What Is a Gift Link, and Who Can Send One?
A gift link is a special URL a paying subscriber creates with a publisher's gift or share button. It lets one or more non-subscribers read that article for a limited time. The allowance belongs to the subscriber's account, so a company that is merely the subject of a story cannot send one unless someone on its team holds a subscription.
The Post describes the feature as a way to “share articles with friends, family, and colleagues that are not subscribers” (Washington Post Help Center). None of the three help centers we read mentions customers or marketing. This guide is about getting coverage in front of people; whether a paywalled article still counts in search is a separate question, covered in whether paywalled coverage gets indexed.
What Do the Times, the Post and the FT Allow?
| Publisher | Gift allowance | Recipient access | Recipient account |
|---|---|---|---|
| The New York Times | Unlimited (NYT) | 30 days, then access is revoked | Log in or create a free account |
| The Washington Post | Up to 10 per calendar month (Post) | Up to 14 days | Register or sign in |
| Financial Times | 10 credits a month (Standard), 20 (Premium), renewed on the first of the month (FT) | 90 days, three opens per link; one credit per open (FT) | See note below |
days
Source: Financial Times Help Centre, "How do you share and gift FT articles?"; The New York Times Help Center, "Gift Articles for New York Times Subscribers"; The Washington Post Help Center, "How to use gift articles." Read October 12, 2026.
Each FT link can be opened three times and each open uses one gift credit. None of the three pages says whether the period runs from when the link is created or first opened.
The chart shows that the same coverage can stay open to a recipient for two weeks or three months depending on the outlet, so a gift link sent to a prospect needs to be read promptly.
Three details change how far an allowance goes. The Post counts a gift when the subscriber picks a share option, “such as copying a link or sending an email” (Washington Post Help Center). The FT counts opens rather than articles, so by our reading a Standard subscriber's 10 credits cover 10 opens in total. The FT's own pages also differ on sign-in: one says recipients read “without registering or subscribing” (FT), another that a person sent a forwarded link “will need an FT.com account to read it” (FT). Plan for a sign-in screen.
Lower Times figures from earlier coverage still circulate, so check the NYT Help Center before quoting one to a client. We could not confirm gift-article numbers on the own help pages of the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Atlantic or The Economist, so we do not list them.
How Do You Send a Gift Link So It Works?
Use the gift button. The Times says articles “cannot be gifted or shared using non-gift social sharing options, or by copying and pasting the article URL into a web browser” (NYT Help Center). The Post says “The only way to gift an article and provide free access for non-subscribers is through the share button” (Washington Post Help Center).
The FT's email gifting flow adds a consent step. Its terms say the sender “Confirms that they have gained the recipient's consent to supply their name and email address, and to send the Gift Article email” (FT gifting terms). Entering a prospect list into that form without consent would breach the publisher's own conditions.
Our recommendation, not a publisher rule: send the link close to when the recipient will read it, and do not put gift links on a website, in a sales deck or in an evergreen email sequence, where they will expire or run out.
Does a Gift Link Let You Post, Email or Reprint the Article?
No. A gift link gives a recipient reading access; nothing on the gift pages we read grants a right to copy the text. The publishers' terms point the other way. The Times' terms of service, effective January 20, 2026, say the content is “intended for your personal, non-commercial use” and that “Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from The New York Times Rights and Permissions Department” (NYT Terms of Service).
The Times' permissions page adds that its “Email This Article” feature reaches up to 20 recipients and is “limited to personal, noncommercial purposes only”; emailing an article for any other purpose requires prior written permission (NYT Help Center). The page does not say whether gift links fall under the same rule.
The FT's copyright policy, published May 31, 2023, lets readers “Share links to articles by using any sharing tools we make available” but not “republish or redistribute full text articles, for example by pasting them into emails or republishing them in any media, including websites, newsletters or intranets” (FT Copyright Policy). We could not load the Post's terms of service, so we do not quote them.
Where Do You Get Permission to Reuse the Coverage?
From the routes each publisher names. Fees are not published on these pages.
| Publisher | Use | Route the publisher names |
|---|---|---|
| The New York Times | Article text, one-time reuse; custom reprints “in quantities of 250 or more” | Wright's Media, via a permission request form or 281-863-9342 (NYT) |
| The New York Times | “Internal corporate use (e.g. emailing, posting, photocopying etc)” | Copyright Clearance Center, copyright.com (NYT) |
| The New York Times | Ongoing use of text, photos and video | New York Times Licensing Group, nytlicensing.com (NYT) |
| The Washington Post | “Licensing requests to republish Post content” | ThreesAI, washpost@threesai.com; photos through Getty Images (Post) |
| Financial Times | Copyright or republishing questions | Republishing team, syndication@ft.com (FT) |
Credits matter too. The Times notes that when material is credited to another source, such as the Associated Press or Reuters, “it is most likely that the credited source holds the rights to the material” ({a(NYTP,"NYT Help Center")}). Rights work differently again for an article you wrote yourself; see who owns an article you contribute to a member program.
Does Fair Use Cover Quoting the Article in Marketing?
Possibly, for a short quotation, but there is no safe word count. The U.S. Copyright Office says Section 107 weighs four factors: the purpose and character of the use, “including whether the use is of a commercial nature”; the nature of the work; the amount used; and the effect on “the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.” It adds that “there is no formula to ensure that a predetermined percentage or amount of a work—or specific number of words, lines, pages, copies—may be used without permission” (U.S. Copyright Office).
