Is Cardel an alternative to Ghost or Mailchimp?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Ghost or Mailchimp when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Ghost and Mailchimp are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Ghost or Mailchimp?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Ghost or Mailchimp for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Ghost and Mailchimp?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Ghost and Mailchimp set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Ghost or Mailchimp to Cardel?

Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.

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GhostvsMailchimp

Ghost is open-source publishing with a fast site, newsletters, and fee-free paid subscriptions. Mailchimp is the small-business email standard with templates, automations, and reporting.

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How Ghost and Mailchimp compare

Ghost is what serious independent publishing looks like. A fast, beautifully themed site, newsletters sent from your own domain, paid memberships with zero platform fees, comments, and a clean editor, all open source and portable. Ghost(Pro) hosting removes the ops, and the whole thing respects the writer and the reader.

Mailchimp is the name most small businesses say first. Templates, a drag-and-drop editor, segmentation, customer journeys, A/B testing, reporting, forms and landing pages, and integrations with nearly everything make it a dependable marketing hub. The AI tools and Intuit's ecosystem keep it moving.

Where they are different

Ghost

Ghost monetises by membership.
Ghost sends email and stops.
Ghost is publishing-first.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp pages capture leads.
Mailchimp sends.
Mailchimp has no shop or bookings.

Choose Ghost when writing is the business and you want paid subscriptions with no platform cut, on open-source software.

Choose Mailchimp when you want a mature email marketing hub with integrations into everything else you use.

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What's on Ghost and Mailchimp

A check means that capability is available. Ghost and Mailchimp are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

Workspace site
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included
Custom domain
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included
Theme and fonts
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included

Public content

Blog
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Not included

Reach and quality

SEO
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included
Email on your domain
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Not included
Marketing emails
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included
Campaign workflows
Ghost: Not included
Mailchimp: Included

Team

Admin users
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included
Per-admin permissions
Ghost: Included
Mailchimp: Included
AI Assistant
Ghost: Not included
Mailchimp: Included

Feature comparison for Ghost and Mailchimp
Feature	Ghost	Mailchimp
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Public content
Blog	Included	Not included
Reach and quality
SEO	Included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Email on your domain	Included	Not included
Marketing emails	Included	Included
Campaign workflows	Not included	Included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Not included	Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Ghost or Mailchimp, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Ghost or Mailchimp may add or remove features that are not shown here.