Unpaywall

Get free text of research papers as you browse, using Unpaywall's index of ten million legal, open-access articles.

Unpaywall: Free Access to Scholarly Research Papers

"Unpaywall" is a Firefox extension designed to provide users with access to millions of legal, open-access research papers. When a user encounters a paywalled article, Unpaywall searches its comprehensive database for an open version, offering the user the opportunity to read it for free. A project of the non-profit, Our Research, Unpaywall is dedicated to making scholarly research more open, accessible, and reusable.

Add-on stats

Manifest V2
Daily users: 73,170
112
Rating: 4.35
(240)
Version: 3.98 (Last updated: 2021-07-28)
Version code: 5272498
Creation date: 2017-03-04
Weekly download count: 1,131
Firefox on Android: Yes
Permissions:
  • *://*.oadoi.org/*
  • storage
Size: 691.88K
Full description: See detailed description

Other platforms

Unpaywall (v3.99)
800,000 4.04 (254)

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Firefox Browser Add-ons does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • User-friendly interface
  • Helpful for accessing academic papers
  • Gratitude expressed by some users for the add-on
Cons
  • Doesn't work consistently on various pages
  • Only supports certain types of documents
  • Misleading functionality suggestions
  • Issues with the icon not being clickable
Most mentioned
  • Non-functionality on specific websites
  • Limited document types
  • User frustrations over the add-on's utility
User reviews
by ramiel, 2025-03-10


Doesn't work, can't click the icon.
by EdTheShed, 2025-02-04
View all user reviews

Add-on safety

Risk impact

Unpaywall requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details
  • Critical Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
  • High ******* ******* **** *** ****** ***** *** ***** ** ******* **** ********* ********* ** * *********** *****
  • Low ******* ****** ** *** ********* ******** *********
Risk likelihood

Unpaywall has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details
  • Medium This extension has medium user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
  • Low **** ********* *** ******* **** **** * ****** **** ***** ******** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
  • Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
  • Good **** ********* *** **** **** *******
Upgrade to see full risk analysis details

Similar add-ons

Here are some Firefox add-ons that are similar to Unpaywall: