Part
01
of one
Part
01
How does the washington post paywall work
Hello! Thank you for your question about The Washington Post paywall. The short answer is that readers are asked to pay when trying to access more than 7-10 articles a month, and there are various subscription plans available. There are also special offers for Amazon Prime users and for those who have .gov, .edu or .mil email addresses, as well as various other ways to avoid paying the full monthly fee. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
As The Washington Post is one of the major news companies, I focused mostly on searching trusted media sites. Since paywall strategies are subject to frequent changes, I mostly limited myself to articles published within the last year. I made some exceptions to provide you with the historical data, i.e., to give you an overview of how paywall rules have changed since it was launched in 2013.
Even though I only used reliable sources, it was hard to gather accurate information about The Washington Post's paywall. Since it was bought by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, the company has been known to experiment with their paywall strategies, often surprising readers. Also, The Terms of Sale of Digital Product on its website emphasize that the rules can be changed at any time.
For example, while for The New York Times the paywall always appears after reaching the limit of ten free articles, for The Washington Post the matter is not so clear. The most in-depth analysis cites seven. However, other opinions I encountered show that in some cases, it can also be ten. I tried to access as many articles as possible, and I was asked to purchase a subscription after seven. Since user reports differ and The Washington Post doesn't give an exact number, I decided to include a range rather than a definite answer.
OVERVIEW
The Washington Post only launched its paywall in 2013, two years after The New York Times. Even before it was introduced, there were expectations it will be full of loopholes. While it still faces some issues, a lot has changed since The Post was bought by Jeff Bezos. Amazon's founder claims that every time they tighten the paywall, the subscriptions go up. The numbers confirm his words, as after he came onboard, the company grew digital subscriptions by 145%.
ARTICLE LIMIT
Unfortunately, it's impossible to find out by how much the subscriptions have tightened. The article limit appears to be between seven and ten, with additional possibilities to access free articles from the search engine or the newsletter. When the paywall was introduced, readers had the chance to view up to 20 articles without subscribing, but since then, the number kept decreasing.
SUBSCRIPTION FOR INTERNATIONAL READERS
Upon reaching the free limit, the reader is asked to pick the subscription plan, and the choice will be slightly different depending on her location. For some time now, the Washington Post has aimed to reach the international reader base with newsletters and special subscription offers.
It currently offers them a 60% discount off the basic monthly or yearly plan. As a result, the price is $3.99 a month or $39 for the whole year. This option allows for unlimited access to the website on any device, as well as to both Washington Post apps.
SUBSCRIPTION PLANS FOR US-BASED CUSTOMERS
For the same Basic Digital Plan, a US-based customer would have to pay $10 every four weeks or $100 for the whole year. Additionally, she could choose the Premium Digital Plan for $150. It would provide her with one bonus subscription and a free 30-day pass each month plus the unlimited downloads of The Washington Post's e-books.
The prices above are for the international edition. The national one currently costs $9.99 per four weeks or $99.99 per year and gives access to the website and The Washington Post app. There is also an option to subscribe to National and DC editions for $14.99 every four weeks or $149 a year. With this plan, there's also unlimited access to The Classic Washington Post app.
ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS
For all the plans, regardless of the location, plan, and edition, there is a special offer for the first four weeks. For the international edition, the price is $1, and for the national one, $0.99.
When the paywall was introduced, there was a special offer for readers based in the DC area, which granted them a Sunday-only subscription for $3.16 for the first month and for $7.40 after that. However, it's no longer valid.
FREE SUBSCRIPTION
Additionally, certain groups are eligible for the free subscription. Those whose email address ends with .gov, .edu or .mil can use it for the unlimited amount of time. Amazon Prime users only have access to it for six months. After this period, they still get a discount, having to pay $3.99 a month.
OTHER ACCESS OPTIONS
There are also possibilities to access articles from The Washington Post without having to subscribe via the company's site. The most popular one is Apple News. The Washington Post app itself is free on the App Store. However, it costs $9.99 to activate the international subscription and $5.99 to use the national one. There are also options to purchase the in-app content, specially designed by The Washington Post. It also costs between $5.99 and $9.99.
Another way to access articles from The Washington Post is through the app called Blendle. Instead of paying a monthly fee, it allows to only purchase content that the reader finds interesting. It's not only for The Washington Post but also for other major players in the field, i.e., The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. Articles cost between $0.15 and $0.50.
HOLES IN THE PAYWALL SYSTEM
There are also possibilities to read articles after reaching the monthly limit without paying for them. In 2016, The Washington Post started to monitor accessing its content from social media. To continue reading, users were required to subscribe to the newsletter. As of now, accessing additional articles from Facebook or other social media platforms is impossible.
The company also restricted the number of extra articles that can be viewed if the reader came from the newsletter. Until recently there was no limit, while now it is only five per month.
Still, there is unlimited access from the search engine. Furthermore, according to The Columbia Journalism Review, anyone can avoid the paywall by deleting cookies or using private browsing mode.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, The Washington Post asks readers to pay after they reach the limit of 7-10 articles a month. There are various subscription plans to choose from, and their particularities may differ depending on customer's location. Additionally, The Post gives special offers to Amazon Prime users and those with .gov, .edu or .mil email addresses.
Thank you for using Wonder! Let us know if we can help with anything else.