The hardest paywalls to bypass in 2026
Ranked from our own logs — real removal attempts, not opinion. The lower the success rate, the harder the wall. Outlets that never send the article to non-subscribers (WSJ, The Times, The Washington Post) sit at the bottom; only an existing public archive recovers those.
📊 New: the Paywall Index, September 2026 — which news sites are hardest to read for free, by outlet and language.
16,636
attempts analysed
196
outlets ranked
73%
of attempts on these outlets opened
The 10 hardest
De Telegraaf0%
kicker0%
The Business Journals0%
WirtschaftsWoche0%
Dagblad van het Noorden0%
NJ.com0%
Project Syndicate2%
Sächsische Zeitung3%
Aftonbladet3%
Mediapart5%
All 196 outlets
| # | Outlet | Attempts | Success | Wall type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Telegraaf | 237 | 0% | hard |
| 2 | kicker | 75 | 0% | hard |
| 3 | The Business Journals | 60 | 0% | hard |
| 4 | WirtschaftsWoche | 43 | 0% | hard |
| 5 | Dagblad van het Noorden | 29 | 0% | hard |
| 6 | NJ.com | 22 | 0% | hard |
| 7 | Project Syndicate | 49 | 2% | hard |
| 8 | Sächsische Zeitung | 37 | 3% | hard |
| 9 | Aftonbladet | 30 | 3% | hard |
| 10 | Mediapart | 74 | 5% | hard |
| 11 | Heilbronner Stimme | 50 | 6% | hard |
| 12 | Barron's | 47 | 6% | hard |
| 13 | Süddeutsche Zeitung | 32 | 9% | hard |
| 14 | Thüringer Allgemeine | 22 | 9% | hard |
| 15 | Herald Sun | 61 | 10% | hard |
| 16 | shz.de | 30 | 10% | hard |
| 17 | Bloomberg Law | 20 | 10% | hard |
| 18 | De Morgen | 92 | 11% | hard |
| 19 | Nikkei Asia | 27 | 11% | hard |
| 20 | Reuters | 89 | 12% | hard |
| 21 | Libération | 42 | 12% | hard |
| 22 | Die Welt | 82 | 13% | hard |
| 23 | Ouest-France | 76 | 13% | soft |
| 24 | Leipziger Volkszeitung | 30 | 13% | hard |
| 25 | The Sun | 36 | 14% | metered |
| 26 | Handelsblatt | 42 | 17% | hard |
| 27 | BILD | 35 | 17% | hard |
| 28 | NBC News | 23 | 17% | soft |
| 29 | The Australian | 44 | 18% | hard |
| 30 | De Tijd | 33 | 18% | hard |
| 31 | The Times | 304 | 19% | hard |
| 32 | Ostsee-Zeitung | 48 | 19% | hard |
| 33 | La Voix du Nord | 32 | 22% | hard |
| 34 | Humo | 23 | 22% | hard |
| 35 | The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) | 78 | 24% | hard |
| 36 | Westfalenpost | 38 | 24% | hard |
| 37 | Le Parisien | 34 | 26% | hard |
| 38 | The Wall Street Journal | 362 | 27% | hard |
| 39 | Medium | 90 | 27% | metered |
| 40 | Forbes | 86 | 29% | hard |
| 41 | Jeune Afrique | 35 | 29% | hard |
| 42 | Stern | 70 | 30% | hard |
| 43 | FAZ | 81 | 31% | hard |
| 44 | Gazeta Wyborcza | 72 | 31% | hard |
| 45 | The Courier-Mail | 152 | 32% | hard |
| 46 | Heraldo de Aragón | 70 | 33% | hard |
| 47 | TVN24 | 30 | 33% | hard |
| 48 | Der Tagesspiegel | 50 | 34% | hard |
| 49 | Seeking Alpha | 42 | 36% | metered |
| 50 | Augsburger Allgemeine | 33 | 36% | hard |
| 51 | Wyborcza Biznes | 40 | 38% | hard |
| 52 | De Stentor | 49 | 39% | hard |
| 53 | The Free Press | 31 | 39% | hard |
| 54 | Le Nouvel Obs | 30 | 40% | hard |
| 55 | Bloomberg | 284 | 42% | hard |
| 56 | The Australian Financial Review | 62 | 42% | hard |
| 57 | De Standaard | 35 | 43% | hard |
| 58 | Ruhr Nachrichten | 30 | 43% | hard |
| 59 | The Washington Post | 104 | 46% | hard |
| 60 | National Review | 85 | 46% | metered |
