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Substack vs Ghost

Updated

Substack or Ghost: which should you pick?

Revenue share vs owned publication. Free plans, pricing basis, automation and transactional email from each vendor's pricing page, plus who should pick which.

Substack free subscribers
Unlimited
Substack free subscribers
Ghost free plan
14-day trial
Ghost free plan
Lumail free emails
3,000/mo
Lumail free emails

TL;DR

Substack is free to start and takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue plus Stripe fees. Ghost charges a subscription (Starter from $15 a month billed yearly, or self-host the free software) and takes 0% of membership revenue, with a full themed website. Once paid revenue is meaningful, a flat fee usually beats a 10% cut.

Substack vs Ghost side by side

Every Substack and Ghost cell comes from the vendor's public pricing page, verified on August 17, 2026. Lumail is the third column, as the alternative.

Substack vs Ghost comparison with Lumail
SubstackGhostLumail (alternative)
Free planFree publishing for any subscriber countNo free hosted plan; 14-day trial, or self-host the free software$0, 3,000 emails/month
Paid from10% of paid-subscription revenue, plus Stripe feesStarter from $15/month billed yearly$20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000
Pricing basisRevenue share when paid subscriptions are enabledMember count and staff seats; higher plans scale with audience sizeUnlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume
AutomationPublication and subscriber features rather than graph workflowsBeta welcome flows for new free and paid members, with send and wait steps onlyGraph workflows with triggers, branches, goals, exits, and A/B paths
AI and developer accessNo equivalent organization-wide MCP, CLI, SDK, and REST surfaceAdmin API and a beta CLI; no organization-wide MCP catalogChatGPT OAuth, MCP, skills, CLI, SDK, REST API, and visual editor
Transactional emailNot a transactional email APIOnly account emails like sign-in links and password resets; no transactional APIIncluded through API, SMTP, SDK, CLI, and agent tools
PublishingHosted publication, app, community, and paid subscriptionsFull website with themes, posts, members, paywall, comments, and newslettersCapture pages and custom web domains; not a general website builder
Best forWriters who want the shortest path to a hosted paid publicationIndependent publishers who want an owned website with memberships and newslettersTeams that want campaigns, workflows and transactional email priced by volume

Choose Substack if

  • You want no platform fee while your publication is free
  • Substack's reader network matters for discovery
  • You want a hosted app, community and paid subscriptions with minimal setup

Choose Ghost if

  • You want 0% platform fees on paid memberships
  • You want a custom website with themes, posts, members and a paywall
  • You want the option to self-host the open-source software

Where Lumail fits

Ghost's automations are a beta (welcome flows with send and wait steps) and Substack has no graph workflows. If sequences or transactional email matter, Lumail can run them next to either publication.

Lumail prices by emails sent, with unlimited subscribers on every plan: $0 for 3,000 emails a month, Premium at $20 a month for 40,000 emails then $0.60 per 1,000, and Business at $200 a month for 400,000 emails then $0.40 per 1,000. Campaigns, graph workflows and transactional email (API and SMTP) live in one account, and agents can run it through MCP, the CLI or the SDK.

Read the full Lumail vs Substack and Lumail vs Ghost breakdowns, or the long-form Substack and Ghost articles.

Start for freeSee Lumail pricing

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is Ghost cheaper than Substack?

It depends on paid revenue. Substack is free until you charge, then takes 10% plus Stripe fees. Ghost(Pro) Starter is from $15 a month billed yearly with 0% platform fees, and higher plans scale with members.

Does Ghost have a free plan?

Not hosted. Ghost(Pro) has a 14-day trial; the open-source software is free to self-host.

Do Substack and Ghost include transactional email?

Substack: Not a transactional email API. Ghost: Only account emails like sign-in links and password resets; no transactional API.

Is there an alternative to Substack and Ghost that prices by emails sent?

Lumail. It is $0 for 3,000 emails a month, then $20 a month for 40,000 emails and $0.60 per extra 1,000, with unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, workflows and transactional email share one account.

Where do these numbers come from?

From each vendor's public pricing page (Substack fees and Ghost(Pro) pricing), last verified on August 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.

Keep comparing

Not sold on Substack or Ghost?

3,000 emails a month free. Unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, automations and transactional email on one domain.

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