Ghost vs MailerLite
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Ghost and MailerLite, verified . Ghost is primarily content marketing; MailerLite is primarily email 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.
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
MailerLite
- Free
Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month
Free - Growing Business
Most popular paid tier, starts at 500 subscribers
$10/mo - Advanced
Power features for active senders
$20/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares Starter (Ghost) against Growing Business (MailerLite). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Ghost | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 1,000 members | 500 subscribers (anchor; scales up) |
| Emails / month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Team seats | 1 | 3 |
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
When MailerLite wins
- Solo creators and small businesses replacing Mailchimp
- Teams that want one tool for emails, landing pages, and a small website
- Nonprofits (30% discount on paid plans)
Where MailerLite is the wrong fit
- B2B teams needing deep CRM and pipeline workflows (use HubSpot or ActiveCampaign)
- Operators wanting native ad network or paid subscriptions (use beehiiv)
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend)
Common questions
- Is Ghost cheaper than MailerLite?
- At the entry tier, MailerLite starts at Free versus Ghost at $18/mo. MailerLite is cheaper at the entry. Pricing scales differently above that, so check the full plan grid.
- Does Ghost or MailerLite have a free plan?
- Only MailerLite has a permanent free plan. Ghost only offers a free trial.
- Are Ghost and MailerLite in the same category?
- No. Ghost is primarily a content marketing tool; MailerLite is primarily a email 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, Ghost or MailerLite?
- Both Ghost and MailerLite 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 Ghost or MailerLite?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/ghost for Ghost and /alternatives/mailerlite for MailerLite. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Ghost: https://ghost.org/pricing/ · MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.