Should I use Tor with Monero?

Yes, if IP privacy matters to you. Monero hides sender, receiver, and amount on-chain, but your IP address is visible to whatever node you connect to. Tor hides your IP from the node operator, closing the last major privacy gap.

Which Monero wallet has built-in Tor?

Feather Wallet has built-in Tor support on desktop — one click, no configuration needed. Monerujo supports both Tor and I2P on Android. Cake Wallet works with Orbot (separate Tor app) on Android. The official Monero GUI requires manual SOCKS5 proxy configuration.

Is Monero over Tor slow?

Slightly. Tor adds latency (typically 1-5 seconds per request). Wallet sync takes longer — a full sync might take 30-60 minutes over Tor vs 5-10 minutes over clearnet. But sending and receiving transactions is still fast (under 10 seconds). For most users, the privacy benefit far outweighs the speed cost.

Can I run a Monero node over Tor?

Yes. Add '--anonymous-inbound' and '--tx-proxy tor,127.0.0.1:9050' to your monerod config. Your node will be accessible via .onion address, hiding your home IP from the network. Monero has had native Tor/I2P support since 2020.

Is VPN or Tor better for Monero?

Tor is better for privacy. VPNs require trust — the VPN provider sees your traffic and can log it. Tor is trustless — no single relay sees both your IP and your destination. However, Tor is slower. If you need speed and trust your VPN provider, a VPN works. For maximum privacy (especially for P2P trading), use Tor.

Monero + Tor — How to Use XMR Over Tor for Maximum Privacy

TL;DR: Monero hides what you transact (amounts, addresses) but not where you transact from (your IP). Routing Monero through Tor hides your IP from node operators, ISPs, and network observers. Feather Wallet has one-click Tor. For mobile, use Monerujo (Tor/I2P built-in) or Cake + Orbot.

Why Tor Matters for Monero

Monero's on-chain privacy is excellent: ring signatures hide the sender, stealth addresses hide the receiver, and RingCT hides the amount. But there's one gap: your IP address.

Without Tor: When your wallet connects to a Monero node, the node operator sees your IP address. If they correlate that with transaction timing, they can link your real-world identity to your Monero activity. Your ISP can also see that you're connecting to Monero nodes.

With Tor: The node sees a Tor exit node IP — not yours. Your ISP sees encrypted Tor traffic — not Monero connections. Neither can link your identity to your transactions.

The Privacy Stack

Ring Signatures

Hides sender (on-chain)

Stealth Addresses

Hides receiver (on-chain)

RingCT

Hides amount (on-chain)

Dandelion++

Hides TX origin node

Subaddresses

Unlinkable addresses

Coin Control

Output management

Tor / I2P

Hides YOUR IP address

VPN

Hides from ISP (less private)

Own Node

Eliminates 3rd-party trust

Tor is the network layer of privacy. Without it, the on-chain privacy provided by ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT is incomplete — your IP address is the link between your real identity and your Monero usage.

Wallet Setup Guides

Feather Wallet (Desktop) Easy

Feather has built-in Tor — the simplest way to use Monero over Tor on desktop.

Download from featherwallet.org
Open Settings → Network → Proxy
Select "Tor (bundled)" — Feather runs its own Tor instance
All wallet traffic now routes through Tor automatically

That's it. No external Tor installation needed. Feather bundles its own Tor binary and manages the connection lifecycle. Status bar shows "Tor" when connected.

# Verify Tor is active:
# Look for the onion icon in Feather's status bar
# Or check Settings > Network — should show "Connected via Tor"

Monerujo (Android) Easy

Monerujo supports Tor and I2P natively — no separate apps needed.

Install from F-Droid or Play Store
Settings → Network → Enable Tor (or I2P)
Add a .onion node address, or let Monerujo find one
All traffic routes through the selected overlay network

Monerujo is the best choice for privacy-focused Android users. I2P support is a bonus — I2P has lower latency than Tor for Monero peer connections.

Cake Wallet + Orbot (Mobile) Medium

Cake Wallet doesn't bundle Tor, but works with Orbot (Tor proxy app).

Install Orbot from F-Droid or Play Store
Open Orbot → Enable VPN mode → Select "Cake Wallet" in app list
Connect to Tor in Orbot
Open Cake Wallet → Settings → Connection → Use a .onion node

Works on both Android and iOS. Requires Orbot to be running before opening Cake.

Monero GUI (Desktop) Medium

The official GUI requires manual SOCKS5 proxy configuration.

Install Tor: brew install tor (macOS), sudo apt install tor (Linux), or download Tor Browser (Windows)
Start Tor service: tor (runs SOCKS5 on 127.0.0.1:9050)
Monero GUI → Settings → Node → Remote node
Set SOCKS5 proxy: 127.0.0.1:9050
Enter a .onion node address or use clearnet with the proxy

# Start Tor daemon (runs in background):
tor &

# Common .onion nodes (verify these are current):
# xmrnode3iyizc4a3.onion:18089
# Check monero.fail for updated .onion nodes

Running Your Own Node Over Tor Advanced

For maximum privacy, run your own Monero node and expose it as a Tor hidden service.

