How to Grant Free "Complimentary" Access to Paid Content

⏱️ TL;DR

If you want to give a VIP, friend, or team member free access to your paid gated content, you have two safe ways to do it:

1. The Admin-Only Free Plan (Recommended): Create a free plan in Memberstack, toggle on "Restrict to Admin" under “Admin Restrictions” and link it to the same gated content as your paid plan. This plan won't be visible on your site, and only you (the admin) can manually grant it to members from the dashboard.
2. The 100% Off Stripe Coupon: Create a 100% off coupon in Stripe. Your VIP goes through your normal checkout button on your site, enters the coupon code, and pays $0.

Why You Don't Need to Be Afraid (No Accidental Openings!)

It is completely normal to feel nervous about granting free access. You might worry: "What if I accidentally make my paid content free for everyone?"

Rest assured, Memberstack’s architecture prevents this. As long as you follow the step-by-step instructions below, your paid content remains 100% secure, and only the specific individuals you choose will get free access.

Method 1: The "Admin-Only" Free Plan (Bypasses Stripe)

This is the cleanest and most secure method if you want to grant someone lifetime access without them ever needing to visit a checkout page or enter a credit card.

How it works:

You will create a "shadow" free plan that is locked to the public. Because it protects the exact same content pages as your paid plan, anyone you manually assign to this free plan will get full access to your paid content.

Step-by-Step Setup:

1. Go to Plans in your Memberstack Dashboard and click Add Plan.
2. Set the price to Free.
3. Name it something clear, like VIP - Free Access (Admin Only).
4. The Secret Step: Click on 'Show Advanced' in the right side panel and locate the 'Restrict to Admin' toggle under 'Admin Restrictons'. Turn this ON.
   • What this does: It prevents anyone from signing up for this plan via your website. Even if someone guessed the Plan ID, Memberstack's API will block them from joining.
5. In the Gated Content section of this new plan, select the exact same Content Groups that your paid plan protects.

How to grant it to a member:

1. Go to Members in your Memberstack Dashboard.
2. Click on the member you want to give access to (or click Add Member to create a new one).
3. In their member profile, Click on 'Plans & Permissions' tab  and click Add Plan.
4. Select your VIP - Free Access (Admin Only) plan and click save.
5. Boom! They now have full access to your paid content, and they didn't have to enter a credit card.

Method 2: The 100% Off Stripe Coupon (Keeps users in Stripe)

This method is best if you want your VIPs to go through your standard checkout flow (so they are registered as active subscribers in Stripe), but you don't want to charge them.

How it works:

You create a coupon code in Stripe to offer the plan at 100% off for users. The user clicks your normal "Buy" button, inputs the code, and checks out for $0.

Step-by-Step Setup:

1. Log into your Stripe Dashboard and search for Coupons (under Product catalog > Coupons).
2. Click + Create Coupon.
3. Configure your coupon:
   • Name: 100% Off VIP
   • Type: Percentage discount → 100%
   • Duration: Choose Forever (for free lifetime access) or Once (for 1 month free) or Multiple Months to configure the number of months you want to apply this coupon for. 
4. Click the toggle button to "Use customer-facing promotion codes". This allows you to generate a clean code (like VIPFREE) that they can type in.

How to grant it to a member:

Simply ask your VIP to initiate the purchase from your website and give them the promo code (e.g., VIPFREE). When they click your paid button, they can enter the code on the Stripe checkout page.

Important Note on Credit Cards: If your member plan is a one-time payment, the total will drop to 0.00 and Stripe will allow them to complete checkout without entering a credit card. However, if your member plan is a recurring subscription, Stripe will still require them to enter a credit card on file for future billing cycles, even though their current total is 0.00. If you want to bypass the credit card requirement entirely for a recurring subscription, you must use Method 1 instead.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: If I use Method 1, can I easily revoke access later?

Yes! If you want to stop their free access, simply go to their member profile in Memberstack, find the VIP - Free Access (Admin Only) plan, and click Delete icon and confirm to remove the plan.

Q: Will my VIPs see the "Admin-Only" plan on my pricing page?

No. Memberstack plans are only visible on your website if you explicitly build a button or link with that plan's ID (e.g., data-ms-plan:add="pln_vip"). Since you turned on Restrict to Admin and didn't put the ID on any buttons, it is completely invisible to the public.

Q: Can I automatically apply the 100% off coupon so the user doesn't have to type it?

Yes! For a detailed explanation you can visit this article in our help center.