Stop free-tier cycling
Catch users exhausting free-tier limits across multiple identities
Paywall Bypass Prevention
Detect paywall bypass at every gate
Prevent account cycling, subscription fraud, and credential sharing without adding friction for real subscribers, through persistent identification and real-time risk scoring
How ShieldLabs helps
Block subscription sharing beyond plan
Catch subscriptions used by more users than the plan allows
Recover lost subscription revenue
Convert bypass attempts into actual paid subscriptions and renewals
Keep real subscribers friction-free
Paying users access content without verification, captcha, or login interruption
How ShieldLabs prevents paywall bypass
ShieldLabs recognizes the real visitor behind every anonymous session, so your team can act at every gate in real time
Accurate Identification
Identify returning visitors and users across sessions, cleared cookies, rotated IP and incognito mode
Risk Signals
Detection of VPN, proxy, Tor, anti-detect browser, geolocation spoofing, IP reputation and other risk signals on every visit, with 99.9% risk signal detection accuracy
Risk Score
A ready-to-use score reflecting the risk of each visit, with the weight of every signal behind it
High-Risk Events
High-Risk Events detected out of the box: multi-accounting, account sharing, impossible travel and account takeover, each with Medium or High confidence
Real-Time Analytics
See how much of your traffic is masked, with an overall quality score and a breakdown of the sources sending your visits
Paywall bypass prevention for every subscription business
From news publishers to creator platforms, ShieldLabs adapts to bypass tactics specific to your industry
News & Publishers
Stop free article cycling and metered paywall abuse from readers exhausting quotas across disguised sessions
Streaming Services
Catch password sharing, VPN-based geo-arbitrage, and credential resale across multiple devices
SaaS & Subscriptions
Prevent free trial abuse and plan limit bypass from the same person opening account after account
Creator Monetization Platforms
Defend creator revenue from paid tier credential sharing and unauthorized content access by freeloaders
Start preventing paywall bypass in 5 minutes
Easily integrate into any paywall, subscription, or access gate
- 1
Create your account
Get 5,000 free identifications
- 2
Add the snippet
It identifies every visitor and returns their risk signals and a risk score
- 3
Check your traffic quality
See how much of your traffic is masked, with an overall traffic score
- 4
Use the API and Webhooks
Get the risk score, risk signals and High-Risk Events in your backend to stop fraud and abuse
api.shieldlabs.ai/v1/visits/latest
{
"request_id": "0c284695-cf0b-4755-8beb-0a2e9536595e",
"visitor_id": "aa8c616a-8a25-4a5e-bee2-a9a08e5128a4",
"device_id": "6a45967d-1371-9652-ba99-b01ea3992208",
"user_hid": "u_9f2a41c7",
"public_ip": { "ip": "62.197.149.124", "country": "United States" },
"local_ip": { "ip": "45.83.91.7", "country": "United States" },
"connection_type": "vpn",
"os": "Windows",
"browser": "Chrome",
"device_type": "desktop",
"risk_score": 85,
"signals": [
{ "name": "antidetect_browser", "weight": 60 },
{ "name": "vpn", "weight": 15 },
{ "name": "timezone_mismatch", "weight": 10 }
]
}Catch paywall bypass at every gate
Free 5,000 one-time identifications, with transparent pricing that scales with your needs
Frequently asked questions
ShieldLabs scores the risk of every visitor before the paywall loads, so bypass attempts surface at the gate instead of after the content is given away. It collects 300+ device, OS, browser, and network signals on the first visit; surfaces risk signals that reveal a disguised session; links the session to a persistent identifier so the same person reappears even after they reset; and returns a 0–100 risk score with a full signal breakdown. ShieldLabs flags the bypass and helps block abusive access, and you choose the action for each case: verification or a block.
Most paywall bypass falls into four patterns, all of which try to look like a brand-new visitor each time content is requested.
- Free-tier cycling: clearing cookies or using incognito mode to reset a metered counter.
- VPN-based geo-arbitrage: using an egress IP in another country to reach region-locked content.
- Subscription sharing: one set of credentials used by more people than the plan allows.
- Anti-detect browser access: spoofing the device and browser to defeat fingerprinting.
Yes. ShieldLabs ties each visit to a persistent identifier that survives the resets people use to game a metered paywall. Cleared cookies leave the DeviceID intact. Incognito and private windows are flagged as a fresh-but-recognized session. IP rotation does not break the persistent identifier. ShieldLabs returns the same VisitorID on every cycle, so the tenth incognito attempt is recognized as the first visitor, and surfaced before the next request loads the content.
They solve different jobs and work best together, paywall software runs the gate, ShieldLabs scores who is at it. Paywall and subscription platforms handle gating, billing, and metered access logic. ShieldLabs adds the identification and risk layer, scoring every visitor before they reach the gate. ShieldLabs drops in alongside your existing paywall through a single JavaScript snippet.
No. ShieldLabs helps block abusive access while real subscribers pass through. A VPN by itself is a low-weight signal that flags a session for review, not a block. The score rises only when signals stack together. ShieldLabs gives you 5,000 free identifications to measure the false-positive rate on real traffic first.
Yes, subscription fraud and streaming fraud share the same root signal as paywall bypass: one user wearing many identities, or one identity worn by many users. ShieldLabs surfaces all three the same way, subscription fraud, streaming fraud, and paywall bypass, through persistent visitor identification, risk signals, and High-Risk Events such as account sharing and multi-accounting.