您正在阅读您最喜欢的出版物上的一篇有趣的文章，但它在中途给您带来了付费墙。如果您目前无法支付订阅费，或者您在付款时遇到问题，以下技巧可以帮助您绕过付费墙并免费阅读基于订阅的内容(bypass paywalls and read subscription-based content for free)。
在我们继续之前，我们应该提到所有付费专区的构建方式都不相同。因此(Hence)，一种方法可能无法让您绕过所有网站的付费专区。同样重要的是要说明这篇文章纯粹是信息性的；我们不提倡绕过付费墙。
付费专区的类型
大量的精力和资源投入到内容创作中。出版商需要赚更多的钱来创作高质量的内容。出于这个原因，许多在线出版商利用付费墙来增加收入。支付指定费用的用户将有权访问锁定或付费墙的内容。付费墙有两种主要类型：
1. 硬付费墙(1. Hard Paywalls)
这种类型的付费墙需要在访问任何内容之前预先支付（订阅）费用。有硬付费墙的网站只会让你阅读文章的片段。您需要支付订阅费才能访问全部内容。
2. 软付费墙(2. Soft Paywalls)
使用软付费墙的出版物允许非付费成员在固定时期/会话内阅读有限数量的文章。Medium 是一个使用软付费墙的发布平台。没有订阅的会员一个月只能免费阅读三篇文章。这种类型的付费墙通常更容易绕过。
如何免费阅读新闻文章
使用的技术将根据网站管理员使用的付费墙类型而有所不同。尽管如此，我们相信至少以下技巧之一应该允许您访问需要订阅的内容。
1.停止加载页面
这是一种在多个网页上有效的快速技术。诀窍是在您的浏览器显示付费内容的文本元素后立即阻止您的浏览器完全加载网页。
在地址栏中输入(Enter)网页URL，按Enter ，然后在屏幕上看到一些文本后立即单击x 图标(x icon)（或按Esc键）。(Esc)
一个主要限制是停止网站可能不会加载所有内容元素，尤其是图像、动画、视频等多媒体文件。
我们应该提到，这种技术的成功取决于网站加载页面元素的顺序。例如，如果网站在内容之前加载付费墙，那么这个技巧几乎没有成功的机会。
2. 删除页面 Cookie
许多网站在您的浏览器上存储 cookie 以跟踪您的活动(track your activities)，包括您访问了多少内容。博客(Blog)发布者可以使用存储在浏览器中的 cookie 跟踪您阅读的（免费）文章的数量。如果您已达到分配给非订阅者的免费文章限制，则在浏览器上删除网站的 cookie 可以重置限制。
前往您的网络浏览器的隐私(Privacy)或安全(Security)部分，然后选择允许您检查所有网站的 cookie 和站点数据的选项。接下来(Next)，在浏览器的 cookie 管理页面中搜索该网站，然后单击全部删除(Remove All)。
这适用于Google Chrome、Microsoft Edge和Mozilla Firefox。有关详细步骤，请参阅有关清除任何 Web 浏览器上的缓存的(tutorial on clearing cache on any web browser)本教程。
这个技巧可能不适用于有硬付费墙的网站——一个很好的例子是Medium。对于软付费墙，您还必须在每次达到免费文章限制时手动删除 cookie。
还有一件事：如果发布者使用其他高级工具（不仅仅是 cookie）来跟踪您的活动，这种技术将不会产生预期的结果。这些技术包括IP地址(IP address)、浏览器指纹(Browser Fingerprinting)、WebRTC（Web实时通信(Web Real-Time Communication)）等。
3.尝试隐身模式黑客
如前所述，并非所有付费墙都是相同的。如果网站使用软付费墙，您或许可以通过隐身或私人浏览阅读基于订阅的内容。这会诱使网站相信您是新访问者，从而在加载付费墙之前授予您访问免费内容的权限。
这种技术比手动删除网站的 cookie 要好得多。这是因为大多数网络浏览器不会将预先存在的 cookie 传输到您以隐身模式访问的网站。尽管该网站会在您的隐私浏览会话期间临时在您的设备上存放新的 cookie，但当您关闭隐身窗口时，它们会被删除。
按Ctrl + Shift + N（或macOS 上的Command + Shift + N ）在 Google Chrome(open an incognito tab in Google Chrome)和 Microsoft Edge 中打开一个隐身标签。
对于Mozilla Firefox和Internet Explorer，启动隐私浏览窗口的快捷方式是Ctrl + Shift + P （或macOS 上的Command + Shift + P）。
如果您使用 Safari，请按Command + Shift + N打开隐私浏览窗口并访问付费网页。
4. 使用存档网站作为后门(Backdoor)
有一些互联网存档工具可以保留网页和社交媒体帖子的副本以供参考。您可以使用这些工具访问付费内容并免费阅读基于订阅的新闻文章 - Archive.is、Archive.today和Archive.ph是可靠的选择。
在浏览器中访问存档网站，在指定对话框中输入网页URL ，然后选择(URL)保存(Save)。
上面的工具有一个“屏幕截图”工具，可以将网页转换为PNG图像。单击结果页面顶部的屏幕截图选项，将页面转换为图像文件。(Screenshot)
5.使用付费墙删除扩展
有第三方浏览器扩展可以帮助您免费阅读基于订阅的报纸文章。我们尝试了其中的几个扩展，发现它们中的大多数都不起作用。那些不在Chrome Webstore上托管，因此您必须从第三方平台获取它们。
我们已经完成了繁重的工作，发现这个适用于Chrome和Firefox的“(Firefox)绕过付费墙(Bypass Paywalls)”扩展非常有效。此扩展程序可让您阅读《纽约时报》(New York Times)、 《连线(Wired)》 、《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)、《华盛顿邮报(Washington Post)》等数百种出版物上基于订阅的文章。此外，它是免费的，但您必须在浏览器上手动加载扩展程序.
