# I2P sites and search: finding eepsites and using I2P torrenting URL: https://webvpn.org/anonymity/i2p-sites/ Updated: 2026-09-08 How to find I2P websites, why there is no complete list of eepsites, how I2P search engines and address books work, and how to browse I2P sites safely. I2P sites, often called eepsites, are websites hosted inside the I2P network at .i2p names that map to cryptographic keys rather than to server locations. You find them through the links in your router console, through I2P search engines and directories hosted inside the network, and through jump services that resolve names your router does not yet know. There is no complete list, because sites are hosted anonymously and nobody registers them. Newcomers often install I2P, type a name into the browser, get an error, and give up. The network is not broken; it is that discovery works differently from the open web. This guide explains how I2P names and address books work, how to use search engines and jump services, what kinds of sites exist, how I2P torrenting differs from ordinary torrenting, and the safety habits that apply to browsing inside an anonymous network. ## How I2P names work Every I2P destination is identified by a long cryptographic key. Typing that key is impractical, so I2P provides two shorter forms. The first is a base32 address, a fixed-length string ending in .b32.i2p, derived from the key. It is unreadable but unambiguous, and any router can resolve it without help. The second is a human-readable name ending in .i2p. These names are not global; they live in your router's address book, a local list mapping names to keys. Your router ships with a small address book, and you add to it by subscribing to address book feeds published inside the network or by adding names one at a time. If you type a name that is not in your address book, the router cannot resolve it and shows an error page offering jump services. This design means two users can, in principle, have the same name pointing to different keys, and that a name you read about may need to be added before it works. It also means there is no central authority to seize or censor a name. ## Jump services and address book subscriptions When you hit a name your router does not know, the error page lists jump services: eepsites that maintain large address books and can hand the key for a name to your router, which then adds it locally. Clicking through a jump service is usually a one-time action per name. For a more complete address book, subscribe to one or more address book feeds in the router console. The default subscription is deliberately small; the console's documentation lists community-maintained feeds that are larger. Subscribing means your router periodically fetches updates, and names that other people have registered with that feed begin to resolve automatically. Be aware that a name in a feed reflects the feed maintainer's decision to include it, and that names can be re-registered to different keys over time. For anything sensitive, note the base32 address of a site you trust and use that. ## I2P search engines and directories Several search engines run as eepsites and crawl other eepsites. Each indexes a different portion of the network, so trying more than one gives better coverage. They are reachable only from inside I2P, and their names are usually in the default address book or one click away through a jump service. The router console's home page links to community-maintained starting points. Directories and wikis inside the network also list sites by category and are often more current than search results, because site operators add themselves. Expect dead links; sites go offline when their operator's router is off, which for hobby sites can be often. There is no I2P search engine on the ordinary web that indexes eepsites in a useful way, and search results on the open web for I2P sites are mostly out of date. Do your discovery inside the network. ## What kinds of I2P websites exist The network is smaller than Tor's onion space and its character is different. You will find project and community sites for I2P itself; forums and message boards; wikis and documentation mirrors; personal blogs; mirrors of open-web projects for censorship resistance; anonymous email and messaging services that work within I2P; and the trackers and indexes that support I2P torrenting. Some content is the same as on any small, unmoderated network and should be treated with the same caution. This site does not list specific eepsite addresses. They change, and a list here would be out of date by the time you read it. Use the router console, the search engines and the directories. ## I2P torrenting: how it differs I2P includes a torrent client in the router console, and a few other clients support I2P. Torrenting on I2P differs from ordinary torrenting in one crucial way: everything stays inside the network. Trackers are eepsites, peers are I2P destinations, and no traffic exits to the ordinary internet. Your IP address is never visible to peers, and ordinary internet peers cannot see or join I2P swarms. The consequences follow directly. - You cannot download ordinary torrents through I2P, and you cannot use an ordinary torrent client with it. Torrents must be created for I2P and announced to I2P trackers. - Speeds depend on how many I2P users are sharing the same file, which is far fewer than on the open internet. Popular files move reasonably; obscure ones crawl. - Seeding helps the network and your own anonymity, because a router that only downloads is easier to characterise. - The client bundled with the router is configured correctly by default. If you use a different client, follow the I2P project's guidance to make sure it uses only I2P and never falls back to the ordinary network. This is the opposite of the situation with Tor, where torrenting is discouraged because it burdens the network and leaks addresses. On I2P, torrenting is a designed use. ## Browsing I2P sites safely: a six-point checklist - Use a dedicated browser profile configured for I2P and nothing else, as the introductory I2P guide on this site describes. Never use it for ordinary web browsing or logged-in accounts. - Do not install extensions in that profile beyond what the project recommends. - Treat every eepsite as unverified. There is no certificate authority; a site's identity is its key, so save the base32 address of anything you intend to return to. - Download files with care and open them offline. Documents can fetch resources over your ordinary connection and reveal your address. - Do not enter personal information anywhere inside the network, and use anonymous accounts created for I2P if a site requires registration. - Keep the router and browser updated, and leave the router running when you can; a stable router builds better tunnels and is a better neighbour. ## What the project and long-time users advise The guidance above reflects the I2P project's documentation and the accumulated advice of its community. The project's documentation explains the naming system in detail, including why names are local, why there is no global registry, and how address book subscriptions and jump services fill the gap. It also describes the bundled torrent client and its restriction to the I2P network as intentional design. Community members who maintain address book feeds and directories have described the churn of eepsites as normal: many are hobby projects on home connections that are online intermittently, and users should expect a portion of any list to be unreachable at a given time. Researchers who have measured the I2P network have noted that torrenting and file sharing account for a substantial share of its traffic, consistent with the network's design goals, and have observed that its smaller size relative to Tor is both a limitation on anonymity and a reason the community emphasises leaving routers running. ## Start from the console Open your router console, follow the links on its home page, and add a larger address book subscription. Try two of the search engines and one directory. Save the base32 addresses of anything worth returning to. If you want to try torrenting, use the bundled client and start with a well-seeded file to see how the network behaves. Within an hour you will have a working map of a network that has no map, which is the whole skill of using I2P. ## FAQ Q: How do I find I2P websites? A: Start from the links in your router console, which point to community sites, then use the I2P search engines and directories inside the network. Names you do not yet have in your address book can be resolved through jump services, which hand your router the key for a name. Q: Is there a list of all I2P sites? A: No complete list exists. Sites are hosted anonymously and appear and disappear without registration. Directories and search engines inside I2P index a portion of them, and the address book on each router holds the names that router has learned. Q: What is an I2P search engine? A: A search engine hosted as an eepsite that crawls other eepsites. Several exist and each indexes a different slice of the network. They are the closest thing I2P has to a search bar and are reachable only through I2P. Q: Can I use I2P for torrenting? A: Yes, with a torrent client built for I2P, such as the one bundled with the router. Torrents on I2P use trackers and peers inside the network only, so your traffic never exits to the ordinary internet. Ordinary torrent clients cannot be used with I2P and ordinary torrents cannot be downloaded through it. Q: Are I2P sites the dark web? A: They are hidden services in the same technical sense as Tor onion sites, and some people use the label. In practice I2P hosts forums, wikis, blogs, mirrors and project sites. The label describes the hosting method, not the content.