Should You Paywall Your Medium Articles 2026
It’s a good question
When I started on Medium in 2021, I paywalled everything immediately. Every single story, locked. I was in the Partner Program, I wanted to earn.
Made sense to me, right?
It didn’t work as I expected.
I’ve talked to a lot of new writers since then. Some do what I did. Others go the opposite route: everything free, no paywall, build the audience first. That also doesn’t quite work. Not in the way they hope, anyway.
After 4 years and about 900 articles, here’s what I think you should do.
„Paywalled” on Medium
Quick definition for anyone just starting out: on Medium, you can mark any article as a metered story. That means only paying Medium members ($5/month) can read the full thing. In return, you earn from their reading time and engagement.
Non-members hit a wall after a paragraph or two. They can’t read the rest without subscribing.
Free articles, on the other hand, anyone can read. Members, non-members, Google bots, people who clicked a link from Twitter. Everyone.
That difference matters.
Always-paywalled fails you early
Medium has around 100 million monthly visitors. But active paying members probably way less. Most people landing on your article from Google, social media, or a referral are NOT members. Most likely.
If everything is paywalled, those people bounce immediately. They never read it. They never follow you. They never come back.
You’re writing for an audience you don’t have yet. And paywalling everything cuts your potential readership by a lot before you’ve built any momentum.
There’s also the discovery problem.
Medium’s algorithm pushes stories to readers based on engagement. No reads, no engagement. No engagement, less distribution. The paywall makes it harder to break that loop when you’re new.
I’ve seen writers with genuinely good articles sitting at 3 views after a month. All paywalled, no audience, no traction. The articles weren’t the problem.
Always-free fails too
“Go free, build your audience first, then monetize later”. Sounds logical but…
If you never paywall anything, you earn nothing. Not a penny, even if you have thousands of reads. The Partner Program only pays on metered stories. Mostly.
Writing for free permanently means you never develop the habit of writing things people want to pay for. There’s a subtle difference between writing something worth reading and writing something worth paying for. Paywalling makes you think about that.
Also, “build the audience first” can take years. Writing free articles for a year and then switching everything to paywalled doesn’t suddenly make you money. You’re still starting over with the earnings side.
And putting no skin in the game makes it easy to not take the writing seriously enough. When you’re getting paid even small amounts, it sharpens your focus. Even $3 a month from a story matters when it’s your first $3.
Did to me.
Answer: Mostly paywalled, with some strategic free
Paywall most things. That’s the baseline. I do that. You joined the Partner Program to earn, so try to earn.
But keep some articles free, on purpose, for specific reasons.
Free articles are your growth engine. They’re how non-members find you, follow you, maybe subscribe to your email list, and eventually become readers who follow your paywalled work. The front door.
The ratio I’d suggest for a new writer: roughly 3 paywalled for every 1 free. Not a hard rule. A starting point.
When to go free
Make an article free when any of these apply:
It targets a search term. If you wrote something optimized for Google, go free. Google can index it fully. Non-members can read it. That’s the whole point of SEO on Medium. A paywalled article still gets indexed, but the wall kills the click-through benefit. Free articles rank and convert readers far better.
It’s a wide-audience introduction piece. An article about why you started writing, your story, what your Medium is about, make it free. It’s not your best work in terms of depth. It’s a handshake. Let everyone read it.
It’s a list or roundup with broad appeal. “10 apps I actually use daily.” “5 mistakes I made as a new writer.” These spread. They get shared outside Medium. Paywalling them limits the spread.
You want to test something. A new format, a new topic. Free it, see what happens. Less risk, more data on whether people actually engage with it.
When to paywall
Paywall when:
It’s a deep, high-value piece. Your best stuff. A 2,000-word breakdown of something you’ve lived through or know well. The kind of article that makes someone think “this is worth $5 a month.” Put it behind the wall.
It’s niche-specific. If the topic is narrow enough that most readers who’d find it are already Medium members in your niche — paywall it. A niche audience on Medium is more likely to be paying members than a general audience from Google.
It’s most things. Genuinely. Don’t overthink every article. Paywall it by default, make it free intentionally. That’s the better default than the reverse.
Downsides of the mixed approach
It’s more decisions. Every time you publish, you have to think about it instead of just hitting the same button. That’s mildly annoying.
You’ll occasionally get it wrong. A piece you thought was great for discovery dies on free. A deep niche article you paywalled would have done better as a free SEO piece. That’s fine. You’ll calibrate over time.
Free articles also earn nothing. If you’re publishing a lot of free content early on, your earnings will be low anyway. That can feel demoralizing when you’re already not making much. Just remember what the free articles are FOR. They’re not there to earn, they’re there to bring in readers who read your paywalled stuff.
Also: Medium’s boost system rewards paywalled articles. A boosted article earns. A free article doesn’t, even if it gets boosted distribution. So if you’re targeting boosts — and getting into publications that have boost nominators is one of the better things you can do early — paywall those articles.
The Bottom Line
There’s no version of “always paywall” or “always free” that works well for a new writer. Both are wrong.
Paywall most things. Go free strategically, for SEO and discovery. Keep the ratio roughly 3-to-1 until you have an audience, then adjust based on what’s actually working for you.
The goal isn’t to maximize earnings in month one. It’s to build enough of an audience that your paywalled articles actually get read. Free articles are how that happens.
You’re not leaving money on the table by going free sometimes. You’re building the table.
Does the summary advice apply if your goal for writing on Medium is to direct readers to your Substack or to your YouTube channel?