Many news outlets and websites have gone behind paywalls. It makes it hard for readers to access and read an article without a subscription. Almost every major news organization follows the model. To make articles easily accessible and readable without paying or having a subscription, some developers have created 12ft Ladder to bypass the paywall. Anyone can copy the link and paste it into the 12ft Ladder website and read it. It is not a legal service, but many people use it. Here are a few best alternatives to the 12ft Ladder if you cannot access it.
What are best alternatives for 12ft Ladder?
If you are looking for the best alternatives to bypass paywalls on websites using a 12 ft ladder, follow the methods below.
- smry.ai
- RemovePaywall
- PaywallBuster
- Bye Bye Paywall
- Bypass Paywalls Clean extension
Let’s see how we can use them to bypass paywalls.
1] smry.ai
smry.ai is one of the best alternatives for the 12ft Ladder. Using this website, you can read the paywalled articles for free and get their summaries. All you need to do is copy the link and paste it on the Smry AI website. If copying a paywalled link and pasting on on smry feels like a task, you can just add https://smry.ai/ in the address bar before the actual paywalled link.
It will show the paywalled article for free.
2] RemovePaywall
Remove Paywall is another great option if you are looking for the 12ft Ladder alternative. Visit the RemovePaywall website and paste the link where you have seen a paywall to read the content. It will remove the paywall and show you the entire text to read. It does not break any paywall. It just sources content from various internet archives and lets you read it for free. You can even find an extension for your web browser on the website.
3] PaywallBuster
The PaywallBuster website helps you read articles by bypassing the paywalls. It claims not to break any laws as it only acts as a middleman between paywall-busting services and the reader. To use the PaywallBuster to read, copy and paste the page link on the PaywallBuster page, and click Remove Paywall. To directly launch PaywallBuster, you can add https://paywallbuster.com/articles?article= before the actual URL or link where you have come across a paywall. It will show you the entire text to read.
4] Bye Bye Paywall
Bye Bye Paywall is like an aggregator of sources that bypasses paywalls to show the entire text to the reader. It lets the readers choose from six sources to read the content behind the paywall. Like other options, you can just paste the paywalled link into it and choose a source to open with.
5] Bypass Paywalls Clean extension
If you use a chromium-based browser like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc., you can just install an extension on your web browser and let it break paywalls for you automatically whenever you visit a link that has a paywall. You do not have to manually enable it or copy and paste the link. It works like every other extension and makes it easy for you to read premium content. The extension is not available on the Chrome Web Store. You have to download the extension’s zip file from GitHub and add it to your web browser manually.
Unzip the Bypass Paywalls Clean extension. Then, move the folder to some location where you will not accidentally delete it. Open the web browser and go to the extensions page. Enable Developer mode by toggling the button beside it. Then, click Load unpacked and browse the Bypass Paywalls Clean folder and select it.
It will add the extension to your browser and automatically bypass paywalled links to show you the full content.
This method applies to all the Chromium-based browsers – be it Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Brave, etc.
Also read: Make Edge browser Read Aloud eBook, PDF or Web pages
Can you bypass a paywall legally?
Paywalls are illegal to bypass because they are designed to generate revenue to sustain the publication of quality content. It may be fine for one or two articles. You can disable JavaScript on your browser, use free trials, or use the reader mode on your web browser if you do not want to use third-party paywall busters, not to breaking any laws.
Can a VPN bypass a paywall?
No, a VPN cannot bypass a paywall. Every website that runs a paywall provides a few free articles per month to every IP address. If you have exhausted the free articles, you can change the IP address, clear the browser history, cookies, and cache, and read a few more articles in the free tier.
Related read: How to use AI features in Edge browser.