- 该扩展程序托管在GitHub 上(GitHub)，因此请前往GitHub页面并下载扩展程序的 ZIP 文件(extension’s ZIP file)。
- 将文件解压缩到 PC 上的任何位置。
- 启动 Chrome 并在地址栏中粘贴chrome://extensions并按Enter。
- 切换到开发者模式(Developer mode)。
- 单击加载解压(Load unpacked)。
- 导航到您在step #2中提取的文件夹，选择扩展文件夹，然后单击选择文件夹(Select Folder)按钮。
- 在“支持的站点”选项卡中，选中全Select all/none选项以选择所有预加载的网站。
如果某个出版物不在预加载网站列表中，请前往“自定义网站”选项卡并手动输入该网站的URL。
您可以根据需要添加任意数量的网站，每行一个站点/URL。请注意，您不能在Mozilla Firefox上使用“自定义站点”功能。
- 滚动到窗口底部并选择保存(Save)。
访问该网站或重新加载网页，您应该不会再遇到付费墙。
为优质内容(Quality Content)和新闻(Journalism)付费
再一次，本教程纯粹是信息性的。我们坚决主张为优质内容付费。如果您在支付锁定内容时遇到困难，请联系网站管理员。仅当付款或联系站点管理员的努力证明是徒劳时才使用这些技巧。
请注意，上述技术和工具在本文发表时运行良好。根据出版商采用的付费墙类型，某些网站无法在某些网站上运行。也就是说，我们不能保证这些工具将永远授予您免费通行证以阅读基于订阅的内容。例如，Outline.com曾经是绕过付费墙的有用工具。(Outline.com)现在，它不再适用(it no longer works)于华尔街日报(Wall Street Journal)和纽约时报的(New York Times)文章。
5 Ways to Read Subscription Based Newspaper Articles for Free
You’re rеading an intriguing аrticle on your favorite publication, but it hіts you with a paywall halfwaу through. If you cаn’t currently afford to pay a subscription fee, or you’re having issues making payment, the tricks belоw cаn help you bypass paywalls and read subscription-based content for free.
Before we proceed, we should mention that all paywalls aren’t built the same. Hence, one method may not get you around the paywall of all websites. It’s also important to state that this post is purely informational; we aren’t advocating bypassing paywalls.
Types of Paywall
A lot of effort and resources go into content creation. Publishers need to make more money to create top-quality content. For this reason, many online publishers utilize paywalls to increase revenue generation. Users who pay a specified fee will have access to locked or paywalled content. There are two major types of paywalls:
1. Hard Paywalls
This type of paywall requires upfront payment of a (subscription) fee before accessing any content. Websites with hard paywalls will only let you read an article’s snippet. You’ll need to pay a subscription fee to access the full content.
2. Soft Paywalls
Publications using soft paywalls allow non-paying members to read a limited number of articles for a fixed period/session. Medium is one publishing platform that uses a soft paywall. Members without a subscription can only read three articles for free in a month. This type of paywall is typically easier to bypass.
How to Read News Article for Free
The technique to use will vary depending on the type of paywall employed by the website administrator. Nonetheless, we’re confident that at least one of the tricks below should grant you access to content that requires a subscription.
