Give a specific group of people complimentary, time-limited access to your community without making a free trial publicly visible on your main offer.

Requirements

• Stripe connected to your community
• An existing paid Offer (or you'll create one as part of this setup)
• A list of email addresses for everyone you want to invite

How it works

This recipe uses a free trial Offer + a pre-approved Sign Up Link. Only the people you've added to the invite list can access the Sign Up Link, and because access is delivered via a free trial (not a payment exemption), it expires automatically after 30 days.

Step 1 – Create a separate Offer for this access pass

Don't modify your main Offer. Instead, create a new one specifically for this access pass.

1. Go to Settings > Revenue > Offers
2. Click Create Offer and select Paid Membership
3. Name it something internal (e.g. 30-Day Complimentary Pass)
4. Under Pricing, set it to the same price as your main membership
5. Under Payment Settings, enable Free trial and set it to 31 days
6. For Payment Method, select Skip Payment Method — members won't be asked for a card
7. Under Advanced Settings → Access Duration, set access to expire after 30 days
8. For On Cancellation / Access End, select Remove Offer Access — this keeps members in the broader community but removes them from gated content

This creates an Offer that behaves like a gift: members get 30 days free, then lose access automatically unless they subscribe to your paid membership.

Step 2 – Create a pre-approved Sign Up Link

1. Go to Settings > People > Sign Up Links
2. Click Create Sign Up Link or edit the Sign Up Link that was automatically created with your Offer
3. Set Availability to Pre-Approved
4. Click Create

Step 3 – Add your invited members to the Sign Up Link

1. On the Sign Up Link you just created, open the 3-dot menu → Manage Invites
2. Paste in your list of email addresses
3. Click Add and either send members an email or share the link with them directly.

Only these addresses will be able to use the sign-up link.

For existing community members: the flow works, but they'll see a message saying they're already a member of the community after clicking Continue. This is expected and they'll still be added to the Offer - it would be a good idea to give them a heads-up in a DM or on the Sign Up Link landing page itself so it doesn't cause confusion.

What happens after 30 days?

Members lose access to the gated content automatically. They stay in your community as general members. If you have upsells enabled on your main offer, they'll see a prompt to subscribe.

You can also set up a Workflow to send them a DM or email near the end of their 30 days by going to Settings > Workflows.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I reuse this setup for future access passes? Yes. Once built, this Offer and sign-up page are reusable. For a new round of invites, just go back to Manage Invites and add new emails.

Why can't I just add members directly to the Offer? Members added directly (not via sign-up) are treated as exempt and as such, they get permanent free access and won't be automatically removed after 30 days. 

The sign-up page shows my membership price. Is that a problem? No. Pre-approved members won't be charged, so the free trial overrides the pricing. The price shows because it's an Offer-connected page, but the checkout experience for your invitees will skip payment entirely.

Can I set this up so the Offer isn't visible in upsells for regular members? Yes. Under the Offer settings, you can toggle off upsells or limit visibility so it doesn't surface to members who shouldn't see it.