Skip to content

Free to read elsewhere

No free copy found: read the original legally

We found no free report of these stories, so here is the cheapest legal way into each outlet.

Bloomberg

If you are a student or work at a university, first check whether your school offers free Bloomberg.com access. Otherwise, the student plan or Apple News+ (for Businessweek) is the cheapest legal route.

  • Bloomberg Terminal at the New York Public Library (United States)
  • Free Bloomberg.com through your university (United States)
  • Bloomberg Terminals in university libraries (United States)
Every legal way to read Bloomberg

El Confidencial

Read the articles without the EC Exclusivo label for free; for the rest, the lowest price we could confirm is the iPhone app's offer from €4.99 a month, and students should check the website's student offer first.

  • Company subscriptions for staff (Spain)
  • Gift subscription (Spain)
  • Free articles without the EC Exclusivo label (Spain)
Every legal way to read El Confidencial

El País

If you live in the Madrid region or Castilla-La Mancha, borrow today's El País free with your library card on eBiblio; Madrid city libraries also let you read it by QR code. Otherwise the cheapest subscription we could confirm is the Basic plan at €115.99 a year in the app.

  • Borrow the day's paper on eBiblio Madrid (Spain)
  • Borrow the day's paper on eBiblio Castilla-La Mancha (Spain)
  • Read El País by QR code in Madrid city libraries (Spain)
Every legal way to read El País

The Economist

Read the weekly edition free on PressReader with a library card if your library offers it. Otherwise, students and teachers should take the 75%-off annual plan.

  • Full weekly edition on PressReader with a library card (United States)
  • University group subscription (United States)
  • Gift articles from Premium subscribers (United States)
Every legal way to read The Economist

The New York Times

If your public library licenses the Times, your card gets you a free pass, usually for 24 or 72 hours, that you can renew whenever it runs out.

  • Free 72-hour pass with a public library card (United States)
  • 24-hour passes at some libraries (United States)
  • Print replica on PressReader via your library (United States)
Every legal way to read The New York Times

The Times and The Sunday Times

UK students should take the Student Beans plan at £9.99 a year; everyone else can read the text of The Times free through a UK library's NewsBank service, or get it as part of Apple News+.

  • Read The Times text free through your library's NewsBank service (United Kingdom)
  • Times and Sunday Times Digital Archive for older articles (United Kingdom)
  • Times Radio, free on DAB and in its app (United Kingdom)
Every legal way to read The Times and The Sunday Times

The Athletic

If you already pay for NYT All Access or Apple News+, The Athletic is included. If not, check whether your library offers a free 24-hour Athletic pass, as Denver, St. Louis County and Ottawa do.

  • Free 3-day NYT pass that includes The Athletic (Seattle) (United States)
  • Separate 24-hour Athletic pass at some libraries (United States)
  • University Athletic pass (NYT Academic Passes don't include it) (United States)
Every legal way to read The Athletic

AD (Algemeen Dagblad)

If you are a student aged 16 to 25, take the free AD student subscription; otherwise the cheapest offer is Digitaal Basis at €49.95 for the first 12 months.

  • Teacher and school-staff packages (Netherlands)
  • Limited free articles on ad.nl and in the app (Netherlands)
  • Free student subscription (ages 16 to 25) (Netherlands)
Every legal way to read AD (Algemeen Dagblad)

How this list is made. The ranking comes from aggregated, anonymous counts of paywalled links that readers asked about on 13 November 2026; a link appears only if at least 5 different readers asked about it. We never open the paywalled article: titles are rebuilt from the link itself, so their wording can differ from the headline. Free reports come from the public feeds of outlets that allow it, matched when the day closed. 4 other stories had neither a free report nor a legal route we have checked, so they are left out.

To check a story yourself, paste its link into the finder.