| 61 | Tages-Anzeiger | 23 | 48% | hard |
| 62 | The Economist | 446 | 50% | hard |
| 63 | De Gelderlander | 54 | 50% | hard |
| 64 | La Voz de Galicia | 44 | 50% | hard |
| 65 | WAZ | 42 | 50% | metered |
| 66 | The Information | 39 | 51% | hard |
| 67 | South China Morning Post | 62 | 55% | metered |
| 68 | La Stampa | 37 | 57% | metered |
| 69 | La Nación | 29 | 62% | metered |
| 70 | Die Zeit | 59 | 63% | hard |
| 71 | Der Spiegel | 103 | 64% | metered |
| 72 | Il Sole 24 Ore | 50 | 64% | hard |
| 73 | De Tubantia | 47 | 64% | hard |
| 74 | Het Financieele Dagblad | 43 | 65% | hard |
| 75 | Het Parool | 47 | 66% | hard |
| 76 | Rzeczpospolita | 38 | 66% | metered |
| 77 | Valor Econômico | 39 | 67% | hard |
| 78 | Belfast Telegraph | 30 | 67% | hard |
| 79 | AD | 138 | 70% | hard |
| 80 | Les Échos | 86 | 72% | hard |
| 81 | Le Figaro | 57 | 72% | metered |
| 82 | Het Laatste Nieuws | 54 | 72% | hard |
| 83 | Le Monde | 153 | 73% | hard |
| 84 | The New York Times | 953 | 74% | metered |
| 85 | Establish The Run | 50 | 74% | metered |
| 86 | Financial Times | 579 | 75% | hard |
| 87 | de Volkskrant | 37 | 76% | hard |
| 88 | The Economic Times | 52 | 77% | metered |
| 89 | ZeroHedge | 40 | 78% | hard |
| 90 | Business Standard | 27 | 78% | metered |
| 91 | La Dépêche | 52 | 79% | soft |
| 92 | Le Télégramme | 44 | 80% | metered |
| 93 | RP Online | 73 | 81% | hard |
| 94 | L'Express | 28 | 82% | hard |
| 95 | Toronto Star | 30 | 83% | hard |
| 96 | Il Messaggero | 30 | 83% | metered |
| 97 | Brabants Dagblad | 109 | 86% | hard |
| 98 | The Columbian | 43 | 86% | metered |
| 99 | Levante-EMV | 76 | 88% | metered |
| 100 | Hamburger Abendblatt | 42 | 88% | hard |
| 101 | O Globo | 40 | 88% | metered |
| 102 | Dagens Nyheter | 34 | 88% | metered |
| 103 | La Nueva España | 36 | 89% | metered |
| 104 | elDiario.es | 154 | 90% | soft |
| 105 | Sud Ouest | 102 | 90% | metered |
| 106 | The Guardian | 50 | 90% | soft |
| 107 | The New Zealand Herald | 41 | 90% | metered |
| 108 | L'Équipe | 58 | 91% | metered |
| 109 | OKO.press | 45 | 91% | soft |
| 110 | heise online | 33 | 91% | hard |
| 111 | Vogue | 32 | 91% | metered |
| 112 | la Repubblica | 131 | 92% | metered |
| 113 | actu.fr | 48 | 92% | soft |
| 114 | rosenheim24.de | 25 | 92% | soft |
| 115 | Vulture | 63 | 94% | metered |
| 116 | La DH | 49 | 94% | metered |
| 117 | Nature | 32 | 94% | hard |
| 118 | Harvard Business Review | 104 | 95% | metered |
| 119 | The Hindu | 102 | 95% | metered |
| 120 | NRC | 80 | 95% | soft |
| 121 | Folha de S.Paulo | 64 | 95% | metered |
| 122 | WWD | 22 | 95% | soft |
| 123 | Fortune | 21 | 95% | metered |
| 124 | The New Yorker | 134 | 96% | metered |
| 125 | Irish Independent | 84 | 96% | hard |
| 126 | Nordwest-Zeitung | 78 | 96% | soft |
| 127 | Prensa Libre | 53 | 96% | metered |
| 128 | El Correo | 53 | 96% | metered |
| 129 | El Periódico | 25 | 96% | metered |
| 130 | Corriere della Sera | 246 | 97% | metered |
| 131 | ABC | 117 | 97% | metered |
| 132 | CNN | 38 | 97% | metered |
| 133 | Vox | 32 | 97% | hard |
| 134 | The Herald (Scotland) | 30 | 97% | metered |
| 135 | Freie Presse | 29 | 97% | metered |
| 136 | El Mundo | 231 | 98% | metered |
| 137 | El Español | 129 | 98% | metered |
| 138 | The Indian Express | 66 | 98% | hard |
