An honest Ghost alternative
Ghost is open-source publishing software, and Ghost(Pro) is its hosted service: a website and newsletter in one, with paid memberships. Ghost(Pro) has no free plan, and its price rises with your member count. Terlido Newsletter is free up to 10,000 subscribers and sends each issue from your own mailbox, but has no website builder or paid memberships. Here is an honest look at both.
Pricing, as of November 2026
Ghost(Pro) plans are priced by member count, and yearly billing is cheaper. Ghost takes 0% of paid subscription revenue; payment processor fees still apply. The plans below are the entry prices; a bigger list moves you up the member slider on the pricing page.
Ghost
| Starter$18/month | Billed monthly ($15/month billed yearly). 1,000 members, your own website, an email newsletter and simple design settings, 1 staff user, no paid subscriptions |
|---|---|
| Publisher$35/month | At 1,000 members ($29/month billed yearly). 3 staff users, paid subscriptions, custom and marketplace themes |
| Publisher at 10,000 members$105/month | ($88/month billed yearly). The cheapest plan that covers 10,000 members on the pricing page's member slider |
| Business$239/month | At 10,000 members ($199/month billed yearly). 15 staff users, priority support |
Terlido
| Free$0, forever | Up to 10,000 subscribers, 1 brand, a welcome email, and a small "Sent with Terlido Newsletter" line in the footer. |
|---|---|
| Pro$29/month | Up to 100,000 subscribers across unlimited brands, all automations, A/B tests, referrals, RSS-to-email, the API, your own domain, and an AI agent that drafts, tests, schedules and sends. Past 100,000: +$10 a month for each extra 50,000. |
Where Ghost is stronger
- A full website and newsletter in one, with a free custom domain from Starter.
- Paid subscriptions from the Publisher plan ($35/month billed monthly), with 0% taken by Ghost; payment processor fees still apply.
- Ghost's code is open source and linked from its pricing page.
Where Terlido is stronger
- Terlido Free covers up to 10,000 subscribers. The pricing page lists no free plan for Ghost(Pro).
- Pro is one flat monthly price up to 100,000 subscribers across unlimited brands. Ghost(Pro) prices rise with your member count.
- Issues go out from your own mailbox, so readers see your address and replies land in your own inbox.
- Automations: a welcome email on Free, and on Pro sequences that start from a custom field or an event in your own Stripe account.
Who Terlido Newsletter is for
For: Writers, founders and small teams who want to send a newsletter from their own address and read replies in their own inbox.
Not a fit:
- Paid newsletters. Terlido has no paid subscriptions or paywall.
- Sending a big list in one burst. Terlido sends from your mailbox at your provider's pace, so a large list can take more than a day.
- Lists of people who never agreed to hear from you.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Ghost if: You want a publication website with paid memberships, or want to run open-source software yourself.
Pick Terlido if: You want a free newsletter past 1,000 readers, sent from your own address, without paying for a website you do not need.
Terlido Newsletter is new and has no customer logos or open-rate numbers to show you. The fastest way to judge it is to connect a mailbox on the Free plan and send yourself a test issue.
Start freeMoving your newsletter from Ghost
Your subscribers move as a file. Imported people are active at once and get no confirmation email, so import only people who are still subscribed. Past issues and reports stay in Ghost, so keep what you need before you cancel.
- In Ghost, open Members, filter to the people you want (for example "Subscribed to at least one" newsletter), then click the ... menu at the top right and export them as a CSV.
- In Terlido Newsletter, create your brand and give it a mailbox to send from: connect Gmail, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP/SMTP mailbox, and tick Newsletter for it.
- On Subscribers, click Import CSV, answer "Migrated from another platform" for where people gave consent, map the Email column (and any others you use), and start the import.
- Point your signup form at Terlido, then stop sending from Ghost before your first Terlido issue goes out.
Terlido Free covers the move up to its subscriber limit, so you can switch before you pay anything. Read the import guide
Export steps checked in November 2026: Ghost help: Member management
Sources
Ghost details were checked in November 2026. Prices are billed monthly unless a plan says otherwise. Prices and plans change, so check their site before you buy.