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: 72,933
349
Rating: 4.35
(240)
Version: 3.98 (Last updated: 2021-07-28)
Version code: 5272498
Creation date: 2017-03-04
Weekly download count: 1,160
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)
Not available on Android
Not available on Edge

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: