RemovePaywall is a website that allows users to remove soft paywalls and ads from any news article or blog. It's free and easy to use. All you have to do is enter in the URL of the article.
This is the 2nd launch from RemovePaywall. View more
Remove Paywall Chrome Extension
Never pay for articles again
Fastest way to bypass annoying paywalls and login pages for major news and blogging websites. No need to pay for multiple subscriptions to read your favorite articles. Simply use the Remove Paywall Chrome Extension. Use code ProductHunt2023 for 50% off.
Hello!
I have been working on this side project for a few months and thought that a Chrome Extension could improve the user experience.
I enjoy reading the news but hate clicking on an article and being hit with a paywall or being forced to login with an account. So I wanted to create a solution for that.
The idea started with https://www.removepaywall.com which was an online version of the paywall remover. However, some websites have bot detection preventing the app from working and it can be a hassle to have to constantly go to another website to remove the paywall. The chrome extension fixes these issues and many more. Now paywalls can be automatically removed without any input from the user.
I have tested it on major websites such as NYTimes, Washington Post, and dozens more. To see a complete list of tested websites please visit this URL: https://removepaywall.gumroad.co....
The website alone works well enough for most people, but if you prefer a more effective and easier option, the extension would be a good tool to have. You can use the code ProductHunt2023 for 50% off.
Feel free to ask any questions or leave comments, thank you!
@stanley_mouk If I pay for your extension and then distribute it for free, would that bother you?
Because charging $80 for an extension that facilitates theft of other people's content is basically the same thing, so seems fair, right?
Respectfully @chrismessina, I disagree.
When you want to read a single article, newspapers give you only two options: Either become a full subscriber (usually $50+ for a yearly subscription), or accept a profusion of ads. You are obviously not going to buy a subscription for every newspaper from which you want to access one article.
The solution is micro-payments. This is the fair way for people to pay for content, that we have been talking about for more than a decade. The technology is there. There was actually a wonderful startup called Scroll that was trying to approach this problem, and for the year that is was operating of its own, it was FANTASTIC, a fair way to pay for content. Then it was bought by Twitter, included in a remarkably diminished way in the Twitter Blue product, which essentially killed the product: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/...
But by and large, most newspapers are fine with ads, and would rather invest in technology like Admiral, that blocks ad blockers, than invest in a micropayment infrastructure. It's a zero-sum game.
This tool is not theft of intellectual property, but applying pressure to a broken market — in the same way that Napster, Shareaza, Gnutella, Limewire applied pressure to the calcified music industry, and allowed music to transition to the streaming business. I hope we get micropayment strategies soon so that news can accomplish this transition.
I have also published a public, unlicensed extension that blocks the mildest version of Admiral, because I hope we get another option between ads or too-long subscriptions: https://github.com/jlumbroso/adm...
@jlumbroso I take your point, and consider @artictony a friend. My issue in this case is charging $80 for the extension. No doubt work went into building it, but it seems to undermine your argument to profit from other businesses' choice of business model, even if you disagree with it, or it could be improved.
Remove the high price tag or accept donations and I'd be more sympathetic.
You might not like paywalls, but facilitating theft is not the answer. Why not build a micropayment per view platform and get publishers on board....Spotify for news? I know...its a big ask, but it's a noble goal. I dunno....just feel talent could really innovate in this space.
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