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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.
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.
Comps are added and managed from the Members page rather than a dedicated Comps page.

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Adding a comp

From the member detail page:
1

Open the member's profile

Go to Members and click on the member you want to comp.
2

Add complimentary subscription

Click + Add Complimentary Subscription in the Subscriptions card.
3

Configure the comp

Select the tier to grant access to and a duration (1-11 months, 1 year, or Lifetime).
4

Member gets access

The member immediately gains access to the selected tier’s content in Ghost. They’re synced as a paid-tier member without any Stripe billing.
A complimentary subscription does not replace or pause an existing paid subscription. If the member already has a Stripe subscription, comping them on top of it stacks the two: they keep being charged, and the comp simply runs alongside. Cancel the paid subscription first if your intent is to switch them to free access.

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Adding a comp to someone who isn’t a member yet

If the recipient doesn’t exist in Ghost yet, you have to create them as a free member first, then add the comp:
1

Create the member in Ghost

In Ghost, go to Members → New Member, enter their email, and click Save. Do not try to add a subscription at this stage: Ghost won’t let you add a comp until the member exists.
2

Add the complimentary subscription

On the saved member’s page, scroll to the Subscriptions section and click + Add Complimentary Subscription. Pick the tier and duration as usual.

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Expiry options

Comped subscriptions can be: When a time-limited comp is about to expire, the Autoresponder can automatically:
  • 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
These emails are configured in the Complimentary tab of the Basic Autoresponder.

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Managing comps

Go to Members and filter by Type: Comped to see all comped members. Open a comped member’s profile to view the comp’s tier and expiry date, or to Remove comp access (the member reverts to free).

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Extending a comp

There is currently no control to edit an active comp’s expiry date in place. To extend a member’s comp, use one of these:
  • Renew from the expiry reminder. As a time-limited comp nears its end date, the Autoresponder’s staff notification email includes a renewal link that extends the comp by one year. This is only available while the comp is still active, during the reminder window before it expires.
  • Remove and re-add. On the member’s profile, Remove the complimentary subscription, then click + Add Complimentary Subscription again with the tier and duration you want. Use this if the comp has already lapsed or you missed the reminder window.
  • Set an exact end date. Need a specific expiry rather than a whole-month duration? Your Outpost contact can set an exact membership_end_date on the member’s subscription through the API.
A direct “extend” control on the member profile (to bump an active comp’s expiry date without removing and re-adding it) is planned but not yet available.

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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. See Autoresponder → Complimentary tab for details.

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Comp vs. gift comparison

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Frequently asked questions

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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