Regular users of internet, considers that internet just comprises of regular use search engines, social media website, e-commerce portals, music and movie streaming sites etc. However, these websites is just a small portion of internet and there is another huge portion of internet which is kept hidden from the users due to variety of reasons. These are majorly confidential things which are beyond the imagination or plan of sight of common people.

To explain such hidden portion of internet, two latest technical terms is used which is dark and deep web. These two terms are too technical in nature that people often get confused between them and find it hard to differentiate between them. To help people understand what each one of these means, and how they are different from each other we have brought forth key differentiating factors of dark web vs deep web highlighted below.

Meaning

To understand the basics of dark web vs deep web, the very first thing one should gain insight into is their meaning. Deep web is the portion of internet which is hidden from conventional search engine because of encryption and also aggregate of de-indexed websites. On the contrary,the dark web is defined as the portion of internet that is intentionally hidden from search engines by used masked IP address. These sites contain illegal things which are framed to cater needs of specific section of society. While internet is all about hyperlinks connected to each other, in dark web there are only URLs which are not connected to each other in any ways.

Traceability

Another major factor contributing to dark web vs deep web is traceability. When people talk about the hidden items available on internet, i.e. drugs, weapons, child pornography or any illicit item, then it can be termed as dark web. It is also termed as darknet, which is accessed using The Onion Router or I2P such that anonymity for users and site owners can be maintained. The dark web is majorly used by illegal people such that they remain untraceable in the online world. On the contrary, deep web is something vast and it accounts for approx. 90% of the internet. Users can have access to this portion of internet by making use of special tools.

Accessibility

It might seem to the users that accessing both dark and deep web is a simple thing to do, but that is not the fact at least when we talk about dark web. Deep web can be accessed easily in comparison to dark web. Dark web is majorly based on private networks that are carrying out illegal activities. The content on dark web is found in TOR network which is impossible to access from normal browsers like Google Chrome, Internet explorer etc. On the contrary for accessing deep web you need not require any additional software, just the use of normal tools can give you accessibility to the web. Although deep web content cannot be found on search engine portal, you will have to find the content by searching inside deep website or portal.

Note: You need to remember lot of things while accessing deep web. If you are newbie, here is complete guide about how to access the deep web for you.

Purpose

Another highlighting factor of dark web vs deep webis the purpose they are used on internet. Dark web basic purpose is to facilitate illegal proceedings or things over internet i.e. activities which are not legal in the online world. The anonymity of creator of such web pages is maintained throughout to ensure that creators or owners does not gets caught up by the cyber investigation team. On the contrary if we talk about deep web, it majorly comprises of section that is kept hidden from users and only appears on special request. Here the basic intention is to maintain privacy of data and ensure that it gets displayed only in front of users who are in true terms users of the data.

Insider content

The scope of content available on both the webs is entirely different from each other. While one web is filled with illegal activities, the other one has content which creator does not wants the visitors to be able to access easily. Dark web is full of content that is not allowed on internet and might become the reason to harm people. The activities of dark web are undertaken anonymously such that no suspicion can be raised on people behind it. On the contrary, deep web also remains hidden from search engines but there are no illegal activities taking place here. The main intent here is to prevent users to come across the content accidentally unless they are searching for it. This is the only reason the information on deep web is maintained as a secret.

Type of information

Dark web vs deep web can also be emphasized by highlighting the type of information supplied using it. Dark web majorly focuses on carrying out illegal activities. Some of the activities performed using dark web includes controlled substance marketplaces of products like drugs or other addictive products, sale of restricted items like weapons and armories, child pornography, money laundering, copyright infringement, identity theft, child pornography, credit card fraud etc. Now if we talk about deep web it majorly contains government information, research material and other similar things which are not open to public unless they search for it specifically using special tools.

Size of the web

The analogy of iceberg has been used to represent dark web vs deep web. It is almost impossible to estimate or measure the size of deep web, and the major reasons to it is all the information on web is hidden or locked inside deep web databases. Earlier it was estimated that deep web is 400 to 500 times larger than dark web, but it would be inappropriate to measure it in this terms. As online information and database is increasing with every passing day, deep web is growing exponentially that is hard to calculate or determine. On the contrary if we talk about dark web it is just a small portion of deep web which not even comprises of 0.1% of it.

The Bottom Line

The facts mentioned above very well clarifies that many factors contribute to dark web vs deep web and botho f them holds different place in the online world. While deep web comprises of the major portion of World Wide Web, dark web contributes to only small portion and can be even considered as a part of deep web. Owing to requirement of various users across internet, the use and demand of both the webs has been on an increasing trend and people are extensively using it to maintain secrecy and demand of information supplied over the web.