Originally published at devtoolpicks.com
Ghost 6.0 raised entry pricing in late 2025. Starter went from $9/month to $15/month, and the Starter plan now blocks paid membership tiers entirely. If you want to charge subscribers, you need the Publisher plan at $29/month.
For an indie hacker running a blog and newsletter on a tight budget, that is a meaningful jump. Here are four alternatives worth considering.
Quick Verdict
| Tool | Best For | Free Tier | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beehiiv | Newsletter-first with 0% revenue cut | 2,500 subs | $43/mo (Scale) |
| Substack | Zero upfront cost, audience discovery | Unlimited free | 10% of revenue |
| Hashnode | Free developer blog, no membership needs | Full features | Free forever |
| WordPress | Full CMS flexibility, plugin ecosystem | Self-hosted free | ~$6-10/mo (VPS) |
Beehiiv
Beehiiv is the strongest Ghost alternative if your publication is newsletter-first. It combines a blog, email newsletter, and paid subscription tools in one platform, with one key advantage over Ghost: 0% take rate on paid subscriptions.
Pricing: The Launch plan is free for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited email sends, a website with custom domain, and basic analytics. No credit card required. The Scale plan starts at $43/month (annual) and unlocks monetization: paid subscriptions, ad network access, referral programs, A/B testing, and advanced segmentation. Scale pricing increases with subscriber count. The Max plan starts at $96/month (annual) and adds team features, multiple publications, and priority support.
The jump from free to Scale ($43/month) is steep. There is no middle tier. Kit offers a more gradual on-ramp if that gap concerns you.
What you get over Ghost: Better newsletter-native features. Beehiiv's discovery network, Boosts, and ad network are specifically built for newsletter growth. Ghost is CMS-first with newsletter added on. If most of your readers come via email rather than Google, Beehiiv fits the workflow better.
The catch: Beehiiv is newsletter-forward. If you want a blog that doubles as a CMS with custom layouts, theme control, and a content-heavy archive, Ghost's editor and theme system is more flexible. Beehiiv posts are functional but not as customizable for complex blog structures.
Who should switch: Indie hackers running a newsletter where paid subscriptions are a revenue goal and subscriber count matters more than design customization. The 0% take rate is the key reason: at $1,000/month in subscriptions, Beehiiv saves you $100/month compared to Substack (10% cut) while costing $43/month. That math works in Beehiiv's favour from roughly $500/month in revenue.
Who should not: Developers or founders who want a technical blog without newsletter features. Hashnode is a better fit.
Substack
Substack is the easiest switch from Ghost. No monthly fees, no server to manage, and an audience discovery network that Ghost cannot match. The trade is the 10% platform cut.
Pricing: Free to publish. Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue plus Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30/transaction + 0.7% recurring fee). Total effective cost runs 13-16% of gross earnings. On $1,000/month in subscriptions, you pay roughly $130-160/month in combined fees. At $10,000/month, that is $1,300-1,600/month. Custom domains cost a one-time $50 fee.
What you get over Ghost: Zero risk to start. You pay nothing until readers pay you. The Substack network surfaces your writing to new readers organically via recommendations. For early-stage newsletters, that discovery mechanism is worth something real. Substack also handles payments, tax compliance, and subscriber management without setup.
The catch: The 10% cut does not scale well. A writer earning $5,000/month pays roughly $700/month to Substack in combined fees. Ghost Publisher at $29/month becomes cheaper than Substack the moment your subscriptions exceed around $350/month. Once you are past that threshold, staying on Substack is paying a tax on your audience.
Design flexibility is limited. Substack publications look like Substacks. There is no theme editor, minimal customization, and no ability to build a custom website experience.
Who should switch: Writers and indie hackers just starting a paid newsletter who want zero upfront cost and access to the Substack discovery network. Once you are consistently above $500/month in subscriptions, revisit the math.
Who should not: Anyone who has already built a substantial paid subscriber base. At that point, the 10% cut is a meaningful recurring cost and Ghost Pro or self-hosted Ghost will save money.
Hashnode
Hashnode solves a specific problem: free, fast, SEO-optimized technical blogging with custom domain support and no strings attached. For indie hackers who blog as a marketing channel rather than a monetization channel, it is hard to beat.
