Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover website builders. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Carrd | Ghost | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $19 | From $15 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Billing | Annual only | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | 7 days | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | None |
| Runs on | Not stated | Web |
| Covers | Website Builders, Landing Pages & Funnels, Link in Bio | Website Builders, Memberships & Subscriptions, Newsletter & Email |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | 1 | None right now |
One-page sites that cost less than lunch
Carrd builds the single page most people actually need: a bio, a link list, a launch page, a form that collects email addresses. Three sites are free and Pro is priced by the year rather than the month, which is why it keeps winning link-in-bio arguments on price alone. A site that wants a blog or a shop outgrows it fast.
Our note
The cheapest way to stop handing out a social profile as though it were a home page. If Linktree's monthly bill is the one you keep meaning to cancel, this is the version you own.
Only on this side
Publishing and paid subscriptions, open source
Ghost is what a writer picks who wants Substack's economics without Substack's cut, and it takes nothing from subscription revenue beyond the hosting fee. The editor is quiet and fast, and the whole thing is open source, so a technical creator can host it themselves for the cost of a server. Doing that means you are the support team.
Our note
Against Substack the maths is simple: Ghost costs a fixed fee and Substack costs 10 percent of everything, so Ghost wins above roughly $300 a month in subscriptions and loses below it. What Substack sells that Ghost cannot is the network that finds you readers.
Only on this side
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.