SMRY vs 12ft.io
Both tools help you read paywalled articles. Here's how they actually compare.
12ft.io was one of the first popular paywall bypass tools, built on the idea that if a page is free for Google's crawler, it should be free for you. It worked well for years — until publishers caught on and started blocking it. SMRY takes a different approach: instead of relying on a single method, it runs three extraction sources in parallel and uses a classifier to pick the best result. It also adds AI-powered summaries and chat.
12ft.io vs SMRY: Feature Comparison
| Feature | SMRY | 12ft.io |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | SMRY Free tier: Yes | 12ft.io Free tier: Yes |
| AI-powered summary | SMRY AI-powered summary: Yes | 12ft.io AI-powered summary: No |
| Chat with article | SMRY Chat with article: Yes | 12ft.io Chat with article: No |
| Text-to-speech | SMRY Text-to-speech: Yes | 12ft.io Text-to-speech: No |
| Multiple extraction sources | 3 sources + classifier | Google cache only |
| Reader mode | SMRY Reader mode: Yes | 12ft.io Reader mode: No |
| Highlights & notes | SMRY Highlights & notes: Yes | 12ft.io Highlights & notes: No |
| Export (Markdown, Notion) | SMRY Export (Markdown, Notion): Yes | 12ft.io Export (Markdown, Notion): No |
| Works on mobile | SMRY Works on mobile: Yes | 12ft.io Works on mobile: Yes |
| No browser extension needed | SMRY No browser extension needed: Yes | 12ft.io No browser extension needed: Yes |
| Account required | Optional (for Pro) | 12ft.io Account required: No |
| Clean URL format | smry.ai/article-url | 12ft.io/article-url |
Key Differences Between SMRY and 12ft.io
12ft.io relies on one method. SMRY uses three.
12ft.io proxies pages through Google's cache. When a publisher blocks that route, you get nothing. SMRY runs three independent extraction sources in parallel — its own parser, web archives, and cached versions — then an XGBoost classifier picks the highest-quality result. If one source fails, the others still work.
SMRY adds AI on top of the article.
12ft.io shows you the article and stops there. SMRY gives you an AI-powered summary, lets you chat with the article to ask questions, and can read it aloud with text-to-speech. It's a reader, not just an unblocker.
12ft.io is simpler. That's both its strength and weakness.
If all you want is to remove a paywall overlay, 12ft.io's simplicity is appealing — paste a URL, get the page. But that simplicity means no fallbacks when it fails, no reading mode, no highlights, no export. SMRY is a full reading environment.
Site coverage has shifted.
12ft.io's coverage has declined as major publishers (NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg) have hardened their paywalls against proxy-based tools. SMRY's multi-source approach maintains broader coverage, though hard paywalls (sites requiring login) remain inaccessible to both tools.
The Verdict: Which Should You Use?
If you just want a quick, minimal paywall bypass and the site you're reading happens to work with 12ft.io, it does the job. But if you want broader site coverage, AI summaries, the ability to chat with articles, or a proper reading experience with highlights and export — SMRY does more. Both are free to try, so the best way to decide is to paste the same article into both and see which one delivers.
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Paste any article URL and see the difference. No account needed.
Read an article now →Frequently Asked Questions
- Is 12ft.io still working in 2026?
- 12ft.io still works for some sites, but its coverage has declined significantly as publishers have blocked Google cache proxying. Many major news sites (NYT, WSJ, Washington Post) no longer work with 12ft.io.
- Is SMRY free like 12ft.io?
- Yes, SMRY has a free tier that lets you read and summarize articles. The Pro plan adds unlimited AI chat, more summaries, and priority access, but the core reading and bypass functionality is free.
- Which tool bypasses more paywalls?
- SMRY generally has broader coverage because it uses three independent extraction sources instead of one. However, neither tool can bypass hard paywalls that require a paid login (like the WSJ or Financial Times).
- Can I use both SMRY and 12ft.io?
- Absolutely. Some people use 12ft.io for quick lookups and SMRY when they want AI summaries or when 12ft.io fails on a particular site. There's no conflict between using both.