Pricing: The individual plan is completely free. You get unlimited posts, custom domain mapping, a built-in newsletter, AI writing assistance, analytics, automatic GitHub backup, and your content appears in Hashnode's developer community feed. No credit card, no trial period, no "free tier with a catch." Team plans start at $199/month for collaborative workflows, but a solo developer needs nothing beyond the free tier.
What you get over Ghost: Zero cost. Ghost Starter at $15/month costs $180/year. Hashnode is $0/year. For a developer whose blog drives inbound interest in their SaaS rather than subscription revenue, spending $180/year on Ghost when Hashnode does the job for free is hard to justify.
The community feed is a genuine bonus. New posts automatically appear in Hashnode's developer discovery feed, which gives new blogs immediate visibility without any promotion work.
The catch: Hashnode has no paid membership or subscription feature for individual creators. You cannot charge readers directly through Hashnode. If monetizing your audience via subscriptions is part of your plan, Beehiiv or Ghost are the right tools. Hashnode is a publishing platform, not a membership platform.
Design customization is also limited compared to Ghost. You can adjust colors and layout, but you cannot install arbitrary themes or build a highly custom front end without significant effort.
Who should switch: Developers and indie hackers who blog primarily for SEO, personal brand, and developer community visibility, not for subscription revenue. If your blog is a marketing channel for a SaaS rather than a standalone business, Hashnode eliminates Ghost's monthly fee entirely. For a broader look at how Hashnode compares to other newsletter platforms, see the Kit vs Beehiiv vs Mailchimp comparison.
Who should not: Anyone who needs paid memberships, has a highly customized visual identity, or runs a content business where the publication itself is the product.
WordPress Self-Hosted
WordPress powers over 40% of the web. For indie hackers who want full ownership, unlimited plugins, and no platform dependency, self-hosted WordPress remains the most flexible option.
Pricing: WordPress software is free and open source. Hosting costs $6-10/month on Hetzner CX22 or DigitalOcean Droplet. Add a domain ($10-15/year) and SSL (free via Let's Encrypt). For paid memberships, MemberPress starts at $399/year (roughly $200 first year with an intro discount). Total realistic cost for a blog with paid memberships: $80-200/year for infrastructure plus $150-200/year for a membership plugin.
What you get over Ghost: No monthly subscription fee and no subscriber count limit. A WordPress site with 50,000 subscribers costs the same to host as one with 500. Ghost Business at $199/month becomes necessary once you hit 10,000 members. WordPress does not enforce these caps.
The plugin ecosystem is unmatched. SEO, caching, image optimization, forms, e-commerce, course platforms, community features: every tool integrates with WordPress. Ghost's plugin ecosystem is small by comparison.
The catch: WordPress requires server management. Updates, backups, security patches, and performance tuning are your responsibility. Ghost self-hosted is also an option but requires similar DevOps work. If you want managed hosting without thinking about servers, Ghost Pro, Beehiiv, or Substack are simpler.
The editor is also showing its age compared to Ghost's clean writing experience. Ghost is genuinely more pleasant to write in than the default WordPress block editor.
Who should switch: Developers comfortable managing a VPS who want full control, no monthly fees, and access to the WordPress plugin ecosystem. Combined with Cloudflare for CDN and caching, a self-hosted WordPress site can handle significant traffic at VPS cost. For a comparison of hosting platforms that work well with self-hosted setups, see the Framer vs Webflow vs Carrd comparison.
Who should not: Non-technical founders who want a managed solution. The time cost of managing WordPress infrastructure outweighs the monthly savings unless you are already running servers.
How to Choose
If newsletters and paid subscriptions are the core of your business: Beehiiv. The 0% take rate is the deciding factor once you are consistently earning.
If you are just starting and want zero upfront cost: Substack. You pay nothing until readers pay you. Plan to migrate once you exceed $500/month in subscriptions.
If you blog to build SEO and developer brand with no monetization: Hashnode. Free, fast, and developer-community-integrated.
If you want full ownership and can manage a server: WordPress self-hosted. No subscriber caps, no monthly fees, maximum flexibility.
If you are happy with Ghost and the pricing change does not affect your plan, there is no compelling reason to switch. Ghost's editing experience and theme system remain excellent for creators who value those things.
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