- By:
- https://unpaywall.org
- Users:
- 800,000
- Rating:
- 4.00 (262)
- Version:
- 3.99 Last updated: 2025-01-08
- Creation date:
- 2020-02-28
- Risk:
- Low risk impact Very low risk likelihood
- Permissions:
- storage
- storage
- Host permissions:
- *://*.oadoi.org/*
- *://*.oadoi.org/*
- Size:
- 670.00KB
- Email:
- ex*****@unpaywall.org
- URLs:
- Website ,Privacy policy
- Full description:
- See detailed description
- Source:
- Chrome Web Store
- Data ingested on:
- 2025-07-04
Ranking
# 416 ▼ 3
Other platforms

User reviews
Pros
- Provides access to free and open-access research papers easily.
- Saves time by finding legal versions of articles quickly.
- Legally facilitates accessing scientific research without paywalls.
- Highly appreciated by users for making science more accessible.
- Simple, user-friendly, and effective when papers are available for free.
Cons
- Does not bypass paywalls for subscription-only articles; only finds already free papers.
- Sometimes does not find the paper or stops working unpredictably.
- Limited functionality on certain websites or regions as reported by users.
- Cannot access content that requires publisher accounts or subscriptions.
- Some users feel it is less effective compared to alternative tools like Sci-Hub.
Recent reviews
Reading research papers for free is very user-friendly.
by
*****, 2025-06-13
The best.
by
Th*****, 2025-06-04
journals/studies behind an actual paywall are not free to access with this extension. The papers that show up with a green lock with this extension are already free and open access. Tried over 20 papers across several different providers. This extension acts like a download button for ALREADY open access and free papers and does not bypass a paywall. Not sure what the point of this extension is!
by
Sa*****, 2025-05-27
Extension safety
Risk impact
Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk
impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of
damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your
personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they
do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.
Unpaywall requires very minimum permissions.
Risk impact analysis details
- High Injects scripts into web pages, which may alter or extract site contents, resulting in a substantial risk.
- Low ******* ****** ** *** ********* ******** ********************
Risk likelihood
Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Chrome extension may turn malicious.
This is determined by the publisher and the Chrome extension reputation on
Chrome Web Store, the amount of time the Chrome extension has been
around, and other signals about the
Chrome extension. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change
as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always
exercise caution when installing a Chrome extension.
Unpaywall has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.
Risk likelihood analysis details
- Low This extension was updated more than 6 months ago. Older versions are more likely to be stable and safe.
- Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
- Low **** ********* *** **** **** ****** ******* ********** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
- Good **** ********* ** ****** ** ********
- Good **** ********* *** **** **** *******
Upgrade to see full risk analysis details
Promo images
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