Memberships, newsletter and theme. One plugin.
Ghost, inside WordPress.
For a news site or magazine already on WordPress that wants paying members and a newsletter. Paste your Stripe key, paste your Resend key, keep 100% of the money.
$99 a year, flat. No cut of your revenue, ever.
Three things we are trying to be known for
Not features. The three places the usual WordPress answer falls down.
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One list
Members and email subscribers are the same people, in one table. Someone cancels and they are off the paid newsletter the same second — not next time you remember to export a CSV.
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Already matches
Sign-in, signup, pricing and account pages are drawn by your theme. There is no second design to fight, and no plugin default to restyle.
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No cut
$99 a year, flat. Readers pay your Stripe account directly. We never touch the money and we cannot see it.
One list, not two
The usual setup keeps members in a membership plugin and email addresses in Mailchimp, and the two drift apart the first week. Here they are one row: the tier and the newsletter status sit in the same table, and a cancelled subscription changes both at once.
Pages that already match the site
Signup, sign-in, the account page and the paywall are rendered by the theme, using its type, its colours and its header. A reader never lands on something that looks like it came from somewhere else.
What a paid newsletter costs in year one
| Year one | Takes a cut? | One list? | Theme fits? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | 10% of revenue | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ghost Pro | ~$300 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Newspack | $12,000+ | Varies | Yes | Yes |
| MemberPress + an ESP | ~$540 | No | No | No |
| Paid Memberships Pro + add-ons | ~$300 | No | No | No |
| Six free plugins and a Zapier | $0 + weekends | No | No | No |
| Owldraft Publisher | $99 | No | Yes | Yes |
Rival prices checked September 2026 and worth re-checking — they move. Substack is genuinely good at getting you your first thousand readers; this table is about what happens after that.
Pricing
One price, per year. No per-subscriber tier and no upgrade you hit at a thousand readers.
Recommended
One site
$99 per year
- Paid memberships through your own Stripe
- Newsletter through your own Resend
- One member list for both
- Updates and support for the year
- Staging and local copies don't count
Ten sites
$499 per year
- Everything in the single licence
- Ten production sites
- For anyone running more than one publication
Themes
$0 free, forever
- Stoat, on WordPress.org
- Rural Blog, on WordPress.org
- Both work with Publisher
- Priority replies
Prices in USD, per year. The plugin keeps working and keeps your data after a licence lapses — what stops is updates and our time. Thirty-day refund, by email, no form.
The questions we get asked first
Do I have to use your theme?
No. Publisher is a plugin and works with any theme that renders content properly. Stoat is what it is developed against, so the two need no configuration — but nothing breaks if you use your own.
Will a paywall hurt my Google traffic?
Posts can be free, members-only or paid, and paid posts can show a free preview rather than a locked door. Structured data stays intact, so Google still sees the article. If search traffic is the thing paying your bills, start with previews.
Can I bring a list over from Substack or Mailchimp?
Yes, by CSV, with the paid tiers preserved. Payment methods do not come with it — those live at Stripe, and Stripe has its own process for moving them.
What happens when the year is up?
The plugin keeps running and keeps your data. Updates and support stop until you renew. Nothing is switched off.
Do you take a percentage?
No. Your readers pay your Stripe account. We sell software, not a share of your work.
Start with the free half.
Stoat is on WordPress.org and costs nothing. If it suits how you write, Publisher adds the paying-members half on top of it.
No account needed to try anything. Thirty-day refund on the paid half.