Of the 1.1 billion websites that make up the world wide web, only 18% are currently active. Among those you’ll find the gem of gems — stupid websites that are active and carefully designed yet are absolutely, in the most amusing of ways, utterly useless.

We all need a mindless time-waster to allow our brains to bounce around in the background like old DVD screen savers.

From labyrinth mazes to trending cursor games, radio time machines, and hacker simulators, if that procrastination itch is coming about, itch it. Go on and give these wonderfully random websites a go. 

Best useless websites

Here are 20 of the best useless websites you can find online.

1. Hacker Typer

If you’re looking to cosplay like you’re in The Matrix, Hacker Typer is the simulator for you. Upon redirect, you’re presented with a dark screen with green text resembling a command-line interface quintessential to that of ’90s hacker films. And while the website is simply a simulator, it does make for a fun prank or troll.

2. Maze Toys 

Be warned, this next one is a true time-killer. Not only is Maze Toys so fun for puzzle fanatics, but it’s one of the brainchildren of The Useless Web creator Tim Holland. 

I’m quite the fan. It’s fun and interactive, offering three different maze games, Just Maze, Faultless, and Race the Clock, for us puzzle lovers looking to pass some time. Make sure you have free time; I spent 45 minutes playing around in Just Maze, a true time suck. 

3. WindowSwap 

Ahh, where does one begin with WindowSwap? Is it weirdly voyeuristic? Yes, most definitely. But is it, at the same time... satisfying? 

There’s great appeal: real-life video recordings of the POV from windowsills around the world... it’s grounding, connecting. It’s human.

According to their website, Window Swap is an artist venture where “people from around the world share the view from their windows to help someone else relax, focus, meditate, and travel without moving.”

Right now, I’m looking through Cara’s window; she has such a gorgeous view. It’s somewhere in Innerbraz, Austria. My heart’s happy. 

4. Radiooooo 

Ever curious to know what was playing on the radio in 1930s Paris? What about 1970s Taiwan? Yeah? Do I have the time machine for you.

Radiooooo is so, so cool. Simply click the decade and country, and you’ll be transported back in time, listening to the same lost music your grandparents once enjoyed in yesteryear. 

This random website is such a neat concept; a fun, nifty way to come upon “new” old music to add to your playlist. 

It’s available in whatever app store you’re using; give it a download or check out the site.

5. Pointer Pointer

Pointer Pointer is quite the random website. Move your cursor across the screen, wait about three seconds, and voilà, a photo of someone, something, or a group of someones will appear on your screen, pointing directly at your cursor.

Who are these someones? I’m unsure, but they look like pretty nice people from the early 2000s. As someone who was a child in those days, I’m a bit FOMO-nostalgic for those sweet and innocent pre-modern-social-media days.

6. Mondrian and Me

Brought to us by the same wonderful mind behind Maze Toys, Mondrian and Me is another fun, useless site with an artistic twist. This interactive point-click web page allows you to explore your “artistry” while killing time and indulging in some good ol’ procrastination.

7. Bored Button

Presenting a big, bright fire truck–red button upon redirect, the Bored Button is the only button on the internet here to cure your boredom.

Just click that big red button and see for yourself. The Bored Button will amuse you with endless fun and quirky internet games, memes, quizzes, and more.

8. Always Judge a Book by its Cover

Another brainchild of Tim Holland on our list, except this one isn’t a game, but rather a web page of weird book recommendations, cleverly titled Always Judge a Book by its Cover.

The perfect go-to site to find your next gag gift to order online, Always Judge a Book by its Cover houses titles like Toilet Paper Origami, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack, and Eating People is Wrong, as well as adult coloring books like Florida Man. 

These definitely are the type of books you’d expect from a website with the tagline, “Some books win awards, some win our hearts and others ... only serve to confuse.” Well said.

9. Ffffidget

The ffffidget website is the internet’s fidget spinner. Ah, what a magnificently useless website! Add it to the list.

