Beehiiv vs Ghost 2026: Which Newsletter Platform Should You Use?

Beehiiv and Ghost both power serious newsletter operations, but they represent opposite philosophies. Beehiiv is a managed platform that handles everything for you and provides growth tools out of the box. Ghost is an open-source publishing platform that gives you total ownership and control but asks you to handle more of the setup yourself.

The choice between them usually comes down to one question: do you want maximum convenience or maximum control? This guide covers every angle of that trade-off.

Feature Comparison

Pricing Breakdown

Ghost has two pricing models depending on how you deploy it.

Self-hosted Ghost is free. You download the open-source software and run it on your own server. You pay only for hosting (typically $5-20/month on services like DigitalOcean or Railway) and a transactional email service like Mailgun (roughly $0.80 per 1,000 emails). At scale, self-hosted Ghost can be the cheapest option available, but you are responsible for updates, security, backups, and server maintenance.

Ghost Pro (managed hosting) starts at $9/month for up to 500 members, $25/month for 1,000 members, $50/month for 5,000, and $85/month for 25,000. These prices include hosting, updates, email sending, and support.

Beehiiv offers a free tier for up to 2,500 subscribers, the Scale plan at $39/month for up to 100,000 subscribers, and the Max plan at $99/month with premium features.

At small subscriber counts, Ghost Pro is cheaper. At scale, Beehiiv's flat $39/month pricing becomes dramatically cheaper than Ghost Pro's tiered model. Self-hosted Ghost is cheapest at every tier but requires technical capability. The right comparison depends on whether you are comparing against Ghost Pro or self-hosted Ghost.

Ownership and Independence

This is Ghost's defining advantage. Ghost is open-source software licensed under MIT. You can inspect every line of code. You can fork it and modify it. You can self-host it on any infrastructure you control. If Ghost the company disappeared tomorrow, the software would continue to work. Your data, your code, your design - all of it lives on servers you control.

Beehiiv is a proprietary SaaS platform. Your content lives on Beehiiv's infrastructure. You can export your subscriber list and content, but you cannot run Beehiiv's software independently. If Beehiiv changes its pricing, alters features, or shuts down, you need to migrate to a different platform.

For publishers who think in terms of decades rather than quarters, Ghost's ownership model is compelling. For publishers who want to move fast without worrying about infrastructure, Beehiiv's managed approach is the practical choice.

Growth Tools

Beehiiv has a clear advantage in built-in growth features. The referral program lets subscribers earn rewards for sharing your newsletter. The Boost network creates a paid cross-promotion marketplace. The ad network generates revenue automatically once you reach scale. A/B testing optimizes subject lines and content. Detailed analytics with subscriber source tracking show you exactly what is working.

Ghost has none of these features natively. You can build some of them through Ghost's API and third-party integrations, but it requires development effort. There are community-built referral tools, but nothing as seamless as Beehiiv's native implementation. Ghost's philosophy is to provide a robust publishing core and let you extend it, rather than bundling growth tools into the platform.

If you value growth tooling out of the box, Beehiiv wins decisively. If you prefer to build or integrate your own growth stack with full control over the implementation, Ghost's extensibility is an advantage.

Design and Theming

Ghost's design system is among the most flexible of any publishing platform. It uses a full theme engine built on Handlebars templating. You can create completely custom websites with unique layouts, animations, navigation structures, and visual styles. The Ghost theme marketplace offers dozens of professional themes, and custom development is straightforward for anyone comfortable with HTML/CSS.

Beehiiv offers good customization within its managed framework. You can adjust colors, fonts, layouts, and branding. But you are working within Beehiiv's template system, not building from scratch. The results look professional but not truly unique. You cannot create a custom archive layout, a bespoke homepage, or a non-standard reading experience.

For publications where visual identity and design are competitive advantages (think established media brands, design-focused publications, or luxury content), Ghost's theming engine is clearly superior. For newsletter operators who want a clean, functional site without hiring a developer, Beehiiv delivers more than enough.

Paid Subscriptions and Memberships

Ghost treats memberships as a core primitive. The membership system integrates deeply with content access, allowing you to create free, paid, and complimentary tiers. Portal (Ghost's membership widget) handles sign-up, login, and account management. Stripe integration is native. You keep 100% of revenue minus Stripe's processing fees.

Beehiiv also supports paid subscriptions with 0% platform fee on the Scale plan and above. The implementation is solid but less deeply integrated into the content experience than Ghost's tiered membership system.

Both platforms take 0% of your subscription revenue, which is a significant advantage over Substack's 10% cut. Ghost's membership system is more mature and flexible. Beehiiv's is simpler to set up and adequate for most use cases.

Technical Requirements

Beehiiv requires zero technical knowledge. Sign up, pick a design, start writing. Everything is managed. Updates happen automatically. There is nothing to install, configure, or maintain.

Ghost Pro (managed hosting) is also low-friction. Ghost handles the server, updates, and email delivery. You may want some HTML/CSS knowledge to customize themes, but it is not strictly required if you use a pre-built theme.

Self-hosted Ghost requires real technical ability. You need to provision a server, install Ghost via the CLI, configure Nginx or another reverse proxy, set up SSL, connect a mail provider, manage database backups, and apply updates. This is not hard for developers but is a genuine barrier for non-technical users.

Who Wins?

Choose Beehiiv if:

• You want a managed platform with zero infrastructure responsibility
• You want built-in growth tools: referrals, boosts, A/B testing
• You want a built-in ad network for passive monetization
• You want flat pricing that stays at $39/mo up to 100K subscribers
• You want to launch quickly without technical setup
• You want advanced analytics and subscriber segmentation
• You prioritize speed and convenience over control

Choose Ghost if:

• You want full ownership of your publishing platform
• You want open-source software with no vendor lock-in
• You want unlimited design customization through custom themes
• You want a powerful membership system with tiered content access
• You are comfortable with technical setup or willing to use Ghost Pro
• You want a full Content and Admin API for custom integrations
• You want to self-host for maximum cost savings at scale
• You are building a publication that needs to outlast any single platform

Final Take

Beehiiv and Ghost attract different types of newsletter operators. Beehiiv attracts people who want to grow fast with minimal friction. Ghost attracts people who want to build something they truly own.

If you think of your newsletter as a startup that needs to scale quickly, Beehiiv's growth tools and managed infrastructure will get you there faster. If you think of your newsletter as an independent publication that needs to exist on its own terms for years or decades, Ghost's open-source foundation and full ownership model is the stronger bet.

There is no wrong answer here. Both platforms are well-built and well-maintained. The question is whether you value convenience or control more highly. That is a personal decision, not a feature comparison.