Terminology¶

This page tracks the terminology when referring to Onion Services.

Definitions¶

Regular internet, or sometimes referred as "clear net": which means someone is connecting to remote endpoints on the internet without using the Tor network.
Regular site: a site whose name is available through the DNS (Domain Name System). This usually means that someone is accessing a website by it's DNS domain name and without using the Tor network. This might be ambiguous sometimes, and can refer either to a website that does not have it's .onion counterpart, or just that the user is not accessing the website through Tor.
Regular site over Tor: it's a website whose domain name is available in the DNS, but that's being accessed through the Tor network.
Onionsite: it's a website whose address is an .onion address and that is reachable only through the Tor network. This also might be a bit ambiguous as sometimes a website can be accessed both as a regular site (through a DNS-based domain name) and as an onionsite (through a .onion address published in the Tor network).
Censorship resistance: when content cannot be removed from the internet and usually referred to an Onion Service site; this is different from Tor bridges, that offers censorship circumvention that allows users to connect to the Tor network.

"Onion Service" and "Onion Services" instead of "onion service" (recommendation to capitalize where applicable).
Use of "onionsite" instead of constructions like ".onion site".