A Ghost alternative
Ghost is a full self-hosted publishing platform — a website, memberships, and a newsletter in one app. For bulk newsletter sending it requires a separate provider, and that provider is Mailgun. tinysend is the email layer underneath: it speaks the Mailgun API, so you can keep Ghost and just change one base URL, or run the newsletter on tinysend without managing a CMS.
They are different jobs. Ghost is the site and membership platform; tinysend is the sending, the subscribers, and the inbox.
| capability | ghost | tinysend |
|---|---|---|
| send newsletters | yes, via Mailgun | yes |
| needs a separate email provider | yes — Mailgun | no |
| managed, no server to run | Ghost(Pro) only | yes |
| write from your email client | no | yes |
| hosted inbox for replies | no | yes |
| full CMS, site + memberships | yes | no |
| custom domains | yes | yes |
| REST API | yes | yes |
| agent self-signup (auth.md) | no | yes |
Pick Ghost if you want a complete publishing platform — a website, paid memberships, and a newsletter — in one self-hosted or Ghost(Pro) app.
Pick tinysend if you only want the newsletter and email without running a server or paying Mailgun’s $35/month floor — or you want to keep Ghost and simply replace Mailgun.
Keep Ghost: point its Mailgun base URL at mailgun.tinysend.com (see tinysend.com/mailgun — one config value, no code rewrite). Or export your members as CSV and run the newsletter directly on tinysend. See managing subscribers and custom domains.