Ghost vs Memberful Comparison 2026
Ghost takes nothing from subscription revenue beyond its hosting fee, Publisher at $29 a month for paid subscriptions at 1,000 members, or self-hosted for the cost of a server. Memberful adds a paywall to a site already being run, one plan at $49 a month plus 4.9 percent of what members pay, with nothing charged until the first payment lands. Memberful's own comparison to Ghost is direct: it wins on flexibility, bolting onto a site that already exists, and loses on arithmetic once revenue is large, since Ghost takes nothing at all.
Publishing and paid subscriptions, open source
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
At a glance
- Ghost starts cheaper, at $15.
- Neither has a free tier.
- Ghost takes no share of what you earn. Memberful takes 4.9%.
Side by side
Ghost | Memberful | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $15 | From $49 |
| Pricing model | Paid subscription | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
| Data export |
Ghost
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
- Covers website builders
- Covers newsletter & email
- Works with Substack
Memberful
Paid memberships bolted onto a site you own
Memberful sells memberships from a site you already run rather than moving your audience to a platform, and it is the tool most WordPress publishers reach for when they start charging. One price covers everything and the money is charged on top as a percentage. Nothing is billed until a first payment comes in, so a launch that never launches costs nothing.
Why people weigh these two
- Memberful instead of Ghost
- Memberful bolts paid memberships onto a site you already run, from $49 a month with no free tier, narrower than Ghost since it skips the publishing platform and newsletter entirely.
- Ghost instead of Memberful
- Ghost hosts the writing and the paid subscription in the same open source platform, for a publisher who wants content and membership in one place rather than two.
Which one should you pick
Pick Ghost when the whole publication, the newsletter and the website, can live on one platform built for it, and 0 percent of subscription revenue matters at real volume. Publisher is $29 a month at 1,000 members for paid subscriptions, custom themes and three staff users. Self-hosting the open source version caps the cost of a large list at whatever a server costs, but makes you the support team.
Pick Memberful when an existing site, especially WordPress, should keep its own home rather than move to a new platform. One plan at $49 a month plus 4.9 percent covers everything, and nothing bills until the first real payment. Model that 4.9 percent carefully: at $2,000 a month collected it runs about double the subscription itself, which is where Ghost's flat structure starts winning by a wide margin.
Common questions
- Is Ghost cheaper than Memberful?
- At real revenue, yes, and Memberful's own guidance says so directly: it wins on arithmetic once collections are large, since Ghost takes 0 percent of subscription revenue while Memberful takes 4.9 percent on top of its $49 monthly fee.
- Can Memberful be added to a site I already run, the way Ghost cannot?
- Yes, that is Memberful's whole model: paywalls and accounts bolted onto an existing site, most often WordPress, rather than moving the audience to a new platform. Ghost is a full publishing platform in itself, newsletter and website together.
- Does Ghost charge a percentage of subscription revenue like Memberful does?
- No, Ghost states no payment fees at any tier; paid memberships run through your own Stripe account. Memberful charges 4.9 percent of what members pay on top of its flat $49 a month.
- When does Memberful's percentage actually cost more than Ghost's flat fee?
- Around $2,000 a month in collected revenue, where Memberful's 4.9 percent works out to about double its own $49 subscription. Ghost's Publisher plan stays flat at $29 a month at 1,000 members regardless of how much subscription revenue comes in.
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.