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. Postmark
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for product and engineering teams whose transactional email has to arrive, and who want promotional sending kept on separate infrastructure.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Ghost | Postmark |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | lower value Free tier; Basic from $15 / month All three paid plans start at 10,000 emails per month and differ mainly by overage rate: Basic $15 at $1.80 per 1,000 extra emails, Pro $16.50 at $1.30, Platform $18 at $1.20. |
| Free trial | Not stated | Free tier: 100 emails per month, no overages permitted, never expires |
| API | Yes, REST APIs for reading and writing content, documented for headless use | Yes, REST API and an SMTP service, with official libraries for TypeScript, Node.js, Python, Ruby, PHP, .NET and Java |
| 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 | Transactional and broadcast email on separate Message Streams, plus inbound email processing that delivers received mail to your application |
| 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 | No journey or automation builder. Sends are triggered by your own application over the API or SMTP, and delivery events are pushed back out through webhooks. |
| Segmentation and personalisation | Yes, audience segmentation so different newsletters go to different groups of readers | No stored audiences or segment builder. Recipients and their personalisation values are supplied per request, while Postmark maintains bounce state and suppression lists. |
| 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 | Reusable email templates with variable substitution, managed in the dashboard or over the Templates API; there is no drag-and-drop campaign designer |
| 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 | Message Streams keep promotional sending on infrastructure separate from transactional mail. Message data is retained for 45 days, extendable to 365 days on Pro and Platform from $5 per month. Dedicated IPs start at $50 per month per IP and DMARC monitoring at $14 per month per domain. |
| 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 | No built-in ecommerce or CRM data sync. Contact data stays in your own application, which supplies it with each send. |
| 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, REST API with separate server and account tokens over TLS, plus an SMTP service with IP allowlisting. Endpoints cover email, batch sending, templates, bounces, inbound, message streams and suppressions. Official libraries for TypeScript, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Rails, PHP, .NET and Java, plus a WordPress plugin; community libraries add Go, Elixir, Laravel and Scala. |
| Deployment | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Community forum | Email helpdesk |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Stripe, Slack, Google Analytics, Zapier | Not stated |
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The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Ghost Free version if self-hosted; Ghost(Pro) from $18 / month Postmark Free tier; Basic from $15 / month
- Deployment Ghost Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise Postmark Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
- Company size Ghost Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Postmark Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Hosting Ghost Cloud (Ghost Pro) or self-hosted; open source under the MIT licence Postmark Cloud (SaaS)
- Support Ghost Community forum Postmark Email helpdesk
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
Postmark
Strengths
- Message Streams keep promotional sending on infrastructure separate from transactional mail
- Standing free tier of 100 emails a month that never expires
- Official client libraries for eight languages plus a WordPress plugin
- Inbound email processing on the Pro and Platform plans
- Message data retention extendable from 45 days to 365 days on Pro and Platform
Limitations
- No automation, journey builder or stored audiences
- Inbound email is not included on the Free and Basic plans
- Dedicated IPs, extended retention and DMARC monitoring are priced as add-ons
- The free tier permits no overage, so sending stops at 100 emails
- All three paid plans start at the same 10,000 emails, so the choice is really about overage rate
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.
Postmark
- Free $0 100 emails per month with no overages permitted, and 45 days of data retention. Never expires.
- Basic $15 Per month from 10,000 emails, overage $1.80 per 1,000. 45 days of data retention, no inbound email.
- Pro $16.50 Per month from 10,000 emails, overage $1.30 per 1,000. Adds inbound email and data retention customisable to 365 days.
- Platform $18 Per month from 10,000 emails, overage $1.20 per 1,000. Adds unlimited custom domains and message streams.
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.
Postmark
- 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
Postmark https://postmarkapp.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-09
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.