beehiiv vs Ghost
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for beehiiv and Ghost, verified . beehiiv is primarily email marketing; Ghost is primarily content marketing.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
beehiiv
- Launch
Free up to 2,500 subscribers
Free - Scale
Monetize and grow
$43/mo - Max
Pro features for larger operators
$96/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Ghost
- Starter
Personal publishing on Ghost(Pro), billed yearly
$18/mo - Publisher
Paid subscriptions, custom themes, integrations
$29/mo - Business
Higher limits, priority support, early access
$199/mo - Custom
Enterprise: unlimited members, dedicated IP, SLA
Custom
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares Scale (beehiiv) against Starter (Ghost). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | beehiiv | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 100,000 subscribers | 1,000 members |
| Emails / month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Team seats | 3 | 1 |
| Campaigns | 3 publications | · |
When beehiiv wins
- Newsletter operators who plan to monetize via ads, sponsorships, or paid subscriptions
- Solo creators who want one tool for newsletter, website, and podcast
- Publications under 100k subscribers that value growth networks (recommendations, boosts) over deep automation
Where beehiiv is the wrong fit
- B2B teams that need deep CRM integration or pipeline workflows
- Brands that need granular email design and dev-level template control
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend instead)
When Ghost wins
- Independent publishers who want to own their stack and keep migration optionality
- Paid-newsletter operators trying to avoid Substack's 10% revenue share at scale
- Publications that need staff seats, custom themes, and a real CMS rather than just an email tool
Where Ghost is the wrong fit
- Hobbyists who refuse to pay anything ever; Substack or Buttondown's free tiers fit better
- Podcast-first creators; Ghost is text and email native, not an audio platform
- Teams that need deep CRM, lead scoring, or marketing automation; this is a publishing tool, not a marketing-automation suite
Common questions
- Is beehiiv cheaper than Ghost?
- At the entry tier, beehiiv starts at Free versus Ghost at $18/mo. beehiiv is cheaper at the entry. Pricing scales differently above that, so check the full plan grid.
- Does beehiiv or Ghost have a free plan?
- Only beehiiv has a permanent free plan. Ghost only offers a free trial.
beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing · Ghost: https://ghost.org/pricing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.