Plunk vs Ghost vs SendPortal

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.

Plunkuseplunk/plunk

GhostTryGhost/Ghost

SendPortalmettle/sendportal

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

3 of 6 jobs

5 of 6 jobs

3 of 6 jobs

All 6

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

5,535

55,578Top

2,178

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

934Top

—

Latest release

v0.16.0 · 2026-10-08

v6.72.0 · 2026-10-20Top

v4.0.0 · 2026-10-12

—

Commits / 12 wk

139

2,115

—

People committing / 12 mo

92+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

5 / 4

14 / 17

0 / 0

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk

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

Self-hosted Laravel application

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

AGPL-3.0 (copyleft)

MIT

—

Model weights licence

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms

Yes, MIT

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Self-hosting requires an AWS SES account for sending

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

App is free; needs an email service such as Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, Postal or SMTP

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Not documented

Server with at least 1 GB memory for production

No hardware figures; needs PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 5.7+ or PostgreSQL 10+

—

Operating systemsDiffers

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

Any server with PHP 8.3+, Composer, a web server and MySQL or PostgreSQL; host OS not listed

—

Setup effortDiffers

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

Medium; git clone, composer install, configure a web server and database

—

Stars over time

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

Plunk
Ghost
SendPortal

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.

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

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

- 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
- SendPortal: 2,178 GitHub stars, 2 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Plunk Self-hosted with Docker Compose, or hosted Plunk; Ghost Self-hosted with Ghost-CLI (local dev or Ubuntu production), or hosted Ghost(Pro); SendPortal Self-hosted Laravel application
- Code licence: Plunk AGPL-3.0 (copyleft); Ghost MIT; SendPortal MIT
- Commercial use: Plunk Yes under AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms; Ghost Yes, MIT; SendPortal Yes, MIT
- Paid services needed?: 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; SendPortal App is free; needs an email service such as Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, Mailjet, Postal or SMTP
- Hardware: Plunk Not documented; Ghost Server with at least 1 GB memory for production; SendPortal No hardware figures; needs PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 5.7+ or PostgreSQL 10+
- Operating systems: 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; SendPortal Any server with PHP 8.3+, Composer, a web server and MySQL or PostgreSQL; host OS not listed
- Setup effort: 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; SendPortal Medium; git clone, composer install, configure a web server and 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. useplunk/plunk ↗TryGhost/Ghost ↗mettle/sendportal ↗

Plunk vs Ghost vs SendPortal

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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