Ghost

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.

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

Product category

Content Publishing Platform

akta.pro primary industry

Ghostwriting & Collaborative Writing Services (MPAJAJAI)

Keywords

• Open source publishing
• Newsletter platform
• Membership subscriptions
• Creator monetization tools
• Headless content API

Headquarters

HQ city

Singapore

HQ country

Singapore

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core 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

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration34 records

AI capability2 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationGhost 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.
• MailguncoreTechnology or IntegrationGhost 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 MillsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGhost 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.linkminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGhost 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

Direct 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

• Xx.com/ghost
• GitHubgithub.com/tryghost
• Facebookfacebook.com/ghost
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ghost-foundation

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ghost