Why We Introduced a Minimum Price for Ghost Hosting (And Why It's Only €1/month)

When we launched DigitalPress, our mission was simple: make it easy for anyone to start a Ghost blog. A free plan was part of that promise, and thousands of creators took us up on it.

What Happened

Over time, however, we noticed a growing problem. A significant number of free accounts weren't being used to share ideas, build audiences, or create meaningful content. Instead, they were created in bulk by automated actors looking to exploit our platform for low-quality content and link schemes.

This wasn't just an inconvenience. It consumed server resources, threatened our sending reputation for newsletters, and created a trust problem. Search engines don't distinguish between legitimate blogs and spam farms when they share the same infrastructure. This ultimately degrades the experience for legitimate bloggers who rely on DigitalPress every day

We explored many solutions. Stricter sign-up verification. Manual reviews. Rate limiting. Some helped, but none solved the core issue: when something is completely free, there's no barrier for those acting in bad faith.

A Tiny Price, A Big Difference

That's why we introduced a minimum price of just €1 per month for all DigitalPress blogs.

One euro. That's less than a cup of coffee. For serious bloggers, it changes nothing. But for automated abuse, it changes everything. Even a minimal financial commitment is enough to discourage the vast majority of bad actors who depend on zero-cost platforms to operate at scale.

Here's what's remarkable: this tiny amount was enough to cut abusive sign-ups. Bad actors rely on volume and zero cost. Remove the zero, and the math stops working for them.

What You Get

For €1/month, you still get everything that made DigitalPress a trusted home for over 15,000 blogs:

• Fully managed Ghost hosting — no servers to maintain
• Automatic updates — always running the latest version of Ghost
• 24/7 uptime monitoring — your blog is available around the clock
• A clean, fast platform — now better protected against misuse

We're Still Committed to Accessible Blogging

We believe everyone deserves a space to publish online. A €1 monthly fee keeps that door wide open while giving us the tools to keep the platform safe and reliable.

If you're ready to start your blog, or want to explore our plans, visit our pricing page to find the option that works best for you.

We're excited about the future of DigitalPress and grateful for the community of creators who make this platform what it is. This small change helps us protect that community and keep building something great together.