How SMRY works
SMRY fetches articles from multiple sources simultaneously — direct requests, the Wayback Machine, and reader extraction. This works for soft paywalls, where the content exists in the page but is hidden behind a meter or cookie-based limit.
It does not work for hard paywalls, where content requires authentication and is never publicly accessible.
Paywall types
Soft paywalls
The article is in the page, just hidden. SMRY can usually get these. Examples: New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic.
Hard paywalls
Content never loads without payment — nobody can bypass these. Examples: Bloomberg, WSJ, The Athletic, Patreon, Substack (paid posts).
When SMRY doesn't work
Unlike SMRY, archive.is doesn't respect robots.txt — it can often archive content we can't access. Paste your URL after the prefix:
https://archive.is/newest/[url]Wayback Machine
Browse archive.org directly. Older snapshots may have captured the article before the paywall was added.
https://web.archive.org/web/*/[url]Some sites track free articles via cookies. A private window resets the counter. This only works for metered paywalls that give you X free articles per month.
What won't work
Hard paywalls cannot be bypassed. The content is never sent without authentication — no tool can access data that doesn't exist publicly.
Browser extensions with bold claims typically work the same way SMRY does. If we can't get it, they probably can't either. Disabling JavaScript used to work for some sites, but most have moved to server-side enforcement.
No tool can guarantee access to every article. Paywalls exist because journalism costs money. For publications you read regularly, consider subscribing — many offer student discounts or regional pricing.