Bypass Paywalls Clean
Hacker ApprovedRanked 11 of 70 browser extensions by recommenders
People recommend this free browser extension for getting past paywalls on most news sites, with rules updated every few weeks. Critics warn of privacy risks and legal trouble.
People recommend this free browser extension for getting past paywalls on most news sites, with rules updated every few weeks. Critics warn of privacy risks and legal trouble.
35 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 32
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 32 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works on most news paywalls
“It includes custom paywall-bypassing code for pretty much every news websites you could reasonably imagine”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Wikipedia bans Archive.today after site executed DDoS and altered web captures” “the most comprehensive and up-to-date paywall bypasser out there”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “Magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-Firefox-clean” “it works remarkably well. I haven't seen a paywall in years!”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin” - Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Startups in Hawaii?”
- Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “The desperation of NYTimes”
- Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “The world may have less time than it thinks on climate change”
Rules updated frequently and actively developed
“Development is continuing here, the link you gave is just an old mirror”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “FBI tries to unmask owner of archive.is” “they update the rules every couple of weeks”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Wikipedia bans Archive.today after site executed DDoS and altered web captures” “The project has been going on for years”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Can the stockmarket swallow Anthropic, SpaceX and OpenAI?” Free and quick to install
“Never worry about a paywall again”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “Ggml.ai joins Hugging Face to ensure the long-term progress of Local AI” “Install it now, thank me later”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: WallHop – 12ft.io is gone, so I built a replacement” Seen as safer than similar extensions
“BPWC is good as well, but I would keep it in a separate browser profile”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Squillions – two books about money-laundering” “I consider BPC safer to run than any plugin that works for”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Minneapolis Authorities Respond to Shooting Involving ICE Agents”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Legal risk and removal from platforms
“Tantamount to malware, considering how it has been legally exiled from 3 platforms”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Minneapolis Authorities Respond to Shooting Involving ICE Agents” “using this would earn you a felony”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “Magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-Firefox-clean” Privacy and security concerns
“Tantamount to malware, considering how it has been legally exiled from 3 platforms”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Minneapolis Authorities Respond to Shooting Involving ICE Agents” “introducing additional attack surface and privacy risks with yet another extension”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin”
Other browser extensions people recommend
The four most recommended other browser extensions, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SponsorBlock | 137 | 4 | 97% | 13 | — | Approved |
| Firefox Multi-Account Containers | 76 | 13 | 85% | 10 | 7.5 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| NoScript | 61 | 11 | 85% | 12 | 10 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Claude in Chrome | 53 | 42 | 56% | 9 | — | — |
| Bypass Paywalls CleanThis page | 32 | 3 | 91% | 11 | — | Approved |
What people said
26 of the 43 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Install it now, thank me later”
“Use the Bypass Paywalls Clean extension”
“Bypass Paywalls Clean works”
“You can bypass most of the paywalls using this extension”
“I'm using an extension that does exactly that”
“introducing additional attack surface and privacy risks with yet another extension”
“it works remarkably well. I haven't seen a paywall in years!”
“Or use pass paywalls clean plug-in.”
“a heavily updated version of the bypass-paywalls extension that is now dead due to litigious behavior”
“bypass-paywalls-clean works very well.”
“BPWC is good as well, but I would keep it in a separate browser profile”
“The project has been going on for years”
“And so is Bypass Paywalls Clean Firefox plugin.”
“Bypass Paywall Clean from Giflic or whatever was called”
“But Bypass Paywall Clean can : )”
“they update the rules every couple of weeks”
“It includes custom paywall-bypassing code for pretty much every news websites you could reasonably imagine”
“With the paywall blocker so good it got banned!”
“Never worry about a paywall again”
“I consider BPC safer to run than any plugin that works for”
“Tantamount to malware, considering how it has been legally exiled from 3 platforms”
“There's a browser addon that lets you read them - works on this one”
“using this would earn you a felony”
“the most comprehensive and up-to-date paywall bypasser out there”
“Development is continuing here, the link you gave is just an old mirror”
“Let's build and share more and better tools to help ensure poor kids are allowed to learn.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.