Bypass Medium Paywall - Working at Jan 2026 - Greasy Fork, Violentmonkey, Tampermonkey - Click the RAW button to install

medium.user.js

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Medium Paywall Bypass (Manual Button + Badge + Fallback + Offline)
// @namespace   Violentmonkey Scripts
// @run-at      document-start
// @match       *://*.medium.com/*
// @match       *://medium.com/*
// @match       *://*/*
// @grant       none
// @version     3.5
// @inject-into content
// @updateURL   https://gist.githubusercontent.com/allenyllee/05e07d0c12bcf6d67edf5ed87f4b7629/raw/medium.user.js
// @downloadURL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/allenyllee/05e07d0c12bcf6d67edf5ed87f4b7629/raw/medium.user.js
// @website     freedium.cfd
// @author      Mathix420, ZhymabekRoman, allenyllee
// @description Show a button to open Medium articles via Freedium; badge shows Freedium/Mirror/Offline status with automatic fallback.
// ==/UserScript==

(function () {
  'use strict';

  const PRIMARY = 'https://freedium.cfd/';
  const FALLBACK = 'https://freedium-mirror.cfd/';
  const TIMEOUT_MS = 1500;

  // status: 'unknown' | 'checking' | 'primary' | 'fallback' | 'offline'
  let endpointStatus = 'unknown';
  let chosenBase = null;
  let probeInFlight = null;

  function isEditing() {
    return location.href.includes('/edit?source=');
  }

  function isMediumArticle() {
    return document.head
      ?.querySelector('meta[property="al:android:url"]')
      ?.content?.includes('medium://p/');
  }

  function shouldShowButton() {
    return isMediumArticle() && !isEditing();
  }

  function testEndpoint(url, timeout = TIMEOUT_MS) {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      const controller = new AbortController();
      const timer = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), timeout);

      fetch(url, {
        method: 'HEAD',
        mode: 'no-cors',
        signal: controller.signal,
        cache: 'no-store',
      })
        .then(() => {
          clearTimeout(timer);
          resolve(true);
        })
        .catch(() => {
          clearTimeout(timer);
          reject(false);
        });
    });
  }

  async function probeEndpoints(force = false) {
    if (!force && (endpointStatus === 'primary' || endpointStatus === 'fallback' || endpointStatus === 'offline')) {
      return endpointStatus;
    }
    if (!force && probeInFlight) return probeInFlight;

    endpointStatus = 'checking';
    chosenBase = null;
    updateButtonUI();

    probeInFlight = (async () => {
      // 1) Try primary
      try {
        await testEndpoint(PRIMARY);
        endpointStatus = 'primary';
        chosenBase = PRIMARY;
        return endpointStatus;
      } catch {
        // continue
      }

      // 2) Try fallback
      try {
        await testEndpoint(FALLBACK);
        endpointStatus = 'fallback';
        chosenBase = FALLBACK;
        return endpointStatus;
      } catch {
        // continue
      }

      // 3) Both failed
      endpointStatus = 'offline';
      chosenBase = null;
      return endpointStatus;
    })();

    try {
      await probeInFlight;
    } finally {
      probeInFlight = null;
      updateButtonUI();
    }

    return endpointStatus;
  }

  function getRedirectUrl() {
    if (!chosenBase) return null;
    return chosenBase + location.href;
  }

  function ensureButton() {
    if (document.getElementById('__freedium_btn_wrap__')) return;

    const wrap = document.createElement('div');
    wrap.id = '__freedium_btn_wrap__';

    Object.assign(wrap.style, {
      position: 'fixed',
      right: '16px',
      bottom: '16px',
      zIndex: 2147483647,
    });

    const btn = document.createElement('button');
    btn.id = '__freedium_btn__';
    btn.type = 'button';
    btn.textContent = 'Bypass on Freedium';

    Object.assign(btn.style, {
      position: 'relative',
      padding: '10px 14px',
      borderRadius: '10px',
      border: '1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2)',
      background: '#fff',
      color: '#000',
      fontSize: '14px',
      fontFamily: 'system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif',
      cursor: 'pointer',
      boxShadow: '0 6px 18px rgba(0,0,0,.15)',
      userSelect: 'none',
    });

    const badge = document.createElement('span');
    badge.id = '__freedium_badge__';
    badge.textContent = '?';

