Spaywall | Read news for free on any device

Frequently Asked Questions

Spaywall helps you legally remove the paywall on many articles by searching for an archived version of the article on the Internet Archives website (archive.org), a non-profit organization whose mission is "to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge."

Yes. Spaywall effectively allows you to remove paywalls or bypass the paywall on an article but in a way that does not interfere with the original page in any way. I simply display for you an already-existing webpage from the Internet Archives (archive.org). I do not own, run, maintain, or have any association with archive.org. I display their content on this site without making you leave the page, but do not host their content.

If you frequent a certain news outlet, please consider supporting quality journalism. I don't intend Spaywall to replace a digital news subscription.

No. Because the algorithm searches the archives for a paywall-free copy, an archived copy must already exist. That means articles sometimes need to be a few days old to have been crawled by the Internet Archives (though I have seen same-day news work many times).

The algorithm strives to always correctly detect if a paywall-free version has been archived. It's pretty good, but it's not 100%. Your mileage may vary.

Yes! Spaywall started as a browser extension, which doesn't work on mobile browsers. I created the Spaywall website to work for any device.

For convenience on desktop devices, get the free browser extension for Chrome↗, Firefox↗, or Edge↗.

Spaywall is 100% free, and always will be.

Spaywall depends entirely on the generous donations from users like yourself. Please consider making a donation to help me keep the servers running — I appreciate each one! 💗

Or, if you're willing, it would be awesome if you could leave a review in the Chrome Web Store, or spread the word on social media using these links. Thank you! 🙏🏻

My original tagline was "And remember... don't forget to have your paywalls spayed or neutered" (à la Bob Barker's iconic line). ✂ 🐱 🐶

Yeah, it's pretty cheesy.

What others are saying

Amazing because it lets you read content from all over the world, not only of US and Europe newspapers. Simply the best! xD

Jaime S.

Works like a charm! thank you guys.

Roni G.

I subscribe to a few news sources for unlimited articles, but it gets irritating when I max out at 5 or whatever for others. I can't subscribe to them all!

Mary W.