Currently, most ad networks require an ads.txt file on the website.
The process right now is adding ads.txt to the theme folder and reuploading it within the dashboard.
The problem is that the starter plan doesn’t allow “custom themes”, even if the only change you made to a default theme was adding ads.txt
If Ghost wants to see users stay on their managed hosting service, or even upgrade the tier of their plan, they should allow users to make money from ads. It’s hard to have a sustainable website if it isn’t making money.
I don’t even think ads.txt should be related to a custom theme, normally it would just go in a root folder that has nothing to do with themes.
Maybe adding an ads.txt feature within the dashboard area under “Labs” would be a good idea. Where users can edit the text of ads.txt, or upload an ads.txt file
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I know that this issue is quite real and is a repost of this post, but I personally think it is a topic that could use a little more discussion.
However, I also believe that there is a good reason behind this issue not being resolved for so long, so I would like to be a little more patient and see where this issue goes.
Just to mention, though, that maybe, just maybe, the category is the wrong one in terms of resubmitting requests (you might want to vote on the original post, or post your opinion in the new Ideas category).
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They just copied and pasted my post, lol. But yeah, I’m surprised it only got 3 votes.
Since then, I’ve just monetized my site in other ways. I’ve tried a few ad networks that don’t use ads.txt, but they all had sketchy ads like the fake download buttons or annoying fake malware popups. I would consider Adsense or Mediavine if an ads.txt feature was added to Ghost.
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Yeah bro I apologise for copying and pasting your suggestion. I was going through exactly same issue as you were once, so I just copied your post expecting that Ghost staff will notice our concern.
Even I’m thinking of migrating my site to another hosting platform. Sad life🥲 and sorry for copying your post.
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I also upgraded my plan just to upload Ads.txt for use with Google AdSense.
I was quite confused when I upgraded my plan just to upload a file that was less than 60 bytes.
But when I saw the number of votes for that post by chillbilldill.com, I knew I had no choice but to upgrade my plan.
For some reason, judging by the number of votes, there doesn’t seem to be much demand on the forum for the ability to upload Ads.txt, but I’m going to wait patiently 
.
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Edit: Has anyone found a solution to adding ads.txt with a “starter plan” without the need to upgrade?
Thank you.
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I would like to do it too but I don’t think it’s possible…
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If you’re a Ghost Pro customer (hosted on ghost.io), you could contact them directly to ask if they can add ads.txt for you. Since the starter plan doesn’t allow you to upload a theme, I’m not sure there’s a workaround anyone on the forum can offer you.
Hang on… what about this? Looks like you can do a single redirect to an ads.txt file hosted elsewhere…
Source:
Ads.txt FAQs - Google AdSense Help
I’m pretty sure the starter plan allows you to upload a redirects file, so this might be a good workaround?
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Oh nice, do you think that hosting the ads.txt file on Google Drive and redirect it from Ghost to Drive could work?
The docs say that one direct will be followed if you’re changing domains. So you’re going to make sure that whatever link you produce is not a redirect. Google Drive can be complicated to get a simple link out of… some other free option might be easier. (Netlify, maybe?)
I hosted the file on a free space in my domain name host.
I already have a redirects.yaml file on Ghost… Do you think I can use it to point if to my ads.txt file?
Yes. Should be as easy as adding another line !
I added the following line after all the others lines in the yaml file ;
/ads.txt: http://cluster-URL-of-my-domain-provided-by-my-host/ads.txt
Then I validated the change in Google Adsense but it doesn’t seem to work… 
Oh my god, it’s working now!
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That’s great. Thanks for reporting back! Did you need to change anything?
No thanks, but I wonder if Ghost Pro doesn’t block Adsense inside the articles.
Because I see ads everywhere but not inside the articles 
Ghost Pro is just Ghost, hosted by the Ghost team. I think it’s more likely that you need to adjust your adsense configuration. Are you using auto ads, or something else?
Yes I use auto ads.
They were working like a charm in my former Wordpress blog.
But they don’t work inside the articles in Ghost
Or maybe it’s the theme “Source” who is not “adsense friendly”, I don’t know.
Take a look at #3 of this tutorial - you could put an ad block in the middle of a post using the HTML card.
