Ghost vs Zephr

Ghost9.2Visit ZZephr8.7Visit

Higher score Ghost #2 in Membership Site Platforms 9.2/10 14-day trial Free trial✓ 1 of 2 features Visit Ghost

vs

Z Zephr #6 in Membership Site Platforms 8.7/10 Pricing on request ✓ 0 of 2 features Visit Zephr

• Ghost fits best

  Publishers building paid member publications

• Zephr fits best

  Enterprise publishers needing advanced paywalls

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Side by side

Feature	Ghost 9.2/10 Visit ↗	ZZephr 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.2	8.7
Ranking	#2 in Membership Site Platforms	#6 in Membership Site Platforms
Best for	Publishers building paid member publications	Enterprise publishers needing advanced paywalls
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	$18/mo	Pricing on request
Free plan	—	Not checked yet
Free trial	14 days	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Email, Community, Docs	Docs
Compliance	2FA	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS
Integrations	8,000+ integrations	30+ integrations
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Ghost 1/2 · Zephr 0/2
Custom domain	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Drip content	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Content gating	Post	Page
Subscription billing	Both	Recurring
Member limit	1000 members	Not checked yet
Transaction fee	0% Ghost fee; payment processor fees apply	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Paid and tiered memberships with Stripe billing Protected posts for free, paid, and tier-based access Open-source core with self-hosting and developer APIs	Supports soft, metered, hard, and dynamic paywalls Low-code rules builder enables personalized access decisions Connects billing, marketing, data, and analytics systems
Cons	No courses or drip content No free plan, although Ghost(Pro) offers a 14-day trial Advanced plans become costly at $199 per month annually	Contact-sales pricing limits direct plan comparison Enterprise scope may exceed smaller membership-site needs Broad integration surface can require careful configuration
Our verdict	Ghost combines website publishing, email newsletters, member management, protected posts, paid subscriptions, and tiered access in one platform. It is designed for writers, creators, independent publishers, and media teams building… Read the review →	Zephr is Zuora’s subscription experience platform for media companies, publishers, and other subscription businesses. It combines page-level content gating with recurring subscription support, paywall controls, personalized offers,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Ghost — where it wins

  • Paid and tiered memberships with Stripe billing
  • Protected posts for free, paid, and tier-based access
  • Open-source core with self-hosting and developer APIs

  Where it doesn't

  • No courses or drip content
  • No free plan, although Ghost(Pro) offers a 14-day trial
  • Advanced plans become costly at $199 per month annually

• Zephr — where it wins

  • Supports soft, metered, hard, and dynamic paywalls
  • Low-code rules builder enables personalized access decisions
  • Connects billing, marketing, data, and analytics systems

  Where it doesn't

  • Contact-sales pricing limits direct plan comparison
  • Enterprise scope may exceed smaller membership-site needs
  • Broad integration surface can require careful configuration

• Ghost9.2/10 · 14-day trial

  A focused membership platform for paid publications, newsletters, and protected posts.

  Visit GhostFull verdict →
• ZZephr8.7/10 · Pricing on request

  A flexible enterprise paywall platform for publishers with complex subscription journeys.

  Visit ZephrFull verdict →