What are the best free general news sites for getting broad current events coverage without paywalls?

Here are some of the best free, broadly useful news sites for current events coverage with minimal or no paywall friction:

Good all-around options

• Reuters — Excellent for straight, concise reporting on world, business, and breaking news. Usually fully accessible.
• Associated Press (AP News) — Very solid general reporting and fast breaking-news updates. Mostly free.
• BBC News — Strong international coverage, especially for global events. Free to read.
• NPR News — Good U.S. and world coverage, with more context and explainers. Largely free.
• Al Jazeera English — Strong international perspective, especially Middle East/global affairs. Free.

More broad free coverage

• USA Today — General U.S. news, politics, business, and lifestyle; many articles are free.
• The Guardian — Broad coverage and opinion, with no hard paywall. Often free, though it asks for support.
• CBS News / ABC News / NBC News / CNN — Have some free articles and live coverage, though access and ads can vary.

Useful for aggregation and comparison

• Google News — Not a news source itself, but a good way to scan multiple outlets quickly.
• Yahoo News — Aggregates stories from many sources, easy to browse.
• SmartNews — Another aggregation app/site for seeing multiple perspectives.

If you want very little paywall interference

The most reliable free sources tend to be:

1. Reuters
2. AP News
3. BBC News
4. NPR
5. Al Jazeera English
6. The Guardian

Quick tips

• For breaking news and neutrality, start with Reuters/AP.
• For international coverage, use BBC/Al Jazeera.
• For U.S. context and explainers, use NPR/USA Today.
• For multiple viewpoints, pair a wire service like Reuters with an aggregator like Google News.

If you want, I can also give you:

• a best free news list by category (U.S., world, business, science, tech),
• a mobile app list, or
• a “least biased” free news shortlist.