Der Freitag Paywall: How to Read Freitag+ Articles for Free
der Freitag, the Berlin left-liberal weekly, keeps essays and interviews behind the Freitag+ paywall. How it works and how to read a full der Freitag article.
Paywall behaviour last tested
der Freitag is the left-liberal weekly published in Berlin. It grew out of the merger of an East German and a West German paper after reunification, and since 2008 it has been owned and edited by the publisher Jakob Augstein, who relaunched it as an opinion weekly with a strong online presence and a long-running partnership with The Guardian, whose pieces it translates into German. Its readers come for essays, long interviews, cultural criticism and the running arguments of the German left, and almost all of that is marked Freitag+ and reserved for subscribers. A reader following a link from social media usually sees the first few lines and a subscription box. This guide explains how the paywall works and how to read a full article.
How the der Freitag paywall works
der Freitag runs a freemium paywall branded Freitag+. Short news items, some blog posts and selected pieces are open to everyone. The weekly's main articles, including the cover stories, interviews, essays and most of the debate section, are marked Freitag+ and stop after the opening paragraphs with a prompt to subscribe or log in.
The gate is enforced in the browser. The article text is delivered in the page so that search engines can index it, and a script then checks whether you are a subscriber and hides the body behind the subscription box. A reader that fetches the page without running that script receives the complete article. Our explainer on metered versus hard paywalls sets out why that distinction matters, and der Freitag sits firmly on the softer side of it.
Our tests on 20 October 2026 through Skip the Paywall:
- A 2,186-word der Freitag interview with Kim Posster on the Greens' "men's manifesto" and the party's tendency to let itself drift to the right loaded in full, all 49 paragraphs.
- A 1,151-word der Freitag essay by Shila Behjat on feminism for left-wing men, arguing that love is political, loaded in full, all 25 paragraphs.
- A 1,377-word der Freitag report by Wolfgang Michal on the Nord Stream trial and how Hamburg's most sought-after defence lawyer is aiming for an acquittal loaded in full, all 23 paragraphs.
Read a der Freitag article in full
- Copy the article link. der Freitag links look like freitag.de/autoren/ followed by the author's name and the article slug.
- Paste it into the box on the home page and press Read Article.
- The story appears in a clean reader view with the headline, byline and full text.
The reader shows the article in German, exactly as der Freitag published it. If you want it in English, your browser's built-in translation works on the reader page in the normal way.
Other approaches
- Newsletters. der Freitag sends free email newsletters that summarise the week's main pieces and link to them.
- The Guardian partnership. Many of the foreign pieces der Freitag runs are translations of Guardian articles, and the originals are free to read in English on the Guardian's own site.
- Library access. German public libraries commonly stock the print edition and many offer digital newspaper access to cardholders.
- Related free sources. Bundestag records, government statements and court documents are published free, and the factual basis of a Freitag essay can usually be checked against them.
The first German title on the list
der Freitag is the first German newspaper that works with the reader, and so far it stands alone. The big German titles enforce their paywalls on the server and send non-subscribers nothing but a teaser, so there is no script to skip. In our 20 October 2026 tests Handelsblatt and the Badische Zeitung served only teasers, the FAZ and Freie Presse returned previews that were flagged as incomplete, and WirtschaftsWoche gave mixed results. Spiegel+ and Bild+ also serve teasers. None of those is listed, and our guide to sites that cannot be bypassed explains what to do instead. For other European titles that do pass, see the full list of sites that work, which is kept current.
Subscribe if you read it regularly
der Freitag is a small, independent weekly with no large group behind it, and Freitag+ subscriptions are the main thing paying its writers. If you read its essays and interviews every week, a digital subscription is the right way to keep it going.
Try it with an article
Paste the URL of an article from der Freitag and read it in a clean reader view. Free, instant, no signup.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns der Freitag?
The publisher Jakob Augstein, who has owned and edited the weekly since 2008. It is independent of the large German newspaper groups and has a long-standing content partnership with The Guardian.
Does the reader work on Freitag+ articles?
Yes. All three articles in our 20 October 2026 tests, including a 2,186-word interview, loaded in full. Freitag+ articles carry their text in the page and are hidden by a script, which the reader does not run.
Does it work on Spiegel, FAZ or Handelsblatt too?
No. Spiegel+ and Bild+ serve teasers, Handelsblatt and the Badische Zeitung served only teasers on 20 October 2026, the FAZ and Freie Presse returned flagged previews and WirtschaftsWoche gave mixed results. der Freitag is the only German title on the list so far.