You found a great article, clicked the link, and hit a paywall. Frustrating. The good news: there are several free, reliable ways to remove paywalls and read the full article in seconds — no subscription, no login, no extension needed.
Before jumping into methods, it helps to know what type of paywall you're dealing with. There are two kinds:
Most major news sites use soft paywalls, which means most of the methods below will work for most articles you encounter.
The easiest approach is to use a dedicated paywall removal tool. Bypass Paywall Reader lets you paste any article URL and instantly try 6 different archive methods — all in one place, no setup needed.
How to use it:
This works on most soft-paywalled news sites. The tool checks multiple archive sources automatically, so you don't have to manually try each one.
Archive.is (also accessible as archive.ph or archive.fo) is a webpage archiving service that stores snapshots of articles — often before paywalls are applied. It's one of the most reliable methods for hard-to-bypass sites.
How to use it:
archive.phAlternatively, prepend archive.ph/ directly to the article URL in your browser. For example: archive.ph/https://example.com/article. This searches for existing snapshots and usually lands you straight on the full article.
Archive.is works particularly well for financial and business news sites that other tools struggle with.
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine stores billions of web pages over time. Many articles are archived before paywalls are added, making them freely accessible.
How to use it:
web.archive.orgThis works best for articles that are at least a few weeks old. For very recent articles, the Wayback Machine may not have a snapshot yet. In that case, try Archive.is instead.
Smry.ai takes a different approach — it uses AI to fetch and summarize articles, bypassing paywalls in the process. It works well on sites where archive methods fail because it doesn't rely on existing snapshots.
How to use it:
smry.ai/ to the URL: smry.ai/https://example.com/articleThe main limitation is that Smry.ai has a free usage limit. If you hit it, try one of the archive methods above.
Many sites use metered paywalls — they give you a certain number of free articles per month and then ask you to subscribe. These track you through cookies. Incognito mode clears cookies, resetting your article count.
How to use it:
Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+N (Mac)Ctrl+Shift+POpen the incognito window and visit the article URL directly. This works for metered paywalls but won't work on hard paywalls or subscription-only sites.
Some browsers have a built-in Reader Mode that strips away page styling including, occasionally, paywall overlays. This works best on soft paywalls where the article text is present but visually blocked.
How to use it:
F9chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode to enable it, then look for the icon in the address barIf the article is fully blocked by a hard paywall, Reader Mode won't help. But for soft paywalls, it can work surprisingly well.
Want the easiest way? Try all 6 methods in one place.
Remove Paywall Now →Here's a quick decision guide:
Using publicly available archived versions of articles is generally accepted in most countries. These archive services operate independently and store content as part of their normal archiving function. We recommend checking the terms of service of any site you visit.
Sites with true hard paywalls — where the content is never sent to your browser until you pay — can't be bypassed by any free tool. The article text simply doesn't exist on the page. Examples include some specialty financial and legal publications.
No. All the web-based methods above require no installation. Just paste the URL and go. If you want automatic removal on every page, browser extensions like Bypass Paywalls Clean (available on GitHub) can do that, but they require manual installation.
12ft Ladder (12ft.io) shut down in July 2025 after legal pressure. Read our full guide to 12ft.io alternatives that still work in 2025.
Yes. Bypass Paywall Reader works on any device with a browser. Just open the site on your phone, paste the URL, and tap Remove Paywall. For incognito mode on mobile: long-press the browser icon on iOS/Android to open a private tab directly.