Paywall Bypass Bookmarklets

One click to bypass a paywall. Two at most.

What Is This Repo?

This repository contains JavaScript code to create bookmarklets for bypassing paywalls or accessing older versions of a particular web page. A bookmarklet is a web browser bookmark that provides some functionality. These bookmarklets simply apply a particular paywall bypassing service to the currently opened web page. I am NOT the author or developer of any of these services, nor am I in any way related to the service itself. While I did use the bookmarklets listed here, I cannot guarantee their quality or integrity. Paywall bypassing services are useful for one-time content access or for when it would be compromising to have access to a paywalled website. If you benefit from an author/creator, support them and buy subscriptions or patronize them.

The reality is that sometimes one service will work while another one won't. That's why I have created bookmarklets for multiple services with additional alternatives outlined below.

Available Services

Bookmarklets available

• Google Cache retrieves a saved copy of a web page from Google's servers. Does NOT require a Google account.
• archive.today retrieves a saved copy of a web page from archive.today servers.
• 1ft is a paywall-bypass solution by DevBlond
• RemovePaywall bypasses soft paywalls for over a hundred websites.
• Facebook Redirect - pretends that you found a link to the webpage on Facebook, allowing you to the bypass paywall. After activating the bookmarklet, click Follow Link button. Does NOT require a Facebook account.
• ]DEPRECATED] NOTE: 12ft Ladder service doesn't work anymore (with or without the bookmarklet). 12ft Ladder bypasses paywalls for websites online by accessing the Google crawler cache that Google uses to index online content.

Alternative tools

• GitHub - everywall/ladder is a self-hosted alternative to 1ft and 12ft Ladder. Uses the same paywall-bypass approach as the aforementioned services. Not intended for beginners.
• GitHub - wasi-master/13ft is another self-hosted alternative to 1ft and 12ft Ladder that allegedly works with more sites than the aforementioned. Not intended for beginners.

Alternative methods

• Using your web browser's Private/Incognito Mode
• Pasting the headline into Google
• Disabling JavaScript in your browser. Not recommended because it can break many websites. Not intended for beginners.
• Inspecting and editing elements of the webpage. Works only for soft paywalls. Not intended for beginners.
• Installing browser extensions/add-ons such as unpaywall and BypassPaywalls for Chrome and Firefox. Before installing make sure you trust the extension/add-on authors.

How to install a bookmarklet

GitHub Markdown doesn't allow scripts in README.md files, so the bookmarklet needs to be added manually. To do that, you

1. Open the .js file of the service that you want to install a bookmarklet and copy all the code inside the file. For example, if you want to install archive.today bookmarklet, open archive.today_bookmerklet.js and copy all the code inside of it, i.e. javascript:void(location.href='https://archive.today/'+location.href);.
2. In your browser, right-click on the bookmarks/favorites toolbar and select "Add Bookmark..." or something similar, depending on your browser.
3. Paste the code into the URL/Link field and save the bookmark.
4. Optionally, name/rename the bookmark.