Ghost
Ghost is an open source, non-profit publishing platform offering website building, newsletters, and paid memberships via Ghost(Pro) managed hosting, serving independent creators, publishers, businesses, and developers globally with a 0% transaction-fee model.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersSingapore, Singapore
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Ghost does
Ghost is a Singapore-registered non-profit that operates an open source publishing platform launched in 2013, serving independent creators, publishers, businesses, and developers who want full ownership of their audience, content, and revenue. Its core product is a Node.js-based CMS built around a Lexical editor (replacing the legacy Mobiledoc format as of Ghost 5.0), MySQL 8 in production, and a REST-based Content API and Admin API for headless integrations. The platform unifies website building, content publishing, email newsletter delivery (via Mailgun), and native paid membership management (via Stripe) into a single product, positioning itself against point solutions and against Substack's 10% commission model by charging 0% on creator revenue.
The company monetizes primarily through Ghost(Pro), a managed hosting service with tiered Basic, Creator, Team, and Business plans, supplemented by marketplace commissions from third-party theme developers and certified experts. It is fully bootstrapped since the 2013 Kickstarter ($300,000), with no external investors, and operates as a distributed team of 11–50 employees globally. Distribution is product-led via ghost.org self-serve onboarding with a 14-day free trial, supported by an open source self-hosting option, a theme and integration marketplace, and a content marketing engine anchored on comparison pages (Ghost vs. Substack, WordPress, BeeHiiv, etc.). Notable customers span independent media (404 Media, Platformer, The Lever), newsletters (Tangle at $281K MRR, Creator Science at $39K MRR), and enterprise content marketing (YCombinator, Kickstarter, Buffer, Unsplash). Infrastructure is hosted in Amsterdam under GDPR-compliant data processing, with SOC-grade operational practices supporting 99.87–100% uptime across Ghost(Pro) services as of mid-2026.
Ghost firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ghost
- Legal name
- Ghost Foundation Ltd
- Website
- https://ghost.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Ghost is an open source, non-profit publishing platform offering website building, newsletters, and paid memberships via Ghost(Pro) managed hosting, serving independent creators, publishers, businesses, and developers globally with a 0% transaction-fee model.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Ghost industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Content Publishing Platform
- akta.pro primary industry
- Ghostwriting & Collaborative Writing Services (MPAJAJAI)
Keywords
Where Ghost is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Singapore
- HQ country
- Singapore
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices3 records
Markets served
Ghost business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Ghost(Pro) Subscription Plans: Ghost generates revenue primarily through hosted subscription plans under the Ghost(Pro) brand. Plans are tiered (Basic, Creator, Team, Business) offering different levels of bandwidth, storage, custom domains, and support. Users can also self-host using the open source software without paying Ghost.
- Marketplace Commissions: Ghost operates a theme and integration marketplace where third-party developers sell themes, custom integrations, and professional services. While the revenue model references marketplace existence, the specific commission structure is governed by individual third-party developer terms.
- 0% Payment Fees on Creator Revenue: Ghost charges 0% payment fees on revenue earned by publications. Creators keep 100% of subscription revenue processed through Stripe. Ghost's revenue comes from hosting plan fees rather than taking a cut of creator earnings.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Basic plan — entry-level Ghost(Pro) hosted publication |
| Subscription | Monthly | Creator plan — for individual professional creators |
| Subscription | Monthly | Team plan — for small editorial teams |
| Subscription | Monthly | Business plan — for companies with ambitious content marketing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Ghost product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ghost is an open source publishing platform that enables creators, publishers, and businesses to build websites, publish content, send email newsletters, and manage paid membership subscriptions. The platform is available as freely downloadable self-hosted software and as Ghost(Pro), a managed hosting service with tiered subscription plans. It includes native integrations with Stripe for payments and Mailgun for email delivery, RESTful APIs for custom integrations, and a marketplace of themes and certified experts.
Product overview
Ghost is a unified open-source publishing platform offered as both self-hosted software and a managed hosted service (Ghost(Pro)). The core Ghost Platform enables professional creators and publishers to build websites, publish content, send newsletters, and manage paid membership subscriptions. Related offerings include the Ghost Marketplace for themes and expert services, Ghost CLI for developer installations, Content and Admin APIs for integrations and custom frontends, and the Automations beta feature for automated email sequences. Ghost is a non-profit organization funded entirely by its users with no external investors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Ghost Platform An open source publishing platform for professional creators, publishers, and businesses to build websites, publish content, send newsletters, and manage paid membership subscriptions. Available as freely downloadable self-hosted software.
- Ghost(Pro) Managed Hosting Fully managed hosting service for Ghost installations with automatic updates, security, CDN, and custom domain support. Available in tiered subscription plans (Basic, Creator, Team, Business) with varying bandwidth limits for headless setups.
- Ghost Marketplace A marketplace where third-party developers sell professional themes, custom integrations, and expert services for Ghost sites. Includes hundreds of publication templates and certified Ghost developers.
