Climb over Paywalls.

Surmount (Paywalls) - Bypass Article Paywalls
"Surmount (Paywalls)" is a Firefox add-on designed to bypass paywalls on select news sites by redirecting users to archived versions of articles on archive.today and archive.ph. Users may need to complete a Google reCAPTCHA and wait for an archive to be created if one doesn't already exist. Currently supports The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more. Originally created for personal use, it complies with Mozilla’s guidelines.
Add-on stats
Manifest V2
By: gxvwb
Weekly download count: 126
Firefox on Android: Yes
Permissions:
- webRequest
- webRequestBlocking
- *://*.nytimes.com/*
- *://*.wsj.com/*
- *://*.washingtonpost.com/*
- *://*.miamiherald.com/*
- *://*.reuters.com/*
- *://*.latimes.com/*
- *://*.theintercept.com/*
- *://*.ft.com/*
Size: 69.54K
Full description: See detailed description
Ranking
Other platforms
Not available on Chrome
Not available on Android
Not available on Edge
User reviews
Pros
- Works well for bypassing paywalls on many sites
- Makes viewing paywalled content effortless
- Developer responds quickly to bugs
- Simple to use and effective
Cons
- Not effective for specific sites like NYT and WSJ
- Issues with tracking and privacy concerns
- Does not work consistently for some users
- Some functions may not behave as expected, like redirection bugs
Most mentioned
- The extension works well for some sites but not others
- Developer fixes bugs quickly
- Users appreciate the ease of use but seek more control over exclusions
User reviews
This works great and I highly recommend it. my only minor complaint is that it would be great if I could disable it for a specific site. I pay NYT so I don't have to sidestep them. I took a peak inside the .xpi to see if it was as simple as deleting a few lines, but I don't really know my way around js and just ended up corrupting it lol
by JohnHaxx, 2025-03-03
Adds an attempt to track you via top-fwz1.mail.ru . After removing this add-on and then going to the sites mentioned the tracker is not present, so it is clearly inserted as part of this add-on.
by RaceFPV, 2025-02-22
by Antihero, 2025-02-03
Add-on safety
Risk impact
Surmount (Paywalls) requires some sensitive permissions that could impact your browser and data security. Exercise caution before installing.
Risk impact analysis details
- Critical Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
- Critical ******* ****** ** *** ********* ******** ************ ******** ******************* **************** ************ ************ ***************** ******* **************** ************** ***************
Risk likelihood
We don't have sufficient data to confidently determine the risk likelihood of Surmount (Paywalls). Use it at your own risk.
Risk likelihood analysis details
- High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
- Low **** ********* *** ******* **** **** * ****** **** ***** ******** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
- Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
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