Best for
Best for ecommerce and direct-to-consumer brands on Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce that want behavior-based email automation with onsite popups in one platform.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Email Marketing Comparison
Drip vs. Ghost
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for independent publishers and creators who want a website, newsletter and paid subscriptions in one platform they can host themselves.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Drip | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $39 / month For up to 2,500 active people; the price scales with the number of active people and the volume of emails sent. | lower value Free version if self-hosted; Ghost(Pro) from $18 / month Ghost(Pro) Starter is $18 per month billed yearly for up to 1,000 members. Self-hosting the open source application carries no licence cost, but the server and email delivery are your own. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial | Not stated |
| API | Yes, open API access on every plan | Yes, REST APIs for reading and writing content, documented for headless use |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Cloud (Ghost Pro) or self-hosted; open source under the MIT licence |
| Campaign types | Yes, one-off email campaigns and newsletters plus automated workflows, with an onsite suite of popups, slide-ins, sticky bars and quizzes | Newsletters published to a website and sent by email in the same step, with free and paid membership tiers |
| Automation and journeys | Yes, a visual workflow builder with branching logic, goals and split tests, and 15-plus prebuilt templates for abandoned cart, browse abandonment, welcome and win-back | Yes, in public beta since June 2026. An Automations tab opens a drag-and-drop canvas with two flows ready to go, one for new free members and one for new paid ones, built from two actions: send an email and wait a set amount of time. Existing welcome emails move into it automatically, and more triggers and actions are announced as coming |
| Segmentation and personalisation | Yes, dynamic segments that update automatically from behavior, purchase history and engagement, synced from the store in real time | Yes, audience segmentation so different newsletters go to different groups of readers |
| Templates and editor | Yes, a drag-and-drop visual email builder with 50-plus themed templates, plus a plain-text builder | Yes, an editor built for long-form work with galleries, video, audio and dynamic content cards; custom themes from the Publisher plan |
| Deliverability and testing | Yes, A/B split testing of up to four subject line or content variations, reporting opens, clicks and revenue per variation | Preview shows the post as it will look on the web, on mobile, in an email and on social, and a test email can be sent to your own inbox with a custom subject line before publishing. On Ghost(Pro) email delivery is included and configured for you; a self-hosted install has to supply Mailgun API keys, which is the only supported bulk email provider |
| Ecommerce and CRM data | Yes, deep native Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce integrations that sync customers, orders and product catalog in real time | Yes, native paid subscriptions through Stripe on monthly and yearly tiers, with signup forms and promotional offers. Ghost takes 0% of subscription revenue on Publisher and above, though payment processor fees still apply |
| Integrations and API | Yes, open API access and 50-plus integrations on every plan | Yes, REST APIs for content in and out, plus more than 8,000 integrations through Zapier and similar from the Publisher plan |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise |
| Support | more entries Email helpdesk, Chat | Community forum |
| Onboarding | Not stated | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce | more entries Stripe, Slack, Google Analytics, Zapier |
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Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Drip From $39 / month Ghost Free version if self-hosted; Ghost(Pro) from $18 / month
- Deployment Drip Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Ghost Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Company size Drip Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Ghost Freelancers, Small and mid-sized
- Hosting Drip Cloud (SaaS) Ghost Cloud (Ghost Pro) or self-hosted; open source under the MIT licence
- Support Drip Email helpdesk, Chat Ghost Community forum
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Drip
Strengths
- Every feature included on every plan, with nothing locked behind higher tiers
- Deep native Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce integrations with real-time data sync
- Onsite suite of popups, slide-ins and quizzes included at no extra cost
- Billed only on active people who can receive email
Limitations
- No free plan, only a 14-day free trial
- Purpose-built for ecommerce, so less suited to non-store senders
- Live chat support is reserved for the $99 / month and higher plans
Ghost
Strengths
- Open source under the MIT licence and self-hostable, so the whole platform can run on your own infrastructure
- Ghost takes 0% of paid subscription revenue on Publisher and above; only payment processor fees apply
- Website, newsletter and paid memberships in one product, with no separate email tool to wire up
- Run by a non-profit foundation funded by its users, with no outside investors
- Unlimited email sends on every Ghost(Pro) tier
Limitations
- The Starter plan has no paid subscriptions, no custom themes and only limited integrations
- Member count drives the price: Starter and Publisher both stop at 1,000 members, Business at 10,000
- Self-hosting means providing and maintaining your own server and email delivery
- Built for publishing rather than campaign marketing, so there is no multi-channel journey builder
Plans
Pricing
Drip
- All features From $39 / month For up to 2,500 active people. Every feature is included on every plan; the price scales with the number of active people and email volume. Live chat support is available on the $99 / month and higher plans.
Ghost
- Self-hosted $0 The open source Ghost application under the MIT licence. No licence cost; you provide the server and email delivery.
- Starter $18 Per month, billed yearly. Up to 1,000 members, one staff user, website, newsletter, free custom domain and unlimited email sends. No paid subscriptions or custom themes.
- Publisher $29 Per month, billed yearly. Up to 1,000 members, three staff users, custom themes, paid subscriptions, advanced analytics and more than 8,000 integrations.
- Business $199 Per month, billed yearly. Up to 10,000 members, 15 staff users, priority support, higher usage limits and early access to new features.
- Custom Not stated Unlimited members and staff users, advanced configuration, dedicated IP and a 99.9% uptime SLA.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Drip
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Ghost
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Drip https://www.drip.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-23
Ghost https://ghost.org · checked against the official source on 2026-09-07
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.