Ghost

ghost.org
Content Management System
Few Days

Turn your audience into a business

How to Replace Ghost

Overview

Ghost is a powerful open source platform for professional publishers to create, share, and grow a business around their content. It provides modern tools to build websites, publish content, send newsletters, and offer paid subscriptions to members. Ghost is independent, open source, and funded 100% by its users with no investors.

Features

66 features across 23 categories

APIs(2)

Admin APIPremium

Full access to Ghost's Admin API for creating, editing, and managing content programmatically

Content API

Full access to Ghost's Content API for reading and displaying content in custom applications

Analytics(6)

Advanced Native AnalyticsPremium

Monitor site performance with detailed native analytics for traffic, engagement, and content insights

Email Analytics

Track email performance with open rates, click rates, and engagement metrics

Member Management

See who's signing up, who's paying, and what they're reading to understand your core audience

Native AnalyticsPremium

Detailed engagement analytics for audience to understand content performance and identify biggest fans

Signup AttributionPremium

Track where new members come from with detailed attribution analytics to understand which content and channels drive signups

Subscriber Engagement Analytics

Track subscriber behavior with detailed engagement metrics to understand reading and clicking patterns

Also in: Hugging Face, Notion, Smartsheet

Audience Management(1)

Member Tagging

Organize and segment members with tags applied automatically based on behavior or manually for targeted groups

Billing(1)

Invoice BillingPremium

Invoice-based billing for enterprise customers

Also in: Insightly, Airtable, Obsidian

Branding(1)

Whitelabel Branding

Complete brand control with your logo and colors, not Ghost branding on website or newsletters

Also in: Lightspeed POS, Lessonly, Setmore

Community(1)

Community Comments

Enable commenting on posts with options to restrict to members only or paid members only

Also in: Squarespace, Hugging Face, Obsidian

Content Creation(5)

Embedded Media

Native integrations for Unsplash, Giphy, YouTube, and social embeds to enrich content

File Uploads

Upload unlimited files with size limits varying by plan: 5MB on Starter, 100MB on Publisher, 250MB on Business, 1GB on Custom

Image Editing

Edit images directly within Ghost with crop, resize, and filter capabilities

Professional Editor

An editor built from the ground-up for professionals with calm design and advanced workflows

Rich Media & Dynamic Cards

Support for image galleries, GIFs, video, audio, products, info boxes, accordion toggles, downloadable files, and bookmarks

Data Management(2)

Automated Backups

Automatic backups of your site data

Member Import/Export

Easily import existing subscriber lists or export member data in CSV format for data migration

Also in: monday.com, Notion, Airtable

Design(1)

Custom ThemesPremium

Choose from hundreds of professionally designed themes in the marketplace or build your own from scratch

Discovery(1)

Ghost Explore Network

Featured in Ghost Explore directory so new readers can discover your content

Distribution(2)

RSS Feeds

RSS feed support for content distribution

Social Web Distribution

Connect publication to social web with ActivityPub integration for discovery across Ghost, WordPress, BlueSky, Threads, Flipboard, Mastodon

Email Marketing(7)

Custom Email Templates

Beautiful responsive email templates that look great on any device with customizable colors, fonts, and layouts

Custom Sending DomainPremium

Send emails from your own domain with DKIM and SPF authentication for better deliverability and branding

Edit Links After Sending

Update links in email newsletters even after they've been sent to fix broken links

Email Newsletters

Deliver posts by email newsletter to audiences with the ability to segment and send multiple newsletters

Managed Deliverability

Professional email infrastructure with high deliverability rates, bounce management, and reputation monitoring

Multiple NewslettersPremium

Create multiple newsletters each with their own subscriptions and design settings

Unlimited Email Sends

Send unlimited emails to subscribers each month with no restrictions

Growth(2)

Member Referral Program

Native integration with First Promoter for seamless member referrals allowing subscribers to earn rewards

Recommendations

Recommend other publications to your audience and get recommended by others to grow readership

Infrastructure(3)

Custom Subdirectory InstallPremium

Run sites on subdirectories like example.com/blog with reverse proxy setup

Fully Managed Service

Managed hosting with no need to handle infrastructure yourself

Worldwide CDN

Global content delivery network for fast content distribution

Integrations(6)

