Skip to content
alsoreported
  1. Home
  2. Outlet guides
  3. Süddeutsche Zeitung
Outlet guide

How to read Süddeutsche Zeitung free or for less

Some articles on SZ.de are free, but those in the SZ Plus section need a subscription, which also gives you the full text of the next day's paper from 7pm. In the SZ news app, passes run from €4.99 for a week to €129.99 for a year, and a single digital edition costs €3.99. Many libraries carry the SZ archive, which card holders in Köln, Münster and Heilbronn can read for free.

Last checked 9 Nov 2026. Offers change often, so confirm the price on the outlet's own page before you pay.

Quick answer

Use your city or university library's SZ archive first, as Köln, Münster and Heilbronn libraries and universities such as Erfurt offer it free to members; if you only need one day's paper, the digital edition costs €3.99.

Germany

Library

The SZ archive at Stadtbibliothek Köln

Free with a library card

Cologne's city library gives card holders the full SZ archive, with texts from 2 January 1992 to today. You sign in with your library card number and PIN.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source
Library

Current issue and archive through Munzinger with a library card

Free with a library card

Some city libraries offer the SZ through Munzinger. Stadtbibliothek Heilbronn lists every article from the current SZ and SZ Magazin and the archive. Stadtbücherei Münster offers all SZ articles since 1994 and SZ-Magazin since 1999, as web text or as the original PDF page, from home or in the library.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source 1 Source 2
School / university

The SZ archive through your university library

Free for students and staff

Many German university libraries license the SZ full-text archive for their members. At the University of Erfurt, students and staff can use it on campus and reach the SZ portal from home through the university VPN. Search your library's database list for Süddeutsche Zeitung.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source
Free articles

Free articles and news ticker in the SZ app

Free

The SZ Nachrichten app is free to download, with a news ticker, breaking-news alerts and articles outside the SZ Plus section. Pieces collected under SZ Plus need a subscription.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source
App

SZ Plus passes in the SZ news app

Wochenpass €4.99 or €7.99; Monatspass €14.99 to €19.99; Jahrespass €129.99 (App Store prices)

The free SZ Nachrichten app sells weekly, monthly and yearly passes through your Apple account. Subscribers can read every SZ Plus article, and from 7pm all texts of the next day's printed paper. Apple lists the passes without saying which offer each belongs to, so check the terms on screen before you buy. We could not check the prices on SZ.de.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source
Other

Buy one digital edition of the paper

€3.99 per weekday issue; €4.99 for the weekend edition; €1.99 for SZ-Magazin

The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper app sells single digital editions, available from 7pm the evening before, which you can download and read offline. It also lists subscriptions from €14.99 a week to €399.99 a year.

See the offer Confirmed on an official page Source

Austria

School / university

SZ LibraryNet at the University of Innsbruck

Free for students and staff

The University and State Library of Tyrol offers SZ LibraryNet, the full SZ archive from 1992 with supplements, updated daily. Students and staff of the University of Innsbruck and the Medical University of Innsbruck can use it on campus or from home through EZproxy.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source

Questions

Partly. Some articles on SZ.de and in the free SZ app can be read without paying, but pieces in the SZ Plus section need a subscription.

In the SZ news app on the App Store, passes cost €4.99 or €7.99 for a week, €14.99 to €19.99 for a month and €129.99 for a year. We could not check the prices or current intro offers on SZ.de.

We could not confirm a current SZ student rate, as SZ's own offer pages were not available to us and only deal sites list a price. Students should first check their university library, as many, such as Erfurt and Innsbruck, offer the SZ archive free to members.

Often, yes. Stadtbibliothek Köln offers the full SZ archive back to 1992, and Münster and Heilbronn offer the SZ through Munzinger, including the current issue in Heilbronn. Check your library's database page for the SZ archive or Munzinger.

Yes. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper app sells a weekday digital edition for €3.99 and the weekend edition for €4.99, from 7pm the evening before.