Complimentary (comped) subscriptions give a member paid-tier access without requiring a Stripe subscription. Use comps for your team, advisors, beta testers, press contacts, or anyone you want to give free access to premium content. In Ghost, comped members are treated as paid members and can access all paywalled content for the tier they are set to. In Outpost, comped members are tracked separately from paying subscribers — they appear under the Complimentary filter rather than the Paid filter, and they do not count toward revenue metrics.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 uses complimentary subscriptions to power gift, group, and institutional subscriptions. These all appear as complimentary subscriptions in Ghost. Don’t delete complimentary subscriptions without checking why they exist — they may be powering gift, group, or institutional access.
Adding a comp
From the member detail page:Configure the comp
Select the tier to grant access to and a duration (1-11 months, 1 year, or Lifetime).
Expiry options
Comped subscriptions can be:| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Permanent (Lifetime) | No expiry — the member keeps free access indefinitely until you manually revoke it. |
| Time-limited | Set a specific duration: 1 through 11 months, or 1 year. When the period ends, Outpost automatically revokes access |
- Notify your staff that a comp is ending soon (so you can decide whether to extend it)
- Send the comped member emails encouraging them to become a paying subscriber
Managing comps
Go to Members and filter by Type: Comped to see all comped members. From here you can:- View each comp’s tier and expiry date
- Extend a comp by updating the expiry date
- Remove comp access (the member reverts to free)
- See who granted the comp and when it was granted
Autoresponder integration
The Autoresponder’s Complimentary tab includes 7 pre-built email actions for comps. Note that these do not apply to gift/group/institutional subscribers even though they are technically also complimentary.| Action | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Welcome | Tell a member they received a complimentary subscription |
| Staff notification (1st) | Notify your staff that a comp is ending soon and give you the option to extend or send the subscriber through an upsell flow. |
| Staff notification (2nd) | Second reminder to staff |
| Expiring upsell (1st) | Encourage the comped member to become a paying subscriber |
| Expiring upsell (2nd) | Second encouragement |
| Expiring upsell (3rd) | Last reminder before comp expires |
| Renewed notification | Tell the member their comp was extended for another year |
Comp vs. gift comparison
| Complimentary | Gift | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays? | Nobody — admin grants free access | Giver pays via Stripe |
| Source | Internal grant by a staff member | External purchase by another member |
| Expiry | Optional (can be permanent) | Set by the gift subscription duration |
| Recipient notification | Optional | Automatic email with redemption link |
| Stripe involvement | None — no Stripe subscription created | Stripe processes the giver’s payment |
| Ghost sync | Synced as a comped member with tier access | Synced as a paid member with tier access |
| Auto-renewal | No — must be manually extended | No — gift subscriptions don’t auto-renew |
Frequently asked questions
Can a comped member upgrade to a paid subscription?
Can a comped member upgrade to a paid subscription?
Yes. If a comped member subscribes through an Outpost promotion link, they become a standard paid subscriber. Their complimentary access is replaced by the paid subscription.
Does a comp show up in revenue reporting?
Does a comp show up in revenue reporting?
No. Complimentary subscriptions don’t generate Stripe charges, so they don’t appear in revenue metrics. They do appear in member counts and tier segmentation.
Can I comp a member on multiple tiers?
Can I comp a member on multiple tiers?
A member can only have one active complimentary subscription at a time. If you need to change their tier, update the existing comp rather than adding a second one.
What happens when a comp expires?
What happens when a comp expires?
The member loses access to paid content and reverts to free status. If you’ve enabled the expiring subscription upsell emails in the Autoresponder, they’ll receive reminders encouraging them to subscribe before losing access.
Is there a limit on how many comps I can give?
Is there a limit on how many comps I can give?
There’s no hard limit in Ghost or Outpost. However, since comped members count toward your member total and receive the same content access as paying members, consider the impact on your publication’s economics.
Related features
Gift Subscriptions
Paid gifts from one member to another (different from comps)
Autoresponder
Automated emails for comp welcome, expiry warnings, and staff notifications
Members
View and manage all members including comped subscribers
Labels
Tag comped members for segmentation and targeting