# Ghost

> Ghost is an open-source publishing platform that lets writers, journalists and creators run a website, send email newsletters and sell paid memberships from one place. Built on Node.js and released under the MIT license, it is stewarded by the nonprofit Ghost Foundation and funded entirely by its users through Ghost(Pro) managed hosting - taking 0% of creators' subscription revenue.

- **Founded:** 2013
- **Headquarters:** Singapore
- **Founders:** John O'Nolan (Founder & CEO), Hannah Wolfe (Co-founder & CTO (early))
- **Team size:** ~35 full-time staff (remote, across 5 continents)
- **Products:** Ghost (open-source CMS), Ghost(Pro), Memberships & Subscriptions, Newsletters, ActivityPub / Fediverse
- **Notable:** Kickstarter goal of £25,000 met in 11 hours; raised £196,362 total in 2013, 100M+ total installs of the open-source software, Reached ~$11M ARR as a bootstrapped nonprofit with no outside investment

## Products & services

- **Ghost (open-source CMS)** — Free, MIT-licensed publishing platform built on Node.js. Can run as a traditional or headless CMS and be self-hosted at no cost.
- **Ghost(Pro)** — Fully managed hosting for Ghost with automatic updates, global CDN and support. The paid service that funds the nonprofit's development.
- **Memberships & Subscriptions** — Native multi-tier paid memberships with Stripe payments; Ghost takes 0% of subscription revenue.
- **Newsletters** — Built-in email newsletter delivery tied to the same subscriber list, no separate email tool required.
- **ActivityPub / Fediverse** — Native federation so posts syndicate to Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky and the wider social web.

## Achievements

- Kickstarter goal of £25,000 met in 11 hours; raised £196,362 total in 2013
- 100M+ total installs of the open-source software
- Reached ~$11M ARR as a bootstrapped nonprofit with no outside investment
- Shipped native ActivityPub federation in Ghost 6.0 (2025)
- Takes 0% of creator subscription revenue, undercutting ad- and cut-based rivals
- 50,000+ GitHub stars on the open-source project

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Ghost 6.0 released with native ActivityPub, federating publications across the fediverse.
- **2025-10** — Ghost reports ~35 full-time staff and continued growth in active publications.

## Links

- Website: https://ghost.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ghost-foundation
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/tryghost
- GitHub: https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GhostOrg
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ghost.org
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ghost

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/ghost
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-27