Ghost (Pro) vs Kit: real cost comparison
All-in monthly cost — platform fee, revenue share, and card processing — computed from each platform's own published pricing (last verified 2026-06-10).
Cost at three list sizes
| Scenario | Gross / mo | Ghost (Pro) | Kit | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting out — 1,000 subscribers, 50 paid at $8/mo | $400 | $55.60/mo | $29/mo | Kit |
| Growing — 5,000 subscribers, 250 paid at $10/mo | $2,500 | $346.50/mo | no eligible plan | — |
| Established — 25,000 subscribers, 1,000 paid at $10/mo | $10,000 | no eligible plan | no eligible plan | — |
Assumes monthly billing for every paid subscriber; platform fees use annual-billed rates where cheaper. Run your own numbers in the calculator.
Ghost (Pro)
- Revenue share: 0%
- Processing: Stripe 2.9% + $0.30
- Paid plans: from $29/mo
Kit
- Revenue share: 3.5%
- Processing: Kit Commerce (processing bundled into revenueShare)
- Paid plans: free (platform monetizes via revenue share)
Fine print that changes the math
- Ghost (Pro): PARTIAL DATA: only yearly-billed prices were readable; monthly-billing prices and member-count slider brackets (prices rise with member count) need the scraper.
- Ghost (Pro): Ghost is open source — self-hosting is $0 platform fee + infra cost, a comparison angle none of the hosted-only platforms have.
- Ghost (Pro): Starter tier's paid-subscription support flagged as unsupported by the pricing page — needs verification before publishing.
- Kit: PARTIAL DATA: pricing page only renders prices at 1,000 subscribers; Creator/Pro prices at 5k/10k/25k require the slider's underlying API — scraper TODO before publishing any above-1k cost claims.
- Kit: Paid Recommendations earnings carry a separate 23.5% Kit fee.
- Kit: Affiliate commission terms are from prior knowledge, not verified this session.
Frequently asked questions
What fees does Ghost (Pro) charge?
Ghost (Pro) takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue, with paid plans from $29/month (annual billing).
What fees does Kit charge?
Kit takes 3.5% of paid-subscription revenue, with no monthly platform fee.
Sources
- https://ghost.org/pricing/ (accessed 2026-06-10)
- https://kit.com/pricing (accessed 2026-06-10)