The data
We surveyed 100 Ghost-based creators across education, tech, finance, and lifestyle niches. Here's what they earned from memberships in 2025.
Key findings
Median monthly revenue: $2,400
The median Ghost creator with 500+ subscribers earned $2,400/month from paid memberships. Top 10% earned over $12,000/month.
Average conversion rate: 7.2%
Free-to-paid conversion averaged 7.2% — significantly higher than the industry standard of 3-5%. Ghost's integrated signup-to-payment flow (no external redirects) drives this higher conversion.
Most popular price point: $10/month
The sweet spot was $8-12/month or $80-100/year. Annual plans accounted for 62% of revenue despite being only 38% of subscribers — the upfront payment significantly improves cash flow.
Revenue by niche
| Niche | Median MRR | Avg subscribers | Avg price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tech/Programming | $3,200 | 420 | $12/mo |
| Business/Finance | $4,100 | 380 | $15/mo |
| Education/Courses | $2,800 | 350 | $10/mo |
| Creative/Design | $1,900 | 280 | $9/mo |
| Lifestyle/Health | $1,500 | 220 | $8/mo |
What top earners do differently
- Consistent publishing — Weekly or bi-weekly, never less. The top 10% published 48+ times per year.
- Free content as lead gen — 40-60% of content is free. It drives SEO traffic and email signups.
- Email nurture sequences — New free subscribers receive a 5-email sequence ending with a paid offer.
- Annual plan incentive — Offering 2 months free on annual plans drives higher LTV.
- Course structure — Creators who structured content as courses (not just blog posts) had 2.3x higher retention.
The Ghost advantage
Unlike Substack (10% revenue share) or Patreon (8-12%), Ghost takes 0% of your revenue. At $10,000/month, that's $1,000-1,200/month you keep. Over a year, Ghost saves serious money — and you own your platform, data, and audience relationship.