    Object.assign(badge.style, {
      position: 'absolute',
      right: '-8px',
      bottom: '-8px',
      minWidth: '18px',
      height: '18px',
      padding: '0 6px',
      borderRadius: '999px',
      display: 'inline-flex',
      alignItems: 'center',
      justifyContent: 'center',
      fontSize: '11px',
      lineHeight: '18px',
      border: '1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.15)',
      boxShadow: '0 4px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.12)',
      background: '#eee',
      color: '#000',
      pointerEvents: 'none',
    });

    btn.appendChild(badge);

    btn.addEventListener('click', async (e) => {
      e.preventDefault();

      // If offline, treat click as "retry"
      if (endpointStatus === 'offline') {
        await probeEndpoints(true);
        // after retry, if still offline, do nothing (UI already updated)
        return;
      }

      // Ensure we have a decided endpoint (primary/fallback/offline)
      await probeEndpoints(false);

      const url = getRedirectUrl();
      if (url) {
        location.href = url;
      }
      // If offline after probe, UI shows offline and click does nothing
    });

    wrap.appendChild(btn);
    document.documentElement.appendChild(wrap);

    updateButtonUI();
    // background probe
    probeEndpoints(false);
  }

  function removeButton() {
    document.getElementById('__freedium_btn_wrap__')?.remove();
  }

  function setButtonText(btn, badge, text) {
    btn.textContent = text;
    btn.appendChild(badge); // keep badge after text reset
  }

  function updateButtonUI() {
    const btn = document.getElementById('__freedium_btn__');
    const badge = document.getElementById('__freedium_badge__');
    if (!btn || !badge) return;

    if (endpointStatus === 'checking') {
      setButtonText(btn, badge, 'Bypass (checking...)');
      btn.title = 'Checking freedium.cfd and freedium-mirror.cfd...';
      btn.disabled = true;
      btn.style.opacity = '0.85';
      btn.style.cursor = 'wait';

      badge.textContent = '…';
      badge.style.background = '#FDE68A'; // yellow
      badge.style.color = '#111827';
    } else if (endpointStatus === 'primary') {
      setButtonText(btn, badge, 'Bypass via Freedium');
      btn.title = 'Will open via freedium.cfd';
      btn.disabled = false;
      btn.style.opacity = '1';
      btn.style.cursor = 'pointer';

      badge.textContent = 'F';
      badge.style.background = '#86EFAC'; // green
      badge.style.color = '#064E3B';
    } else if (endpointStatus === 'fallback') {
      setButtonText(btn, badge, 'Bypass via Mirror');
      btn.title = 'Will open via freedium-mirror.cfd';
      btn.disabled = false;
      btn.style.opacity = '1';
      btn.style.cursor = 'pointer';

      badge.textContent = 'M';
      badge.style.background = '#FDBA74'; // orange
      badge.style.color = '#7C2D12';
    } else if (endpointStatus === 'offline') {
      setButtonText(btn, badge, 'Freedium offline (click to retry)');
      btn.title = 'Both freedium.cfd and freedium-mirror.cfd are unreachable. Click to retry.';
      btn.disabled = false; // allow retry
      btn.style.opacity = '1';
      btn.style.cursor = 'pointer';

      badge.textContent = 'X';
      badge.style.background = '#FCA5A5'; // red
      badge.style.color = '#7F1D1D';
    } else {
      setButtonText(btn, badge, 'Bypass on Freedium');
      btn.title = 'Open this article via Freedium (status unknown)';
      btn.disabled = false;
      btn.style.opacity = '1';
      btn.style.cursor = 'pointer';

      badge.textContent = '?';
      badge.style.background = '#E5E7EB'; // gray
      badge.style.color = '#111827';
    }
  }

  function updateUI() {
    if (!document.documentElement) return;
    if (shouldShowButton()) ensureButton();
    else removeButton();
  }

  function observe() {
    const init = () => {
      updateUI();

      const title = document.querySelector('title');
      if (title) {
        new MutationObserver(updateUI).observe(title, { childList: true, subtree: true });
      }

      if (document.head) {
        new MutationObserver(updateUI).observe(document.head, { childList: true, subtree: true });
      }
    };

    if (document.readyState === 'loading') {
      document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', init, { once: true });
    } else {
      init();
    }
  }

  observe();
})();

thanks!