Quantifiable outcome
- Ghost publications collectively earn over $100 million per year, with Ghost charging 0% payment fees on creator revenue.
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Ghost
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Ghost technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration34 records
AI capability2 records
Feature7 records
Ghost partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- StripecoreGhost integrates natively with Stripe for payment processing, enabling creators to accept paid subscriptions, manage tiers, offers, and gift subscriptions. Stripe is the exclusive payment processor for Ghost's membership and billing infrastructure.
- MailguncoreGhost uses Mailgun as its bulk-mail provider for native email newsletter delivery. Ghost requires a bulk-mail provider for email newsletters — SMTP cannot be used for this feature.
- General MillsminorGhost partnered with General Mills for product collaborations on protein cereals inspired by Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms, demonstrating Ghost's brand licensing and co-marketing capabilities.
- Entri / nic.linkminorGhost has a partnership with Entri and nic.link to offer .link domains free for the first year when purchased through Ghost(Pro) Admin, reducing barriers to entry for new publications.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Ghost competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Beehiiv: Newsletter-first publishing platform targeting creators and brands with paid subscriptions, analytics, and ad-network monetization. Overlaps directly with Ghost's creator and business segments on subscription and audience tooling.
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit): Email marketing and creator-commerce platform serving the same independent-creator SMB segment as Ghost, with overlapping membership, automation, and landing-page capabilities.
- Substack: Closest direct competitor — newsletter and paid-subscription publishing platform for independent writers and creators. Substack takes a 10% platform fee whereas Ghost charges 0%, which is the central wedge Ghost uses to win migrations.
- Patreon: Subscription-membership platform for creators that overlaps with Ghost's paid-membership model. Patreon is more vertically focused on recurring fan funding, while Ghost pairs memberships with a full publishing stack.
Broad incumbents
- Squarespace: Hosted website builder used by creators and SMBs for branded publications. Squarespace overlaps with Ghost(Pro) on managed hosting and design but does not natively bundle newsletter subscriptions or paid memberships.
- Medium: Large-scale publishing platform with a partner-program monetization model. Medium is broader and audience-driven, whereas Ghost emphasizes full ownership and direct subscriptions for publishers.
- WordPress: The dominant open-source CMS that Ghost originally forked from. WordPress competes through a vastly broader plugin ecosystem and community, while Ghost differentiates on modern UX, native membership, and 0% payment fees.
Emerging players
- Buttondown: Lightweight, developer-friendly newsletter and RSS platform. Targets the same self-host-friendly indie audience Ghost serves, but with a narrower feature scope focused on email rather than full publishing.
- Mailchimp: Email-marketing and audience platform with creator-tier plans. Overlaps with Ghost's newsletter-delivery and segmentation capabilities, though Ghost emphasizes full publishing rather than email-only workflows.
Others
- Ghostwriter AI / the B2B Ghost marketplace (named 'Ghost'): Note: A separate venture-backed B2B marketplace also branded 'Ghost' has raised $95M total (incl. a $40M Series C led by L Catterton). Listed here only to flag brand-confusion risk, not as a comparable product.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Ghost social profiles
Digital presenceGhost compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Ghost financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ghost leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Ghost funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ghost M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ghost
What does Ghost do?
Ghost is an open source publishing platform that enables creators, publishers, and businesses to build websites, publish content, send email newsletters, and manage paid membership subscriptions. The platform is available as freely downloadable self-hosted software and as Ghost(Pro), a managed hosting service with tiered subscription plans. It includes native integrations with Stripe for payments and Mailgun for email delivery, RESTful APIs for custom integrations, and a marketplace of themes and certified experts.
Is Ghost a public or private company?
Ghost is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Ghost founded?
Ghost was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Ghost based?
Ghost is headquartered in Singapore, Singapore, in the Asia region.
How does Ghost make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Ghost(Pro) Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are marketplace Commissions and 0% Payment Fees on Creator Revenue.
Who are Ghost's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Beehiiv, Kit (formerly ConvertKit), Substack and Patreon. Broad incumbents are Squarespace, Medium and WordPress. Emerging players are Buttondown and Mailchimp. Ghostwriter AI / the B2B Ghost marketplace (named 'Ghost') is listed as an others.
Does Ghost have an API?
Yes. Ghost offers a REST-based Content API and Admin API for creating and managing content programmatically. The Content API provides read access for public content, while the Admin API supports full content management operations. Both APIs use JSON encoding with RESTful patterns, support pagination, filtering, and JWT/token authentication. Webhooks are available for event-driven integrations (post.published, member.added, etc.). Ghost also provides industry-standard llms.txt files to help AI tools index documentation. Developer documentation is at docs.ghost.org/content-api.
What industry is Ghost in?
Ghost's product category is Content Publishing Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJAJAI, Ghostwriting & Collaborative Writing Services.