Case Study: Ghost achieves $750k ARR and public transparency with ChartMogul

Ghost’s public ChartMogul dashboard 750k ARR through transparency and non-profit growth

Ghost is an open‑source, non‑profit blogging platform aimed at modern journalists, built on a values-driven mission of transparency and independence. With modest 25% YoY growth and no VC backing, the team needed a way to monitor sustainability (MRR/ARR), share financials publicly, and maintain trust while scaling a hosted SaaS service that funds the project.

Ghost powered a public metrics dashboard using ChartMogul’s API and gave internal access to its account so the team could monitor and act on data. The approach validated sustainability—Ghost reached roughly $757K ARR, became profitable in month 11 after a $300K Kickstarter, improved operations by surfacing bugs and anomalies, and reinforced community trust through visible, measurable progress.

Ghost

John O’Nolan Ghost

Founder and CEO