Keila vs Plunk vs Ghost

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.

Keilapentacent/keila

Plunkuseplunk/plunk

GhostTryGhost/Ghost

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

4 of 6 jobs

3 of 6 jobs

5 of 6 jobs

All 6

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

2,239

5,535

55,578Top

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

934Top

—

Latest release

0.30.3 · 2026-09-06

v0.16.0 · 2026-10-08

v6.72.0 · 2026-10-20Top

—

Commits / 12 wk

139

2,115

—

People committing / 12 mo

92+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

3 / 2

5 / 4

14 / 17

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Self-hosted Docker image, or hosted Keila Cloud

Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk

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

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

AGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft); logo and extra/ directory excluded

AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

MIT

—

Model weights licence

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; self-hosted version is not feature-gated in the README

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms

Yes, MIT

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Your own inbox over SMTP works for small lists; larger lists need a sending service

Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending

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

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Not documented; needs a container engine and PostgreSQL

Not documented

Server with at least 1 GB memory for production

—

Operating systemsDiffers

Any host running a container engine; host OS support not listed

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

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

—

Setup effortDiffers

Medium; Docker image or sample Docker Compose file, plus PostgreSQL

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

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

—

Stars over time

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

Keila
Plunk
Ghost

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.

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

beehiiv: See pricing page
Keila: free software; does 4 of 6 beehiiv jobs
Plunk: free software; does 3 of 6 beehiiv jobs
Ghost: free software; does 5 of 6 beehiiv jobs

- Keila: 2,239 GitHub stars, 25 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft); logo and extra/ directory excluded
- Plunk: 5,535 GitHub stars, 139 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)
- Ghost: 55,578 GitHub stars, 2,115 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Keila Self-hosted Docker image, or hosted Keila Cloud; Plunk Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk; Ghost Self-hosted with Ghost-CLI (local dev or Ubuntu production), or hosted Ghost(Pro)
- Code licence: Keila AGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft); logo and extra/ directory excluded; Plunk AGPL-3.0 (copyleft); Ghost MIT
- Commercial use: Keila Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; self-hosted version is not feature-gated in the README; Plunk Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; Ghost Yes, MIT
- Paid services needed?: Keila Your own inbox over SMTP works for small lists; larger lists need a sending service; Plunk Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending; Ghost Newsletter delivery requires Mailgun (SMTP not supported for bulk mail); Stripe needed for paid memberships
- Hardware: Keila Not documented; needs a container engine and PostgreSQL; Plunk Not documented; Ghost Server with at least 1 GB memory for production
- Operating systems: Keila Any host running a container engine; host OS support not listed; Plunk Any host with Docker and Docker Compose; host OS not listed; Ghost Production on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04/26.04; local development install on macOS, Windows or Linux
- Setup effort: Keila Medium; Docker image or sample Docker Compose file, plus PostgreSQL; Plunk Medium; Docker Compose plus AWS SES setup and DNS for app, api and other subdomains; Ghost Medium; npm install ghost-cli then ghost install, with NGINX, MySQL 8 and a domain for production

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. pentacent/keila ↗useplunk/plunk ↗TryGhost/Ghost ↗

Keila vs Plunk vs Ghost

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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