You click it and it spins, or stops spinning, and so on. If the virtual version doesn’t quite do it for you, don’t be dismayed. You can buy your very own real-life fidget spinner by accessing the hyperlink at the bottom right-hand corner of ffffidget’s web page.

10. Try PaP

If you’re in need of a silly grin or need to check your password’s strength, look no further than Try PaP. The brainchild of Tobias van Schneider and Tim Holland, the passive-aggressive password machine, or PaP for short, is not entirely useless. 

A fun gag to test your password’s strength; simply type into the text box and, as Try PaP states, “Imagine your in-laws are helping you with a password ... this is what they’d say.”

11. Smash the Walls 

Smash the Walls, or rather, click the colorful walls and watch them crumble to reveal another colorful wall, is another interactive yet incredibly useless website.

Nevertheless, if you’re into bright, candy-colored, neon graphic web pages that crumble and unveil the next, then have at it. This useless site is for you.

12. Weird or Confusing 

Looking to buy something weird or confusing beyond the bizarre books mentioned above? Tim Holland has you covered.  

Whether you want to get lost in the depths of the bizarre items available on the internet or need an eccentric gift, Weird or Confusing is the useless website for this exact niche.

13. The Zen Zone 

Ah, The Zen Zone, another gift from Tim Holland. The Zen Zone is the perfect site to visit for a brief moment of quiet, meditative zen. Hey, not every useless website on the internet has to be absurd.

No cat GIFs with laser eyes, no doge memes or flashing wacky graphics — none of that. It’s just you and the wholesomely simplistic UI transporting you away to the zenest zones you’ll find online. Choose switch, swirl, or break ... and let the games begin.

14. Fish Feeder

Creative Tech Guy’s Fish Feeder is almost like a love letter to the early internet. Embodying the Microsoft Paint aesthetic of the early 2000s, Fish Feeder is a nostalgia-invoking, time-wasting treat. While not for everyone, if you’re into buying, selling, and breeding fish as you kill time, Jason O’Neill’s got you covered.

15. 2048 

A fun high school throwback if you’re a ’00s child, 2048 was your sudoku. I, for one, remember being totally terrible at the game but hooked nonetheless.

As an adult, I quite enjoyed hacking away at the game — burning time as the dopamine in my brain danced about until I realized, oh yeah, I got work to do.

16. Scream into the Void

Burn after writing? How about Scream into the Void. Type your deepest feelings, frustrations, concerns, or whatever’s got you and scream it into the void — quite the perfect alternative if you’re without paper or a lighter. 

But maybe it's not as cathartic?

17. Neon Flames

Like The Zen Zone, Neon Flames can be described as a meditative zen. Brought to us by Jonas Wagner’s 29a.ch, this “paint your own nebula” web page is so cool.

Simply choose a color and drag your cursor across the cosmos, painting your very own nebula as you go along. The longer you hold your cursor, the brighter the color;  just a fun FYI.

18. Patience Is a Virtue

Patience Is a Virtue is a wonderfully flippant web page, perfect for your next troll or April Fools’ Day. What is this magnificent beauty? A blank, loading web page.

Yes, a blank, forever-loading web page. To what? 

Perhaps we’ll never know.

19. Endless Horse

Endless Horse; the lovely, lackluster cousin to the once-trending Long Doge Challenge.

While there are no “wows” or cute doge dogs, there is a pixel horse. And you’ve guessed correctly, the horse gets long. The URL speaks for itself: It’s the endless horse. What else would you expect from such a useless website?

20. Paper Toilet

Topping off our list is perhaps the most useless website, Paper Toilet. Not to be confused with toilet paper. Paper Toilet is a web page featuring a single toilet paper roll on a black screen. Scroll, and the rest is weird internet history.

Make your own random website

So that’s our list; 20 of the best, most useless websites you can find online. And for those feeling extra inspired, design your own weird, random, “useless” website with Webflow.

From there, you can get eyes on your site by submitting to The Useless Web or Best Most Useless Websites — I saw they’re accepting entries.

Now fly, my friend; go off and design the next best, useless site.