> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://documentation.outpost.pub/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Outpost vs. Ghost (Native)

> How Outpost compares to Ghost's built-in membership and subscription features.

Despite the page title, it's not — and never has been — Outpost versus Ghost. Outpost exists to complement and extend Ghost, not to replace it.

Ghost's membership model showed the way in 2020: membership-driven publications are the future of independent publishing. Outpost was built on that conviction. We believe in a publishing system where some things naturally belong in the CMS, and some things are better outside it.

Among its many features, Ghost has built-in memberships with free and paid tiers, Stripe billing, strong content gating and more. Plus it has built-in newsletters where any post can be sent out as a newsletter.

Outpost adds additional growth, retention, and integration tools on top of those powerful Ghost tools.

## (Some of) What Ghost does natively

* Free and paid member management
* Gating of content by member level that works
* Stripe subscription billing (tiers, monthly/annual pricing)
* Built-in newsletter sending via Mailgun
* API connections that lets Outpost and other integrations work
* Easy to use tools to change themes/customize themes
* A graceful WYSIWYG editor
* Paywall tied to particular pieces of content (members-only content gating)
* Member filtering

## What Outpost adds

| Feature                | Ghost Native                                                 | Outpost                                                                       |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Growth tools           | Built in portal system                                       | Member-level aware CTAs, metered paywalls and more                            |
| Offers/discounts       | For new subscribers and at cancellations                     | Extended options, upsells for existing subs, proration and more               |
| Gift subscriptions     | None                                                         | Full gift purchase and redemption flow                                        |
| Tip Jar                | Basic link to Stripe                                         | Full page with design controls, 3 suggested donation, member emails, labeling |
| Group subscriptions    | None                                                         | Seat-based group billing, invoicing, institutional subs                       |
| Comp subscriptions     | Yes                                                          | Management and upsell flows                                                   |
| Email automations      | Basic welcome email                                          | 66+ trigger types, sequences, conditions                                      |
| Email campaigns        | Sent via an existing newsletter only                         | Segmented campaigns with targeting                                            |
| Retention offers       | Only in Portal at cancellation                               | Intelligent email flows that time retention offers to the renewal date        |
| Analytics              | Web via Tinybird, Member Dashboard                           | Plausible, Outpost reports, Contextly Reports, and Automations reports        |
| Podcast integrations   | Transistor paid-member integration, <br />no auto-publishing | Transistor, Supercast, Megaphone + more                                       |
| Subscription schedules | None                                                         | Intro rate → renewal rate                                                     |
| Rules engine           | None                                                         | Condition-based automation                                                    |
| Data export            | Some analytics, full member data export                      | Physical address export, gift subscriptions, donations                        |

## When to use Ghost alone

If you're just starting out, Ghost's built-in membership features may be sufficient:

* You have a single paid tier
* You don't need automation beyond a welcome email
* You don't need lots of CTAs
* Your audience is small enough to manage manually

## When to add Outpost

Add Outpost when you need:

* Conversion tools beyond Ghost's subscription page (CTAs, metered paywalls, embed widgets)
* Powerful welcome sequences
* Retention automation (renewal reminders, win-back sequences)
* CRM or analytics integrations
* Podcast or YouTube integrations for auto-publishing
* Team or gift subscriptions
* Deeper analytics and reporting

Outpost and Ghost work together, you don't choose between them.