Over the past few years, countless websites have added paywalls. If you want to read their articles, you must register and pay a monthly subscription fee. Some sites have "metered" paywalls, which means you can read a certain number of articles for free before they ask for money, while other sites have hard paywalls where you have to pay to even read an article.
Paywalls are primarily a thing for news sites, largely because relying solely on advertising revenue is no longer a viable strategy and news companies are looking to more direct revenue streams, such as monthly subscriptions. Of course, a paywall isn't entirely a bad thing - it's worth it to support journalism you believe is valuable, so by all means, if you can afford to pay to read articles, you absolutely should do so. But whether you've lost your password, didn't save it on your phone, are in a hurry, or are just strapped for cash and committed to a subscription later, there are ways to get around paywalls on the internet.
You may be able to successfully use some of these methods today, but this may change in the future as website restriction bypass methods become available. If nothing else, I hope you support the sites you read, especially your friendly local news outlets. But if you can't right now, here are some of the best ways to get around paywalls online.
Paste the title into Google
The simplest method is often the best. There are many premium sites that have an arrangement that gives free access to their articles to people arriving through Google searches. Your first port of call should be to copy the title and paste it into Google's search bar. This article should appear as the first result, so just click on it to read it for free.
Try Facebook Redirect
Some paid sites allow readers from Facebook to read articles for free, which works even if you don't have a Facebook account. To do this, open the article you want to read and go to the address bar of your web browser. Now paste https://facebook.com/l.php?u= before the paid article URL and open the page. This will show you the Facebook redirect page, which you can click on the "Follow Link" to open the website. Paid articles should now be free to read.
Open link in incognito window
Another quick method is to open the paid article in an incognito window of your web browser. Note that this method only works with metered paywalls. If you've exhausted your free article quota for the month on any site, opening its articles in an incognito window allows you to continue reading without paying.
Disable JavaScript in your browser
Some websites use JavaScript to hide content behind paywalls, and you can circumvent these blocks by disabling JavaScript in your browser. Note that disabling JavaScript can (and will) break most websites - some may not allow you to view comments, while others may not load at all. But if you just need to read the content of the post, it's worth trying.
Ideally, you should use a separate browser for this so you don't have to constantly enable and disable JavaScript. Once you've chosen a secondary browser, check out our guide to disabling JavaScript in various browsers.
Enable "Reader Mode"
Most modern browsers now have a "reader mode" that removes extraneous elements (such as ads, formatting, and white space) from the page. As a bonus, Reader Mode sometimes also allows you to bypass paywalls. This article will tell you how to use Reader Mode in Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Chrome.
Use a VPN
Some paid sites, such as the Washington Post, will let you read a limited number of articles for free each month, and once the limit is reached, they will bypass the wall. You can use a VPN to change your IP address and trick the website into giving you more freebies. This method won’t help with websites that don’t offer any free access, but it’s worth trying and works with both paid and free VPNs.
Edit several elements on a web page
If you know a little HTML and CSS, you can use your browser to edit elements to bypass some paywalls. Essentially, you are editing the page to remove the banner that locks the content behind the subscription. It's a lot like opening the curtains and seeing the beautiful scenery outside the window.
It works for some sites, but others add a hard-block that only displays the article if you're logged in with a paid account. Still, it's worth trying it once to see if it works:
On any website, right-click the banner below the last visible sentence of the article and select Inspect Element . This will open a console where you can search for problematic elements and hide or change them. The exact elements vary from site to site, but are usually labeled display , paywall , or subscribe . Here's a neat GIF from Reddit showing you how it's done.
Try a browser plug-in
There are many browser extensions that allow you to bypass paywalls on many websites. For academic articles, Unpaywall (Firefox, Chrome) is a good choice. For Chrome or Edge, you can also try Postlight Reader, which can also help you clear out cluttered ads and generally make online content easier to read.
Use 12ft.io (or try 1ft.io)
12ft.io is a simple website created with the sole purpose of getting past paywalls, and it's so simple to use that it seems to have become an easy target for those who want to stop you from easily bypassing paywalls. The site went offline a few months ago (the link returned an error message that said " This deployment has been disabled. Your connection is working fine. Vercel is working fine", whatever that means). It's back now, but who knows how long. Fortunately, there is an alternative that works in much the same way, 1ft.io.
To use either site, simply paste the link into the text field and click "Submit." (Alternatively, you can enter "https://1ft.io/" before the URL in the browser bar.) Both sites will tell you how to cache the "unpaid version" of the page. The only problem is that these don't work for all websites (The Wall Street Journal is a famous example). If you get an "Access Denied" message, try the next tool.
Archive pages using Archive.today
Archive.today is a website that archives any website you paste a link to on its bar. Think of it like taking a screenshot of any website that has a timestamp on it (describe it as a "time capsule" if you will). It "saves a copy of the text and graphics of a page to improve accuracy" and gives you an unchangeable record of a short link to any web page. As a bonus, you can often use this feature to bypass the paywall and read the entire article. Paste your link into the black "I want to search the archive for saved snapshots" bar. If the article you are trying to bypass has not been archived, put the URL in the red "My URL is valid and I want to archive its content" column. If 12ft.io has let you down, this tool is a great choice.
Spaywall promises to "legally bypass paywalls"
Spaywall, another site that works similarly to 12ft.io and Archive.today, says the site "legally [bypasses] the paywall by redirecting you to archived news and research papers." When testing links, the site seemed to take longer to archive pages than some of the other options, so it might be best for reading older articles.
Use paywall bypass shortcuts on Android
If you are trying to read paid articles on your Android phone, you can use the Bypass Paywalls Clean browser extension to bypass it. The extension used to be available for Firefox, but has been removed from the Mozilla store. However, you can add it to different browsers; Reddit users recommend trying Kiwi Browser.
Use paywall bypass shortcuts on iPhone
The last method on our list only works on iPhone: Apple's free Shortcuts app lets you run automation routines on your iPhone, and its tools have been used to bypass paywalls on various websites. There are many of these shortcuts, but they may not work on all websites. First try AntiPaywall, Bypass Paywall, Paywall and Cookie Bypass or Unpaywall.
Check if your local library offers access
Many libraries offer online paid magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Typically, you have to go to the library's website, log in with your card number or account details, and then access different publications indirectly through the library's portal (for example, if you live in Marin County, California, you can easily read Washington Post free). There are too many library systems to count, so you may or may not be lucky enough to join one that allows this benefit, but it's worth a try; since the library is paying publications for the service, you don't even have to Need to feel guilty. (Not sure if your system has a news portal? Ask your local librarian!)
Ask Subscribers for "Gift Articles"
This approach isn't likely to work very often, but it's worth a try when you're trying to read a paid article that's going viral: Many publications allow paying subscribers to "gift" a certain number of copies of the article at a time. month (for example, The Washington Post and The New York Times each allow 10 articles per month). If you know your aunt subscribes to the New York Times, it doesn't hurt to ask her if she'd like to read it to you occasionally.
Purchase individual articles using Blendle
If you can't afford a subscription but don't mind paying for individual articles, you can try the Blendle app. The news aggregator partners with publications and will sell you an article for a nominal fee - most articles cost a quarter, according to the App Store page. Cons: Limited publisher selection in the U.S. (the company is based in Europe), but includes The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and more.
