12 Legit Ways to Remove Paywall Blocks and Bypass Paywalls [Tested 2026]

The fastest way to bypass a paywall is Reader Mode or a cached copy from Archive.is. If those don't work, you can try using a VPN or an Incognito window. We tested dozens of methods and found 12 that still work in 2026.

Some paywalls rely on cookies or article limits, while others block content based on your IP address. Creator and membership paywalls on Patreon, Substack, and OnlyFans are often difficult to bypass without paying.

According to our survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, 3 in 5 internet users actively avoid websites they know have paywalls. That means publishers lose real traffic, not just subscription revenue, every time a reader bounces.

Below, you’ll find 12 ways to read paywalled articles for free, starting with options such as Reader Mode and archive sites, then moving to VPNs, browser extensions, and automation tools. We also explain which paywall remover tools may be worth trying.

How do you bypass a paywall on any website?

If you want to bypass paywalls, you're not alone. Here are the methods we recently tested and confirmed are still working today.

1. Turn on Reader Mode in your browser

You can bypass certain soft paywalls by switching to reader mode in your browser. We confirmed this by accessing a New York Times article.

To switch to Reader Mode in Chrome:

1. Click the menu (three dots) in the top-right corner of Chrome.
2. Hover over More tools.
3. Click Reader Mode.

To switch to Reader Mode in Mac Safari:

1. Look at the address bar.
2. Click the rectangle with lines in the address bar.
3. Reader Mode should now be on.

To switch to Reader Mode in iOS Safari:

1. Look at the address bar.
2. Locate Aa on the left side of the address.
3. Tap Aa.
4. Scroll until you find Show Reader, then tap it.
5. Reader Mode should now be on.
6. Repeat these steps to disable Reader Mode when you’re done.

To switch to Reader Mode in Microsoft Edge:

1. Select Enter Immersive Reader in the address bar.
2. To exit, select Exit Immersive Reader.
3. You may also use the keyboard shortcut F9 to access Immersive Reader.

2. Access the Google Cache archived version

Using Google Cache can serve as a simple paywall remover for soft paywalls, giving you a free article-reader experience. Multiple sites automatically archive articles by crawling the site, bypassing most paywalls because they must read the entire article to index it properly.

To access the Google cached versions, simply conduct an internet search for the URL on sites like the Webpage Archive or Wayback Machine.

We tested this on a New York Times article and were able to see the entire article with Webpage Archive and a partial snapshot on Wayback Machine. If one doesn't work when you try, it's a good idea to try another.

Another option was 12ft Ladder, but the free paywall remover was shut down by the News Media Alliance in July 2025.

3. Try a browser paywall remover or paywall bypassing extensions

If manually installing extensions from outside the Chrome Web Store makes you uneasy, you may want to pass on this option. There are browser extensions you can manually add to automatically block paywalls.

Some paywall-bypassing extensions have been removed from official extension stores after copyright complaints. In that case, you'll have to download them from GitHub and install them manually.

Extensions like Bypass Paywalls Clean may help you read articles behind paywalls. These extensions aren't available through official app stores, but they may sometimes bypass a paywall.

If you're feeling up to the challenge, here are a few that are well-received:

• Bypass Paywalls Clean
• Bypass Paywalls

Before downloading a GitHub project, review its recent updates, open issues, and community feedback. These signals can help you assess the project, but they don't confirm that a download is safe.

Make sure your cybersecurity software is up-to-date, and don’t disable anything to allow a download.

4. Use uBlock Origin ad blocker on Firefox

Using uBlock Origin with Firefox requires some setup, but the instructions on this site explain each step. TYou can create a custom uBlock Origin filter that lets you use the Bypass Paywalls Clean extension.

Since uBlock Origin is no longer available in Google Chrome, you'll need to use an alternative browser, such as Firefox, to continue using it. Learn more about uBlock Origin's restrictions in our complete uBlock Origin review.

5. Check out Bardeen

Bardeen is designed to help automate workflows, but through that capability, it can also bypass most paywalls with one of its pre-built automations called playbooks.

There are a few methods for doing this, but our favorite is the web archive playbook, which lets you access a site by looking like a Google web crawler rather than a person who needs to pay. Best of all, you can sign up for a free account through Bardeen.

6. Get access through your library

Check with your local library to see if they offer a subscription that lets you sign in to these websites for free. They may also provide online archives and other materials that support your desired reading.

You may also discover other cool things your library offers. For instance, the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) lets you borrow books through library apps like Hoopla, reserve museum admissions, rent hiking gear, and borrow a ukulele for free..^[1]

How do you get around a soft paywall?

Not all paywalls are built the same, and neither are the workarounds. According to our paywalls study, the most common bypass tactic among people who've hit a paywall is incognito mode (43%), followed by searching Google for a free version of the article (41%). Both are covered below, along with methods for sites that use IP addresses rather than cookies to track how often you access content.

A paywall that says you have reached your limit on free articles is a soft paywall, and the methods below may work for you.

1. Use a VPN

Best for: Sites that limit the number of articles you can read

A virtual private network(VPN) isn’t just for unblocking Netflix. Some paywalls, like The Washington Post and The Weather Channel, track your IP address to limit how many articles you can read each month for free. Using a VPN can change your IP address, which may let you read more articles.

To do this, you’ll need to switch your VPN server when you’ve hit the limit on the current server’s IP address. It’s that simple.

