Ghost is an open source publishing platform for blogs, newsletters and paid memberships, created by John O’Nolan. It is run by the Ghost Foundation, a nonprofit, and funded by its paid hosting service.
What it is
Ghost began as a stripped down alternative to WordPress focused only on publishing. The software is released under the MIT license and can be self hosted. The foundation also sells a managed hosting service called Ghost(Pro), and the revenue from that service pays for development.
History
O’Nolan, a former deputy lead of the WordPress user interface team, shared the concept in November 2012 and recruited his friend Hannah Wolfe to help build the first prototype. A Kickstarter campaign launched on 29 April 2013 with a goal of 25,000 pounds, reached it in 11 hours and closed at 196,362 pounds. Ghost became available on GitHub on 14 October 2013.
In a 2017 interview on Indie Hackers, O’Nolan said the company had reached annual revenue of 750,000 dollars with a team of ten, and that it became profitable 11 months after launch. Those are his own figures from that date. As of October 2025 Wikipedia reports 34 full time staff, and in 2024 the foundation announced plans to support ActivityPub.
Why it matters to founders
Ghost is a clear case of an open source product funded by community crowdfunding and then sustained by a hosted service, under a nonprofit structure that cannot take outside investment. See Bootstrapping.
Related entries
See John O’Nolan, Ghost, WordPress and Bootstrapping.
Ghost is part of Tools and stack.
Sources
Wikipedia entry for Ghost and Indie Hackers interview with John O’Nolan, February 2017. Reviewed October 2026.
