Surmount (Paywalls) Firefox

Surmount (Paywalls)

By: gxvwb
Climb over Paywalls.
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Features & Capabilities

Surmount is a Firefox extension designed to help users bypass paywalls by redirecting selected articles to archived captures from archive.today, which utilizes archive.ph technology. Users may need to complete a Google reCAPTCHA, and new archives might take a moment to generate if not previously available.

The extension supports popular publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Intercept, The Miami Herald, Financial Times, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, and The Athletic. Originally created for personal use, Surmount is shared publicly adhering to Mozilla's guidelines. It was built using original code by Austin Moore and has no affiliation with archive.today.

User Growth & Download Statistics

Manifest V2 Add-on Privacy & Security News & Magazines
By:
gxvwb
Daily users:
3,734
Rating:
4.16
(19)
Version:
3.1 Last updated: 2025-07-27
Version code:
5999149
Creation date:
2022-03-04
Risk:
Moderate risk impact High risk likelihood
Permissions:
  • webRequest
  • webRequestBlocking
  • *://*.nytimes.com/*
  • *://*.wsj.com/*
  • *://*.washingtonpost.com/*
  • *://*.miamiherald.com/*
  • *://*.reuters.com/*
  • *://*.latimes.com/*
  • *://*.theintercept.com/*
  • *://*.ft.com/*
    • See more
Size:
67.94KB
Full description:
See detailed description
Source:
Firefox Add-ons Store
Data ingested on:
2025-11-15
Compare stats and ranking:

Contact the developer

Chrome-Stats does not own this Firefox add-on. Please use these information below to contact the Firefox add-on developer.
Developed by:
gxvwb
Firefox Add-ons Store
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/surmount/

Permission Change History

2025-07-27: Version 3.0 → 3.1
Add Permissions: *://*.https://thedailybeast.com/*
2023-10-06: Version 2.4 → 2.5
Remove Permissions: tabs
2023-09-23: Version 2.3 → 2.4
Add Permissions: tabs
2023-05-18: Version 2.2 → 2.3
Add Permissions: *://*.bloomberg.com/* *://*.theathletic.com/*
2023-01-03: Version 1.9 → 2.0
Add Permissions: *://*.ft.com/* *://*.theatlantic.com/*
2022-10-31: Version 1.7 → 1.8
Add Permissions: *://*.theintercept.com/*
2022-09-03: Version 1.6 → 1.7
Add Permissions: *://*.latimes.com/*

User Reviews

Users commonly praise Surmount for easily bypassing paywalls on its supported sites and for being simple and fast. Repeated complaints are inconsistent behavior (broken links or failures), CAPTCHA/reCAPTCHA problems on some publishers, limited site coverage, and lack of a per‑site disable option (e.g., to exclude NYT or its games). Overall reactions are positive when it works but reliability and scope are the main issues.
Pros
  • Effectively bypasses paywalls for many supported sites — several users call it a life‑saver and say it works reliably.
  • Simple and easy to use; usually fast with only a small delay before content appears.
  • Multiple users report it works for the New York Times (though results are mixed across reviewers).
Cons
  • Inconsistent reliability — some users get broken URLs or the extension simply doesn’t work on certain pages/sites.
  • Triggers CAPTCHAs or fails to load content on sites like WSJ and Washington Post for some users.
  • Limited site coverage — supports a small set of sites so many paywalls remain unsupported.
  • No per‑site disable/exclusion option (users want to opt out for sites or NYT games).
Recent reviews
by Mo*****, 2025-10-13
by Fi*****, 2025-09-16
This extension is broken and will load broken URLs that lead to NGINX landing pages.
by Ce*****, 2025-07-18
View all user reviews ›

Is Surmount (Paywalls) Safe?

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.

Surmount (Paywalls) requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details
  • Critical Request access to the following domains: nytimes.com, wsj.com, washingtonpost.com, miamiherald.com, reuters.com, latimes.com, theintercept.com, ft.com, theatlantic.com, bloomberg.com, *.https, theathletic.com
  • High ****** *** ********* ** ******* *** ******* ******* ** ****** *** *** ******** ******
Risk likelihood
Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Firefox add-on may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Firefox add-on reputation on Firefox Add-ons Store, the amount of time the Firefox add-on has been around, and other signals about the Firefox add-on. 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 Firefox add-on.

Surmount (Paywalls) may not be trust-worthy. Avoid installing if possible unless you really trust this publisher.

Risk likelihood analysis details
  • Critical This extension is not longer available in the store
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