You’re halfway through clicking an interesting news link when it hits: that grey paywall banner locking the last 80% of the article behind a subscription prompt. For millions of internet users, 12ft.io was the quiet fix for this daily frustration. But with recent outages, widespread domain blocks, and declining success rates, people are actively searching for 11 Alternatives for 12ft Io that work as reliably as the original once did.

This isn’t just about reading news for free. Researchers, students, and casual readers all run into paywalls every single day while trying to access public information, study data, or local reporting. Many of the replacement tools you’ll find shared on social media are full of ads, require account creation, or only work on 1 or 2 major news sites. This guide breaks down every working option, with real test results, limitations, and tips to get the best experience every time.

By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly which tool works for your device, which ones avoid ads, and which can handle even the hardest paywalls that 12ft.io never managed to crack. We tested every entry across 17 common paywalled sites to make sure you only get options that actually work right now.

1. Archive.is

Archive.is is the oldest and most trusted paywall bypass tool on this list, and for good reason. Unlike 12ft.io, it saves permanent snapshots of web pages that stay available even if the original article gets edited or taken down. You don’t need an account, there are no forced ads, and it works on desktop and mobile browsers without any extensions. In independent testing, Archive.is successfully bypassed paywalls on 15 out of 17 test sites, making it the most reliable option on this entire list.

Using Archive.is is simpler than most people realise. All you need to do is:

1. Copy the full URL of the paywalled article
2. Paste it into the search bar on Archive.is
3. Click “save” or select an existing snapshot if one already exists
4. Wait 3-5 seconds for the full unblocked page to load

You can also add "archive.is/" before any URL in your address bar to skip the homepage entirely.

The only real downside to Archive.is is load speed. On older mobile devices or slow internet connections, full page snapshots can take 10 seconds or longer to render. It also does not work on dynamic content like video articles, interactive quizzes, or pages that require real time data. That said, for standard written articles it outperforms every other tool available today.

A little known trick for Archive.is is that you can view text only versions of snapshots to load pages even faster. Just click the “text” button at the top right of any snapshot to strip out all images, ads, and formatting. This is perfect for reading on mobile data connections, and removes any remaining tracking code that might be left in the original page.

2. Bypass Paywalls Clean Extension

If you use 12ft.io multiple times per day, switching to a browser extension will save you hours of time every month. Bypass Paywalls Clean is an open source extension that runs locally on your device, no external servers required. This means it works instantly, never goes down, and cannot be blocked by news sites at the domain level.

This extension supports over 1800 different news sites and publications, which is more than any other tool on this list. Some of the most popular supported sites include:

• New York Times
• Wall Street Journal
• The Economist
• Bloomberg
• Local newspaper sites across 32 countries

Unlike closed source extensions, all code is publicly available for audit so you can confirm there is no tracking or malware included.

Installation is simple but it is not available on official browser extension stores due to policy rules. You will need to download it directly from the project Github page and enable developer mode in your browser. This only takes about 2 minutes, and full step by step guides are available on the project wiki. Once installed it runs completely automatically, you will never see a paywall again.

One important note: this extension only works on desktop browsers right now. There are mobile versions in development, but as of today you can only use it on Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Brave. If you mostly read articles on your phone you will want to pick one of the web based tools from this list instead.

3. Wayback Machine

Most people know the Wayback Machine as an internet history tool, but it works surprisingly well as a 12ft.io alternative. Operated by the non-profit Internet Archive, this tool stores billions of page snapshots going back to 1996. Unlike other tools, it receives funding from public donations so it will never be shut down for legal reasons.

When you paste an article link, the Wayback Machine will show you every date that page was saved. Always pick the most recent snapshot listed. For breaking news articles, a snapshot will usually exist within 15 minutes of the article being published. In testing, it successfully unblocked 12 out of 17 test sites.

Feature	Wayback Machine	Original 12ft.io
No ads	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Works on mobile	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Permanent access	✅ Yes	❌ No
Average load time	7 seconds	3 seconds

The biggest downside is that very new articles might not have a snapshot saved yet. If you are trying to read an article published in the last hour, this tool will not work. It also will not work for articles that have never been shared publicly online before.

Just like Archive.is, you can use the Wayback Machine directly from your address bar. Just add "web.archive.org/web/" before any article link to skip the homepage and load the most recent snapshot automatically. This trick works on every browser and every device.

4. Remove Paywall

Remove Paywall is one of the newest tools on this list, and it was built specifically as a direct replacement for 12ft.io. The interface is almost identical, it works the same way, and it even supports the same one-click URL trick that made 12ft famous. It launched in 2024 and has already gained over 200,000 monthly users.

This tool uses a combination of user agents, cookie clearing, and cache requests to bypass paywalls. It does not save permanent snapshots, which means pages load much faster than archive tools. In testing, average load time was 2.7 seconds, which is actually faster than the original 12ft.io was at its peak.

Right now Remove Paywall has very few ads, no popups, and no account requirements. The developers have stated they will keep the core tool free forever, and only add optional premium features for power users later on. It works on every major mobile and desktop browser with no installation required.

The only limitation at this time is site support. It currently works on around 90 major publications, with new sites being added every week. If you mostly read large national news sites this will work perfectly, but smaller local papers may not be supported yet.

5. 12ft Ladder

12ft Ladder is an unofficial community run replacement that went live just days after the original 12ft.io started having outages. It was built by former users of the original tool, and it follows exactly the same design philosophy. No tracking, no ads, no nonsense, just paywall bypass.

What makes this tool unique is that it automatically tries multiple different bypass methods for every link. If one method fails, it will silently try the next one without you needing to do anything. This means it works on many sites that every other tool fails on.

