How to Avoid Paid Access to Read an Article for Free
Most of us have done this before. Over the past few years, countless websites have added paid access: if you want to read their articles, you must register and pay a monthly fee. Some sites have “pay per meter” access — meaning you can read a certain number of articles for free before they ask for money — while others have hard pay access where you have to pay to read at least one article.
These are mainly news websites that have paid access, mainly because relying on ad revenue alone is no longer feasible, and news companies are looking for more direct sources of income, such as monthly subscriptions. And, of course, we don’t mind paid access – and you probably don’t mind either. If you can afford to pay to read articles, you should definitely do so. But whether you’ve lost your password, haven’t saved it on your phone, are in a hurry, or are just tied to money and promise yourself that you will sign up later, there are several ways to bypass paid internet access.
You may be able to successfully use some of these techniques today, but this may change in the future as websites restrict crawl methods. I hope you support the websites you read by signing up for a membership, especially your friendly local news agency, but if you can’t right now, here are some of the best ways to get around paid internet access.
Paste the title into google
The simplest methods are often the best. There are many paid websites that allow people who come from Google searches to access their articles for free. First of all, you need to copy the title and paste it into the Google search bar. The article should appear as the first result, so just click on it to read it for free.
Try to redirect Facebook
Some paid websites allow Facebook readers to read articles for free, and this method 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= in front of the paid article url and open the page. This will show you the Facebook redirect page and you can click on the link to open the website. The paid article should now be available for free reading.
Open link in a window in incognito mode
Another quick way is to open paid articles in an incognito window in your web browser, just note that this method only works with metered paid access. If you’ve used up your free article quota per month on any website, opening its articles in an incognito window may allow you to continue reading without paying yet.
Disable JavaScript in your browser
Some websites use JavaScript to hide content behind paywalls, and you can bypass these blockages by turning off JavaScript in your browser. Please note that disabling JavaScript can (and will) disrupt most websites – some may prevent you from viewing comments, and others may not load at all. But it’s worth a try if you just need to read the content of the post.
Ideally, you should use a separate browser for this so that you don’t have to constantly turn JavaScript on and off. If you have opted for an additional browser, see our guide on how to disable JavaScript in different browsers.
Edit a couple of elements on the webpage
If you know a little about HTML and CSS, you can edit the elements using your browser to avoid using paywalls. Basically, you are editing the page to remove banners blocking subscription content. This is a lot like opening a curtain to reveal a beautiful view outside the window.
It works with some websites, but others have added a hard block that only shows the article if you’re signed in with a paid account. However, it’s worth giving it a try to make sure it works:
On any website, right-click the banner below the last visible sentence of the article and select Check Item . This will open a console where you can search for offensive items and hide or modify them. The specific element varies from site to site, but it is often labeled as ” display ,” ” paywall,” or ” subscription . “ Here’s a nifty GIF on Reddit that shows you how.
Use an annotation service
Annotation Services lets you clean up the clutter of websites and add notes or highlights as if you were doing it in a printed book or magazine. Some of these services can be used to bypass certain paid connections. Outline is one such service.
You can go to the Outline website and paste the link to the paid article. Click ” Build Structure” to give your site a chance to work wonders. You will be taken to a new page that downloads the entire article, which is your way of bypassing paid access. Outline creates a new URL for every article you try to download from its website, so bookmark them for later.
Some sites are blocked Outline access to their Web sites, and if the service can not show you an article, you can try reducing the URL-addresses, for example is.gd, as a temporary solution. Just paste the shortened URL into the Outline to bypass the block.
Try browser add-ons
There are many browser extensions out there that allow you to bypass paywalls on most websites. You can try bypassing Paywalls (works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox) or Bypass Paywalls Clean ( Firefox ). For academic articles, Unpaywall ( Firefox , Chrome ) is a good choice.
Check out Paid Bypass Shortcuts on iPhone
The last method on our list only works on iPhones: the free Apple Shortcuts app lets you run automation routines on your iPhone, and its tools are used to bypass paid channels on various websites. There are many such shortcuts and may not work with all websites. You can try AntiPaywall , Bypass Paywall , Paywall and Cookie Bypass or Unpaywall .