Hey there, Iām Jess āØ. On The Signature, I share reflections on beauty, routines, travel, wellness, culture, and everyday life. For those drawn to a calmer, more intentional way of living, I send a free newsletter each month on the 7th. You're welcome to join.
I started blogging two decades ago. My online writing journey commenced in 2005 on a platform that quickly died and I moved to Blogger, to create a Blogspot blog (do you remember those days?) that same year. It was one of the most popular platforms for upcoming writers in the 2000s.
Then in 2016, I moved to the newsletter format on Mailchimp, where I sent a monthly mailer for over 5 years and manually transferred the whole archive to WordPress.
If you are reading this in 2026, know that I am using a platform called Ghost.org to publish my work. Here's how I landed here.
In 2023, I did a lot of research on where I should write my blog after losing years of work on WordPress because I didn't click an email in time (one of my major online heartbreaks!) and falling out with Mailchimp (everybody was using it) and Blogger.com (RIP, but we are not in the 2000s anymore!).
It was time to look for a new publishing platform and I saw many videos about Ghost.org, Beehiiv, Medium, Squarespace and Substack. I was one of the first people among my group of online friends to charge for content and I used Patreon for it, but it was a manual hassle to make dates work per tier. The newer platforms were better equipped to accommodate those needs, until I made the shortlist of Substack and Ghost.org, choosing the latter.
Jess
Why did I choose Ghost.org?
I needed a seamless experience regarding layout and ownership of my page. Furthermore, I needed an integrated system to have paying tiers and clear benefits. So what made Ghost.org win?
- It allowed me to have a custom domain (aka a .com)
- It had very simple and clean design settings (only losing to Squarespace which makes beautiful websites!)
- I didn't know anybody else using Ghost.org - yes, uniqueness is important for me
- It has amazing integrations and plugins such as Spotify and YouTube
- Ghost.org charges a monthly or annual subscription fee but it doesn't matter if you have 10 or 100 subscribers, you will earn the same from the platform, only accounting for Stripe's payment processing fees
Why didn't I choose Substack?
Although I recognise it's the most famous publishing platform of the decade, I steer away from very popular things at first. Call me a late adopter, but when everybody and their momma is somewhere, I have some joy of missing out (JOMO is my middle name by the way). I think Substack is a free and fabulous way to create a community but it has some hurdles such as...
- You can have a custom domain, but it's a pain
- The design is stiff and you can change your tab and photos, but all websites on the platform look the same
- If your goal is to earn some money, Substack takes a substantial percentage on your paid subscriptions, and the more you have, the less you earn
Jess
Ghost vs Substack, which one wins?
Ghost.org isn't perfect but after three years of using the platform, I have been very happy with it. In over 1000 days, there has only been a day with global technical difficulties which were promptly communicated and resolved. They have launched several new features and integrations but what it misses and what Substack really does best is creating a sense of community. Ghost Explore feature doesn't stand a fighting chance against Substack Feed and Substack Notes, which are amazing in discoverability.
I eventually realised that Ghost.org and Substack are more complementary than competing platforms, as they solve different problems.
Therefore, Ghost.org became my preferred publishing platform (where I have already curated over 200 articles) while Substack is where I meet and connect with fellow readers.
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