Ghost Pricing (2026): Managed Plans, Self-Hosting, and What You Actually Pay

Ghost's managed plans cost $9/mo for Starter (500 members, billed annually), $25/mo for Creator (1,000 members), $50/mo for Team (1,000 members, 5 staff users), and $199/mo for Business (10,000 members). All managed plan prices are for annual billing — monthly billing is available at higher rates. Ghost's open-source software is free to self-host; you pay your own server and email delivery costs.

No. Ghost takes zero cut of your paid membership revenue on any plan — managed or self-hosted. You keep 100% of what readers pay, minus Stripe's payment processing fee (2.9% + 30 cents per transaction). This is the most significant financial advantage over Substack, which takes an additional 10% platform fee on top of Stripe's charges.

Ghost's open-source software is free to download and self-host. If you run Ghost on your own server (via DigitalOcean, Railway, or similar), your only costs are hosting (typically $5–20/mo for small publications) and an external email delivery service like Mailgun or Postmark (typically $10–30/mo for modest volumes). Ghost's managed hosting plans start at $9/mo annually — not free, but the software itself is open-source.

Ghost Starter ($9/mo billed annually) supports up to 500 members, 1 staff user, and includes a custom theme, Ghost's email newsletter system, and basic membership/paid subscription support. It's designed for solo writers and bloggers starting their first publication with a small audience. The 500-member limit is the primary constraint — creators expecting to grow past that quickly should consider Creator ($25/mo) from the start.

Ghost Creator ($25/mo) and Team ($50/mo) both support up to 1,000 members and include the same core publishing and membership features. The key difference is staff users: Creator allows 1 staff user, Team allows 5. Team also includes more advanced collaboration features. Creators running solo publications should choose Creator; those with editors, contributors, or co-authors should choose Team.

At similar capability levels, Ghost Creator ($25/mo annually) and Beehiiv Scale ($39/mo) are the closest comparison. Ghost is cheaper by $14/mo but focuses more on publication design and CMS flexibility, while Beehiiv's Scale plan includes a built-in ad network and referral growth tools that Ghost doesn't offer. Both take no cut of paid subscription revenue.

Self-hosting Ghost requires a server and an email delivery service. A basic DigitalOcean droplet for a small publication costs $6–12/mo. An email delivery service like Mailgun or Postmark typically costs $10–35/mo depending on send volume. Total out-of-pocket cost for self-hosted Ghost runs roughly $15–50/mo — often cheaper than managed plans for high-traffic publications, but requires technical setup and ongoing server management.

Ghost is worth it over Substack for creators consistently earning $800+/mo from paid memberships. Ghost's flat fee ($9–25/mo) combined with zero revenue cut results in significantly more take-home income than Substack's 10% fee at higher revenue levels. Below $500/mo in reader revenue, Substack's no-monthly-fee model may still be cheaper. The crossover point depends on your specific Ghost plan and reader revenue.