How to Read Los Angeles Times Articles for Free
The Los Angeles Times meters its website and pushes for subscriptions after a few reads. Here is how the LA Times paywall works and how to read any story in full.
Paywall behaviour last tested
The Los Angeles Times is the largest newsroom on the West Coast and the paper of record for California, Hollywood and the Pacific. It has had a metered paywall since 2012, and if you follow California wildfires, the entertainment industry or West Coast politics from outside the state, you will run into it. This guide covers how the meter works and how to read a full LA Times story without a subscription.
How the LA Times paywall works
The LA Times uses a metered paywall: non-subscribers can read a set number of articles per month before a subscription prompt replaces the story. The meter is tracked in your browser and resets monthly. Some coverage, such as breaking public-safety news during wildfires and earthquakes, is placed outside the meter as a public service.
As with almost every metered paper, the article text is delivered in full in the page's HTML so that search engines can index it, and the paywall is enforced by a script that runs in the browser afterwards. That is what makes it readable through a crawler-style tool. In our most recent test, a 1,500-word LA Times environment feature loaded completely through Skip the Paywall, all 50 paragraphs of it.
Read an LA Times article in full
- Copy the story link. LA Times links look like latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-26/headline-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 LA Times also runs several sub-brands on the same domain, including De Los, the food section and the Envelope awards coverage. They share the same paywall and work the same way.
How the LA Times compares with other US papers
Among the big metro dailies we have tested, the LA Times is one of the most reliable to read through the tool, alongside The Boston Globe, the Seattle Times and the Minnesota Star Tribune. The San Francisco Chronicle, its nearest neighbour, is a different story: the Chronicle serves a bot-challenge page to automated requests, so the reader cannot fetch its articles at all. If you want the reasons, see our explainer on metered versus hard paywalls.
Alternatives that still work
- Library access. Most California public libraries provide free digital access to the LA Times with a library card, often through the paper's own site rather than a database. Check your library's website; it is the most durable free option.
- Private windows. The meter lives in cookies, so a private window resets it. The LA Times has not been aggressive about detecting private browsing, so this still works more often than on sites like Business Insider.
- The e-newspaper. The print replica is subscriber-only and not available through any reader.
Support the paper if you read it often
The LA Times has cut its newsroom repeatedly in recent years and relies heavily on digital subscriptions. Introductory offers are usually a dollar a week or less. If you read it several times a week, that is the fair way to keep the coverage coming.
Try it with an article
Paste the URL of an article from LA Times and read it in a clean reader view. Free, instant, no signup.
Frequently asked questions
How many free articles does the LA Times allow?
The LA Times does not publish a fixed number and adjusts it from time to time. It is more generous than most metro papers, and public-safety coverage is often exempt from the meter altogether.
Can I read the LA Times for free with a library card?
Many California public libraries offer free digital access to the LA Times for cardholders. Check your local library website; this is the most reliable long-term free option.
Does Skip the Paywall work on LA Times recipes and the food section?
Yes. Food and recipe pages are ordinary articles on the same domain and load in full, including ingredient lists and method steps.