> ## 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                                          | 68+ 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.