Ghost
Professional publishing - blog, newsletter, paid memberships - keeping 100% of your subscription revenue.
One-click deploy, from $13/mo on a Miget plan.
Ghost is what serious independent publishing runs on: a fast editor, built-in newsletters, paid memberships with Stripe, and themes that look professional out of the box. The open-source core is the same software Ghost(Pro) hosts - which means the only question is who runs it.
This template answers that with one app container plus a self-hosted MySQL 8 container (Ghost requires MySQL 8 in production; SQLite is dev-only upstream). Themes and images persist on a content volume; posts and members live in the database.
The economics favor self-hosting more as you grow: Ghost(Pro) tiers by members and staff, Substack takes 10% of paid subscriptions forever. Self-hosted Ghost has no member cap and keeps every cent of revenue - the $13/month plan is the whole infrastructure bill.
Upstream project: Ghost 6
#what you get
- The Ghost editor: clean writing, cards, embeds, SEO settings built in
- Native newsletters and paid memberships (Stripe, 0% platform fee)
- Self-hosted MySQL 8 container, auto-wired (Ghost requires MySQL 8)
- Custom themes - no Publisher-tier gate when self-hosting
- Content API + integrations; ActivityPub optional upstream
- Themes/images on a persistent volume, content in the database
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| ghost | site + admin at /ghost (:5000) | yes |
| db | MySQL 8 container (local and on Miget) | no |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
2 GiB RAM · 10 GB disk · 2 services
1 GiB for Ghost is the realistic floor (Node + image processing); the MySQL container rides alongside. Email sending needs SMTP config; bulk newsletters additionally use Mailgun, set in the admin UI.
Hobby - recommended fit
$13/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 50 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 2 GiB at $19/mo
Professional - production
$22/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 10 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost on Miget ★ | 2 GiB plan | $13 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Ghost(Pro) | Starter | ~$18 | 1,000 members, 1 staff user; Publisher tier (custom themes) $29/mo |
| Substack | free + cut | usage-based | 10% of paid-subscription revenue + Stripe fees, forever |
Self-hosted Ghost keeps 100% of subscription revenue and has no member or staff caps - the same software Ghost(Pro) runs.
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (2 GiB RAM, 10 GB disk, 2 containers) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $13 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$100 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$29 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$28 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$22 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$13 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
ghost -
Set the required variable:
GHOST_URL, set to the app’s https domain after first deploy - every link embeds it
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/ghost
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
How does self-hosted Ghost compare to Ghost(Pro) and Substack?
Ghost(Pro) Starter is $18/month for 1,000 members and one staff user; Substack is free but takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue forever. Self-hosted Ghost on this $13/month stack has no member or staff caps and a 0% platform fee - past your first handful of paid subscribers, it wins on pure math.
Is it the same Ghost as the hosted product?
Yes - Ghost(Pro) runs the same open-source core. Self-hosting even removes a tier gate: custom themes work without the $29/month Publisher plan.
What about sending the newsletters?
Transactional email (signups, logins) needs SMTP - any provider works via the mail__* env vars. Bulk newsletter delivery uses Mailgun, configured in the admin UI; that is an upstream Ghost design decision, identical for any self-hosted Ghost.
Why does the template require MySQL?
Ghost supports only MySQL 8 in production (SQLite is dev-only upstream). This template ships a MySQL 8 container wired to Ghost out of the box, so that requirement is covered with no extra setup.
Ship Ghost today
One compose stack, 2 GiB of RAM, from $13/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.