30 Insanely Useful Websites You Probably Don't Know About (2024)

The Internet never ceases to amaze; it's simultaneously the best resource for learning, the biggest tool for relieving boredom, and – ahem – the best place to see cats.

Even if you're an online ninja, you'll never have seen it all – as of today, there are a mammoth one billion websites online. To put that into context, you'd have to visit a new page every second for 31 years to get through it all.

With that in mind, here's our look at the top thirty websites that you probably don't know about...

Music and Audio

1. Noisli

Lots of people struggle to concentrate without some kind of background noise – especially in noisy offices and public spaces. Research has shown that intermittent speech is terrible for your productivity, but it has also been shown that any type of white noise can help boost your level of output.

Noisli lets you mix together random sounds to create your perfect environment.

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2. HypeMachine

If you want to stay abreast of what the world is listening to, this is the site for you. The site indexes 720 popular music blogs, constantly monitoring them to find out what is being written about.

The results are presented in a number of ways – including sections dedicated to "Latest", "Top 50", "Popular", and "Experimental" – all of which will help you discover songs you'll love.

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3. Gnoosic

Music discovery is all the rage these days. Sites such as Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, and Tidal are falling over themselves in their attempts to provide you with new ways of finding singers and musicians you'll want to listen to.

Thankfully, Gnoosic is a lot more straightforward. Just enter your three favorite bands and they'll take care of the rest.

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Film and Cinema

4. Box Office Mojo

Box Office Mojo lacks the polish of some modern sites, but what it lacks in design it more than makes up for in content.

You'll find everything from release dates and box office takings to breaking news and studio information. If you're a movie buff, this is a must-see.

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5. Moviefone

Moviefone is the website equivalent of the smartphone app. It'll show you what films are currently in cinemas nearby, as well as trailers, preview availability, and information on actors and directors.

Of course, there is also a healthy dose of news, gossip, and picture galleries.

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6. A Good Movie to Watch

We've all been there – endless hours of arguing over what to watch, only to ultimately come up with something that nobody is satisfied with.

A Good Movie to Watch tries to remove those arguments by offering you suggestions. It will even let you chose which on-demand video services you use (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), so you can be sure whatever it recommends will be available to you.

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Productivity

7. MyFonts

The MyFonts page itself is a news site dedicated to various fonts. The reason it makes this list, however, is thanks to its "WhatTheFont" tool – it'll help you identify a font if you're not sure what it is.

Just upload a PNG, GIF, or JPEG image file with the font in question clearly displayed, and it'll search their massive database to present you with the closest matches.

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8. Adobe Color

Adobe Color is a free tool which lets you find complementary color palettes on a color wheel. You can choose from various color-matching rules, as well as by adjusting the RGB filters of up to five individual sliders. It is perfect for decorating, designing websites, or making marketing materials!

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9. Word Frequency Counter

If you're writing a college essay, blog post, or a lengthy email to a loved one, you sometimes get the feeling that you're repeating yourself – using the same words over and over.

Take a sanity-check withthis awesome tool – just paste in your text and it will tell you how many times you've used each word.

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10. The Rasterbator

Have you ever wanted to blow up one of your photos to a massive size? Perhaps you wanted to create some really cool wall art or maybe you wanted to print a giant "Happy Birthday" message for a friend?

The Rasterbator can help – upload your image and it will provide you with a multi-page PDF document that you can then download and print.

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11. PrintFriendly

Yes, we know we are supposed to be living in a paperless world, but in reality, most of us aren't.

If you desperately need to print a webpage, you should first run it through this site; it will make even the craziest website layouts become printer-friendly.

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12. SimpleSavr

These days we all work off multiple devices and computers around the home. This creates a problem if you want to quickly share a link, a paragraph or text, or a phone number between gadgets.

Thankfully, SimpleSavr makes it easy – paste any text into the site and it will automatically be available on every computer which is connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

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13. ThrowAwayMail

If you want to get a perk or promotion but don't want to receive a lifetime of spam emails, you should use a throwaway email. When used in conjunction with a password generator, they are also useful for burying accounts which have no delete function.

This site gives you an address and an inbox, both of which will remain active for as long as you keep the tab open.

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14. OneLook Reverse Dictionary

"It's on the tip of my tongue!"

How many times do we say that every week? You know what a word is, but you just can't place it. This reverse dictionary might help – type the concept or definition and it'll throw back a list of possible words that match.

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DIY and Home Improvement

15. This to That

Newsflash – super glue is not the answer to every bonding job around the home. A quick walk down the relevant aisle at Home Depot will reveal thousands of different glues and bonding agents – so much so that the choice can be overwhelming.

