When a website can be accessed via a clearnet and a .onion url, is there a benefit to making use of the .onion url?

Context:

I am considering pointing a “.onion” url to my instance (mander.xyz).

I did some tests with and it seems like mlmym works well with JavaScript disabled. Since JavaScript is often disabled in the tor browser, I could make the .onion url point at that front-end instead.

This would be fun to do, but I wonder if there is a practical benefit to the “.onion” url as opposed to simply accessing the clearnet url via the tor browser.

EDIT: I went ahead and created an onion URL to try out, but I would still like to know if there is an actual advantage to .onion urls:

http://mandermybrewn3sll4kptj2ubeyuiujz6felbaanzj3ympcrlykfs2id.onion/

  • pedroapero@lemmy.ml
    1·
    1 month ago

    Yes this has several benefits:

    • some users prefer not to reveal their IP to your server
    • some users prefer not to be tracked by their internet provider (or by Google via DNS on Android, or by local wifi users or by who knows who)
    • your onion site is censorship resistant (some users in Russia or else might need it)
    • your onion can be ddos-resistent (if you enable POW)
    • your clearnet site might be unavailable for other reasons (unrenewed DNS entry or expired certificate)