37 cool websites you didn't know existed
The hidden gems. Small, strange and lovingly made websites that never show up in search results but get passed around in group chats.
Each one is a little world of its own, and each was found, opened and checked by a person.
Updated · 37 sites · hand-checked
-
1. Radio Garden
Spin a globe and listen to live local radio from anywhere on earth. The best map on the internet.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- radio.garden
-
2. WindowSwap
Ten minutes out of a stranger's window, somewhere in the world. Uploaded by whoever lives there, with the birds and the traffic left in.
- Fun & Weird
- Freemium
- window-swap.com
-
3. Every Noise at Once
An algorithmically generated scatter plot of every musical genre Spotify knows, each one playable.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- everynoise.com
-
4. Drive & Listen
Ride along a real dashcam drive through a city of your choice while its local radio stations play.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- driveandlisten.app
-
5. The True Size Of
Drag countries across the Mercator projection and watch Greenland shrink to its actual size.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- thetruesize.com
-
6. Your Name in Landsat
Type any word and NASA spells it out with real Landsat satellite photos of rivers, islands and deserts that happen to look like letters.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- science.nasa.gov
-
7. There's nothing to watch
Tens of thousands of films laid out as a zoomable map of posters, grouped by similarity. Wander until something catches your eye.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- nothing-to-watch.port80.ch
-
8. Music-Map
Type a band and it floats in a cloud of similar artists, the closest ones nearest. A simple, surprisingly good way to find your next favourite.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- music-map.com
-
9. Recommend Me a Book
Read the opening page of a random novel with title and author hidden, and only reveal them if it hooks you.
- Read & Archive
- Free
- recommendmeabook.com
-
10. Scale of the Universe
Zoom continuously from the Planck length to the observable universe. Still stunning years later.
- Science & Space
- Free
- scaleofuniverse.com
-
11. Floor796
A huge animation scene with many references to memes, games, films, series, anime, music groups
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- floor796.com
-
12. Wiby
A search engine for pages built like it is still 1999. Surprise Me is the main feature.
- Read & Archive
- Free
- wiby.me
-
13. Marginalia Search
A search engine that deliberately favours small, non-commercial, text-heavy sites. Finds the old web.
- Read & Archive
- Open source
- search.marginalia.nu
-
14. Atlas Obscura
A gazetteer of the world’s overlooked places — a stairwell to nowhere, a museum of soil, a town built inside a rock. Browsable as a map or as very good writing.
- Read & Archive
- Free
- atlasobscura.com
-
15. Poolsuite FM
An endless summer radio station wrapped in a System 7 interface, with VHS holiday footage playing in a little window. Formerly Poolside FM, still ridiculously good fun.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- poolsuite.net
-
16. City Walks
Long walking videos through cities, beaches and night streets, with the street sound left in. Pick a city and wander.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- citywalks.live
-
17. Famelack
Live TV channels, radio and webcams from around the world, browsable by country. Formerly TV Garden. No account, no ads.
- Music & Audio
- Free
- famelack.com
-
18. Chronotrains
Pick any European station and watch the map bloom outwards, shaded by how far you can get by train in one to five hours. Ruinous for an afternoon of work.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- chronotrains.com
-
19. TasteAtlas
A world map of traditional dishes. Zoom into any region to see what's eaten there and the places that do it best.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- tasteatlas.com
-
20. 100,000 Stars
Zoom out from the Sun through a 3D map of our stellar neighbourhood, with over a hundred thousand real stars to click on.
- Science & Space
- Free
- stars.chromeexperiments.com
-
21. Little Web World
A tiny desktop of whimsical web toys and oddities. Open the little apps and see which one makes you smile.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- littleweb.world
-
22. Make My Drive Fun
Enter a start and end point and get the odd roadside attractions, viewpoints and detours worth stopping for along the way.
- Maps & Earth
- Free
- makemydrivefun.com
-
23. Roadtrippers
Plan a road trip on a map and see the attractions, viewpoints and quirky stops worth detouring for along the route.
- Maps & Earth
- Freemium
- roadtrippers.com
-
24. endless.horse
Scroll down to see the horse's legs. Keep scrolling. One of the internet's most committed jokes.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- endless.horse
-
25. Find the Invisible Cow
Move your cursor around a blank page while a voice gets louder the closer you get to a hidden cow. Pure, silly sound design.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- findtheinvisiblecow.com
-
26. Is my computer on?
A website that answers exactly one question, with exactly one word. A tiny classic of the useless web.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- ismycomputeron.net
-
27. Patience is a virtue
A page that asks you to wait. Keep waiting and it slowly rewards you. A quiet joke about attention.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- patience-is-a-virtue.org
-
28. Sprite Fusion Destroy
Type in any web address and the page turns into a pixel-art level you can smash apart, alone or with friends.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- destroy.spritefusion.com
-
29. Staggering Beauty
Wiggle your mouse at a black worm and keep shaking it. Best avoided if flashing lights bother you. A useless-web classic.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- staggeringbeauty.com
-
30. TasteDive
Name a band, film, book or game you love and get a list of similar things across all of them.
- Read & Archive
- Free
- tastedive.com
-
31. Your AI Slop Bores Me
Type a prompt and a human, not a model, answers it. A funny and rather sweet protest against generated everything.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- youraislopboresme.com
-
32. Windows 93
A fake, hostile, hilarious operating system running in your browser with real working nonsense apps.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- windows93.net
-
33. AlternativeTo
Crowdsourced alternatives to any piece of software, filterable by licence and platform.
- Everyday Tools
- Freemium
- alternativeto.net
-
34. Pointer Pointer
Move your mouse anywhere and a photo of a person pointing at exactly that spot appears.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- pointerpointer.com
-
35. The Useless Web
One button. It sends you to a completely pointless website. That is the whole product.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- theuselessweb.com
-
36. Cat Bounce
Physics-enabled cats fall from the top of the screen. You can throw them. That is all.
- Fun & Weird
- Free
- cat-bounce.com
-
37. Radiooooo
Pick a country and a decade and hear what was playing there. A time machine with a taste level.
- Music & Audio
- Freemium
- radiooooo.com
Want more than 37?
This list is one slice of a directory of 479 websites. Search, filter by category or tag, or shuffle the lot.
Explore the full directoryQuestions
Where do you find cool websites like these?
From people. Every entry in this directory was submitted or found by someone, and anyone can suggest one with the "Add a site" button on the homepage.
Is there a random cool website button?
Yes. Press "Surprise me" on the homepage or the R key to shuffle the whole directory.
More lists like this
- Websites to cure boredom 40
- Powerful websites you should know 50
- Useful websites you should know 40
- Websites that feel illegal to know 40
- Mind-blowing interactive websites 40
- Free websites that should cost money 40
- AI websites worth using 16
- Websites for students 40
- Websites for designers 40
- Websites for developers 40
- Free browser games 40
- Websites for music lovers 40
- Websites for artists 40
- Nostalgic retro websites 29
- Websites to explore the world 40
- Relaxing websites 19