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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. Annual and biennial billing bring the per-month price down further.
Plans
Ghost plans and pricing
3 paid plans · Prices shown for annual billing · 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.
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.