Ghost vs MailWizz: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Ghost and MailWizz to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Ghost
6.9/10
Open-source publishing platform that combines a website, newsletters, and paid memberships for independent publishers, creators, and media businesses.
MailWizz
6.3/10
MailWizz is a self-hosted PHP email marketing application. Businesses, agencies, and resellers install it on their own server and send through SMTP or providers like Amazon SES.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | M MailWizz |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 6.3/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 4/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| A/B Testing | ||
| Email Marketing | ||
| Landing Pages | ||
| Segmentation | ||
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Ghost
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Security score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for freelancers (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (5/10 vs 3/10)
MWhy choose MailWizz
- Higher Cost score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for agencies (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Includes A/B Testing, which Ghost lacks
Pros & Cons
Ghost
Pros
- Ghost takes no percentage of membership revenue, unlike Substack's 10% fee, so publishers pay only the plan price and Stripe fees.
- Website, newsletter, and paid memberships work together without plugins.
- The open-source core can be self-hosted for free, and APIs and webhooks support custom builds.
- More than 100 listed integrations, including Zapier, Stripe, Mailchimp, and privacy-focused analytics tools.
Cons
- Email features are basic: segmentation is limited and there is no built-in A/B testing or SMS.
- Email delivery depends on Mailgun, which users say can be costly or unreliable when self-hosting.
- Lower plans get email-only support with no weekend coverage, and Trustpilot reviews complain about billing and refunds.
- The Starter plan excludes paid subscriptions, custom themes, and integrations.
MMailWizz
Pros
- The license fee replaces per-subscriber pricing, so costs stay flat as lists grow to large sizes.
- Unlimited delivery servers across SMTP, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, and others, with failover.
- The Extended license allows agencies to run a white-label multi-customer email SaaS.
- Built-in A/B test campaigns, autoresponders, recurring campaigns, surveys, and a landing page builder.
- You keep full control of subscriber data on your own infrastructure.
Cons
- Installing, updating, and security patching on your own server are your job.
- Deliverability, IP warming, and SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup are not managed for you.
- Reviewers describe the PHP interface as dated.
- Only one month of Premium Support is included, and longer support requires paid packs.
- No native SMS or ecommerce abandoned-cart features were found.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Ghost scores higher on our Marketing criteria: 6.9/10 against 6.3/10 for MailWizz. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 7/10 for Ghost and 4/10 for MailWizz.
No, neither Ghost nor MailWizz lists a free plan.
MailWizz is the better fit for agencies: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 4/10 for Ghost.
MailWizz has A/B Testing, which Ghost lacks.
