Buttondown vs Ghost (Pro): real cost comparison
All-in monthly cost — platform fee, revenue share, and card processing — computed from each platform's own published pricing (last verified 2026-07-25).
Cost at three list sizes
| Scenario | Gross / mo | Buttondown | Ghost (Pro) | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting out — 1,000 subscribers, 50 paid at $8/mo | $400 | $35.60/mo | $55.60/mo | Buttondown |
| Growing — 5,000 subscribers, 250 paid at $10/mo | $2,500 | $176.50/mo | $210.50/mo | Buttondown |
| Established — 25,000 subscribers, 1,000 paid at $10/mo | $10,000 | no eligible plan | $731/mo | — |
Assumes monthly billing for every paid subscriber; platform fees use annual-billed rates where cheaper. Run your own numbers in the calculator.
Buttondown
- Revenue share: 0%
- Processing: Stripe 2.9% + $0.30
- Paid plans: from $9/mo
Ghost (Pro)
- Revenue share: 0%
- Processing: Stripe 2.9% + $0.30
- Paid plans: from $29/mo
Fine print that changes the math
- Buttondown: Tier prices/limits read from the pricing page's JSON-LD Product offers (2026-06-10). Annual-billing discounts (if any) and which features are à-la-carte add-ons vs included per tier still need verification — Buttondown has historically sold features as +$9/+$29/mo add-ons.
- Buttondown: Paid-subscription support per tier needs confirmation; recorded as available on paid plans.
- Buttondown: Pricing assumes at most one email per day to the full list.
- Ghost (Pro): All bracket prices captured 2026-07-14 by reading the pricing page's own product/price data (the Alpine membersSlider component's _products array, the same data Ghost drives checkout from) via tools/slider-capture, 1,000-100,000 members. Rendered card prices are NOT used: Ghost only binds a reactive price element to Starter, so the Publisher/Business cards keep displaying the annualized rate even when the toggle reads 'Billed monthly'.
- Ghost (Pro): Ghost counts 'members' (free + paid email subscribers); annualUsd here = advertised yearly-billed monthly rate × 12.
- Ghost (Pro): Ghost is open source — self-hosting is $0 platform fee + infra cost, an option no hosted-only platform has.
- Ghost (Pro): Starter tier's lack of paid-subscription support read from the pricing page feature list — re-verify if Ghost restructures plans.
Frequently asked questions
Is Buttondown or Ghost (Pro) cheaper for a paid newsletter?
For a 5,000-subscriber list with 250 paid subscribers at $10/month ($2,500/month gross), Buttondown costs $176.50/month all-in versus $210.50/month — based on each platform's published pricing as of 2026-07-25.
What fees does Buttondown charge?
Buttondown takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue, with paid plans from $9/month (annual billing).
What fees does Ghost (Pro) charge?
Ghost (Pro) takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue, with paid plans from $29/month (annual billing).
Sources
- https://buttondown.com/pricing (accessed 2026-07-25)
- https://ghost.org/pricing/ (accessed 2026-07-25)