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
Email Marketing Comparison
Ghost vs. Moosend
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for small and mid-sized teams that want automation and segmentation without enterprise pricing.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Ghost | Moosend |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | 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. | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | 30-day free trial, no credit card, up to 1,000 contacts |
| API | Yes, REST APIs for reading and writing content, documented for headless use | Yes, transactional email over SMTP and an API |
| Hosting | Cloud (Ghost Pro) or self-hosted; open source under the MIT licence | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Campaign types | Newsletters published to a website and sent by email in the same step, with free and paid membership tiers | Yes, email campaigns and newsletters, plus landing pages and subscription forms |
| Automation and journeys | 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 | Yes, marketing automation workflows |
| Segmentation and personalisation | Yes, audience segmentation so different newsletters go to different groups of readers | Yes, audience segmentation |
| Templates and editor | Yes, an editor built for long-form work with galleries, video, audio and dynamic content cards; custom themes from the Publisher plan | Yes, a drag-and-drop email builder with templates and an AI Writer |
| Deliverability and testing | 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 | Yes, A/B testing and real-time reporting, with deliverability optimization on Enterprise |
| Ecommerce and CRM data | 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 | Yes, abandoned cart email series, personalised product recommendations, visitor tracking via plugin or code, and Audience Discovery, an AI tool that turns behavioural data into smart tags |
| Integrations and API | Yes, REST APIs for content in and out, plus more than 8,000 integrations through Zapier and similar from the Publisher plan | Yes, transactional email via SMTP and an API, with 80+ integrations |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Community forum | more entries Email helpdesk, Chat |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Stripe, Slack, Google Analytics, Zapier | more entries WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, Drupal, Zapier, Make, Segment, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Pipedrive, Zendesk, Intercom, Xero, Facebook Lead Ads, Unbounce |
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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
- Deployment Ghost Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise Moosend Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
- Company size Ghost Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Moosend Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Hosting Ghost Cloud (Ghost Pro) or self-hosted; open source under the MIT licence Moosend Cloud (SaaS)
- Support Ghost Community forum Moosend Email helpdesk, Chat
- AI features Ghost No Moosend Yes
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
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
Moosend
Strengths
- Marketing automation and segmentation at a lower price point
- 30-day free trial with no credit card
- Includes an AI Writer for drafting copy
- Transactional email over SMTP and an API
Limitations
- No permanent free plan, only a 30-day trial
- Dedicated IPs, transactional email and SSO sit behind the custom Moosend+ and Enterprise plans
Plans
Pricing
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.
Moosend
- Pro Not stated Subscriber-based pricing by contact count. Includes unlimited campaigns, automation, segmentation, landing pages, forms, templates, A/B testing and email and chat support.
- Moosend+ Not stated Custom plan adding dedicated IPs, transactional email, SSO/SAML and more team members.
- Enterprise Not stated Custom quote with a dedicated account manager, priority support and deliverability optimization.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
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.
Moosend
- 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
Ghost https://ghost.org · checked against the official source on 2026-09-07
Moosend https://moosend.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-21
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.