| 139 | El Norte de Castilla | 63 | 98% | metered |
| 140 | Foreign Policy | 56 | 98% | metered |
| 141 | Forbes Polska | 55 | 98% | metered |
| 142 | El Comercio | 53 | 98% | metered |
| 143 | Foreign Affairs | 46 | 98% | metered |
| 144 | NZZ | 45 | 98% | metered |
| 145 | El Diario Montañés | 43 | 98% | metered |
| 146 | Daily Record | 41 | 98% | metered |
| 147 | WIRED | 41 | 98% | metered |
| 148 | L'Humanité | 40 | 98% | soft |
| 149 | Daily Mail | 1,142 | 99% | soft |
| 150 | El País | 828 | 99% | metered |
| 151 | The Atlantic | 760 | 99% | metered |
| 152 | The Boston Globe | 198 | 99% | metered |
| 153 | La Vanguardia | 125 | 99% | metered |
| 154 | Business Insider Polska | 98 | 99% | metered |
| 155 | Estadão | 88 | 99% | metered |
| 156 | The Age | 83 | 99% | metered |
| 157 | Onet Premium | 82 | 99% | metered |
| 158 | El Confidencial | 177 | 100% | metered |
| 159 | The Telegraph | 165 | 100% | metered |
| 160 | The Globe and Mail | 133 | 100% | metered |
| 161 | The Irish Times | 101 | 100% | metered |
| 162 | The Sydney Morning Herald | 97 | 100% | metered |
| 163 | The Verge | 86 | 100% | metered |
| 164 | Scientific American | 78 | 100% | metered |
| 165 | Expansión | 56 | 100% | metered |
| 166 | La Rioja | 55 | 100% | soft |
| 167 | The Daily Beast | 50 | 100% | soft |
| 168 | Los Angeles Times | 49 | 100% | metered |
| 169 | BBC News | 49 | 100% | soft |
| 170 | Vanity Fair | 48 | 100% | hard |
| 171 | El Diario Vasco | 48 | 100% | metered |
| 172 | Business Insider | 47 | 100% | metered |
| 173 | Las Provincias | 46 | 100% | metered |
| 174 | Ara | 44 | 100% | metered |
| 175 | Clarín | 42 | 100% | metered |
| 176 | The Cut | 39 | 100% | metered |
| 177 | The Northern Echo | 38 | 100% | soft |
| 178 | Swindon Advertiser | 37 | 100% | metered |
| 179 | HotNews | 37 | 100% | metered |
| 180 | The i Paper | 34 | 100% | soft |
| 181 | Diario de Sevilla | 34 | 100% | metered |
| 182 | der Freitag | 33 | 100% | metered |
| 183 | Slate | 32 | 100% | metered |
| 184 | Berliner Zeitung | 32 | 100% | metered |
| 185 | Die Rheinpfalz | 32 | 100% | metered |
| 186 | Observador | 32 | 100% | metered |
| 187 | infoLibre | 31 | 100% | metered |
| 188 | El Financiero | 31 | 100% | hard |
| 189 | The Spectator | 28 | 100% | metered |
| 190 | Telegram.hr | 25 | 100% | metered |
| 191 | La Gaceta | 25 | 100% | soft |
| 192 | The Independent | 23 | 100% | soft |
| 193 | The Canberra Times | 23 | 100% | hard |
| 194 | The Charlotte Ledger | 23 | 100% | soft |
| 195 | Liverpool Echo | 22 | 100% | metered |
| 196 | MARCA | 22 | 100% | hard |
Method: success = the tool returned the readable article text in its reader view. A full-page view or a publisher's free preview is shown to the reader but not counted. Figures cover the last 7 days (the last 30 for outlets with fewer than 30 reads a week) and come from our own server logs of real usage — no outlet is contacted to build this page — and blend passive results with user 👍/👎. Only outlets with at least 20 recorded attempts are listed. Free to cite with a link back. Full methodology →
Cite this data
Free to reuse and quote with a link back — CC-BY 4.0.
RemovePaywall (2026). “The hardest paywalls to bypass in 2026.” Retrieved 15 Oct 2026 from https://removepaywall.co/hardest-paywalls