Ghost
MailerLite
| Feature | Ghost | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $9/mo | Free / from $10/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | professional-bloggers, independent-publishers, news-sites, creators | small-businesses, bloggers, creators, startups |
| Founded | 2013 | 2010 |
| Publishing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Newsletters | ✓ | ✗ |
| Memberships | ✓ | ✗ |
| Seo | ✓ | ✗ |
| Themes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hosting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Campaigns | ✗ | ✓ |
| Automation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Landing Pages | ✗ | ✓ |
| Forms | ✗ | ✓ |
| Website Builder | ✗ | ✓ |
| E Commerce | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Ghost Pros
- Open-source and self-hostable (free)
- Native membership and paid subscription support
- Fast and SEO-friendly by default
- Clean writing experience without bloat
✗ Ghost Cons
- Themes require code knowledge to customize
- Smaller plugin ecosystem than WordPress
- Self-hosting requires technical maintenance
✓ MailerLite Pros
- Generous free plan
- Easy to use
- Good automation
- Landing pages included
✗ MailerLite Cons
- Limited advanced features
- Approval process strict
- Segmentation basic
The Verdict
Ghost is built for professional bloggers and independent publishers, with a focus on publishing and newsletters. MailerLite targets small businesses and bloggers and leads with email-campaigns and automation.
Pricing is close: Ghost starts at $9/mo versus $10/mo for MailerLite — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Ghost offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while MailerLite takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Both tools are a solid fit for creators — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.