Tor
Free anonymity network and browser that routes traffic through volunteer-run relays.
HN commenters use it for everyday privacy and anonymity123, and to reach the open internet under censorship, as in Russia.45 The most common complaint is that many websites block Tor traffic or bombard it with captchas678, and some users hit a speed penalty.9
Why people recommend it
Privacy and anonymity · 3
Used to reduce tracking, and seen as one piece of a broader privacy toolkit.
“I significantly reduce the chance of this by using VPNs and Tor for most personal traffic depending on use case”
“blending into a big crowd (Tor at its default size) beats a bespoke hardened setup that makes you the only one who looks like that.”
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“Signal, GrapheneOS, Tor... this is a battle with many fronts”
Censorship bypass · 3
Lets users in restrictive countries keep using the internet, with bridges helping when access is blocked.
“I use tor every day in Russia. Without it Internet would be unusable.”
“I use bridging.”
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“I mean, I love tor as much as the next person”
Paywall and TLS access · 2
Some use it to read paywalled articles or as a TLS option instead of archive sites.
“I use only Tor”
“Tor is another TLS option besides using an archive”
Remote access · 1
One user relied on it to remotely unlock a NixOS machine and said it worked well.
“I used to use tor to remote-unlock on my nixos tower. It worked quite well!”
Acceptable speed · 1
At least one daily user says it is not that slow for them.
“I use it, it's not that slow for me”
Caveats and dissent
Site blocking · 3
Many websites block Tor traffic or serve heavy captchas, and reCAPTCHA can reject valid solutions sent over Tor.
“I use it, it's not that slow for me”
“the volume of captchas and blocks on my regular internet connection that I see on the occasion I use Tor”
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“I use only Tor”
Speed penalty · 1
Some users find it slow enough to hamper searching for information.
“I like the idea of TOR, but whenever I used it, I hit a speed penalty.”
Getting connected · 2
Where Tor is blocked, getting the software is hard and users may need to try several bridges.
“I use tor every day in Russia. Without it Internet would be unusable.”
“I use bridging.”
Not for everyone · 2
GrapheneOS recommends a traditional VPN for most people, and one commenter calls NYM more anonymous in some respects.
“Tor makes sense for some situations but we generally recommend using a traditional VPN for most people's use cases.”
“More anonymous and private than tor in a lot of respects.”
Relay discomfort · 1
One commenter avoids Tor because of the traffic that might be routed through their machine.
“tor is such a cool technology but even the thought of what is getting routed through there on my machine”
Trust concerns · 1
One commenter warns that Tor exists to serve the CIA, pointing to its US Naval Research Laboratory origins.
“Tor is for the CIA. It won't work for them unless we use it as well.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate' 3 mentions
- How I got over 300 Tor exit nodes removed 1 mention
- A statement on the Tor Project's relationship with Mullvad 1 mention
- Self-Hosting on the Dark Web 1 mention
- Show HN: GlassBox – what the browser reveals, and how identifiable you are 1 mention
- Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results 1 mention
Data: tor.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 22
“tor is such a cool technology but even the thought of what is getting routed through there on my machine”
“I use it, it's not that slow for me”
“I like the idea of TOR, but whenever I used it, I hit a speed penalty.”
“blending into a big crowd (Tor at its default size) beats a bespoke hardened setup that makes you the only one who looks like that.”
“Signal, GrapheneOS, Tor... this is a battle with many fronts”
“the volume of captchas and blocks on my regular internet connection that I see on the occasion I use Tor”
“I mostly recommend that you use Tor in the background”
“Tor makes sense for some situations but we generally recommend using a traditional VPN for most people's use cases.”
“fooled around with an OpenRouter account over Tor”
“Tor is for the CIA. It won't work for them unless we use it as well.”
“I use bridging.”
“eventually I could connect”
“I use tor every day in Russia. Without it Internet would be unusable.”
“Tor (onion) is great to use internet without complexity and with security.”
“More anonymous and private than tor in a lot of respects.”
“I use only Tor”
“I used to use tor to remote-unlock on my nixos tower. It worked quite well!”
“I mean, I love tor as much as the next person”
“I love Tor and use it in BrowserBox”
“I significantly reduce the chance of this by using VPNs and Tor for most personal traffic depending on use case”
“Tor is another TLS option besides using an archive”
“I also have Tor installed which is useful when roaming.”