Ghost

What is Ghost?

Ghost is an open-source publishing platform purpose-built for blogs and newsletters, with paid memberships and subscriptions as first-class features rather than a bolted-on plugin. It handles the editor, email delivery, and Stripe-powered subscription billing in one system, and notably doesn't take a cut of subscription revenue itself since Stripe processes payments directly to your own account. It's positioned as a faster, more focused alternative to running WordPress with a stack of membership and newsletter plugins.

Key features

• Clean, distraction-free editor built specifically for long-form writing, not a general page builder
• Native email newsletter delivery to your subscriber list, sent directly from published posts
• Built-in paid membership and subscription tiers via direct Stripe integration, no revenue cut taken
• Member-only and public content gating handled natively, no separate paywall plugin needed
• Fast, lightweight architecture compared to a plugin-heavy WordPress setup

Who it's for

Writers and small publications building an audience around a blog or newsletter, especially ones planning to monetize through paid subscriptions. If you need a general-purpose CMS for a complex marketing site with many page types, Ghost's focus on publishing specifically makes it a narrower fit than something like WordPress or a headless CMS.

Pricing

Self-hosted and open-source for free (you pay for hosting and Stripe's standard payment processing fees separately). Ghost(Pro), the official managed hosting, is a paid subscription tiered by audience size.