One click to archive.today.
The toolbar button or Alt + Shift + B (Option + Shift + B on a Mac) opens archive.today in a new tab and looks up the page you’re reading. Your original tab stays where it is.
FREE BROWSER EXTENSION · VERSION 2.0
An archive.today extension for Firefox and Chrome
ByeWall opens the archive.today copy of the page you’re on with one click or Alt + Shift + B. If archive.today has no readable copy, right-click and try the Wayback Machine instead. It’s free, needs no account, and only reads a page’s address when you ask it to.
WHAT IT DOES
Find the copy.
Keep your tab.
A second archive when the first one comes up empty.
Right-click the page or any link and choose ByeWall → Try Wayback Machine.
Works on links too.
Right-click a link that no longer loads and look it up without opening it first.
Cleaner links.
Known tracking parameters (utm_ and similar) are removed before the address is sent, while the parts an article needs are kept. Copy a clean original or archive link from Archive options.
Looking up is not saving.
A lookup never creates a new public snapshot. Requesting one is a separate action you choose in Archive options.
Blocks the links that shouldn’t leave your browser.
Local addresses, IP-based or custom-port URLs, and links carrying passwords or sensitive tokens are refused instead of being sent to an archive.
SMALL TOOL. CLEAR BOUNDARIES.
Two permissions,
nothing in the background.
ByeWall asks for only activeTab and contextMenus. It has no access to all your websites, no account, no analytics and no backend. It reads the current address only at the moment you click.
Opening a lookup does send that address to the archive you chose, which is how any archive lookup works.
Full privacy details ↗SIDE BY SIDE
ByeWall and the
other archive extensions.
| ByeWall | Archive Page | Wayback Machine (Internet Archive) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archive it opens | archive.today, with Wayback as a fallback | archive.today | Wayback Machine |
| Look up the page you’re on | Yes, one click or shortcut | Yes | Yes |
| Look up a link without opening it | Yes, right-click | Yes, right-click | Not listed |
| Saves new snapshots | Only when you choose it, as a separate step | Yes, archive or search | Yes, Save Page Now; auto-save can be turned on |
| Strips tracking parameters | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Blocks local and sensitive-token links | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Browsers | Firefox (store), Chrome (developer install for now), Safari in development | Firefox, Chrome | Chrome and other browsers |
| Made by | Basalt | An independent developer, not affiliated with archive.today | Internet Archive |
Pick Archive Page if you mostly want to create archive.today snapshots. Pick the Wayback Machine extension if you want saving, history calendars and automatic checks on broken pages. Pick ByeWall if you mostly want to read an existing copy fast, with both archives one click apart and as little sent as possible.
Other extensions’ features are from their own listings on 18 October 2026: Archive Page on Firefox Add-ons and the Chrome Web Store, and Wayback Machine on the Chrome Web Store.
WHEN ARCHIVE.TODAY ISN’T WORKING
A captcha, a slow load
or an outage.
archive.today is run by volunteers and sometimes asks for a captcha, loads slowly or is down. If that happens:
Finish the captcha.
Complete the captcha in the archive.today tab. ByeWall can’t do that for you.
Try the Wayback Machine.
Right-click the original page and choose ByeWall → Try Wayback Machine.
Try again later.
An outage doesn’t mean the page has no snapshot.
Some pages have no copy.
Some pages have no copy in either archive, or the copy is incomplete. ByeWall can’t change that.
A FEW THINGS TO KNOW
Questions about
archive.today.
Is ByeWall made by archive.today?
No. ByeWall is an independent extension from Basalt. It opens archive.today’s own website in a new tab, so archive.today’s rules and captchas apply.
Does it work on Safari or Edge?
Firefox has a store version (Firefox desktop 142 or newer). Chrome works today as a developer install, with a Chrome Web Store version on the way. A Safari version is in development. Edge isn’t listed yet.
Does ByeWall get me past every paywall?
No. It finds copies that are already public in an archive. Whether a copy exists, and how complete it is, depends on the archive and the original page.
Does it save the pages I look up?
No. A lookup only searches. Creating a new public snapshot is a separate action you have to pick.
What does it cost?
Nothing. There’s no account, no subscription and no paid version.