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Ghost CMS vs Keila

Ghost CMS logo

Ghost CMS

News

Modern platform for professional publishing

From
$18/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Keila logo

Keila

Email Marketing

AGPL newsletter tool from Germany, self-hostable or hosted in the EU with no free plan

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Keila has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Ghost CMS ghost Pro plans cap members, at 1,000 on both Starter and Publisher and 10,000 on Business; Keila there is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • They diverge on capability: Ghost CMS covers Publishing platform, Keila covers Priced by emails sent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ghost CMS and Keila actually diverge.

Attributes where Ghost CMS and Keila differ
AttributeGhost CMSKeila
Starting price$18/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month by emails sent
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Self-hostedWeb, Linux, Self-hosted
CategoryNewsEmail Marketing
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ghost CMS

  • Publishing platform
  • Email newsletters
  • Membership management
  • Analytics
  • Paywall support
  • SEO optimization
  • Media library
  • API access

Only in Keila

  • Priced by emails sent
  • Bring your own sender
  • Self-hosting
  • EU hosting
  • Sign-up forms
  • Segmentation
  • Markdown and block editor
  • Multiple projects

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ghost CMS

  • Running a publication or newsletter with paid subscriptionsnot Keila
  • Self hosting a headless or full stack publishing platformnot Keila

Keila

  • A membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times morenot Ghost CMS
  • A European publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the EU under a GDPR-friendly arrangementnot Ghost CMS
  • A technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing AWS SES accountnot Ghost CMS
  • An agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional listnot Ghost CMS

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ghost CMS

  • Ghost Pro plans cap members, at 1,000 on both Starter and Publisher and 10,000 on Business
  • Staff users are limited to 1 on Starter and 3 on Publisher
  • Custom themes and integrations require the Publisher plan at $29 a month billed yearly
  • The jump to 10,000 members is the $199 a month Business plan, with nothing between
  • Self hosting is free but installing under a subdirectory needs a custom reverse proxy that Ghost does not officially support

Keila

  • There is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • Marketing automation is minimal, with none of the behavioural triggers, journey builders or e-commerce revenue attribution that Klaviyo, Brevo and Mailchimp treat as table stakes.
  • The self-hosted route puts deliverability entirely on you: reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warm-up and bounce handling are your problem, and a badly configured instance will land in spam folders.
  • It is a small project from a small company, so the integration ecosystem is thin and there is no partner network, template marketplace or large body of community expertise to draw on.
  • Email volume tiers step in fixed blocks, so an organisation whose sending is uneven across the year either overbuys at the annual peak or has to change plan repeatedly.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ghost CMS

$18/month
  • Starter$18/month
    • For solo blogs and newsletters
    • Your own website
    • Email newsletter
  • Publisher$29/month
    • For custom publications
    • 3 staff users
    • Custom themes
  • Business$199/month
    • For teams scaling up
    • 15 staff users
    • Priority support
  • Custom$null/contact
    • For organizations with complex needs
    • Unlimited staff users
    • Dedicated IP addresses

Keila

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • AGPL-3.0-or-later licence with no fee
    • Official Docker image and sample compose file
    • You supply hosting and a sending backend
  • Keila XS$8/month
    • Two thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Send with Keila or bring your own email server
  • Keila M$32/month
    • Fifteen thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Sign-up forms and segmentation
  • Keila XXL$256/month
    • Two hundred and fifty thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Intermediate tiers at 16, 64 and 128 EUR for 5,000, 50,000 and 100,000 emails

Which should you pick?

Choose Ghost CMS if

  • You need publishing platform.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted.
  • You also want email newsletters.
Ghost CMS review

Choose Keila if

  • You need priced by emails sent.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want bring your own sender.
Keila review

Questions people ask

Is Ghost CMS or Keila better?
Neither clearly leads. Ghost CMS starts at $18/month and Keila at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ghost CMS or Keila?
Keila has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $18/month for Ghost CMS and Free for Keila.
Does Ghost CMS or Keila run on more platforms?
Ghost CMS runs on Web, Self-hosted. Keila runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use Keila for free?
Yes. Keila has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ghost CMS starts at $18/month.
What is Ghost CMS best used for?
Ghost CMS is most often used for running a publication or newsletter with paid subscriptions, self hosting a headless or full stack publishing platform. Of those, running a publication or newsletter with paid subscriptions and self hosting a headless or full stack publishing platform are not what Keila is typically brought in for.
What can Ghost CMS do that Keila cannot?
Ghost CMS covers Publishing platform, Email newsletters, Membership management, Analytics. Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Bring your own sender, Self-hosting, EU hosting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ghost CMS: How much does Ghost CMS cost?

Ghost(Pro) pricing starts at $18 per month when billed yearly for the Starter plan, with Publisher at $29 per month and Business at $199 per month. All plans include unlimited email sends and enterprise-grade security.

Source
Keila: Is Keila free?

The software is, under AGPL-3.0-or-later, if you self-host. The hosted service has no free plan by deliberate policy and starts at 8 EUR a month.

Ghost CMS: Can I cancel my Ghost subscription anytime?

Yes, users can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel their Ghost subscription anytime without penalties.

Source
Keila: How is the hosted service priced?

By emails sent, from 8 EUR for two thousand up to 256 EUR for two hundred and fifty thousand a month. Contacts and projects are unlimited on every tier.

Ghost CMS: Are there any additional fees with Ghost?

Ghost waives transaction fees on all plans, though payment processor fees still apply. There are no setup fees or hidden charges.

Source
Keila: Can I use my own email provider?

Yes. AWS SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun, Postmark, generic SMTP or a personal inbox are all supported as sending backends.

Keila: Are there discounts?

Pentacent offers reduced rates to nonprofits and open source projects on request.

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