Wiby
A search engine for the classic web, with a surprise button.
- Rabbit hole
- Works on phones
- Alive · checked 16 days ago
8 sites · every link checked daily
StumbleUpon alternatives: where to wander now
StumbleUpon is gone, and a lot of people have been looking for a StumbleUpon alternative ever since. The pleasure was never the technology. It was the feeling of pressing a button and landing somewhere you did not plan to be.
We built odd-sites.com partly to bring that feeling back. Our own button, Take me somewhere odd, draws from a hand-curated database, skips sites you have already seen, and checks every link daily. It is not a social network. It just tries to hand you something good.
The sites on this list are the other places to wander. Wiby searches a hand-picked index of simple, old-school pages and has its own Surprise Me button. Marginalia Search favors blogs and personal sites over commercial results. Neocities Browse shows you hand-made sites from the modern indie web. Atlas Obscura is a guide to odd places. Wikipedia: Unusual Articles is the best way to begin a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and The Public Domain Review offers a curated drip of strange old art and essays.
This is a short list, with eight entries, because we would rather list real ways to wander than pad it. Use "Surprise me from this list" to try one.
The sites
All the sites
The list (8)
Marginalia Search
An independent search engine that favours non-commercial sites.
- Rabbit hole
- Works on phones
- Alive · checked 16 days ago
Neocities Browse
Browse the hand-made personal sites of the modern indie web.
- Rabbit hole
- Works on phones
- Alive · checked 16 days ago
Wikipedia: Unusual Articles
Wikipedia's own list of its strangest entries.
- Rabbit hole
- Mature themes
- Alive · checked 16 days ago
The Pudding
Visual essays that explain culture with data.
- Rabbit hole
- Works on phones
- Alive · checked 16 days ago
The Public Domain Review
Strange and wonderful out-of-copyright art, books and ephemera.
- Rabbit hole
- Works on phones
- Alive · checked 16 days ago
What made StumbleUpon work. In our view, three things: a random button, a wide range of topics and the feeling that a human had chosen the sites. We try to keep that, with the added advantage that we remove dead links.
How to wander well now.
- Use more than one door. Combine the odd-sites.com button with Wiby's Surprise Me and Neocities Browse.
- Follow your interests. Filter our button by category, mood or time. If you like calm sites, see the calming websites list. If you like weird sites, start with Weird Websites You Won't Believe Exist.
- Keep a trail. Our button remembers what you have seen in your browser and will not repeat itself until you have seen everything.
What we are not. We are not a social network, we do not follow you around the web to decide what to show you, and we do not claim to be an official successor to anything. We are a directory with a button.
Help fill the list. This list is short because few things really replace the original. If you know another way to wander, please tell us or submit a site.
More. Hidden Gems digs into the small web, Internet Rabbit Holes is for longer sessions, and Interesting Websites You Never Knew Existed is a good bookmark list.
Frequently asked questions
Is StumbleUpon still around?
No. StumbleUpon is gone, which is why people search for alternatives. The closest equivalents are random-button sites and curated directories. Ours is one of them: the Take me somewhere odd button picks from a hand-checked database of sites that are alive today.
What is the best StumbleUpon alternative?
It depends on what you loved. For random old-school pages, try Wiby's Surprise Me. For personal indie sites, try Neocities Browse. For curated oddities with link checks and filters, try our random button. All three are free to use and need no account.
Does odd-sites.com track what I like?
Our button keeps a no-repeat history in your own browser so it does not show you the same site twice. For the exact details of what is stored, what is not, and how it is used, read our privacy page, which is written in plain language.
How is this different from other random website generators?
Our database is curated by hand, every link is checked daily, dead or parked sites are removed, and you can filter by category, mood, time and mobile support. Many random generators are static lists that are rarely rechecked, so they send you to dead pages.
More lists you might like
Interesting websites you never knew existed29 sites
Internet rabbit holes: start here, lose the afternoon25 sites
Hidden gems: secret websites most people never find19 sites
Weird websites you won't believe exist41 sites
Nostalgic websites: the old internet, still online33 sites
Strange websites that shouldn't exist (but do)29 sites