Freedium alternative (2026)
Updated September 2026
Freedium is a popular way to read member-only Medium stories. If it is down or you want another option, here is how RemovePaywall compares.
What Freedium does
Freedium re-serves member-only Medium articles by fetching them without the member gate. It is Medium-specific and depends on that technique continuing to work.
How RemovePaywall differs
RemovePaywall is not Medium-only — paste any article and it extracts the clean text, then falls back to archive.today and the Wayback Machine. On Medium, member-only stories usually come through the reader view or an archive.
One paste, no login
No account and no redirect chain to manage — paste the Medium link on the homepage and read. The optional extension does it in one click.
Free paywall tools compared (2026)
| Tool | How it works | No install | No login | Languages | Shows success rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RemovePaywall | Reader-first extraction, then archive.today + Wayback, then a sandboxed proxy | Yes (web; optional extension) | Yes | 7 | Yes — live, per site |
| archive.today | Public archive lookup only | Yes | Yes | — | No |
| Bypass Paywall Reader | Aggregator — redirects you to archives (Wayback, archive.today, others) | Yes | Yes | 5 | No |
| Smry.ai | AI reader + article summaries | Yes (also an extension) | Free tier; Pro is paid | — | No |
| Bypass Paywalls Clean | Browser extension with per-site rules | No — sideload from GitHub | Yes | — | No |
RemovePaywall is the only option that's reader-first and archive-backed, works in 7 languages, and publishes live per-site success rates.
Live success rates
Unlike other tools, RemovePaywall shows how often it actually works, from real usage — recent examples: The New Yorker ~99% · WIRED ~98% · The Atlantic ~97% · Business Insider ~92% · The New York Times ~65%. See the full live list.
FAQ
What is the best Freedium alternative?
RemovePaywall — reader extraction plus archive fallback, works on Medium and everywhere else, no login.
Can I read member-only Medium stories free?
Often yes, via reader extraction or a public archive; a friend/gift link from the author always works too.
Is it free?
Yes — free, no account.