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Price Snapshot
How much does Ghost cost?
Ghost starts at $18/mo for a paid plan, with a free plan for smaller teams. That's 20% above median for Email Marketing tools. Annual billing saves Available but amount not specified.
Calculate before you commit
Email Marketing pricing at your contact count
Use my pricing calculator to see how Ghost compares with other Email Marketing software at the contact count you actually need. Every tool here is priced at the same volume, which is the comparison a vendor’s own pricing page cannot make.
At 500 contacts, Ghost costs $15/mo on Starter, which is #13 of 24 in Email Marketing. Mailchimp, the most-reviewed option here, costs $27/mo at the same volume.
EmailOctopusFree/mo
FlodeskFree/mo
Benchmark EmailFree/mo
beehiivFree/mo
LoopsFree/mo
SenderFree/mo
Selzy$7.50/mo
Moosend$9/mo
Buttondown$9/mo
Campaign Monitor$11.70/mo
Constant Contact$12/mo
EngageBay$14.99/mo
Ghost$15/mo
MailerLite$19/mo
Omnisend$20/mo
AWeber$25/mo
Mailchimp$27/mo
Klaviyo$30/mo
Drip$39/mo
Kit$39/mo
ActiveCampaign$49/mo
Customer.io$100/mo
Encharge$179/mo
Keap$299/mo
Priced in another currency, so listed separately rather than ranked:
Zoho CampaignsFree/mo≈$0
The vendor’s own price is on the left. The dollar figure is my conversion at rates taken on 2026-08-06, shown only to give a sense of scale. These vendors do not set their dollar price by converting, so the approximation is not what you would be charged and is not used for ranking.
Some tools do not publish a price at exactly 500 contacts. Those show the next tier up, which is what you would actually pay: EmailOctopus at 2,500, Flodesk at 1,000, beehiiv at 2,500, Loops at 1,000, Sender at 2,500, Buttondown at 1,000.
Compare all Email Marketing pricing by budget →
24 of 25 Email Marketing tools publish a price at this volume. Every figure is the vendor’s own published rate for monthly billing, read from their pricing page and last checked 2026-08-06. Nothing is estimated between published tiers.
WHAT THIS CATEGORY COSTS AS YOU SCALE
Email Marketing pricing by list size
The middle of the market at each level, across every Email Marketing tool on this site that publishes a price there. Going from 500 contacts to 100,000 contacts multiplies the typical bill by 37.5×. At 25,000 contacts, HubSpot costs 67.8× what Ghost does.
GhostCategory median
HubSpot(most reviewed, 40,490)Cheapest here:Zoho Campaigns$4/mo
Ghost$18HubSpot$20Cheapest here:Zoho Campaigns$7/mo
Ghost$18Cheapest here:Zoho Campaigns$17/mo
Ghost$18HubSpot$220Cheapest here:Ghost$18/mo
Ghost$18HubSpot$470Cheapest here:Ghost$18/mo
Ghost$18HubSpot$1,220Cheapest here:Ghost$18/mo
Ghost$18HubSpot$2,470Cheapest here:Ghost$18/mo
Ghost$18HubSpot$5,350Cheapest here:Ghost$18/mo
Each median is the middle price of the cheapest plan covering that level, across the 36 Email Marketing tools on this site. Tools that publish no price at a level are excluded from that row rather than estimated, which is why coverage varies. “Most reviewed” uses combined third-party review counts as a stand-in for popularity. These are list prices before overage, add-ons and seat charges.
Plans
Ghost plans and pricing
3 paid plans · Monthly rates shown, annual noted per plan · Verified Mar 19, 2026
1,000 members, 1 staff user
1,000 members, 3 staff, custom themes
10,000 members, 15 staff, priority support
Ghost is open-source and free to self-host on your own server. You pay only for hosting infrastructure. No subscriber limits, no email limits, no feature restrictions. Requires technical knowledge to set up and maintain.
Recommendation
Which plan should you choose?
If you can manage a Linux server or use a service like DigitalOcean ($5-12/month), self-hosting Ghost gives you the full platform for free with zero revenue share. For a developer writing a programming newsletter, self-hosting is straightforward and saves the $15-29/month Ghost(Pro) fee. You get complete control over design, data, and email delivery.
At $29/month (annual) with 0% revenue share, Publisher is the financially optimal choice for any paid newsletter earning over $300/month. A finance writer earning $3,000/month on Substack pays $300/month in fees. On Ghost Publisher, they pay $29/month. That is $3,252 saved per year. Custom themes and integrations also give you more brand control than Substack.
