What Is Tor? How Onion Routing Works and When to Use It

Tor (The Onion Router) is a privacy network that routes your traffic through multiple relays to make it harder to trace where it came from. It's commonly used via the Tor Browser.

How Tor Works (Onion Routing)

Tor wraps your connection in layers of encryption and sends it through a chain of relays. Each relay only knows the previous and next hop - not the entire path.

Tor Exit Nodes and IP Address

Websites usually see the IP of the Tor exit node, not your home IP. Because exit nodes are public and reused, many services rate-limit or block them.

What is a Tor node?

A Tor node is a relay in the Tor network. There are entry nodes, middle relays, and exit nodes. The exit node is the last hop that connects to the public internet.

If you want to check what hostnames are configured for an IP, try Reverse DNS. For a quick signal-based check, use Proxy Check.

Tor vs VPN

A VPN is a single hop to a provider you trust. Tor is multi-hop and designed for anonymity, but it can be slower and comes with different risks.

If you're deciding between tools, read Proxy vs VPNand Protect Your IP Address.