Have you ever felt frustrated when reading an important article online, only to suddenly hit a paywall blocking you from seeing the rest? I‘ve been there too. Getting stopped halfway through something you need to read because a site wants you to subscribe is so annoying!
The truth is more and more publications are turning to paywalls in hopes of boosting revenue. Estimates show over 56% of news sites have paywalls today, up over 300% in less than 10 years!
While subscriptions provide access, they often cost a pretty penny. For example, an online sub to The New York Times now runs around $200 per year! Who can actually afford that?
Luckily there‘s an easy, ethical trick that lets you bypass most paywalls completely for free. Using a handy web archiving site called archive.today, you can easily unlock paywalled content within seconds.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll deep dive on everything you need to know to get around paywalls with archive.today.
Why Do Publications Use Paywalls Anyway?
Before jumping into the steps to access locked articles for free, it helps to understand why paywalls exist in the first place.
At the highest level, publications implement paywalls because they generate more revenue than relying on ads alone. Even with significant drops in readership after adding paywalls, subscriber income makes up for it.
For example, The Times of London initially lost 90% of traffic when implementing their paywall back in 2010. However paid subscribers still earned them more total cash than 100% of readers with ads.
Publications also utilize paywalls to control the reader experience, removing ads for paying customers. This allows delivering premium, distraction-free content to subscribers.
Main Paywall Types
There are a few common paywall formats, each working slightly differently:
| Type | Free Articles? | Pay for Access | Example Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard Paywall | No free articles | Must pay for all access | Wall Street Journal |
| Metered Paywall | 5-10 free articles per month | Pay to read more after the limit | New York Times |
| Freemium Paywall | Basic access free | Pay for ad-free premium content | Reuters, Bloomberg |
No matter which variation a site uses though, the result feels the same – slamming into an abrupt stop sign when trying to simply read an article.
This brings up interesting ethical questions around restricting public access to information behind a paywall. But more on that next…
Is Circumventing Paywalls Okay?
Publishers can legally prohibit access to content behind paywalls per their terms of use. However, blocking readers from freely sharing information raises some tricky moral issues.
Afterall, access to news and education enables a more informed, empowered society. Simply put, open access to knowledge is a public good that elevates us all.
In that spirit, using archive.today aligns reasonably with principles of open information access and sharing for the greater benefit. Especially considering their purely educational purpose as an impartial internet record keeper.
Think of it like this – would you stop your friend from learning something helpful because other people pay for that same knowledge? Of course not! You‘d share what you know so everyone gains. Archive.today operates similarly but for the internet‘s public information.
Ultimately every situation involves nuance around what‘s right or wrong. But utilizing archive.today to unlock articles behind publisher paywalls, in my opinion, falls pretty squarely under fair ethical use given the public service mission.
Alright, now that we‘ve covered the key context on paywalls and ethics, let‘s get into this amazing trick…
Step-By-Step Instructions: How To Bypass Paywalls
Unlocking paywalled articles with archive.today is fast and easy whether on desktop or mobile. Just follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Copy The Paywalled Article Link
The process starts by copying the URL of any paywalled article you want to unlock. For example here‘s one from Bloomberg:
Go ahead and copy the link location from the address bar. We‘ll need this for step 2.
Step 2: Go To Archive.today & Paste The URL
Next, we just head over to the website archive.today real quick. This site snapshots and saves instant copies of websites and articles across the internet for the public record.
Once on Archive.today‘s home page like below, paste the article URL you copied before into the box:
Then simply hit enter or click the "Save Page" button after you paste. Easy enough so far right? We‘ve got one more quick step and we‘re there!
Step 3: click "Archive" To Unlock Read Free Article
Last, once you‘ve pasted the paywalled article URL into Archive.today, it snapshots and saves a copy accessible for anyone to read paywall-free!
You just have to click the "ARCHIVE" link text as shown in red below. And voila! You can now access and read the full paywalled article without any limits or subscription required:
It‘s really that simple! Just paste a paywalled story in Archive.today and click archive to enjoy unfettered access. No cost whatsoever and literally takes seconds.
Now before we wrap up, let me quickly cover why archive.today is so awesome beyond just unlocking article paywalls…
Additional Features: More Reasons To Love Archive.today
Accessing paywalled articles for free is already hugely valuable. But archive.today offers other great features on top that further demonstrate why it‘s such an indispensible internet tool everyone should use. For example:
Powerful Search Function: Quickly find archived snapshots of 100s of millions of webpages. An invaluable research resource!
Rearchive Outdated Pages: If a saved snapshot is old or obsolete, archive pages again to access updated live versions.
Preserves Important Records: Guarantee key internet records remain accessible down the road. Over 20 billion pages saved and counting now!
Tracks History Of Webpages: See how sites change over time for analysis or accountability. Archive.today logs it all in snapshot history.
These additional archive.today capabilities enable all sorts of cool applications like conducting web research, tapping archived datasets, reviewing historical trends, and more.
On top of that, everything backed by Archive.today operates fully nonprofit as an educational service funded by user donations and grants. So unlocking paywalls aligns perfectly with their mission of preserving free access to internet information.
Let‘s Recap…
Using archive.today for circumventing publisher paywalls:
✅ Takes just seconds to unlock articles for free access
✅ Is simple on both desktop and mobile web browsers
✅ Follows ethical principles around sharing public information
✅ Taps a free educational tool for benefit vs profit
I don‘t know about you, but next time I hit one of those frustrating article paywalls, Archive.today will be my first stop!
No more annoying subscription pitches or opening my wallet to read something. Just easy, ethical access to the information I want minus barriers or limits. Knowledge for all!
Let me know if you have any other paywall questions in the comments. Happy to help out or hear your experiences as well.
