Why I'm Still Paying for Ghost.io
A very simple explanation of why I am sticking with Ghost.io and paying for their service.
I'll keep this short, but I've had multiple friends ask me about why I pay for this when I've literally shown them how to install it as a static website on an S3 bucket for a fraction of the cost. Before I even say more, I'm not going to link to that information, but you can search for it if you're curious. Some of the configuration is dated as I write this, so that is my heads-up to you.
Ghost.io is a great piece of software and the team behind it is doing a wonderful job. It is Open Source software and the company is setup as a nonprofit so the revenue in goes back to improving the product. Even just a few years ago, the software was dramatically simpler and limited in terms of integrations. Now, it even has metrics with the intent for individuals to support themselves and you can even use the platform viably for business.
Furthermore, the team is extremely transparent; you can read all about the company on their "about" page: https://ghost.org/about/. In short, ghost is a great blog engine. I've been with them for years and won't be stopping any time soon.
So if you are exploring blog engines or giving Facebook your data for no good reason, I'd otherwise suggest that you support ghost with $9 dollars a month for your personal blog: https://ghost.org/pricing/. Whlie I haven't used it from a business perspective, I would encourage you to consider that, as well.