A browser extension that surfaces every legal free-access path for a paywalled article before asking you to pay
When a reader hits a paywall, the instinct is to find a workaround, but every workaround extension gets DMCA'd and shut down. The gap is a browser extension that aggregates only legally defensible free-access paths: cached copies (Wayback Machine, Bing Cache), Google AMP variants, gift links shared on social, publisher free-article quotas, and archived press releases, all surfaced in one click without touching the publisher's server in any circumvention way. Because it routes through public caches and legitimate sharing mechanisms the publishers themselves enable, it is not subject to DMCA takedowns.
Demand Breakdown
Social Proof 3 sources
Gap Assessment
5 tools exist (12ft Ladder (12ft.io), Bypass Paywalls Clean (browser extension), Unpaywall, Zette, Readwise Reader) but gaps remain: Shut down in July 2025 by News Media Alliance legal action. Was legally vulnerable because it re-served cached publisher content directly.; DMCA'd off GitHub repeatedly, requires manual install from forks, breaks constantly as publishers patch it, legally grey and not defensible..
Features7 agent-ready prompts
Competitive LandscapeFREE
| Product | Does | Missing |
|---|---|---|
| 12ft Ladder (12ft.io) | Fetched Google cache of paywalled pages to show the full text; became the go-to free paywall bypass tool. | Shut down in July 2025 by News Media Alliance legal action. Was legally vulnerable because it re-served cached publisher content directly. |
| Bypass Paywalls Clean (browser extension) | Browser extension that injects cookie/UA tricks to bypass paywalls on specific publisher sites. Works on many major news sites. | DMCA'd off GitHub repeatedly, requires manual install from forks, breaks constantly as publishers patch it, legally grey and not defensible. |
| Unpaywall | Browser extension that finds open-access academic paper versions. Only works for scholarly articles, not news paywalls. | Academic-only. No news, no general web content. 500k users but no overlap with the news-reading pain. |
| Zette | Licensed pay-per-article platform; users pay per article, publishers get a cut. Ethical and legal. | Requires payment per article and publisher participation. Does not surface free legitimate access paths. Not a bypass tool at all. |
| Readwise Reader | Read-later app with RSS, highlights, spaced repetition. Paid ($10/mo). | Not a paywall bypass tool. Assumes you already have access to the content. No cache or archive lookup. |
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