Ghost 6.0

Ghost:

When we announced Ghost 5.0 a few years ago, we were proud to share that Ghost’s revenue had hit $4M — while publisher earnings had surpassed $10M. It felt great to have such a clear sign that our goal to create a sustainable business model for independent creators was succeeding.

Today, Ghost’s annual revenue is over $8.5M while total publisher earnings on Ghost have now surpassed $100M. [...]

Unlike our venture-backed peers obsessed with growth at all costs, we’re structured as a non-profit foundation that serves publishers directly with open source software. We believe independent media cannot be beholden to proprietary tech companies, so Ghost publishers don’t just “own their email list” — they own the entire software stack that underpins their business, end to end.

Not a centralized platform controlled by a single corporation, but open infrastructure that’s shared by everyone.

Aside from my feelings about Substack — clearly the main target of Ghost’s shade-throwing here — it’s just great to see so many indie publishers and writers thriving on Ghost.

★ Tuesday, 5 August 2025