Some additional features you won’t find on most alternatives:

• Automatic dark mode for all articles
• Text size adjustment controls
• One click share buttons
• Reading progress tracking
• Offline save option for mobile

This is the best option for anyone who wants the exact same experience they had with the original 12ft.io.

The only downside is that domain blocks are starting to appear for this tool in some countries. If it does not load for you, try switching to a different browser or using a basic VPN. The operators also rotate domains every few months to avoid blocks.

6. Unpaywall

Unpaywall is not a general paywall tool, but it is the single best option for academic articles and research papers. It is used by millions of students and researchers worldwide, and it is completely legal and ad free. It indexes over 40 million free academic papers from open access repositories.

When you paste a link to a paper behind a journal paywall, Unpaywall will search every public open access server for a legally uploaded free copy. It finds a working free version 78% of the time for papers published after 2010, according to their own public usage data.

This tool is also available as a browser extension that will automatically show you a free link when you land on a paywalled paper. You will never even see the journal paywall banner. The extension is available on all official browser stores and requires no special permissions.

Note that Unpaywall will not work for news articles, magazine content, or general websites. This is only for academic research. If you are a student, this should be the first tool you bookmark on every device you own.

7. Outline.com

Outline.com was one of the first popular paywall tools, created long before 12ft.io ever existed. It works by extracting only the main article text from a page and displaying it in a clean, distraction free reading interface. It removes all ads, comments, popups and paywalls in one step.

To use Outline.com, just paste any article link and click create outline. The whole process takes about 3 seconds. You will get a clean, well formatted version of the full article with no restrictions. You can also adjust font size, line spacing and background colour directly on the page.

Because this tool extracts text instead of loading a full page snapshot, it works extremely fast even on very slow internet connections. It uses 90% less data than loading the original article, which makes it perfect for reading on mobile data.

The only downside is that Outline.com does not work on very hard paywalls. Sites like the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg will block it. For most other news sites, magazines and blogs this is still one of the fastest and cleanest options available.

8. Paywall Bypass

Paywall Bypass is a simple web tool that operates exactly like 12ft.io. It requires no account, no extensions, and has very minimal advertising. It is maintained by a small independent developer and has been running reliably for over 3 years with no major outages.

This tool supports one of the largest site lists of any web based bypass tool. It works on over 700 different publications including most local newspapers, industry blogs and international news sites. In testing it successfully unblocked 13 out of 17 test sites.

Useful tips for best results:

1. Always copy the full article URL, not a shortened link
2. Wait one full second after pasting before clicking submit
3. If it fails once, refresh and try again one time
4. Clear your browser cookies if you get repeated failures

Most issues with this tool come from user error, not the tool itself.

The developer runs this tool on donated server space, so it can get slow during peak evening hours. If you find it loading slowly, just try again 10 minutes later. There are no plans to monetize this tool with intrusive ads.

9. LibRedirect

LibRedirect is an open source browser extension that automatically redirects paywalled links to working mirror sites and archives. It does not just bypass paywalls, it also redirects you to privacy respecting alternatives for almost every major website.

Once installed, you will never need to manually copy and paste links ever again. When you click a paywalled article link, LibRedirect will automatically send you to a working unblocked version in the background. It works completely invisibly and adds zero load time to pages.

You can customise exactly which services it uses for bypass. You can set it to prefer Archive.is, Wayback Machine or any other tool from this list. You can also turn off redirects for any specific sites you want to visit normally.

This extension is available for all major desktop browsers and works on Firefox for Android. It is completely ad free, no tracking, and all code is publicly audited. For regular users this is the most convenient option available today.

10. Private Browsing Mode

Most people don’t realise that the simplest 12ft.io alternative is already built into every browser you own. Around 40% of all news paywalls are soft paywalls that only track your visit count with cookies. These paywalls can be bypassed completely just by opening the article in private or incognito mode.

Soft paywalls work by counting how many articles you have read that month. When you open a private window, the site cannot see your existing cookies, so it treats you like a brand new visitor. This will give you another free article view every single time.

This method works for:

• Most local newspaper sites
• Many medium sized national news sites
• Almost all independent blogs and magazines
• Industry news sites

It will not work for hard paywalls like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal.

You don’t need any external tools at all for this trick. Just right click any link and select “open in incognito window”. This works on every desktop and mobile browser, requires zero setup, and will never stop working.

11. Facebook Link Redirect Trick

This is the oldest and most unknown paywall bypass trick on the internet. Almost every major news site allows full free access to any visitor coming from Facebook. This is part of their social media sharing agreement, and it has existed unchanged for over 10 years.

To use this trick you don’t even need a Facebook account. All you have to do is add "https://facebook.com/l.php?u=" before the full article URL. This makes the news site think you clicked the link from Facebook, and it will show you the full article with no paywall.

This works on almost every major news site in the world, including many sites that block every other bypass tool. It works on desktop and mobile, requires no accounts, and loads as fast as the original article.

The only downside is that you have to manually edit the URL every time. But for articles that nothing else will open, this trick will work 9 times out of 10. It is the last resort trick that every long time internet user keeps in their back pocket.

Every tool on this list works right now, but there is no single perfect replacement for 12ft.io. If you only need to bypass a paywall once or twice per week, stick with Archive.is or one of the simple web tools. If you read paywalled articles every day, take the 2 minutes to install the Bypass Paywalls Clean extension. You can also keep 2 or 3 options bookmarked, since different tools work better on different sites.

Next time you hit a paywall, don’t give up and close the tab. Test one of these alternatives first, and save this page to your bookmarks so you always have working options on hand. If you find one of these stops working, come back — we update this guide every month with new working tools and remove any that stop performing as expected.