Ghost hosting — Node.js + Memberships from €16.83/mo

Ghost requires Node.js + a database, which means VPS hosting. To get started (up to 1,000 members), CLOUD 2 is enough. For a growing publication (10,000+ members), CLOUD 4 or CLOUD 8.

For professional publishing and paid newsletters, Ghost is better (built-in Stripe memberships, faster, a modern editor). For a generic blog or business site, WordPress wins (more themes, plugins and easier customization).

Substack: zero setup, a 10% fee and vendor lock-in. Self-hosted Ghost: one-time setup, 0% fees, custom branding and you own your data. Past 100+ paid members, Ghost is around 10× more economical.

Ghost natively supports Stripe Memberships with USD and EUR billing. For RSD billing, Stripe is not available in Serbia. Workaround: use WSPay/CorvusPay via a custom Ghost integration.

Ghost integrates with Mailgun (free up to 5,000 emails/month). Alternatives: Postmark, SendGrid, Amazon SES. The newsletter is sent automatically on publish.

Yes, Ghost has a native Substack import tool: posts, subscribers and paid members. Migration takes 1-3 days. BeoHosting helps with the Stripe API setup and DNS transition.

VPS: the CLOUD 2 plan × 12 months. Domain: a .rs domain per year. SSL: free. Mailgun: free up to 5K emails. Considerably cheaper than the Ghost(Pro) plan ($11-199/month).

Ghost themes are Handlebars-based (simpler than PHP in WordPress). We offer custom theme development or adaptation of popular ones (Casper, London, Dawn, Source).