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Yes — you can send an existing paid subscriber a special offer to move them to a different tier or billing cycle (for example, monthly to annual, or a standard tier to a premium one). Ghost can’t do this on its own; it works through Outpost Promotions rather than Ghost Offers.

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Why Ghost offers can’t do this

Ghost Offers only show to free or logged-out visitors. Someone who already has a paid plan will never see a Ghost offer — Ghost assumes anyone redeeming an offer is signing up for the first time. Outpost Promotions check out through Stripe instead of Ghost Portal, so an existing subscriber can use them. And when you attach an offer to a retention or upgrade email, Outpost picks the right kind for each reader on its own: existing subscribers get an Outpost Promotion, while free and logged-out readers get a Ghost offer. You don’t have to sort this out by hand. See Ghost Offers vs Outpost Promotions for the full comparison.

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How an upgrade checks out

When an existing subscriber clicks an upgrade offer, Outpost looks at their current subscription and picks the cleanest way to move them onto the new plan. There are two ways it can go.

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Outcome 1: Switch right away, prorated

This is the usual path. Whenever the change can be prorated, Outpost shows a confirmation page with:
  • Current Plan and its renewal date
  • New Plan (and the offer discount, if any)
  • The prorated amount they’ll be charged now
When the subscriber confirms, Outpost moves their existing subscription onto the new tier or billing cycle right away. They’re credited for the unused time on the old plan and charged the difference for the new one. There’s only ever one subscription, so nothing looks out of place in Ghost Portal. This path sends the autoresponder email “Thank subscriber for using a retention offer (with prorate).”

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Outcome 2: Schedule the new plan to start when the current one ends

When an immediate prorated switch isn’t possible, Outpost can instead line up the new subscription to begin the moment the current one ends. The current plan is set to stop renewing, and the new plan waits until that date to start. The subscriber is not double-charged — the new plan doesn’t bill until the old one ends. But between now and the current plan’s renewal date, they’ll have two subscriptions on file: one winding down, and one waiting to start.
Outpost only offers this scheduled option when the current plan ends within about a month. If there’s more time left than that, it won’t set up the second subscription — the reader is pointed to support instead, so you can decide how to handle it.
This path sends the autoresponder email “Thank subscriber for using a retention offer (new subscription starts after current one ends).” Turning it on is strongly recommended — see below.

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The “Active Subscription Found” prompt

If Outpost can’t work out a clean switch up front, the subscriber sees this screen before continuing:
Active Subscription Found You have an active subscription. To avoid being charged for two subscriptions, we recommend canceling your current subscription before proceeding.
It shows their current plan and next renewal date, with two buttons:
ButtonWhat it does
Cancel Current & ProceedCancels the current subscription first, then continues to the new one. Recommended — it avoids any chance of paying for two plans at once.
Proceed Without CancelingContinues to the new subscription while leaving the current one active. The subscriber may be billed for both plans until they cancel the old one.
“Proceed Without Canceling” is the path that can leave a member temporarily paying for two subscriptions. Pairing your upgrade offers with the confirmation email (below) helps members understand what just happened.
If the subscriber’s current subscription is already canceled and just running out the time they’ve paid for, the cancellation prompt is skipped — there’s nothing to cancel.

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Turn on the upgrade confirmation email

If you plan to offer upgrades to existing subscribers, turn on the autoresponder email “Thank subscriber for using a retention offer (new subscription starts after current one ends).” You’ll find it in Autoresponder → Basic, on the Retention and Renewal tab under Handling Cancellations with Retention Offers — it’s the companion to the prorate thank-you just above it. Why it matters: when an upgrade schedules a second subscription, the member briefly has two subscriptions at once, and Ghost Portal may not show the one that’s waiting to start. A member who checks their account might not see the change they just made. This email tells them, in plain language, that their new plan starts when the current one ends — which heads off confusion, support tickets, and chargebacks. The immediate-switch path has a companion email too — “Thank subscriber for using a retention offer (with prorate).” Turn on both, and every kind of upgrade ends with a clear confirmation.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. Use an Outpost Promotion (Outpost’s own offer system) or attach an offer to a retention/upgrade autoresponder email. Outpost sends existing subscribers through a Stripe checkout that can change their tier or billing cycle. Ghost Offers can’t do this — they only show to free or logged-out visitors.
When an existing subscriber redeems the offer, Outpost either (1) switches their current subscription to the new plan right away — prorated, with credit for unused time — or (2) schedules a new subscription to begin when the current one ends. Which one happens depends on whether the change can be cleanly prorated. See How an upgrade checks out.
By design. Ghost Offers are built for free-to-paid signups and only show in Ghost Portal to visitors who don’t already have a subscription. To reach existing paid or complimentary subscribers, use an Outpost Promotion, which checks out through Stripe. Outpost picks the right offer type for you when you attach an offer to an email.
Not on the prorated path (one subscription throughout) and not on the scheduled-second-subscription path (the new plan doesn’t bill until the old one ends). The only way a member ends up paying for two at once is choosing “Proceed Without Canceling” on the Active Subscription Found screen, which leaves the old subscription active alongside the new one until they cancel it.
Because that upgrade path briefly leaves the member with two subscriptions, and Ghost Portal may not show the one that’s waiting to start. The member could log in and not see the change they just made. The email tells them, in plain language, that their new plan starts when the current one ends — heading off confusion, support tickets, and chargebacks. See Turn on the upgrade confirmation email.
The scheduled second subscription is only offered when the current plan ends within roughly a month. If there’s more time left than that, Outpost won’t schedule it automatically — the reader is pointed to support, so you can decide how to handle the change.
Yes. If the offer includes a discount, it’s applied to the new plan on both the prorated switch and the scheduled second subscription.
No — that’s the correct behavior, and it’s the same screen described in How an upgrade checks out. A member who “cancelled” has really only turned off auto-renew; they’re still a paid subscriber until their time runs out. You can’t send them to a plain new-signup checkout, because that would start a second subscription. Instead, %OFFER_URL% takes them to an Outpost Promotion page that shows their current plan, the new plan, and the prorated amount — then completes the change through Stripe when they confirm. The Stripe charge still happens; the Outpost page is the step that switches their existing subscription cleanly instead of duplicating it.
It’s locked on purpose. Cancellation and retention emails are sent to existing paid subscribers, and Ghost Offers never render for them (Ghost only shows offers to free or unknown visitors). If you could paste a Ghost offer link here, the button would lead those subscribers to a dead end — or risk creating a duplicate subscription. Keeping the button on %OFFER_URL% lets Outpost generate the right personalized link for each recipient and route existing subscribers through the proration/switch checkout. To change where the button goes, change the offer attached in the action’s Offer dropdown — you don’t edit the link itself.
No. You can attach either a Ghost Offer or an Outpost Promotion to a retention or cancellation action. When the recipient is an existing subscriber, Outpost translates a Ghost Offer into an equivalent Outpost Promotion behind the scenes — so the discount works, even though the original Ghost Offer is never actually used in a retention checkout (Ghost Offers can’t be redeemed by existing paid subscribers). Building the offer as an Outpost Promotion from the start is a little cleaner, but attaching an existing Ghost Offer is perfectly fine.

Promotions

Outpost’s own offer system — the tool that powers upgrade offers for existing subscribers

Offers & Discounts

Ghost Offers vs Outpost Promotions, and when each one applies

Autoresponder

Attach upgrade offers to retention emails and enable the confirmation emails

Subscription Schedules

Intro pricing that transitions to a standard renewal rate