Ghost review 2026: fees, Ghost(Pro) pricing and who it suits

Ghost takes 0% of what members pay you. You pay Stripe and a Ghost(Pro) plan, and on the cheapest plan that takes payments, 100 readers paying $10 a month leave you about $899. That beats Substack by $65 at this size. Ghost is also the only newsletter platform we review that you can run on your own server, because the software is open source. The trade is discovery, which Ghost mostly leaves to you.

How much does Ghost take?

Ghost takes no transaction fee on memberships, tips or donations. Your costs are Stripe’s fees and a Ghost(Pro) plan, which is priced by how many members you have.

Plan	Monthly billing	Yearly billing, per month	Members at that price	Paid subscriptions
Starter	$18	$15	1,000	No
Publisher	$35	$29	1,000	Yes, 3 tiers
Business	$239	$199	10,000	Yes, 10 tiers
Custom	Custom	Custom	Unlimited	Yes

Publisher is also where Ghost stops feeling like a starter blog. Over Starter it adds custom themes, 3 staff users instead of 1, 3 newsletters instead of 1, a custom sending domain for email and 100MB file uploads instead of 5MB.

Ghost’s help page says the only fees are Stripe’s 2.9% + 30 cents. That leaves something out. Ghost creates each paid membership as a subscription inside your Stripe account, and Stripe charges 0.7% of recurring billing volume on top of card processing. Here is the arithmetic on those published fees for one $10 monthly payment. Stripe takes $0.59 for the card and $0.07 for billing, which leaves $9.34 before your plan.

How does Ghost(Pro) pricing grow with your list?

Ghost(Pro) counts every member, free or paid, so your plan price follows the size of your whole list. Publisher prices as of October 2026:

Members	Monthly billing	Yearly billing, per month
1,000	$35	$29
2,500	$55	$46
5,000	$75	$63
10,000	$105	$88
25,000	$169	$141
50,000	$249	$208
100,000	$329	$274

This matters more than the 0% headline. A newsletter with 10,000 members, 100 of them paying $10 a month, pays $105 a month on Publisher, which is more than the $100 Substack’s 10% would take. Ghost wins clearly when a large share of your list pays.

Should you use Ghost(Pro) or self-host Ghost?

Ghost is released under the MIT license, and self-hosted Ghost has the same features as Ghost(Pro) with the same 0% payment fees. Ghost’s own hosting guide prices basic self-hosting from $10 a month and adds separate costs for a CDN, email newsletter delivery, analytics and backups.

Self-hosting gives you server and database access and the ability to change the core code. You also take on updates, security and email delivery yourself. We think most writers should pay for Ghost(Pro), whose revenue funds the non-profit Ghost Foundation, and self-host only if they already run servers.

How do Ghost payouts work?

Ghost never touches your money. You connect your own Stripe account, members pay into it, and Stripe sends payouts to your bank on the schedule you choose in Stripe.

Stripe lists 2 business days of settlement time for US accounts, and a first payout typically takes 7 to 14 days. Because the subscriptions live in your Stripe account, you also manage pauses, receipts and renewal reminders there. Ghost sets no minimum payout, since it never holds a balance.

How portable is Ghost?

Ghost is the most portable platform we review. Site owners can export everything from Ghost Admin at any time, including content and settings as JSON, members with their labels and subscription status as CSV, post analytics, themes and redirects. On Ghost(Pro) the export includes all media files too.

Payments are just as portable. Ghost connects to a Stripe account you own, and its migration docs tell writers moving from Substack to connect the same Stripe account they used there, which is how paying subscribers carry over. If you leave Ghost(Pro), those subscriptions stay in your Stripe account, and because the code is open source you can move to self-hosting without changing software.

How do you make money on Ghost?

Ghost earns you money through paid memberships first, and everything else is a supporting option. Paid features start on the Publisher plan, and all of them run through Stripe.

Paid tiers with monthly and yearly prices, three on Publisher and ten on Business
Offers with discounts and free trials, up to 15 on Publisher
Tips and donations as one-off payments, without readers signing up
Gift subscriptions that anyone can buy for another reader
Ads from any network, such as Google AdSense, on Publisher and above

Ghost also documents workarounds for taking payments through Patreon or PayPal, but Stripe is the only processor built in.

How does Ghost help you find readers?

Ghost offers some discovery, but far less than Substack’s app. Every Ghost(Pro) site is listed in the Ghost Explore directory, and you can recommend other publications to new members, who see your picks in a pop-up after signing up.

Ghost also connects sites to the social web through ActivityPub, so people can follow your publication from Ghost, WordPress, Bluesky, Threads, Flipboard and Mastodon. Ghost’s help center still labels that feature a beta. None of these will build an audience from nothing, so plan on bringing your own.

Who is Ghost best for?

Ghost suits writers with an existing audience who want their own website, their own domain and their own Stripe account, and who would rather pay a flat plan than a percentage. It is the best fit when a high share of your list pays, because Ghost(Pro) charges for free members too.

Skip Ghost if you are starting with no readers, or if you want ads and paid recommendations built in. beehiiv has an ad network, and Kit lets you sell a paid newsletter on its free plan.

Ghost alternatives

Our Substack vs Ghost comparison covers the trade between discovery and ownership. Memberful adds memberships to a site you already run, and our guide to starting a paid newsletter walks through the first steps on any platform.

What Ghost gets right

Ghost takes 0% of memberships and tips on every plan that can take payments

Members, content and post analytics export as CSV and JSON at any time

Payments run through your own Stripe account, on your own domain, with no Ghost branding

The software is open source under the MIT license, so you can self-host the same product

A non-profit foundation runs Ghost and reinvests all revenue in the product

Where Ghost falls short

The Starter plan cannot take payments, so paid publishing starts at $35 a month

Free members count toward your plan, and Publisher reaches $105 a month at 10,000 members

Discovery is limited to the Explore directory, recommendations and the social web

Ghost's fee page lists only Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 and leaves out the 0.7% Billing fee

Stripe is the only built-in payment processor

Frequently asked questions

Does Ghost take a cut of paid subscriptions?

No. Ghost charges 0% transaction fees. You pay Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment, Stripe's 0.7% Billing fee on recurring payments and your Ghost(Pro) plan.

How much does Ghost(Pro) cost?

Starter costs $18 a month, or $15 billed yearly, but cannot take payments. Publisher, the cheapest plan with paid subscriptions, costs $35 a month, or $29 billed yearly, for up to 1,000 members and rises with member count.

Is Ghost free if I host it myself?

The software is free and open source under the MIT license. You pay for your own server, email delivery and other services, and Ghost's own estimate starts at $10 a month for basic hosting before those extras.

Do free members count toward Ghost(Pro) pricing?

Yes. Ghost(Pro) counts every member account, free or paid, toward your plan's member limit.

How fast does Ghost pay out?

Ghost never holds your money. Members pay into your own Stripe account, and Stripe pays your bank on its own schedule, with a first payout that typically takes 7 to 14 days.