Open source publishing with newsletters and paid memberships. Self-host free or try Ghost(Pro) for 14 days.
Sniffed 10d ago14 day free trial Card required#blogging#newsletter#memberships#open-source#self-hosted#cms#headless-cms
Run by a non-profit foundation, and free to self-host. Ghost is an open source publishing platform for blogs, newsletters and paid memberships, run by a non-profit foundation. You can host it yourself for the price of a server, or pay for Ghost(Pro), the managed hosting. New Ghost(Pro) accounts start with a 14-day free trial, and the signup page says nothing is charged automatically when it ends. At 1,000 members the pricing page lists Starter at $25 a month billed yearly, Publisher at $29 with custom themes, paid subscriptions, 3 staff users and the Admin API, and Business at $199 with 15 staff users and room for 10,000 members. Ghost lists 0% transaction fees on paid subscriptions. Capterra shows 4.7 from 53 reviews and G2 shows 4.0 out of 5. Reviewers like the clean editor and having newsletters and memberships in one product. They complain about cost as the member count grows and about fewer themes and plugins than WordPress.
Free tier quotas
Self-hosting
Open source software, free to run on your own server
Ghost(Pro) trial
14 days for new accounts
Charge after trial
None automatic: the signup page says nothing happens when the 14 days end
Cheapest hosted plan
Starter, $25 a month billed yearly at 1,000 members
Last sniffed Oct 15, 2026. Always confirm on the official pricing page.
👍 Good boy
+Newsletters, memberships and the site live in one product. A Capterra reviewer wrote that Ghost combines blogging, email newsletters, memberships and SEO tools in one place without needing lots of plugins.
+The editor gets steady praise. The same reviewer called it minimal and distraction-free, and another Capterra reviewer said the visual editor is clean and has the cards and snippets they need.
+Self-hosting costs only the server. A Capterra reviewer called it a great self-hosting platform that is easy to deploy and maintain, and an older r/Ghost commenter said you can run a server for around $5 a month.
+No payment fees from Ghost. The pricing page headline says no payment fees, and the membership comparison lists 0% transaction fees from Publisher up.
+Email sends are unlimited on all plans according to the comparison table, with managed deliverability included.
+A Capterra reviewer who moved sites from WordPress said they gained visitors from better SEO and page loading time and that Ghost reduced their server load.
+Support gets praise from Capterra reviewers, one calling it world class and quick to reply. A Ghost(Pro) reviewer also called the service fast and reliable.
+The 14-day trial does not charge automatically. The signup page says the choice to pay after 14 days is yours.
+Ratings are strong. Capterra shows 4.7 from 53 reviews with 43 five-star ratings, and G2 shows 4.0 out of 5 with 55% five-star.
👎 Watch out
−Price follows your member count. The pricing page figures are for 1,000 members and the slider runs to 100k+. An r/Ghost poster said their subscriber base grew and they were paying more for Ghost(Pro) than they felt comfortable with, and asked about moving to self-hosting.
−Cost comes up in reviews. A Capterra reviewer called the hosting a bit pricey for what it does, and another said the cost is way higher than competitors. Both reviews were incentivized.
−Starter leaves out a lot. The comparison table lists no custom or marketplace themes, no paid subscriptions, no tips, no custom sending domain, no Zapier or webhooks and no Admin API on Starter. Those start at Publisher, $29 a month.
−Ghost has fewer themes and plugins than WordPress. A Capterra reviewer who used Ghost for one to two years switched to WordPress to get the site exactly as they wanted, and another said advanced customization may need coding knowledge.
−A 2024 Capterra reviewer (incentivized) said the admin interface lags in functionality and that upgrading a major Ghost version is too difficult, and felt stuck after four years.
−Self-hosting takes technical work. A Capterra reviewer said it needs extra setup and maintenance, and another said editing templates is tricky without coding experience.
−A 2022 Capterra reviewer said multiple membership tiers needed a Stripe account even if they used other payment methods, and that the newsletter feature was tied to Mailgun. That review is older and may not match today's product.
−G2 averages 4.0 against 4.7 on Capterra, with 7% one-star and 7% three-star ratings, so opinions are less uniform than the Capterra score suggests.
The catch
There is no free hosted plan. Your free options are the open source software, which you run on your own server, and the Ghost(Pro) trial, which lasts 14 days. The signup page says nothing is charged automatically when the trial ends and it is up to you to pay.
Ghost(Pro) prices depend on how many members you have. At 1,000 members the pricing page lists Starter at $25 a month billed yearly, Publisher at $29 and Business at $199 (10,000 members). A custom plan removes the member cap. Paid subscriptions, custom themes, the Admin API, webhooks and Zapier are not on Starter.
The Foundation badge on the pricing page and the Capterra descriptions call Ghost non-profit and open source. I did not read the license text, and I did not find a statement on card requirements for the trial, so commercial use and card requirement are marked unknown.
What’s included
✓Open source publishing platform
✓Email newsletters with managed deliverability
✓Paid subscriptions and tips on Publisher and above
✓Free custom domain
✓Content API on every plan
✓Admin API and webhooks on Publisher and above
✓Custom themes on Publisher and above
✓Social web distribution
✓Recommendations and referral program
✓SEO tools and RSS feeds
✓Automated backups and worldwide CDN
✓Two-factor authentication
Free tier value
Generosity
B
Estimated value
Free to self-host; Ghost(Pro) from $25 a month billed yearly at 1,000 members
Feature parity
Ghost(Pro) is the same software with managed hosting, a CDN, backups and email deliverability.
Screenshots
Ghost homepageGhost(Pro) pricing page
Paid plans
Starter, $25 a month billed yearly at 1,000 members
1 staff user, free custom domain, email newsletter, simple design settings, Content API and 1,000 members. No custom themes, paid subscriptions or Zapier.
Publisher, $29 a month billed yearly at 1,000 members
3 staff users, custom themes, paid subscriptions and tips, advanced analytics, Zapier, n8n, webhooks, the Admin API and a custom sending domain.
Business, $199 a month billed yearly
15 staff users, 10,000 members, priority support, higher usage limits and early access to features.
Custom, by quote
Unlimited staff users and members, advanced configuration, dedicated IP, SSO, a 99.9% uptime SLA and an account manager.
Common questions
Is Ghost free?
The software is open source and free to run on your own server. The managed Ghost(Pro) service has a 14-day trial and then paid plans.
Does the trial charge my card automatically?
The signup page says Ghost does not make automatic charges based on starting a trial.
How is Ghost(Pro) priced?
By audience size. The prices on the pricing page are for up to 1,000 members, and a slider raises the price as members grow.
Does Ghost take a cut of my paid subscriptions?
The pricing page lists 0% transaction fees from Publisher up.
Can I use paid subscriptions on Starter?
No. The comparison table lists paid subscriptions from Publisher up.
What is the main downside against WordPress?
Reviewers say Ghost has fewer themes, plugins and customization options, and that self-hosting needs technical work.
Change history
Checked October 22, 2026
Pricing page lists Starter at $25, Publisher at $29, Business at $199 and a custom plan, all billed yearly at 1,000 members. Capterra shows 4.7 from 53 reviews.
