Ghost vs Plunk vs listmonk

Side by side, as alternatives to beehiiv. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.

GhostTryGhost/Ghost

Plunkuseplunk/plunk

listmonkknadh/listmonk

beehiivpaid product

Cost and coverage

Price

$0 software; you run it

See pricing page source ↗

Subscriber lists and segments

Partly

Yes

Campaign editor and templates

Partly

Yes

Automations and drip sequences

Partly

Yes

Signup forms and landing pages

Partly

Yes

Open and click analytics

Partly

Yes

Paid subscriptions and newsletter website

Partly

Yes

Jobs covered

5 of 6 jobs

3 of 6 jobs

All 6

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

55,578Top

5,535

23,886

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

934Top

129

—

Latest release

v6.72.0 · 2026-10-20Top

v0.16.0 · 2026-10-08

v7.0.0-beta.1 · 2026-10-20

—

Commits / 12 wk

2,115

139

195

—

People committing / 12 mo

92+

32+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

14 / 17

5 / 4

29 / 68

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Self-hosted with Ghost-CLI (local dev or Ubuntu production), or hosted Ghost(Pro)

Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk

Self-hosted binary or Docker Compose with PostgreSQL

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

MIT

AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

—

Model weights licence

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes, MIT

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; no paid edition or feature gating

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Newsletter delivery requires Mailgun (SMTP not supported for bulk mail); Stripe needed for paid memberships

Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending

App is free; you need an SMTP server or sending service such as Amazon SES to deliver mail

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Server with at least 1 GB memory for production

Not documented

Light; a production instance sent 7M+ emails using a fraction of one core and 57 MB peak RAM

—

Operating systemsDiffers

Production on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04/26.04; local development install on macOS, Windows or Linux

Any host with Docker and Docker Compose; host OS not listed

Binaries for Linux, macOS (Darwin), Windows and the BSDs; Docker image

—

Setup effortDiffers

Medium; npm install ghost-cli then ghost install, with NGINX, MySQL 8 and a domain for production

Medium; Docker Compose plus AWS SES setup and DNS for app, api and other subdomains

Easy; download binary or docker compose up, plus a PostgreSQL database

—

Stars over time

Switch to Growth % to compare projects of different sizes fairly.

Ghost
Plunk
listmonk

Focus a point, use arrow keys, or tap for its value.

Tracked daily since 16 Oct 2026. Dashed history: estimated from public records of when people starred the repo. Lines connect observations only; gaps contain no measured points.

Growth % starts at each project's first observed point in the shown range. Zero-star starts are unavailable.

Notes for a video or post

A plain summary with today's date and a link to the sources. Check each project page before you publish.

Ghost vs Plunk vs listmonk (as alternatives to beehiiv)
Figures from RepoQuarry, 21 Oct 2026. Sources: https://repoquarry.dev/compare?ids=ghost,plunk,listmonk&product=beehiiv

beehiiv: See pricing page
Ghost: free software; does 5 of 6 beehiiv jobs
Plunk: free software; does 3 of 6 beehiiv jobs
listmonk: free software; does 3 of 6 beehiiv jobs

- Ghost: 55,578 GitHub stars, 2,115 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT
- Plunk: 5,535 GitHub stars, 139 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)
- listmonk: 23,886 GitHub stars, 195 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Ghost Self-hosted with Ghost-CLI (local dev or Ubuntu production), or hosted Ghost(Pro); Plunk Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk; listmonk Self-hosted binary or Docker Compose with PostgreSQL
- Code licence: Ghost MIT; Plunk AGPL-3.0 (copyleft); listmonk AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)
- Commercial use: Ghost Yes, MIT; Plunk Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; listmonk Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; no paid edition or feature gating
- Paid services needed?: Ghost Newsletter delivery requires Mailgun (SMTP not supported for bulk mail); Stripe needed for paid memberships; Plunk Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending; listmonk App is free; you need an SMTP server or sending service such as Amazon SES to deliver mail
- Hardware: Ghost Server with at least 1 GB memory for production; Plunk Not documented; listmonk Light; a production instance sent 7M+ emails using a fraction of one core and 57 MB peak RAM
- Operating systems: Ghost Production on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04/26.04; local development install on macOS, Windows or Linux; Plunk Any host with Docker and Docker Compose; host OS not listed; listmonk Binaries for Linux, macOS (Darwin), Windows and the BSDs; Docker image
- Setup effort: Ghost Medium; npm install ghost-cli then ghost install, with NGINX, MySQL 8 and a domain for production; Plunk Medium; Docker Compose plus AWS SES setup and DNS for app, api and other subdomains; listmonk Easy; download binary or docker compose up, plus a PostgreSQL database

Stars show popularity, not quality. Check each project page before publishing.

Want share images and a ready video description? Open a project's creator kit.

Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. TryGhost/Ghost ↗useplunk/plunk ↗knadh/listmonk ↗

Ghost vs Plunk vs listmonk

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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