After several months of beta testing, Newsletter Platform Ghost has shipped Ghost 6, a new version of Software 6. This allows publishers to share long-term content natively with the broader open social web. This means that in addition to publishing newsletters to the web, RSS and sending them via email, Ghost users can also connect natively with services such as decentralized X-rival Mastodon. Meta threads; Flipboards; WordPress site integrated with ActivityPub, Surf, and WriteFreely. others.
Ghost also mentions the ability to publish to Blueski as part of this release, which was made possible through integration with Bridge Fed, a service that connects the open social web, known as the Fediverse, with what is called the atmosphere. The former comes with an open standard for distributed social networking called ActivityPub, while the latter works with new protocols used by Bluesky and other apps.
Manton Reece, founder of publishing platform Micro.Blog, pointed out the difference between his service and Ghost’s, noting that Micro.Blog is working directly on protocol integration while Ghost uses bridging.
ActivityPub has been used for a long time to power open, distributed social media applications. However, there has been a growing interest in building this protocol as Twitter competitors (now called X) appeared in the years since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
Meta launched an alternative to X in 2023 using Instagram threads. This is catching up to X on mobile devices. Meanwhile, WordPress blogging platform, which includes the hosted version of WordPress.com, offers the ability to integrate with ActivityPub, allowing users to follow WordPress blogs on services such as Mastodon. Other apps are also integrated with open social web, including Flipboard’s flagship app, new App Surf and publishing platform media.
Ghost also touted the potential network effects of connecting with ActivityPub. This allows people on federated apps to follow the posts of ghost publishers, so they can interact with them by preference, replying or reposting. This will expand the range of publishers and expand your audience.
Additionally, Ghost users can keep up with other long-length content in the “Inbox” section of the software, and follow other articles published on Ghost or WordPress. Additionally, from Ghost’s admin screen, publishers can post short content to Fediverse, allowing them to grow their followers and connect with their readers.
TechCrunch Events
San Francisco
|
October 27th-29th, 2025
Ghost 6 arrived shortly after a shameful incident from top competitor newsletter platform Substack, sending users push notifications and urged them to subscribe to the Nazi newsletter. Several authors have already left Subscack on their decision to host such content in the past, including the popular technical publication, Platformer’s Casey Newton. Other notable ghost publications include 404 Media, Spyglass, David Silota’s Zalever, Tangle, Jason Carakanis interior, and sfist.
The company shares that the publisher generated more than $100 million, leaving Ghost with $8.5 million annual revenue.
While ActivityPub integration is a major selling point for Ghost 6, this major release includes many other changes and new additions. In particular, Ghost currently features a native analytics suite that tracks performance, engagement and conversions across the web, newsletters and subscriptions.
The software also supports a variety of payment methods, tips and donations, brand newsletters, and content that can be personalized to individual readers.
With the release, Ghost has adjusted the price of its Pro (host) plans. Currently, their cheapest plans start at $15 and $29 per month, respectively, and increase from $9 and $25 per month, respectively. However, ghost publishers with large subscribers are now at a lower price.
