Using FlashFlow leads to 15-37% faster median transfer times compared to traditional TorFlow measurements. Source: SQ Magazine
  48. FlashFlow reduces traffic weight error by 86% compared to TorFlow measurement methods. Source: SQ Magazine
  49. Tor’s built-in load balancing errs by 15-25% according to FlashFlow experiments. Source: SQ Magazine
  50. Cyber attackers can target Tor’s bridges for $17,000 a month, while load balancers cost only $2,800 to attack. Source: Electro IQ

    51. Hidden Service Categories & Content

  51. Roughly 6.7% of Tor users connect daily to hidden services for potentially illicit purposes. Source: SQ Magazine
  52. Only about 45% of dark web sites are involved in illegal activities, contrary to popular perception. Source: Electro IQ
  53. Out of 200 domains flagged as illegal on Tor, 75% are online marketplaces, representing the primary illicit use case. Source: Electro IQ
  54. One study of 400 .onion domains found approximately 45% contained illegal content, showing significant legitimate use as well. Source: SQ Magazine
  55. The majority of Tor traffic is not illicit, with users often browsing surface websites privately via Tor. Source: SQ Magazine

    56. Frequently Asked Questions

    What are .onion addresses and how do they work?

    .onion addresses are special domain names used exclusively for Tor hidden services. They consist of a string of random characters (for v3 addresses, 56 characters) and can only be accessed through the Tor network. These addresses are cryptographically generated to ensure the authenticity and anonymity of the hidden service.

    How many .onion sites exist on the Tor network?

    Approximately 54,602 unique v3 onion addresses have been tracked in recent studies, though the largest known collection contains 482,614 unique addresses. The actual number fluctuates constantly as sites come online and go offline, with 38% of addresses being advertised only once, indicating high turnover.

    What is a Tor relay and how does it work?

    A Tor relay is a volunteer-operated server that routes encrypted traffic through the Tor network. There are three types: guard/entry relays (first hop, ~5,300), middle relays (intermediate hops), and exit relays (final hop to internet, ~2,500). As of July 2025, approximately 8,000 active relays operate the network, with traffic passing through at least three relays for anonymity.

    What percentage of Tor traffic goes to hidden services?

    Only about 1.5% of all Tor traffic goes to dark web (.onion) sites, while approximately 6-7% of users access hidden services daily. The vast majority of Tor traffic (over 85%) is used to browse regular surface web sites anonymously, contrary to popular misconception.

    How can I access .onion sites safely?

    To access .onion sites, download the official Tor Browser from torproject.org. Never use regular browsers with Tor plugins, as they compromise anonymity. Always verify .onion addresses from trusted sources, avoid downloading files, don’t enable browser plugins, and never enter personal information on hidden services. Remember that while Tor provides anonymity, accessing illegal content is still illegal.

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