1. Stop Loading the Page
This is one quick technique that’s effective on several web pages. The trick is to stop your browser from fully loading the web page as soon as your browser displays the text element of the paywalled content.
Enter the web page URL in the address bar, press Enter, and click the x icon (or press the Esc key) as soon as you see some text on the screen.
A major limitation is that stopping the website may not load all content elements, particularly multimedia files like images, animations, videos, etc.
We should mention that the success of this technique depends on the order in which the website loads the page elements. For example, if the website loads the paywall before the content, this trick has little to no chance of success.
2. Delete the Page Cookies
Many websites store cookies on your browser to track your activities, including how much content you’ve accessed. Blog publishers can track the number of (free) articles you read using cookies stored on your browser. If you’ve hit the free article limit allotted to non-subscribers, deleting the website’s cookies on your browser can reset the limit.
Head to the Privacy or Security section of your web browser and select the option that allows you to check the cookies and site data for all websites. Next, search for the website in your browser’s cookies management page and click Remove All.
This applies to Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. See this tutorial on clearing cache on any web browser for detailed steps.
This trick may not work on websites with hard paywalls—a good example is Medium. For soft paywalls, you’ll also have to manually delete the cookies every time you hit the free article limit.
One more thing: This technique won’t yield the desired result if the publisher is using other advanced tools (not just cookies) to track your activity. These technologies include IP address, Browser Fingerprinting, WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), etc.
3. Try the Incognito Mode Hack
As explained earlier, not all paywalls are built the same. If the website uses a soft paywall, you might be able to read subscription-based content through incognito or private browsing. That’ll trick the website into believing that you’re a new visitor, thereby granting you access to free content before loading the paywall.
This technique is a lot better than manually deleting the website’s cookies. That’s because most web browsers don’t transmit pre-existing cookies to the website you visit in incognito mode. Although the website will temporarily deposit new cookies on your device during private browsing sessions, they’re removed when you close the incognito window.
Press Ctrl + Shift + N (or Command + Shift + N on macOS) to open an incognito tab in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
For Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer, the shortcut to launch a private browsing window is Ctrl + Shift + P (or Command + Shift + P on macOS).
If you use Safari, press Command + Shift + N to open a private browsing window and visit the paywalled webpage.
4. Use Archive Websites as a Backdoor
There are internet archiving tools that preserve copies of web pages and social media posts for reference purposes. You can use these tools to access paywalled content and read subscription-based news articles for free—Archive.is, Archive.today, and Archive.ph are reliable options.
Visit the archive website in your browser, enter the webpage URL in the designated dialog box and select Save.
The tools above have a “Screenshot” tool that converts the webpage to a PNG image. Click the Screenshot option at the top of the result page to convert the page to an image file.
5. Use Paywall Removal Extensions
There are third-party browser extensions that help you read subscription-based newspaper articles for free. We tried a couple of these extensions and discovered that most of them don’t work. The ones that do aren’t hosted on the Chrome Webstore, so you’ll have to source them from third-party platforms.
We’ve done the heavy-lifting and found this “Bypass Paywalls” extension for Chrome and Firefox to be effective. This extension lets you read subscription-based articles on hundreds of publications like The New York Times, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, etc. Plus, it’s free–but you’ll have to manually load the extension on your browser.
- The extension is hosted on GitHub, so head to the GitHub page and download the extension’s ZIP file.
- Extract the file to any location on your PC.
- Launch Chrome and paste chrome://extensions in the address bar and press Enter.
- Toggle on Developer mode.
- Click Load unpacked.
- Navigate to the folder you extracted in step #2, select the extension folder, and click the Select Folder button.
- In the “Supported Sites” tab, check the Select all/none option to select all preloaded websites.
If a publication isn’t on the list of preloaded websites, head to the “Custom Sites” tab and manually enter the site’s URL.
You can add as many websites as you want, one site/URL per line. Note that you cannot use the “Custom Sites” feature on Mozilla Firefox.
- Scroll to the bottom of the window and select Save.
Visit the website or reload the web page, and you should no longer encounter a paywall.
Pay for Quality Content and Journalism
Once again, the tutorial is purely informational. We are strong advocates of paying for quality content. Contact the website administrator if you’re having difficulties paying for locked content. Use these tricks only if efforts to make payments or contact the site admin prove futile.
Note that the techniques mentioned above and tools worked perfectly at the time of publishing this article. Some won’t work on certain websites depending on the type of paywall employed by the publisher. That said, we cannot guarantee that these tools will forever grant you a free pass to read subscription-based content. Outline.com, for example, used to be a useful tool for bypassing paywalls. Now, it no longer works for Wall Street Journal and New York Times articles.
