Mailcheap vs Ghost vs Plunk

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.

Mailcheapmarclou/mailcheap

GhostTryGhost/Ghost

Plunkuseplunk/plunk

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

1 of 6 jobs

5 of 6 jobs

3 of 6 jobs

All 6

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

1,275

55,578Top

5,535

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

934Top

—

Latest release

Unknown

v6.72.0 · 2026-10-20Top

v0.16.0 · 2026-10-08

—

Commits / 12 wk

2,115

139

—

People committing / 12 mo

92+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

0 / 0

14 / 17

5 / 4

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Self-hosted on Vercel or any Node.js 22+ host

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

Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

AGPL-3.0

MIT

AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

—

Model weights licenceDiffers

No bundled weights; AI agents connect through its MCP server

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes, AGPL-3.0; you must share your source if you offer a modified version over a network

Yes, MIT

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Needs Amazon SES or PostShiba for sending, both paid; MongoDB, QStash and hosting have free tiers

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

Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Not checked yet

Server with at least 1 GB memory for production

Not documented

—

Operating systemsDiffers

Deployment requires Node.js 22+ hosting. No explicit Windows/macOS/Linux server support matrix was verified.

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

—

Setup effortDiffers

Medium; deploy to Vercel or a Node.js host, then set up MongoDB, SES or PostShiba, QStash and DNS

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

—

Stars over time

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

Mailcheap
Ghost
Plunk

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.

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

beehiiv: See pricing page
Mailcheap: free software; does 1 of 6 beehiiv jobs
Ghost: free software; does 5 of 6 beehiiv jobs
Plunk: free software; does 3 of 6 beehiiv jobs

- Mailcheap: 1,275 GitHub stars, 75 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPL-3.0
- 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)

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Mailcheap Self-hosted on Vercel or any Node.js 22+ host; Ghost Self-hosted with Ghost-CLI (local dev or Ubuntu production), or hosted Ghost(Pro); Plunk Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk
- Code licence: Mailcheap AGPL-3.0; Ghost MIT; Plunk AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)
- Model weights licence: Mailcheap No bundled weights; AI agents connect through its MCP server; Ghost No separate model weights; Plunk No separate model weights
- Commercial use: Mailcheap Yes, AGPL-3.0; you must share your source if you offer a modified version over a network; Ghost Yes, MIT; Plunk Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms
- Paid services needed?: Mailcheap Needs Amazon SES or PostShiba for sending, both paid; MongoDB, QStash and hosting have free tiers; 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
- Hardware: Mailcheap Not checked yet; Ghost Server with at least 1 GB memory for production; Plunk Not documented
- Operating systems: Mailcheap Deployment requires Node.js 22+ hosting. No explicit Windows/macOS/Linux server support matrix was verified.; 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
- Setup effort: Mailcheap Medium; deploy to Vercel or a Node.js host, then set up MongoDB, SES or PostShiba, QStash and DNS; 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

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. marclou/mailcheap ↗TryGhost/Ghost ↗useplunk/plunk ↗

Mailcheap vs Ghost vs Plunk

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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