Ghost: Pricing, Plans & Features

Open-source publishing platform with newsletters, memberships, subscriptions, analytics, and extensible APIs.

Overall Score48/100

3.4Editor Rating

Market Signal 36

#12 of 12 in General Website Builders by Overall Score

What Is Ghost?

Ghost is an open-source publishing platform for running a website, email newsletters, member accounts and paid subscriptions from the same publication. It can send posts as web content, email-only newsletters or both, segment delivery by membership status and labels, and report on web traffic, newsletter engagement and member growth. Ghost also supports themes, webhooks, the Admin API and a large integrations directory.

Best for: Independent publishers, newsletters, and membership businesses that want website publishing, email delivery, and paid subscriptions under their own brand.

Ghost(Pro) takes no cut of subscription revenue: members pay through Stripe and the publisher keeps the money minus Stripe's own fees. The Starter plan is limited to free members and official themes, so paid tiers and custom themes start on Publisher. Because Ghost is open source, a publication can also run on its own server, which suits teams that want full control over hosting and data.

3.4

out of 5

Editor Rating

Calculated from facts we verified on Ghost's own website, using published thresholds. Nobody can pay to change it. Together with Market Signal it makes the Overall Score of 48 that orders our lists.

Pricing transparency3.5
Entry cost3.0
Free access3.5
Platforms & API2.5
Support3.0
Integrations4.5
Security & compliance3.0

Dimensions without verified data count as a neutral 2.5. Facts checked October 12, 2026. How the rating works

Modest

Market Signal

Real data

Computed from Ahrefs + Semrush data about Ghost's own website. Not an assessment of the product itself. How this works →

Market Strength

Where it stands today

Momentum

21 Declining ↓↓

Where it’s heading

Data Confidence

High

How much to trust it

Traffic Strength
39
Search Visibility
32
Authority
47
Brand & Market Presence
52

Tick mark = category average.

Compared with 23 tracked Website Builders tools. Data through September 2026, pulled October 12, 2026.

Who Is It Best For?

Independent publishers selling paid newsletter subscriptions
Media teams running a website and several newsletters from one account
Writers who want an open-source platform they can self-host

Who Should Avoid It?

Teams that need a full ecommerce store for physical products
Publishers on the Starter plan who need paid memberships or custom themes

Use Cases

Sell monthly and yearly paid memberships
Send one post to the web and by email
Run separate newsletters for different audiences
Recommend other publications to new subscribers

Ghost Features

Website and newsletter publishing
Free and paid memberships
Stripe subscription payments
Native web and newsletter analytics
Member segmentation
Admin API and webhooks

Ghost Pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual (mo)
Starter	Not listed	$18
Publisher	Not listed	$29
Business	Not listed	$199
Custom	Custom	Custom

Pricing shown reflects list prices as of our last check and may have changed. Confirm current pricing on Ghost's website before purchasing.

Ghost Integrations

Stripe, Zapier, Slack, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Shopify, Disqus, HubSpot

Customer Support

Help center, Community forum

Ghost at a Glance

Founded: 2013
Built for: Solo, Small Business
Platforms: Web, API
Languages: English

Ghost Alternatives

Sort by

Mailchimp

Overall Score88/100

4.8Editor Rating

Market Signal 81

From $13/mo (varies by contacts)Free plan

Why choose it: Small and growing businesses that want newsletters, automated sequences and audience segmentation from one email-first platform.

Strengths

• Free plan supports up to 250 contacts with popup forms and core tools.
• Standard adds up to 200 automation flows, multivariate testing and predictive segmentation.

Limitations

• Free plan has no automation flows or email scheduling and caps sends at 500 monthly.
• Essentials limits automation flows to four steps.

Read Review Visit Site

WordPress.com

Overall Score86/100

4.4Editor Rating

Market Signal 87

From $4/mo (annual billing)Free plan

Why choose it: Bloggers and small businesses that want WordPress and its plugin catalog without running their own server.

Strengths

• Plugin installs and theme uploads are available from the Personal plan upward.
• Caching, automatic updates, backups and security are handled by the platform.

Limitations

• Free sites can't install plugins, connect a custom domain or remove WordPress.com ads.
• SFTP and SSH access require the Business or Commerce plan.

Read Review Visit Site

Substack

Overall Score70/100

3.2Editor Rating

Market Signal 85

See pricingFree plan

Why choose it: Independent writers and podcasters who want to publish free and paid work and grow through Substack's reader network.

Strengths

• Podcasts reach Apple Podcasts and Spotify, with private feeds for paying subscribers.
• Subscriber lists can be exported as a CSV at any time.

Limitations

• The post editor doesn't accept custom CSS, HTML or raw iframe embeds.
• Paid subscriptions run through Stripe, whose processing fees come on top of Substack's share.

Read Review Visit Site

beehiiv

Overall Score68/100

4.1Editor Rating

Market Signal 59

From $49/mo (annual billing, 1,000 subscribers)Free plan

Why choose it: Newsletter publishers, creators, and media brands that want audience growth and monetization tools built into their email platform.

Read Review Visit Site

Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Overall Score68/100

4.2Editor Rating

Market Signal 57

From $33/mo (annual billing)Free plan

Why choose it: Professional creators, authors, coaches, and newsletter operators monetizing an audience through email, products, memberships, or sponsorships.

Read Review Visit Site

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ghost have a free trial or free plan?⌄

Ghost doesn't have a permanently free plan, but offers a free trial of its paid plans.

How much does Ghost cost?⌄

Ghost starts at $18/mo (annual billing) on its Starter plan. Pricing was last checked October 7, 2026. Always confirm current pricing on the vendor's site before purchasing.

What are the best alternatives to Ghost?⌄

Commonly considered alternatives include Mailchimp, WordPress.com, Substack, beehiiv and Kit (formerly ConvertKit). The Alternatives section on this page shows what each one is best at and its starting price.

Last updated: October 12, 2026Details checked: October 8, 2026Pricing checked: October 7, 2026