This method may work when a paywall tracks your IP address. If the paywall uses other controls, try another method to access the content.

If you want to give this method a try but don’t have a VPN, consider trying one of our recommendations below. These top-rated VPNs offer limited free trials and 30-day money-back guarantees, which let you request a refund if the service does not meet your needs:

2. Open an Incognito window

Best for: Sites that track your usage with cookies

Incognito mode doesn't make you anonymous when you browse the internet.

Opening your browser in Incognito mode starts a new session without your existing browsing cookies. This could let you access a site whose paywall uses cookies to track your usage.

Close the Incognito window when you finish to clear the cookies from that session. This is a simple way to try accessing a paywall that uses cookies.

3. Delete your browser cookies

Some soft paywalls use cookies to track how many articles you’ve read in the allotted period. You can manually delete your cookies (or block them altogether) to limit cookie-based tracking by some soft paywalls.

This will not work for subscription-based sites like The New York Times Cooking, but it should help you read more articles than your monthly allotted time from other sites that monitor cookies.

4. Use the Tor Browser

You’ll need the Tor Browser to make this work. Then, you’ll need to visit the site with the soft paywall you want to circumvent.

Once you’ve read the article, hit the New Identity button to start a fresh browser session. If you ever run into a soft paywall again while on Tor, simply click New Identity to get a fresh start and continue reading.

Tor can improve your privacy while you browse the web, but it doesn't guarantee anonymity. It may also let you access articles behind soft paywalls.

5. Use the Facebook URL

If the Facebook iOS shortcut doesn’t work for you, you can manually use the link to access the content. All you have to do is copy and paste https://facebook.com/l.php?u= before the link of any article. You’ll then be prompted to leave Facebook and be taken to the article. 

We tested this with a New York Times article, and it worked for about two seconds before loading the paywall.

6. Try an iOS Shortcut

If you're browsing the web on your iPhone and stumble upon a paywall, one of Apple's built-in features might help you get past the digital paywall. You can use the iOS Shortcuts app, along with Unpaywall.

We tried this with a few different sites, like The Wall Street Journal, Medium, and The New York Times. It only worked with NYT.com, but that's not to say it won't work for your paywall problems, as it unblocked the NYT article like a charm.

1. Add Unpaywall by opening the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and searching for "Unpaywall."
2. Open the paywalled article you want to read.
   

   

3. Tap the Options button at the bottom of Safari and scroll down to choose Unpaywall.
   

   

4. You may need to tap "Allow" for the Unpaywall shortcut to work.
5. After you allow the shortcut, it might open the article without a paywall.
   

   

Do free paywall removers work?

Yes, some free paywall removers work on certain sites. We tested a few tools to see which ones could access paywalled articles.

The free paywall removers we tested (and which actually worked)

Bye Bye Paywall gives you options, but we found that most didn't work. 12ft.io never loaded because it got shut down, and 1ft.io had a bad gateway. Archive.org and Google Cache both relied on the Wayback Machine, which did not work to bypass the New York Times paywall.

Archive.is successfully unlocked the NYT article. And when we tested RemovePaywall.com separately, we found that of the five options, only Archive.is worked there too.

Like RemovePaywall.com, PaywallBuster.com offers five ways to bypass paywalls, but the only working free paywall remover was Smry.ai.

To save time, try Archive.is or Smry.ai directly. Unlike the nonprofit Archive.org, Archive.is is privately funded and doesn't honor robots.txt, which may let it archive pages that site owners ask crawlers not to access. Smry.ai also limits the number of articles you can access.

Why we don't recommend free paywall removers

Free paywall removers may seem useful, but they carry legal and security risks. Some paywall removal sites and apps may violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) if they circumvent access controls to premium content.

Downloading files from a free site to view an article later also creates risk. Unknown files can contain malware, and some free paywall remover sites redirect visitors to malicious websites. Free paywall remover apps can also put your digital privacy and security at risk.

Risks include:

• Violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
• Unwittingly downloading malware or clicking a malicious link
• Providing free apps access to your data, online behavior, and more

Can you bypass creator and membership paywalls (Patreon, Substack, OnlyFans)?

Creator and membership paywalls work differently from the news paywalls above. Platforms like Patreon, Substack, Ko-fi, SubscribeStar, Boosty, OnlyFans, and Fansly keep posts behind a login and a payment, not just a cookie counter or a monthly article limit — so Reader Mode, Incognito, and archive tricks almost never unlock them.

You'll find tools and sites that claim to remove these paywalls (unlockt.me is one commonly searched example), but we don't recommend them. Like the free paywall removers above, these tools may infringe copyright by providing access to content a creator sells.They also often stop working when platforms patch them and can expose users to malware or phishing redirects

The bigger difference is that a news paywall protects a large publisher, while a creator paywall is often one person's income. If you want a creator's work without paying full price, the safer routes are their free posts and previews, a free membership tier where one exists, or waiting for posts that get unlocked publicly over time. 

And if the work is worth it to you, a subscription is the surest way to keep it coming.

Bottom line

Archival and web crawler tools such as the Wayback Machine may help you find earlier public versions of articles. A secure VPN has many uses beyond paywall bypassing, such as accessing geo-restricted content on streaming sites.

After using these methods to sample a site’s content, consider subscribing if you find it valuable. A subscription helps support creators and their future work.

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