Ghost vs Kit: a paid publishing platform, or a free tier up to 10,000 subscribers?

How are Ghost and Kit really different?

What will Ghost or Kit cost for your setup?

The cheapest plan that covers each setup, add-ons included. Prices exclude VAT.

Ghost vs Kit side by side

I compare email/CRM platforms on: Real cost per list size, both billing bases; Free-tier contact ceiling before you must pay anything; Team seats included, and the seat price past that; List segmentation depth; Automation workflow depth and any step/action limits; Deliverability and sending limits (emails per month, per day, or per rolling window); CRM and ecommerce integration depth; What happens past your plan's contact ceiling (overage pricing vs a forced upgrade).

Who should pick Ghost, and who should pick Kit?

Ghost

Desk research

• Best for small teams sharing one account

Ghost(Pro) is a paid platform from the start ($18/month billed monthly), with no revenue share on paid subscriptions (0%) since it connects your own Stripe account directly. It suits a writer who wants full ownership of a self-branded publication and is willing to pay a flat fee for it, rather than a percentage of what readers pay.

Best for: Publishers who want a fully-owned, ad-free site with zero revenue share and don't mind paying a monthly fee from day one that rises with member count.

Strengths

• 0% platform fee on paid subscriptions, same as beehiiv and better than Substack's cut.
• A 14-day trial on every plan before you pay anything.
• Open-source, so a self-hosted version exists outside Ghost(Pro) for anyone willing to run their own server.

Limits

• No permanent free plan on Ghost(Pro): the trial ends and a paid plan starts.
• Starter has no paid subscriptions at all; that needs Publisher ($35/month billed monthly) or above.
• Starter stops at 1,000 members, and Publisher's price rises with each member band up to 100,000.

Skip it if you want to start free before committing to a paid plan.

Ghost reviewGhost pricingGhost alternatives

Kit

Desk research

• Best for solo marketers and small businesses
• Best for growing lists sending regularly

Kit is a creator-first email platform with a free tier up to 10,000 subscribers and automations on the paid plans. The paid tiers add advanced automation, engagement analytics and unlimited team members, and the bundle is the strength: email, digital product sales and paid subscriptions all come standard, not as add-ons, with Kit keeping 0.6% of each sale. It suits creators who want a complete toolkit in one place.

Best for: Email creators and small publishers who need email and product sales in one place, and are fine with a small platform fee on subscriber revenue.

Strengths

• A real free plan up to 10,000 subscribers, with 1 team member and no trial required.
• Kit keeps only 0.6% of each digital product or subscription sale, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing.
• Unlimited visual automations and paid subscriptions from the Creator plan ($39/month billed monthly at the entry list size).

Limits

• The free tier goes up to 10,000 subscribers, so paying only makes sense once you need automation, paid subscriptions or more seats rather than more room.
• Creator includes 2 team seats; unlimited seats only arrive at the Pro plan ($79/month billed monthly at the entry list size).
• Published prices run up to 400,000 subscribers; above that Kit asks you to request a custom plan.

Skip it if you need more than 1 team seat on Free.

Kit reviewKit pricingKit alternatives

Neither Ghost nor Kit? Try these

• 

  beehiiv

  From $49/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want a newsletter platform with a built-in ad network and referral growth tools, sitting between Ghost's self-owned-site model and Kit's creator toolkit.

  beehiiv reviewbeehiiv alternatives

• 

  Substack

  Pick it if you want the simplest possible start, free to publish, with Substack taking a percentage of paid-subscription revenue instead of a flat monthly fee.

  Substack reviewSubstack alternatives

• 

  MailerLite

  From $10.80/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want a general-purpose email tool with a permanent free tier and lower automation-focused pricing than Kit, without Ghost's publishing-platform framing.

  MailerLite reviewMailerLite alternatives

Ghost vs Kit: questions people ask

Is Ghost free?

No. Ghost(Pro), the hosted product compared here, has no permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial. After the trial, Starter starts at $18/month billed monthly.

Is Kit free?

Yes, up to 10,000 subscribers, with no time limit. Past that, or for advanced automation and paid subscriptions, Creator starts at $39/month billed monthly.

Which is cheaper, Ghost or Kit, for a small list?

Kit, at 500 or even 5,000 subscribers: its free plan covers both, since Free runs up to 10,000 subscribers. Ghost has no free plan at any size and starts at $18/month billed monthly.

Which is cheaper for a 3-person team?

Ghost, at 1,000 subscribers. Its Publisher plan already includes 3 seats and resolves to $35/month billed monthly or $29/month billed annually. Kit's Free and Creator plans cap out at 2 seats, so a 3-person team needs Pro, which costs more than Ghost's Publisher here.

Does either tool take a cut of paid subscriptions?

Ghost does not: its platform fee is 0% since your own Stripe account connects directly. Kit keeps 0.6% of each sale, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing.

Is Ghost the same kind of tool as Kit?

Not really. Ghost is a self-owned publishing platform: your own site, your own theme, with newsletters attached to it. Kit is a creator-focused email and landing-page tool without a themeable owned site of its own. Picking on price alone skips that bigger difference.