Get a recommendation
Tell us your requirements and our advisors will help you compare and shortlist the best-fit options — free and unbiased.
A real human, fast
Someone on our team replies within one business day — no bots, no ticket queue.
Routed to the right team
Buying, selling, partnering, or investing — you reach the people who can actually help.
Independent & unbiased
No pushy sales. Just honest guidance grounded in the ecosystem.
Tailored to your context
Tell us what you need and we shape the next steps around it.
Who are you? Pick the option that fits best.
Publishing, newsletters, and memberships in one open platform.
Ghost is a modern publishing platform that combines a professional blog/CMS, email newsletters, and paid memberships in one open-source product built for independent creators and publishers. Rather than stitching together a website, an email tool, and a payments/membership system, Ghost lets you publish articles, send them as newsletters to subscribers, and charge for premium content — all natively. Its clean editor, fast themes, and focus on writing and audience-building made it a favorite of professional bloggers, media startups, and creators who want to own their platform.
Ghost's model is distinctive: it is open-source (you can self-host the CMS for free) and runs as a non-profit, and its managed Ghost(Pro) hosting charges a flat fee with a 0% platform transaction fee on paid subscriptions — you keep more of your revenue than platforms that take a cut (only Stripe's standard processing fees apply). It supports memberships, tiers, portals, SEO-friendly output, custom themes, and thousands of integrations, positioning itself as an ownable alternative to Substack, Medium, and WordPress-plus-plugins setups.
Ghost suits creators, writers, publishers, and businesses that want to run a blog and a paid newsletter/membership business on a platform they control, keeping their revenue and audience. Options run from free self-hosting to Ghost(Pro) plans (Starter, Publisher, Business) priced by members and staff, so cost depends on hosting choice and audience size.
Pricing Model
Self-hosted free or Ghost(Pro), per month
Starting Price
$15/mo
Free Options
Free version, Free trial
Free, open-source CMS you install and run on your own server.
~$15/month (annual). Managed Ghost(Pro) for solo blogs/newsletters.
~$29/month (annual). Custom themes, paid subs, and more staff.
~$199/month (annual). For teams — 10,000 members and 15 staff.
| Feature | Self-Hosted | Starter | Publisher Popular | Business |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free & open-source | — | — | — | |
| Full Ghost features | — | — | — | |
| You manage hosting & updates | — | — | — | |
| No platform fees | — | — | — | |
| Content API | — | — | — | |
| 1,000 members | — | — | ||
| 1 staff user | — | — | — | |
| Managed hosting | — | — | — | |
| Newsletters | — | — | — | |
| Official themes | — | — | — | |
| 3 staff users | — | — | — | |
| Custom themes | — | — | — | |
| Paid subscriptions (0% fee) | — | — | — | |
| Advanced analytics | — | — | — | |
| 8,000+ integrations | — | — | — | |
| 10,000 members | — | — | — | |
| 15 staff users | — | — | — | |
| Priority support | — | — | — | |
| Higher usage limits | — | — | — | |
| Advanced features | — | — | — |
Other
Marketing
Finance
Communication
Missing an integration?
API Types
SDK Availability
Verify SDK availability in vendor's documentation.
Developer Features
No reviews yet. Be the first to review Ghost.
Have a question about Ghost? Ask the community.
Compliance Standards
SOC 2 Type II
EnterpriseISO 27001
EnterpriseGDPR Compliant
GlobalHIPAA
HealthcarePCI DSS
FinanceCCPA
PrivacyFedRAMP
GovernmentCSA STAR
CloudDeployment & Data
Data Residency Options
Verify with vendor for your specific region requirements.
The newsletter platform built for growth and monetization.
Visual website builder and CMS for designers and teams.
Simple, affordable email marketing for creators and small businesses.
Quick comparisons
