How to Read The Globe and Mail Without a Subscription
The Globe and Mail has metered its website since 2012 and locks most stories after a few reads. Here is how the Globe paywall works and how to read the full article for free.
Paywall behaviour last tested
The Globe and Mail is Canada's national newspaper and the one most likely to be cited on business, federal politics and foreign affairs. It was also one of the first Canadian papers to charge online, launching a metered paywall in 2012. If you follow Canadian news from abroad, or only read the Globe when a story goes viral, you will meet the "Subscribe now" panel quickly. This guide explains how to read the whole article.
How the Globe and Mail paywall works
The Globe runs a metered paywall. Non-subscribers get a small number of free articles per month, tracked in a cookie, before the article body is hidden behind a subscription prompt. A few categories, including some breaking news and obituaries, sit outside the meter.
The Globe publishes on Arc, the platform built by The Washington Post. On the Globe's site, Arc delivers the full article in the HTML so that search engines can index it, and the paywall script runs afterwards in the browser. That is what allows a crawler-style reader to retrieve the whole text. In our latest test, an 820-word Globe editorial loaded in full through Skip the Paywall, including its final paragraph.
Read a Globe and Mail article in full
- Copy the article link. Globe links look like theglobeandmail.com/section/article-headline-slug/.
- Paste it into the box on the home page and press Read Article.
- The article appears in a clean reader view with the headline, byline, body and inline photographs.
Report on Business, the Globe's business section, is on the same domain with the same paywall and works the same way.
Canadian papers compared
We have tested the main Canadian titles with the same method:
- The Globe and Mail: full text available.
- National Post and the Postmedia papers: full text available. See our National Post guide.
- Toronto Star: the reader receives only a subscription form, not the article. The Star enforces its paywall on the server.
- La Presse: free to read, no paywall.
Other options
- Library access. Most Canadian public libraries offer free Globe and Mail access, usually through PressReader, with a library card. It is the best long-term free option.
- Private windows. The meter is cookie-based and a private window resets it. The Globe does not currently block private browsing.
- Globe Unlimited on your phone. The app is subscriber-only; there is no free route to it.
Support the Globe if you read it daily
The Globe and Mail is independently owned and depends on subscriptions for most of its revenue. Digital subscriptions usually start at a couple of dollars a week on introductory offers. If it is your daily paper, that is the right way to keep its newsroom funded.
Try it with an article
Paste the URL of an article from The Globe and Mail and read it in a clean reader view. Free, instant, no signup.
Frequently asked questions
How many free Globe and Mail articles do you get per month?
The Globe does not publish the number and adjusts it from time to time. Most readers see the subscription prompt after a handful of articles in a month.
Can I read the Globe and Mail free with a library card?
Yes, most Canadian public libraries provide the Globe through PressReader at no cost to cardholders. Check your library website for the link.
Does the reader work on Report on Business?
Yes. Report on Business is a section of theglobeandmail.com with the same paywall, so its articles work in exactly the same way.