Pay Per Article. Not Per Month.
Pay a penny to read an article. No subscriptions, no ads, no tracking. Free for readers, agents and publishers.
Why Paperwall?
For Publishers
You create great content and want to get paid for it without cluttering your site with ads or adding a paywall. The best part? No blockchain or coding knowledge required.
For Readers
You want an ad-free web and don't mind paying a few cents per article — all in a way that is simple, private, and fair.
For AI Agent Users
You use Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Antigravity, or another AI agent and want it to pay for paywalled articles on your behalf.
For Developers
Build apps and agents that can pay for what they consume. No browsers, no clicks — just the CLI and our A2A server.
How it works
Publisher adds one tag
A single line of code. That's it. Works with any website.
Reader pays pennies
One click. A penny leaves your wallet. No forms, no sign-ups.
Content unlocks
Instantly. The article appears. The publisher gets paid.
Get started
Choose your path
For Publishers
For Publishers
Add one script tag to your site. Start earning from every reader — human or AI.
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@kobaru/paperwall-sdk@latest/dist/index.iife.js"></script>For Readers
For Readers
Install the extension, add $5, and read 500 articles. One click to pay.
For AI Users
For AI Agent Users
Want Claude, Gemini, or any AI assistant to browse paywalled content on your behalf? Install the Paperwall MCP server and your AI gets instant access — paying automatically per article.
For Developers
For Developers
Building with the CLI agent or A2A server? The paperwall CLI fetches any paywalled URL from scripts or pipelines. The A2A server exposes it as a discoverable service for other agents.
Pricing
How much does Paperwall cost?
Subscriptions
$10/month
Pay even if you read just 1 article
Paperwall protocol
$0.00
Free to use. Always.
The protocol is free and open source. The SDK, extension, CLI, and A2A server cost nothing to use or self-host.
Readers only pay for the content they read — pennies that go directly to the publisher. No cut for Paperwall.
Publishers keep 100% of content payments. No platform fees, no middlemen, no lock-in. Payment processing is handled by a facilitator (Kobaru by default) — facilitators may charge processing fees depending on volume and plan. You can always run your own.
Featured Projects
Built by Kobaru
Kobaru builds open-source tools for a fairer web. We run a reference implementation of the Paperwall protocol — including payment processing infrastructure — so publishers don't need to operate their own.
Fabricio Gava
Engineering Lead
Amanda Pestilo
UX Lead
Open Source
Open source & built in public
Paperwall is GPL-3.0. Every line of code is public, every decision is open to debate.
We believe the infrastructure for a fairer web should belong to everyone — not locked behind a corporate product. Fork it, audit it, self-host it, or build something new on top of it.
Contribute on GitHub ↗Frequently Asked Questions
Paperwall is an open protocol that enables micropayments for web content — letting readers pay tiny amounts (as low as one penny) per article. No subscriptions needed. Anyone can build on it, run their own infrastructure, or just use Kobaru's implementation.
Publishers set their own prices. Most articles cost between $0.01 and $0.10. A $5 deposit can last months.
Your funds are stored in an encrypted wallet on your device. Only you can access them with your password.
Instantly. When you pay for an article, the publisher receives the money right away. No waiting 30-60 days like traditional ad networks.
AI agents can use our CLI tool to automatically pay for and access content. Perfect for research, data gathering, and automated workflows.
For readers: we're doing everything we can to abstract crypto complexity and deliver a state-of-the-art UX. One of our core principles is the grandma test — the extension should be so easy to use that even your grandma can use it. That said, Paperwall is in early stages, and users will need to fund their account manually. We'll guide you through the process with simple, step-by-step instructions. For publishers: Kobaru abstracts everything. No crypto knowledge needed — just add a script tag and you're done.
At one penny per article, the risk is minimal. And we're currently developing allowlists and denylists — so you'll be able to set up automatic payments for publishers you trust and block ones you don't, without ever having to think about it.
Yes. Paperwall is an open-source protocol licensed under GPL-3.0. You can inspect the code, contribute, fork it, or run your own instance entirely independent of Kobaru.
Currently Chrome and Chromium-based browsers (Edge, Brave, Arc). Firefox and Safari support is on our roadmap.
Add a single script tag to your HTML. It takes less than 60 seconds. Check the 'For Publishers' section above for details.