The move many writers make
A common path for independent publications: start on Substack because it is free and readers can find you, grow to a few thousand subscribers, turn on paid tiers, then look at the 10% fee and move to Ghost. That path explains this comparison better than a feature grid. Substack is strongest at the beginning of a publication's life. Ghost is strongest once the publication is a business.
Which publication fits which platform
| Situation | Better first look | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| A new writer with no audience | Substack | Recommendations, Notes and the app bring early readers |
| A publication earning $5,000 a month from subscriptions | Ghost | 0% transaction fee instead of $500 to Substack |
| A small newsroom with several editors | Ghost | Staff roles, multiple newsletters and custom design |
| A podcaster who wants a paid feed and a newsletter | Substack | Native podcast distribution in the app |
| A publisher with strict data or hosting requirements | Ghost | Open source and self-hostable |
| A SaaS company running a content blog | Ghost with Sequenzy | Ghost for content, Sequenzy for lifecycle email |
Substack: the network
What you get on Substack is a place inside a larger audience. The Substack app, Notes, and recommendations between publications send readers from one writer to another, and for many newsletters those channels bring a large share of new subscribers. Publishing is simple: write, choose free or paid, and send. Substack handles the website, email delivery, comments, payments and the app.
Substack also covers the parts writers tend to underestimate: payment setup through Stripe, handling failed card payments, and keeping email deliverability healthy across millions of sends. On Ghost(Pro) most of this is handled too, but on a self-hosted Ghost site it becomes your job.
What you give up is a share of revenue, 10% of paid subscriptions plus Stripe fees, and control over how your publication looks and works. Every Substack publication feels like Substack.
Ghost: the owned stack
Ghost is open-source publishing software. On Ghost(Pro), the Ghost Foundation hosts it for you: Starter is $18 a month billed yearly without paid subscriptions, Publisher is $29 a month for up to 1,000 members with paid subscriptions and 0% transaction fees, and Business is $199 a month. Prices rise with membership. You can also self-host for no license fee.
You get a full website on your domain, themes you can customize or replace, SEO controls, several newsletters per site, membership tiers, offers, trials and integrations. You also get responsibility: choosing a theme, configuring tiers, and, if self-hosting, running servers and a bulk email provider.
Self-hosting deserves a realistic look. Beyond a server, Ghost relies on a bulk email provider for newsletters, with Mailgun as the supported option, and you are responsible for updates, backups and uptime. Writers who are not comfortable running servers usually find Ghost(Pro) worth the fee.
The revenue math
| Paid revenue per month | Substack fee (10%) | Ghost(Pro) Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| $300 (about 40 readers at $8) | $30 | $29 at up to 1,000 members |
| $1,500 | $150 | Depends on member count, from $29 |
| $3,000 | $300 | About $88 at 10,000 members |
| $10,000 | $1,000 | Plan based on members, not revenue |
Stripe fees apply on both. The pattern is simple: Substack's cost follows your revenue, Ghost's follows your audience size. Once paid revenue is more than about ten times your Ghost hosting fee, Ghost is cheaper.
Apple's cut and the Substack app
Substack's app is its distribution engine, and since August 2025 it is also a checkout. Readers on iOS can subscribe through Apple's in-app purchase, and Apple keeps 15 to 30% of those payments depending on subscription length. Substack lets writers set higher in-app prices to offset this. On the web, the usual 10% plus Stripe applies.
Ghost readers pay on the web through your Stripe account, so there is no app store fee. The trade-off is the one that runs through this whole comparison: Substack's app finds you readers and costs you a larger share of some payments; Ghost keeps more of each payment and leaves reader acquisition to you.
This also affects migration. Ghost's Substack migrator moves paid subscribers by reconnecting the Stripe account Substack used. Subscriptions billed by Apple do not live in that Stripe account, so they need their own plan.
Moving from Substack to Ghost
Ghost supports Substack migrations directly.
- Export from Substack. Download your posts archive and subscriber list from Substack settings.
- Import into Ghost. Use Ghost's Substack importer for posts and members.
- Keep paid subscribers billing. Connect the same Stripe account Substack used. Existing subscriptions continue, so paid readers do not re-enter payment details. Confirm tier mapping and prices before you announce the move.
- Redirects. If you used a custom domain on Substack, point it at Ghost and set up redirects from old post URLs so links and search rankings survive.
- Recommendations. Tell your readers about the move and recommend other publications from Ghost. Your Substack Notes followers and inbound recommendations do not come with you.
Going from Ghost to Substack is also possible with a member CSV and post import, but you lose your theme, custom site and 0% fee.
Features writers compare most
Comments and community. Both have native comments on posts. Substack adds chat and Notes, which create a social layer around your publication inside its app.
Podcasts and video. Substack supports podcasts and video posts natively and distributes them through its app. Ghost can publish podcasts and video through themes, integrations and embeds, with more setup.
Multiple writers. Ghost(Pro) Publisher includes three staff users and Business fifteen, with roles for contributors, editors and administrators. Substack also supports contributors, but team workflows are simpler.
Following from other platforms. Ghost has added social web features based on ActivityPub, so readers on other platforms can follow a Ghost publication. It does not replace the scale of the Substack app, but it reduces the discovery gap.
Newsletters. Ghost lets one site run several newsletters that members opt into separately, and send different posts to different tiers. Substack offers sections within a publication.
Moving from Ghost to Substack
Substack documents this direction too, and some writers take it when they want discovery more than control.
| Item | What to do |
|---|---|
| Members | Export from Ghost and import into Substack |
| Paid subscriptions | Connect the Stripe account you own to Substack so billing continues |
| Posts | Import your archive; custom theme layouts and pages do not carry over |
| Newsletters | Several Ghost newsletters become sections of one publication |
| Domain | Point your custom domain at Substack (one-time $50) to keep links working |
| Integrations | Ghost integrations and code injection have no Substack equivalent |
SEO and your URLs
Ghost publishes on your own domain with control over metadata, structured data and sitemaps, which matters if search traffic is a growth channel. Substack pages rank too, but settings are simpler, and without a custom domain your archive lives on a substack.com subdomain. If you might move later, paying Substack's one-time $50 for a custom domain early keeps your URLs portable, so redirects are easier when you leave.
Where Sequenzy fits
Sequenzy is not a publishing platform. It has no website builder, no post archive and no paywall, so for an independent publication Substack or Ghost is the right choice.
Sequenzy is useful when the publication supports a software business. A SaaS company might run its blog and newsletter on Ghost and still need onboarding sequences, trial reminders, failed-payment emails and behavior-based campaigns. Sequenzy covers those with automations, segments, A/B testing, transactional email, and native Stripe, Paddle and Polar triggers. Its migration tool connects to Ghost's Admin API to import members, lists, tags, suppressions and past newsletters. Pricing is by emails sent with unlimited contacts, free up to 2,500 emails/mo, then $19/mo for 15k emails.
Decision checklist
Do most new readers come from Substack's app, Notes or recommendations? Stay on Substack.
Is 10% of paid revenue more than about $90 a month? Ghost's hosting likely costs less.
Do you need your own design, SEO control or several editors? Ghost.
Do you want to avoid running any infrastructure? Substack, or Ghost(Pro) rather than self-hosting.
Substack if you are building an audience from scratch and want the platform to help you find readers.
Ghost if you have an audience, earn from it, and want your own site with no revenue share.
Sequenzy alongside Ghost if your content supports a SaaS product that needs lifecycle email.
