Crisp vs Ghost
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Crisp and Ghost, verified . Crisp is primarily live chat; 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.
Crisp
- Free
2 agents, unlimited conversations, forever free
Free - Mini
Per-workspace flat $45/mo
$45/mo - Essentials
Omnichannel inbox, AI chatbot, knowledge base
$95/mo - Plus
Best Value
$295/mo
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 Mini (Crisp) against Starter (Ghost). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Crisp | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | · | 1,000 members |
| Emails / month | · | Unlimited |
| Team seats | 4 agents | 1 |
When Crisp wins
- SaaS startups and small teams that want chat and email in one tool
- E-commerce stores that want WhatsApp and Instagram DM unified with web chat
- Companies migrating off Intercom for cost reasons
Where Crisp is the wrong fit
- Solo operators (the Free plan already covers them)
- Enterprises with strict procurement and SSO requirements (HIPAA and SAML are not headline features)
- Teams that need deep ticket-form customization
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 Crisp cheaper than Ghost?
- At the entry tier, Crisp starts at Free versus Ghost at $18/mo. Crisp is cheaper at the entry. Pricing scales differently above that, so check the full plan grid.
- Does Crisp or Ghost have a free plan?
- Only Crisp has a permanent free plan. Ghost only offers a free trial.
- Are Crisp and Ghost in the same category?
- No. Crisp is primarily a live chat tool; Ghost is primarily a content marketing tool. They overlap on use case but sit in different primary categories, so the comparison is between adjacent tools rather than direct competitors.
- Which has more plans, Crisp or Ghost?
- Both Crisp and Ghost ship 4 plans. Tier counts match; the differentiation is in features and pricing structure rather than tier ladder depth.
- Where can I see alternatives to Crisp or Ghost?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/crisp for Crisp and /alternatives/ghost for Ghost. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Crisp: https://crisp.chat/en/pricing/ · Ghost: https://ghost.org/pricing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.