Ghost alternatives
Providers that compete with Ghost on at least one of: Newsletter Self-hosted
Open-source publishing with built-in memberships and email.
Switching as growth and lifecycle teams
Growth work lives or dies on targeting and measurement. What matters is whether behavioral triggers can be built without engineering time, whether the event stream supports attribution past the open, and whether deliverability holds when broadcast volume shares a reputation with product email.
Ghost does not cover event stream, operating track record, and multi-tenant support. Novu, Listmonk, and Loops close that gap. The order below weighs this audience's priorities first, so it differs from a general popularity ranking.
ranked for growth and lifecycle teams
- 01
Novu
Notifications Self-hostedOpen-source notification infrastructure.
Adds event stream and multi-tenant support over Ghost, with nothing given up on these priorities.
30,000 events/mo on cloud, free self-hosted · $250/mo (Business cloud) - 02
Listmonk
Newsletter Self-hostedSelf-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager.
Adds event stream over Ghost, with nothing given up on these priorities.
Free, self-hosted · Self-hosted only - 03
Loops
Marketing TransactionalModern lifecycle and broadcast email for SaaS.
Adds event stream over Ghost, with nothing given up on these priorities.
1,000 contacts and 4,000 sends/mo on the Free plan · $49/mo for 5,000 contacts - 04
Buttondown
NewsletterMinimalist, indie-built newsletter platform.
Adds event stream over Ghost, with nothing given up on these priorities.
100 subscribers free · $9/mo for 1,000 subscribers - 05
Plunk
Self-hosted MarketingOpen-source unified email platform.
Adds event stream over Ghost, with nothing given up on these priorities.
3,000/mo on hosted free plan · $19/mo or self-host - 06
Kit
Newsletter MarketingCreator-focused newsletter platform (formerly ConvertKit).
Adds event stream over Ghost, with nothing given up on these priorities.
10,000 subscribers, broadcasts only · $15/mo for 1,000 subscribers (Creator) - 07
mailcow
Self-hostedDockerized groupware and email server suite.
Adds event stream and multi-tenant support, gives up scheduling.
Free self-hosted, GPL-3.0 · Free self-hosted - 08
Postal
Self-hosted TransactionalOpen-source mail delivery platform.
Adds event stream and multi-tenant support, gives up scheduling.
Free, self-hosted · Self-hosted only
Ghost and its alternatives, side by side
Columns are the priorities growth and lifecycle teams weigh, in order. Ghost is the first row so the trade in each direction is readable at a glance.
| Provider | Scheduling | Event stream | Operating since | Suppressions API | Best published rate per 1,000 | Multi-tenant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost | Yes | No | 2013 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | No |
| Novu | Yes | Yes | 2021 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | Yes |
| Listmonk | Yes | Yes | Not published | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | No |
| Loops | Yes | Yes | 2022 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | No |
| Buttondown | Yes | Yes | 2017 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | No |
| Plunk | Yes | Yes | Not published | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | No |
| Kit | Yes | Yes | 2013 | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | No |
| mailcow | No | Yes | Not published | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | Yes |
| Postal | No | Yes | Not published | Yes | Tiers not published in comparable form | Yes |
Novu, Listmonk, and Loops add capability without giving anything up on these priorities. The rest trade one thing for another.