Letterdrop Vs. Ghost: A Comparison Between The Two Very Similar Writing Platforms

The ideal comparison between Ghost Vs. Letterdrop. The Two platforms are competing for the same user.

I first heard about Ghost, and after one week, I have a blog hosted on Ghost. I wasn’t planning to focus on building a paying readership or a subscription business, but I find their company quite innovative. So I give it a try. Ghost at that time provides us with the ability to have unlimited email subscribers, more like what Substack give to its creators. I have in-detailed Ghost Vs. Substack in an article on Medium.

Letterdrop is more like Ghost. I find the business model and the services they provide very alike. So, it is an ideal comparison between the two platforms.

Silent features of Ghost:

Following are the five things you should know about ghost.org

Ghost is a free content management platform, but they also provide you with fast hosting options. You can either pay $5/month to DigitalOccean to host your content there or go for Ghost self-hosting and pay $9 per month.
Ghost gives you a whole blogging experience and helps you start a paid newsletter program using Stripe integration. I have started my blog and monetize it with ads.
They now have a limitation on the number of email subscribers you can accommodate. For Starter and basic package, you can have a limit of 1,000 members. For the Standard package, you have a limit of 8,000 members. (Huge turn-off for me and every blogger out there)
Ghost doesn’t charge you any transaction fee. However, you have to pay a yearly fee to retain your subscription, and you will make 100% of the money.
You can add a custom domain to your publication, they have beautiful minimalist themes, the website hosted on their platform load very fast, and you can monetize it through all the possible means.

Silent features of Letterdrop:

Following are some of the things you should know about Letterdrop;

Letterdrop has different plans, they are free to start, and you can get a sub-domain, like Substack, for free. They also have packages where they give you additional options if you choose to pay.
Letterdrop charges you a 5% transaction fee even if you are a paying customer.
Letterdrop has a built-in system for sponsorship. It is like having your system.

The Difference between Ghost Vs. Letterdrop:

The Transaction fee: In Ghost, when someone bought your newsletter subscription, you get 100% of the money except for a Stripe transaction fee. In Letterdrop, you have to pay an extra 5% transaction fee whether you are paying a subscriber or in the free tier.
The Monetization options: On Ghost, you can monetize through every possible way a blogger can, but the significant competitive advantage of Letterdrop over Ghost is; it gives you a platform to manage sponsor posts and find you clients who hire you to write for them.
The SEO: If we compare the SEO, both the platform are good to go. Also, SEO depends a lot on content and the strategies you use for making your blog (irrespective of whether it is hosted) more optimized for the search engines.
The difference between the two platforms in deciding your newsletter looks: Both Ghost and Letterdrop allow you to use a range of free templates that could give a different look to your newsletter. This is the new age of newsletter writing, where people have more freedom to design their newsletter, the business model they want to use, and the number of subscribers.

Which newsletter platform should you choose to write on?

Both the platforms have a limit on the number of subscribers. You can get sponsors only when you have more than 1,000 subscribers or, in most cases, 10,000 subscribers. However, ghost or Letterdrop, if you are making more than $500 a month, Letterdrop could be more potential for you because of its built-in sponsor management system.