Someone who searches to download Tor Browser usually wants more than the private browsing mode built into Chrome or Firefox, which only clears local history and doesn't hide your IP at all. Tor Browser is a modified build of Firefox maintained by The Tor Project that routes every connection through three layers of encrypted relays, making it much harder for websites or your network provider to trace traffic back to you. It's free and includes built-in defenses against browser fingerprinting out of the box.
What Tor Actually Protects Against
Tor Browser's three-relay circuit means no single relay knows both who you are and what site you're visiting, which is the core of its anonymity model.
It ships pre-configured with NoScript and fingerprinting resistance enabled, and in regions where Tor is blocked, it includes pluggable transports (bridges) that disguise Tor traffic as ordinary HTTPS. None of this makes you invisible for illegal activity, but it substantially raises the bar for tracking and censorship.
Who ends up using Tor Browser
Tor Browser draws journalists, activists, and privacy researchers who need more than a browser's private mode to avoid being tracked or censored.
- Journalists and activists communicating from regions with heavy internet censorship
- Privacy researchers testing how sites fingerprint or track browser sessions
- Everyday users who want to hide their IP and location from the sites they visit
Before you install
A couple of things worth knowing about Tor Browser before you request the link: it covers Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, so pick the right build for the machine you're setting up. And on pricing, Tor Browser is open source, so the installer is free with no trial timer, feature lock, or upsell screen to click past. It's developed and maintained by The Tor Project.
System requirements
- WindowsWindows 10 or 11 (64-bit); older 7/8.1 builds usually still run but no longer get official support
- macOSa recent macOS release — check the download page for the current minimum version, since Apple Silicon vs Intel builds sometimes differ
- Linuxmost current 64-bit distributions; look for a native .deb/.rpm/AppImage or a package in your distro's own repository
- Androida recent Android build installed from the Play Store or the developer's own APK
It's a lightweight tool, so there's no serious CPU/RAM/storage requirement beyond what its OS already needs to run comfortably.
Quick steps
- Download Tor Browser for your OS from the official Tor Project release
- Run the installer or extracted app, then launch Tor Browser
- Wait for it to establish a Tor circuit, then browse as you would in any Firefox-based browser
Tor Browser: the honest trade-offs
- Routes traffic through three encrypted relays so no relay knows both identity and destination
- Ships with fingerprinting resistance and NoScript enabled by default
- Built-in bridge support helps bypass network-level censorship in blocked regions
- Noticeably slower page loads than a standard browser due to the multi-relay routing
- Many sites block or challenge Tor exit-node traffic with extra CAPTCHAs
This page links to The Tor Project's official torproject.org release, verified against the same signatures the project itself publishes.
Other Web Browsers downloads people search for
Browse the full Web Browsers category →
Keeping Tor Browser up to date
Since Tor Browser is open source, most Linux distributions keep it current through their own package manager. On Windows/macOS, re-running the installer from the official site (or an updater built into the app, if it has one) gets you the latest release. Sticking to the developer's own distribution channel — which is what this page links to — means you're never stuck on an old build with unpatched bugs just because a mirror site stopped updating its copy.
Features, install steps, alternatives and more detail live on the main Tor Browser page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tor Browser slower than a normal browser?
Yes, routing through three relays adds latency, so pages generally load more slowly than in a standard browser.
Can I use Tor Browser in a country that blocks Tor?
Often yes, using its built-in bridge configuration, which disguises Tor traffic to get around network-level blocking.
