Unpaywall

Legally get full text of scholarly articles as you browse.

Unpaywall is a Chrome extension that helps you legally access full-text scholarly articles as you browse. When viewing a research article, it automatically searches an index of over 20 million free, authorized full-text PDFs, typically author-posted manuscripts hosted on university and government servers.

These manuscripts, available through Green Open Access, are posted with publishers' explicit permissions, ensuring that you access legitimate and legal versions. Unpaywall directs you to these freely available versions to promote scholarly communication and ease of research without subscription barriers.

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
Host permissions:
  • *://*.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

Other platforms

Unpaywall (v3.98)
68,388 4.35 (241)

User reviews

Unpaywall is widely praised for its user-friendly approach to accessing free and open-access research papers legally, saving time and supporting open science. However, multiple users point out it does not bypass paywalls, only locates already freely available papers, and can be inconsistent or limited on some sites. While it helps avoid illegal access, it does not guarantee access to subscription-only content, which can disappoint some users expecting full paper access.
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
View all user reviews ›

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 **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
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  • Good **** ********* ** ****** ** ********
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Upgrade to see full risk analysis details

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