What is AltF Rabbithole?

A directory of 345 websites that are strange, beautiful, useful or quietly brilliant, organised into 18 categories. Every entry has its own page explaining what the site does and why it is worth opening, so you can decide before you click rather than after.

How is this different from a list of cool websites?

An article gives you thirty links in a fixed order and goes stale. This is a directory: you can filter by category, by how long a site takes to pay off, by the mood you are in, and by whether it works on a phone. Entries get corrected and added rather than republished with a new year in the title.

Do I need an account to use any of these?

Mostly not. 338 of the 345 sites listed are free and ask for nothing before you can use them, and you can filter the directory down to only those.

How do sites get added?

Every entry is opened, used and written up by hand. Nothing is scraped, nobody pays to be listed, and links are checked so that dead sites come out rather than sitting in the list forever.

What is the best website to visit when bored?

It depends how long you have. For under a minute, the Beautifully Useless and Generative Toys categories pay off immediately. For a proper evening, Wiki Dives and Explain Everything are the ones that swallow the most time. If you cannot choose, use the Surprise me button.

Are the links safe to open?

Every site here was opened and used before being written up. They are ordinary public websites — no downloads, no installs, and nothing that needs a payment to see what it does.

The good internet is still out there.

345 interesting websites, sorted properly

345 genuinely interesting websites, checked by hand and sorted by how long each one takes to be worth it. No listicle, no ads pretending to be entries — a directory you can filter.

Search the directory

Sites listed: 345Sites listed
Categories: 18Categories
Free, no sign-up: 338Free, no sign-up
Have an AltF version: 49Have an AltF version

Start here

Eight that land immediately

A rotating cut of the directory, weighted towards sites that are worth it inside a minute.

Browse all

A Soft Murmur

asoftmurmur.com

Build your own weather out of ten ambient sliders

The Calm CornerInstantFree, no sign-up

Regex Crossword

regexcrossword.com

Crosswords where every clue is a regular expression

Mind BendersCoffee breakFree, no sign-up

Semantris

research.google.com

A word game where the scoring is done by meaning

AI PlaygroundA minuteFree, no sign-up

Coffitivity

coffitivity.com

The specific hum of a café, minus the queue and the cost

The Calm CornerInstantFree, no sign-up

Google Gravity

mrdoob.com

The Google homepage collapses into a heap on load

Beautifully UselessInstantFree, no sign-up

Gnoosic

gnoosic.com

Name three bands you like and it guesses the fourth

Sound & SignalA minuteFree, no sign-up

Gapminder

gapminder.org

Hans Rosling's bubble chart, still worth an hour

Data Made VisibleCoffee breakFree, no sign-up

This Is Sand

thisissand.com

Pour coloured sand and let it pile up in drifts

Generative ToysA minuteFree, no sign-up

18 categories

Pick a direction

Each category is its own page, with the sites grouped by how much time they ask for.

Time MachinesThe internet's own memory, still browsable.18 sites

Beautifully UselessNo purpose whatsoever, and that is the point.18 sites

Generative ToysMove the mouse, make something you can keep.18 sites

Mind BendersOne more round, then bed. Definitely.23 sites

Explain EverythingHard things, made suddenly obvious.22 sites

Cosmos & ScaleZoom out until you feel small.22 sites

The Live PlanetWhat Earth is doing, right this second.22 sites

Sound & SignalMusic discovery that beats the algorithm.22 sites

The Calm CornerSomewhere to put your shoulders down.18 sites

Deep ArchivesLong reads and older, stranger knowledge.18 sites

Comedy DepartmentReliable laughs, low commitment.19 sites

Wiki DivesEnter for one fact, leave two hours later.18 sites

Practical MagicFree tools that feel like cheating.18 sites

AI PlaygroundMachine learning you can poke at.18 sites

Pixel NostalgiaOld software, running again, in a tab.18 sites

Data Made VisibleNumbers that finally mean something.17 sites

The Wholesome WebFor when the feed has been too much.18 sites

Sandboxes & SimulatorsSmall worlds that keep running without you.18 sites

Be honest

How long have you actually got?

The most useful filter in the directory, and the one no listicle gives you.

106InstantGood within five seconds of loading.78A minuteOne quick round, then you can leave.100Coffee breakFive to fifteen minutes of proper attention.61Rabbit holeClear your evening. We warned you.

8 collections

Sorted by mood, not topic

Cross-sections that cut across every category — for when you know how you want to feel, not what you want to read.

All collections

The ones that take the whole night

Sites with enough depth that you will look up and find two hours gone.

Rate Your Music

rateyourmusic.com

Charts for any genre, year or country you can name

Sound & SignalRabbit holeFree, no sign-up

Distill

distill.pub

Machine learning papers you can actually see working

Explain EverythingRabbit holeFree, no sign-up

Discogs

discogs.com

A catalogue of very nearly every record ever pressed

Sound & SignalRabbit holeFree, no sign-up

Jane Street Puzzles

janestreet.com

One properly hard maths puzzle, every single month

Mind BendersRabbit holeFree, no sign-up

Built by AltF

Some of these we liked enough to build ourselves

49 entries in the directory have an AltF equivalent — free, no account, and built to work on a phone.

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Questions

About this directory

What is AltF Rabbithole?: A directory of 345 websites that are strange, beautiful, useful or quietly brilliant, organised into 18 categories. Every entry has its own page explaining what the site does and why it is worth opening, so you can decide before you click rather than after.
How is this different from a list of cool websites?: An article gives you thirty links in a fixed order and goes stale. This is a directory: you can filter by category, by how long a site takes to pay off, by the mood you are in, and by whether it works on a phone. Entries get corrected and added rather than republished with a new year in the title.
Do I need an account to use any of these?: Mostly not. 338 of the 345 sites listed are free and ask for nothing before you can use them, and you can filter the directory down to only those.
How do sites get added?: Every entry is opened, used and written up by hand. Nothing is scraped, nobody pays to be listed, and links are checked so that dead sites come out rather than sitting in the list forever.
What is the best website to visit when bored?: It depends how long you have. For under a minute, the Beautifully Useless and Generative Toys categories pay off immediately. For a proper evening, Wiki Dives and Explain Everything are the ones that swallow the most time. If you cannot choose, use the Surprise me button.
Are the links safe to open?: Every site here was opened and used before being written up. They are ordinary public websites — no downloads, no installs, and nothing that needs a payment to see what it does.

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