How to add free comp memberships in Ghost

You may want to manually add members to your Ghost site, to give them free access without having them sign up or starting a paid plan.

This is very easy in Ghost.

Adding a free member manually

To add a member, go to the Members section of your Ghost admin, click on "New member" and fill in the form.

You can also add members in bulk using a CSV upload.

Any new member you add will be automatically subscribed to your newsletter but there is a toggle to unsubscribe members within the admin (see above image).

Adding a “comp” subscription

If you have set up paid memberships, you may want to gift a free paid membership to someone.

First they need to be a member, either by signing up through your form or by manually adding them, as above.

Then you can simply open their profile in the Ghost admin and check the "Complimentary premium plan" option. This creates a free subscription in Stripe, and that member will now have access to all paid posts and newsletters, as if they were a paying member.