Fair use is a doctrine of copyright law; the terms a subscriber accepts are a contract and can be narrower. The FT allows 30-word extracts or abstracts with a linked credit, but not ones that “promote or endorse any product or service” (FT Copyright Policy). The Times says the context, number and length of quotes and the nature of the use decide whether permission is needed (NYT Help Center). A headline, a sentence of your own and a link to the original is the lowest-risk pattern. This is not legal advice.
What This Means for Anyone Buying a Placement
Paywalled coverage reaches subscribers; everyone else needs a gift link or a license.
- Price reach accordingly. A gift link is a short-lived courtesy for named people, not a distribution channel.
- Keep a lasting reference you control. List the headline, outlet, date and link on your own site, for example in an online newsroom, and archive it, since placements do not stay findable on their own.
- License before you reproduce. Ask the routes above before putting article text in a deck, newsletter or ad.
- Treat paid pieces as advertising. A sponsored article must be labeled as paid content, and paying for it buys no reuse rights or permanence unless a contract says so.
The uncomfortable part is that the coverage most worth sharing is often the hardest to share, and the outlet, not the subject, decides who can read it, as it decides whether a placement stays up.
Methodology and Limitations
Four limits apply. First, we read three publishers' own pages; we could not confirm gift terms for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Atlantic or The Economist, and we could not load the Post's terms of service. Second, the Post's web page returned a browser check, so we read the same article through the help center's own article feed, which lists its last edit as May 28, 2025. Third, we did not create or open gift links, so expiry, forwarding and sign-in behavior are as documented, not tested. Fourth, licensing fees and turnaround are not published on the pages we read.
Conclusion
You can let customers and prospects read a paywalled article about your company, provided a subscriber sends a gift link and the recipient opens it within the publisher's window: 30 days at the Times, up to 14 at the Post and 90 at the FT. You cannot turn that article into your own marketing material by pasting, posting or reprinting it without the publisher's permission. A short summary in your own words that links to the original lasts longer than any gift link, and a license is the route for anything more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I share a paywalled article with customers?
Yes, if a subscriber sends it with the publisher's gift feature. The New York Times Help Center gives recipients 30 days to read a gift article, the Washington Post up to 14 days and the Financial Times 90 days. Recipients may need to create a free account.
How many gift articles can a New York Times subscriber send?
The New York Times Help Center says subscribers can share unlimited gift articles, and recipients have 30 days to read each one before access is revoked. Older reports of lower limits describe earlier terms.
Does copying the article URL from my browser work as a gift link?
No. The New York Times and the Washington Post both say free access for non-subscribers comes only through the gift or share button, not a copied address-bar URL.
Can I paste a paywalled article into a newsletter or post it on my website?
Not without permission. The New York Times' terms prohibit copying content for other than personal use without prior written permission, and the FT's copyright policy bars pasting full text into emails, websites, newsletters or intranets. This is not legal advice.
How do I get permission to reprint a New York Times article?
The New York Times Help Center directs article-text permissions and custom reprints of 250 or more to Wright's Media, internal corporate use to the Copyright Clearance Center, and ongoing use to the New York Times Licensing Group.
Is quoting a few lines of an article fair use?
It may be, but the U.S. Copyright Office says fair use is decided case by case on four factors, including whether the use is commercial, and that no set number of words is safe. Publisher terms you agreed to can be narrower. This is not legal advice.
Sources
This guide is built from the gift-article, terms and permissions pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Financial Times, and the U.S. Copyright Office's fair use page, all read on October 12, 2026. Allowances, durations, quotes and licensing routes are the publishers' own; the advice on timing, summaries and keeping a lasting reference is our recommendation, not a publisher rule. We did not create or open gift links, did not request licensing quotes, and could not read the Washington Post's terms of service or other publishers' help pages.
- platform documentation The New York Times Help Center, Gift Articles for New York Times Subscribers. Unlimited gift articles, 30-day recipient window, free account, gift-button-only sharing. Read October 12, 2026.
- official The New York Times, Terms of Service, effective January 20, 2026. Personal, non-commercial use; prohibition on copying for other than personal use without written permission. Read October 12, 2026.
- official The New York Times Help Center, Obtaining and using Times content. Wright's Media, Copyright Clearance Center and NYT Licensing routes; Email This Article limits; guidance on quotes. Read October 12, 2026.
- platform documentation The Washington Post Help Center, How to use gift articles, last edited May 28, 2025. 10 gift articles per calendar month, up to 14 days' access, sign-in, share-button-only rule. Read October 12, 2026.
- official The Washington Post Help Center, Request permission to repurpose content from The Washington Post, last edited January 21, 2026. ThreesAI as the licensing route for republishing; Getty Images for photos. Read October 12, 2026.
- platform documentation Financial Times Help Centre, What is a Gift Article?. 10 and 20 gift articles per month by plan; recipient wording on registration. Read October 12, 2026.
- platform documentation Financial Times Help Centre, How do you share and gift FT articles?. 90-day validity, three opens per link, one credit per open. Read October 12, 2026.
- platform documentation Financial Times Help Centre, Can I send multiple Gift Articles?. Monthly renewal of gift allowance. Read October 12, 2026.
- platform documentation Financial Times Help Centre, Terms and Conditions for gifting an article. Sender confirms recipient consent. Read October 12, 2026.
- platform documentation Financial Times Help Centre, How do Gift Articles work for recipients?. Recipients of forwarded links need an FT.com account. Read October 12, 2026.
- official Financial Times, Copyright Policy, published May 31, 2023. Ban on pasting full text into emails, websites, newsletters or intranets; 30-word summary conditions; syndication@ft.com. Read October 12, 2026.
- regulator U.S. Copyright Office, U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index. Section 107 four factors; no fixed safe amount. Read October 12, 2026.