Hosting: Ghost(Pro) or self-hosting.
Editorial sites and structured publishing.
| Hosting | Ghost(Pro) or self-hosting |
|---|---|
| Content | Built-in email newsletters |
| Workflow | Ghost(Pro) manages updates and backups |
| Best suited to | Editorial sites and structured publishing. |
| Before you commit | Self-hosting leaves server maintenance and email delivery setup to you. |
| Pricing & plans | Free license; hosting billed separately Official website ↗ |
| Source | docs.ghost.org ↗ ghost.org ↗ |
Oct 21, 2026
Ghost.org Complete Tutorial - Start a Blog and Email Newsletter Business! · David Utke
Free license; hosting billed separately
| Ghost(Pro) Starter | USD 18 / month · billed annually |
|---|
Software license only; hosting and operations cost extra.
Pricing & plans ↗| Country | Live websites |
|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | 32,925 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 1,597 |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 1,362 |
| 🇫🇷 France | 728 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 643 |
| 🇨🇳 China | 523 |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 501 |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | 500 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 494 |
| 🇷🇺 Russia | 458 |
Live websites detected by BuiltWith. Leading countries; partial coverage. · Source ↗
| Company name | Ghost Foundation |
|---|---|
| Country | Singapore |
| Founders | John O’Nolan, Hannah Wolfe |
Ghost released its first prototype, beginning an open-source publishing project that later expanded into paid memberships and newsletters.
Ghost 1.0 introduced a redesigned Markdown editor and breaking theme changes, requiring a more involved migration for self-hosted sites.
Attackers installed cryptocurrency miners through Ghost Pro’s Salt infrastructure; Ghost’s investigation found no evidence of customer data access.
Ghost 4.0 made memberships, paid subscriptions and email newsletters core publishing features, with an expanded audience dashboard.
Ghost 5.0 expanded publisher monetization with custom paid tiers, multiple newsletters, special offers and more detailed audience segmentation.
Ghost 6.0 introduced networked publishing through ActivityPub and native web analytics, connecting independent publications to the wider social web.
Ghost reported cryptomining malware on its Ghost(Pro) infrastructure through Salt vulnerabilities, followed by five hours of intermittent downtime during security changes. Its investigation found no customer-data access. This concerned managed hosting infrastructure.
Source ↗Self-hosting leaves server maintenance and email delivery setup to you.
Your practical checklist
An open-source CMS with themes, plugins and control over your own hosting.
Languages: Four multilingual modules in core.
Verified detail: Multilingual CMS with multi-user permissions.
Verified detail: Democratically governed open-source CMS project.
