Best for
Best for creators, designers and small businesses that want beautifully designed emails without a steep learning curve.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Email Marketing Comparison
Flodesk 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 | Flodesk | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan; paid from $19 / month Lite billed annually at 1,000 subscribers, or $25 / month billed monthly. Every paid price scales with the active subscriber count, and annual billing includes one month free. Priced in US dollars worldwide. | 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 | Free plan available, plus free trials on the paid plans | Not stated |
| API | Yes, a developer API with webhooks and a Model Context Protocol server; API keys are available on paid plans but not on free or trial accounts | 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, email campaigns, plus forms, landing pages and, on the top plan, sales pages | Newsletters published to a website and sent by email in the same step, with free and paid membership tiers |
| Automation and journeys | Yes, workflow automations on the paid plans, unlimited on Pro and above | 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, audience segmentation | Yes, audience segmentation so different newsletters go to different groups of readers |
| Templates and editor | Yes, designer-made templates and a visual editor | 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, subject line A/B testing that sends two variants to part of the list and the winner to the rest after 24 hours, with side-by-side results, plus AI subject line recommendations, content and sequence testing through split-path workflows, a send time optimizer, resend to unopens and a dedicated IP as a paid add-on | 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, integrated checkouts, sales pages and subscriptions with payment processing on the Everything plan | 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, a developer API with webhooks plus a Model Context Protocol server, included on every paid plan, alongside native integrations and Zapier and Pabbly Connect | Yes, REST APIs for content in and out, plus more than 8,000 integrations through Zapier and similar from the Publisher plan |
| AI features | stated Yes | No |
| MCP-ready | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise |
| Support | more entries Email helpdesk, Community forum | Community forum |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Live online demos and webinars | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries Shopify, Canva, Instagram, Squarespace, Wix, ThriveCart, ManyChat, HoneyBook, Interact, BookFunnel, Zapier, Pabbly Connect | Stripe, Slack, Google Analytics, Zapier |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
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 Flodesk Free plan; paid from $19 / month Ghost Free version if self-hosted; Ghost(Pro) from $18 / month
- Deployment Flodesk Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Ghost Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Hosting Flodesk Cloud (SaaS) Ghost Cloud (Ghost Pro) or self-hosted; open source under the MIT licence
- Support Flodesk Email helpdesk, Community forum Ghost Community forum
- AI features Flodesk Yes Ghost No
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Flodesk
Strengths
- Design-led templates and a simple visual builder
- Free plan with forms, landing pages and segmentation
- Sell directly with checkouts, sales pages and subscriptions on the top plan
Limitations
- Workflow automations require a paid plan
- Advanced analytics and reporting are limited to the 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
Flodesk
- Free $0 / month No subscriber limit, with forms, landing pages, link in bio, designer templates and audience segmentation.
- Lite $25 / month Up to 25,000 subscribers and 1 seat, with unlimited email sends, workflow automations, forms, landing pages and analytics. $19 / month billed annually. Both figures are for 1,000 subscribers and rise with the list.
- Pro $28 / month Up to 255,000 subscribers and 2 seats, adding unlimited workflows, advanced analytics and reporting and the option to remove Flodesk branding. $25 / month billed annually. Both figures are for 1,000 subscribers and rise with the list.
- Everything $54 / month Up to 255,000 subscribers and 3 seats, adding unlimited integrated checkouts, sales pages and funnels, subscriptions, payment plans and abandoned cart automations. $49 / month billed annually. Both figures are for 1,000 subscribers and rise with the list.
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
Flodesk
- 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
Flodesk https://flodesk.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-05
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.