This to That aims to help by letting you enter the two things that you're trying to stick together, then telling you the best adhesive for the job.

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16. ManualsLib

Instruction books get lost – it's a fact of life. In the excitement of bringing home a new tech toy, DIY tool, or kitchen gadget, they often get thrown out along with all the packaging.

Fear not, ManualsLib has almost 2 million manuals for 40,000 brands – all free to access and available for download.

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Food

17. Two Foods

What's a healthier choice for dinner – chicken salad or a pizza? Ok – that's an easy one, but what if you wanted to compare an apple to a banana? Or a lettuce to a cabbage? Not so easy.

Two Foods lets you pick two foods and compare their nutritional values – perfect for people who are trying to get fit or lose weight.

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18. RipeTrack

RipeTrack helps you avoid that burning disappointment you feel when you buy an avocado and it's too hard, or you buy strawberries and they're not sweet.

Just enter the fruit or vegetable that you want to check, and it will tell you when it's in season in different parts of the world. From this day on you'll always have the ripest stuff on your dinner table!

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19. Ebates

Ebates is one of the leading cashback sites. It launched in 1998 and claims to have saved its members more than $325 million since.

Simply shop on your favorite sites, use their coupons, and receive a nice big check in your account at the end of each month.

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20. DealNews

Do you want to know about the latest tech giveaways and amazing deals on perfumes and aftershaves? Or perhaps you just want to read experts' guidance on how to save money on everything from weddings to vacations? Head to DealNews and you won't be disappointed.

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21. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is another cashback site, but it has a wider scope than Ebates. That's because it tries to give you cashback for "the everyday things you do online", including answering surveys, watching videos, conducting searches, and – of course – shopping.

The site is approaching $130 million in cashback since launch.

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Education

22. OpenLibrary

OpenLibrary's main goal is to create a webpage for every book ever written. That in itself makes this a hugely valuable resource, but what really makes it shine is its eBook library. At the time of writing, it offers more than 250,000 free ebooks that can be "borrowed" in either PDF, ePub, or online form.

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23. Curiosity

Curiosity killed the cat. And my productivity. And my New Year's resolutions, and, and, and…

This site complies videos on almost any topic from all the various video services out there, presenting them all on one easy-to-digest webpage. Just create an account, tell the site what you're interested in, and their algorithms will do the rest.

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24. Library of Congress

The Library of Congress was the United States' first established cultural institution and has since gone on to become one of the largest free libraries in the world.

They have collections on everything from ancient manuscripts to sound recordings, masses of video content, and millions of books.

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Travel

25. Virtual Tourist

Want content similar to TripAdvisor without the paid-for reviews, biased comments, and fake top tens?

Virtual Tourist is a great alternative. It focuses on user-generated travel contentand includes reviews, photos, videos, and guides. Each member has their own profile and each destination has multiple categories, thus making site-wide navigation a breeze.

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26. TravelZoo

Sadly, traveling the world can be expensive. That's why you should try get your hands on the best deals once you arrive at your destination.

That's where TravelZoo excels – just enter your city of choice and hundreds of deals and offers will be presented to you.

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27. Inside the Travel Lab

Let's suppose you just like reading about traveling (rather than, you know, getting on a plane and actually going somewhere!). You have endless blogs and travel sites to choose from, but one of the best is Inside the Travel Lab.

It was created by Abi, a former doctor who packed it in to become a full-time traveler. She's since been featured in National Geographic, the BBC, Lonely Planet, and Conde Naste.

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Fun and Games

28. Web Sudoku

Many people think Sudoku originated in Japan. In fact, it has its origins in 19th century France before being developed into the modern game in the late 1970s by an American.

Either way, if you like the patience-testing "fun" of the popular number game, you can spend hours on this site. There are thousands of boards across a range of difficulty levels.

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29. Pogo

Pogo has free games galore. Whether you want puzzle games, board games, hidden object games, word games, arcade games, or casino games, this site will have it.

Members can play against their friends and record their top scores.

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30. iSketch

Remember the classic board game Pictionary? This is an online version. It supports up to ten people per game, each of whom takes it in turns to draw whatever word or phrase that they are given.

There are even specialty rooms that just focus on a single topic, such as movies or music.

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So, thirty sites down, 999,999,970 to go. What we've selected is a mere drop in the ocean when you consider all the cool and little-known web pages out there.

What did you think of our list? Did you find something useful or were all our picks old hat for you?

We're sure you've got your own list of hidden gems that are tucked away in the mountain of online content – and of course, we'd love to hear about them. You can let us know your thoughts and tips via the comments section below.

Image Credit: Pop art retro comic by Lina Kalina via Shutterstock

30 Insanely Useful Websites You Probably Don't Know About (2024)

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