If you only publish free content and never plan to monetize, Ghost Starter at $15/month is functional but limited (no paid subscriptions, single theme). Substack is free for free newsletters and includes a discovery network. Ghost makes financial sense only when you plan to charge for content.
The Business plan at $199/month supports multiple staff accounts, higher member limits, and priority support. For a multi-author publication or media company running a subscription business, the team features and scale justify the premium. The 0% revenue share means the plan pays for itself at even modest subscription revenue levels.
Scaling Costs
How much as you grow?
Ghost uses contact-based pricing. Here's how costs change as your list grows.
On the Business plan, Ghost ranges from $50/mo at 1,000 contacts to $329/mo at 100,000 contacts. That's a 6.6x increase.
| contacts | Starter | Creator | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $18 | $35 | $50 |
| 2,500 | $18 | $50 | $55 |
| 5,000 | $18 | $50 | $75 |
| 7,500 | $18 | $50 | $95 |
| 10,000 | $18 | $50 | $105 |
| 25,000 | $18 | $50 | $169 |
| 50,000 | $18 | $50 | $249 |
| 75,000 | $18 | $50 | $289 |
| 100,000 | $18 | $50 | $329 |
Buddy's Take
On the Business plan, going from 1,000 to 100,000 contacts is a 6.6x price jump ($50 to $329/mo). Budget for this. Contact-based pricing always catches people off guard.
Editorial
My take on Ghost pricing
Ghost's 0% revenue share is the single most important differentiator in the newsletter platform space. While Substack takes 10% of everything you earn, Ghost charges a predictable flat fee. The savings compound dramatically: a newsletter earning $10,000/month saves $11,652/year on Ghost Publisher versus Substack.
The catch is complexity. Ghost requires more technical setup than Substack, the editor has a steeper learning curve, and there is no built-in discovery network to help you find readers. Substack's zero-cost entry point and recommendation engine are genuine advantages for writers starting from scratch.
My recommendation follows a clear lifecycle: start on Substack for free, build your audience using the discovery network, then migrate to Ghost once your paid newsletter revenue makes the 10% fee painful. The crossover point is roughly $300-500/month in subscription revenue. See the full Ghost review.
Deals
Available discounts
Annual Billing Discount
Save approximately 17% by paying annually on all Ghost(Pro) plans
Verdict
Is Ghost Worth the Price?
Ghost's pricing model is the most writer-friendly in the newsletter space. Zero revenue share means every dollar you earn from paid subscriptions stays with you (minus Stripe's standard processing fee). At $29/month for Publisher, Ghost costs less than Substack's 10% take on anything above $290/month in revenue.
For writers serious about building a sustainable publishing business, Ghost's flat-fee model saves thousands per year as revenue grows. The self-hosted option at $0/month is unmatched for technically capable publishers who want full control. Read my full Ghost review for the complete breakdown.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The Ghost software is open-source and free to download and self-host. Ghost(Pro) managed hosting costs $15-199/month. Self-hosting requires your own server, which typically costs $5-20/month from providers like DigitalOcean or Hetzner.
No. Ghost charges 0% revenue share. You keep 100% of your subscription revenue minus standard Stripe payment processing fees (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). This is Ghost's key advantage over Substack's 10% take.
Yes. Ghost has a built-in Substack import tool that transfers your posts and subscriber list. Paid subscribers need to re-enter payment details on your Ghost site, which typically results in some subscriber churn during migration.
Recent pricing changes removed paid subscriptions from Starter and limited it to a single theme. You now need Publisher ($29/month) to accept paid memberships. This was a significant change that pushed monetizing publishers to the higher tier.
Yes. Ghost(Pro) offers a 14-day free trial on all plans with no credit card required. You can test the full platform before committing.
Ghost(Pro) includes built-in email delivery through Mailgun. Self-hosted Ghost requires you to configure your own SMTP service (Mailgun, Postmark, etc.) for newsletter delivery.
See the pricing for yourself
14 days free. No credit card. See which plan fits before you pay.
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Joonas Rotko
Author & founder of That Marketing Buddy
I score marketing software for AI-stack fit (MCP, API, agent-readiness), backed by 10+ years in digital marketing. Building the most trustworthy marketing software database so you can trust the pricing data on this site.
This page may contain affiliate links. I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never influences pricing data.