# /etc/tor/torrc — add hidden service:
HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/monero/
HiddenServicePort 18089 127.0.0.1:18089

# monerod config (bitmonero.conf):
anonymous-inbound=YOUR_ONION.onion:18089,127.0.0.1:18089
tx-proxy=tor,127.0.0.1:9050,16
pad-transactions=1

# Restart both:
sudo systemctl restart tor
./monerod --config-file bitmonero.conf

With this setup, your node communicates with the network exclusively through Tor. Your home IP is never exposed to any peer. pad-transactions=1 pads TX data to a uniform size, preventing traffic analysis.

Tor vs VPN vs I2P for Monero

Feature	Tor	VPN	I2P
Trust model	Trustless (no single relay sees all)	Trust VPN provider	Trustless (distributed)
IP privacy	Excellent	Good (provider can log)	Excellent
Speed	Slow (3 relays)	Fast	Medium
Wallet sync time	30-60 min	5-10 min	15-30 min
Monero integration	Native (since 2020)	External app	Native (since 2020)
ISP visibility	Sees Tor traffic (but not content)	Sees VPN traffic	Sees I2P traffic
Legal scrutiny	High in some countries	Low	Low (less known)
Cost	Free	$3-10/month	Free
Best for	Maximum privacy	Speed + basic privacy	Node-to-node privacy

Recommendation: Use Tor for wallet-to-node connections (hiding your IP from the node). If you run your own node, add I2P for node-to-node connections (hiding your node's IP from peers). VPN is acceptable for casual use but provides weaker guarantees — the VPN company can be compelled to reveal your real IP.

Security Considerations

Tor is not a silver bullet. Be aware of these limitations:

Timing attacks: A powerful adversary watching both your ISP and the Tor exit node could correlate traffic timing. Mitigation: use pad-transactions=1 in monerod.
DNS leaks: Make sure your wallet resolves node hostnames through Tor, not your ISP's DNS. Feather handles this automatically. Manual setups: use .onion addresses (no DNS needed).
Browser fingerprinting: If you use web wallets or web-based block explorers alongside Tor, your browser fingerprint could de-anonymize you. Use Tor Browser for any Monero-related web activity.
Local security: Tor protects network traffic, not your local machine. If your device is compromised, Tor doesn't help. Use full-disk encryption and keep software updated.
Exit node snooping: Tor exit nodes can see unencrypted traffic. Monero P2P protocol is encrypted, but if you connect to a node via RPC without TLS, the exit node could intercept. Use .onion nodes (end-to-end encrypted, no exit node involved).

Monero .onion Nodes

Using .onion addresses for remote nodes is better than clearnet + Tor proxy because:

Traffic never leaves the Tor network (no exit node)
End-to-end encrypted within Tor
Node operator's IP is also hidden
No DNS resolution needed

Find current .onion nodes at monero.fail — filter by "Tor" or "I2P" and look for nodes with high uptime. Paste the .onion:18089 address into your wallet's remote node settings.

Do NOT use random .onion nodes blindly. A malicious node can't steal your funds (Monero's cryptography prevents that), but they can:

Log which subaddresses receive payments (view key not needed — they see outputs)
Correlate transaction broadcast timing with your connection pattern
Feed you a modified blockchain (detected by your wallet, but wastes time)

Best defense: run your own node. Second best: use nodes from trusted community lists like monero.fail.

Maximum Privacy Checklist

For the most private Monero setup possible in 2026:

Run your own node on a dedicated machine or VPS (no third-party trust)
Route monerod through Tor/I2P (tx-proxy + anonymous-inbound)
Use Feather Wallet with built-in Tor, connecting to your own node
Enable coin control in Feather (manage which outputs you spend)
Use a fresh subaddress for every transaction
Use view-only wallet for monitoring (keep spend key offline)
Pad transactions (pad-transactions=1 in monerod)
Wait for FCMP++ — eliminates ring size limitations entirely

P2P Trading Over Tor

For P2P XMR trading, Tor is especially important. When you trade on Haveno, XMRBazaar, or directly via Telegram, your counterparty might try to correlate your wallet activity with your trading identity. Tor prevents this by hiding your IP from the Monero nodes you connect to.

My setup (arnoldnakamura): Feather Wallet with Tor enabled, connected to my own Monero node running as a Tor hidden service. Every trade counterparty gets a fresh subaddress. 683 trades, zero privacy incidents.

Contact me on Telegram @arnoldnakamura for XMR/EUR P2P trades — Cash by Mail EU-wide, Face-to-Face in SW Germany.