Ghost has never had as many fancy features as Beehiiv or Substack, but I’ve recommended it a few times because I love its simplicity, and I think it is fantastic value. But this week Ghost 6.0 went live and it has taken it to a whole new level.

I’m not particularly techy, so rather than try to explain the updates in my own words, here is the summary provided by Ghost:

To be honest, I haven’t noticed a real difference in the analytics other than the appearance. I am seeing an option to upgrade my plan to unlock new analytics, so maybe that’s why I’m not seeing anything new.

But what I am excited about is the open network. I don’t know too much about the Fediverse (I only heard about it a couple of weeks ago), but I think this update has something to do with that.

From what I understand, there is a collection of sites that use free and open-source software to allow users to curate content from different platforms. This allows you to create a feed (on your preferred platform) that is made up of stuff you actually want to see, rather than what the algorithms of a specific platform feed you.

*If you know more about this and have a better explanation, please send it to me.

What I do know is that it means there is now an additional way to get your Ghost publication in front of people who are interested in hearing from you.

Essentially, there is a social media platform integrated into your Ghost dashboard.

When I log into Ghost, I now have a new ‘Network’ option in my menu:

And when selected, I get a new menu on the left-hand side of the page:

‘Reader’ shows you the long-form content shared by any publications you have followed.

‘Notes’ is similar to the notes feature on Substack, but you will only be shown notes from people you follow (whereas the Substack home page shows all kinds of stuff). You can also post your own notes (in the same way you post on pretty much any social media site).

‘Notifications’ is exactly what you’d expect - updates about who has followed you, commented etc. And ‘Explore’ is where you can find people or publications to follow.

‘Profile’ is what people see when they click through to your profile (and you can customise it). Here is what mine looks like:

And the final option is ‘Preferences’, which looks like this:

I don’t currently use Flipboard, Threads, Bluesky or Mastodon, but (from what I understand), anyone who does use those platforms can follow me through those platforms and see my updates.

The update only happened this week, and I only started exploring the feature yesterday, but I think it’s a great addition to the platform. You can host your site, your blog, your email list, and now a social media feed all in one place.

I prefer it to Substack because (at the minute) it is less noisy (I think more people use Substack). And Beehiiv doesn’t have a feature like this (although you can find other Beehiiv publications to subscribe to or recommend).

Anyway, I think this new update is a game-changer for Ghost.

The only downside (although completely justified) is that there has been a slight price increase.

I paid $108 for the year (equivalent of $9 per month). The annual price now works out at $7 for the first three months and $15 after that (a total of $156 for the first year). If you prefer to pay monthly, the first three months are $9 then it jumps up to $18 per month. But you can still get a 14-day free trial before you start paying.

It’s still cheaper than Beehiiv’s cheapest plan (although Beehiiv has a generous free plan). And you don’t pay commission on paid subs like you do with Substack.

Substack works on commission so it is constantly pushing people to subscribe, download the app, and follow other people and publications (I wrote about this in a previous post). It also has very limited design capabilities, so there’s not much you can do with your site.

Ghost, on the other hand, gives you a standalone site with a choice of customisable themes. It doesn’t work on commission, so it’s up to you how much you want to push people to subscribe to your emails. You can just use it as a blog if you prefer.

There are also more options for offering paid plans. Substack gives you free, monthly, annual and founding member options, whereas Ghost gives you pretty much unlimited tiers so you can offer more choice to subs.

Plus, because you don’t pay commission, it actually works out cheaper if you have a lot of paid subscribers.

Before the update, the notes and community aspect of Substack was a draw. But Ghost’s new social web rivals this. Substack notes are only shown to other Substack users, but Ghost is connected with other platforms.

Substack does still have some features Ghost doesn’t offer, but I’m not sure it has enough to put it ahead.

And it is getting really noisy on there with people sharing spammy content about how to grow your subscribers (mainly by sharing notes that say follow me and I’ll follow back). There’s no saying Ghost won’t go the same way, but it just doesn’t feel as though it will (maybe because you have to pay for it, whereas Substack is free).

Anyway, I think this new update has given Ghost the edge over Substack, but I guess only time will tell.

You can read more about the differences in features between Beehiiv, Ghost and Susbtack here:

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