Custom IntegrationsPremium

Build custom integrations with third-party services using Ghost's flexible APIs and webhook system

n8n AutomationPremium

Connect to n8n workflow automation platform for complex workflows with over a thousand services

Slack Integration

Post new messages to Slack anytime new content is published

Third-Party Analytics Integration

Integrate with external analytics platforms like Google Analytics, Plausible, and Fathom

WebhooksPremium

Real-time event notifications sent to applications when things happen in Ghost for automations

Zapier AutomationPremium

Connect Ghost to 5,000+ apps through Zapier for workflow automation and data syncing

Localization(1)

Internationalization

Write content and present website in any language for international subscribers

Maintenance(1)

Automatic Weekly Updates

Automatic software updates every week without manual intervention

Monetization(8)

0% Payment Fees

Process payments without additional transaction fees from Ghost (payment processor fees still apply)

Ad NetworksPremium

Integration with advertising networks including BuySellAds and Google AdSense

Memberships & SubscriptionsPremium

Native signup forms to convert anonymous views into logged-in members with free and paid subscription tiers

Offers & PromotionsPremium

Create discounts and special promotions like Black Friday sales to grow subscriber base

Paid SubscriptionsPremium

Accept payments from members using Stripe integration for subscriptions and one-time payments

Premium TiersPremium

Offer multiple membership products with unique prices, benefits, and content access levels

Special OffersPremium

Create time-limited promotions and discounts to encourage member growth during key marketing periods

Tips/DonationsPremium

Collect one-time payments as tips to support work or donations with flexible payment amounts

SEO(1)

Advanced SEO Tools

Built-in SEO features including meta tags, structured data, XML sitemaps, and canonical URLs

Security(7)

Custom SSL CertificatePremium

Support for custom SSL certificates with additional cost

Device Verification

Automatic device verification with email codes for logins from unknown devices

Enterprise-Grade Security

Integration with Fastly with 24/7 DDoS mitigation, Web Application Firewall, brute force protection, and rate limiting

Free SSL Certificate

Free SSL certificate for all sites

Single Sign-On (SSO)Premium

Enterprise-grade authentication with SSO support for SAML, OAuth, and other identity providers

Threat & Uptime Management

24/7 monitoring and management of threats and server uptime

Two-Factor Authentication

Email-based two-factor authentication (2FA) for staff accounts

Site Building(2)

Custom Domain Support

Free custom domain with ghost.io subdomain by default and support for any custom domain via CNAME DNS record

Website Builder

Launch a custom website with complete control over branding and design settings

Support(4)

Account ManagerPremium

Dedicated account manager for enterprise customers

Deliverability ConsultationPremium

Expert guidance on email deliverability best practices and sender reputation management

Priority SupportPremium

Priority email support for faster response times

Uptime SLAPremium

99.9% uptime SLA guarantee

Team Collaboration(1)

Staff User Management

Multiple staff users can log in and publish posts with different roles including Author, Editor, Administrator, and Owner

Pricing

Starter

$18 USD/mo billed yearly
  • Your own website
  • Free custom domain
  • Email newsletter
  • Simple design settings
  • 1 staff user
  • 5MB file uploads
  • Whitelabel branding
  • Custom domain support
  • Internationalization
  • 1,000 registered members
  • Community comments
  • Social web distribution
  • Ghost Explore network
  • Recommendations
  • Member referral program
  • Advanced SEO tools
  • RSS feeds
  • Unlimited email sends
  • Custom email templates
  • Managed deliverability
  • 1 newsletter
  • Subscriber engagement analytics
  • Email analytics
  • Third-party analytics integration
  • Embedded media
  • Image editing
  • Slack integration
  • Content API
  • Fully managed service
  • Automatic weekly updates
  • Worldwide CDN
  • Enterprise-grade security
  • Threat & uptime management
  • Automated backups
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Device verification
  • Two-factor authentication

Publisher

$29 USD/mo billed yearly
  • 3 staff users
  • Custom themes
  • 8,000+ integrations
  • Paid subscriptions
  • Advanced analytics
  • 1,000 members
  • 100MB file uploads
  • Marketplace themes
  • Custom themes
  • Paid subscriptions
  • Premium tiers
  • 3 premium tiers
  • Special offers
  • 0% transaction fees
  • Ad networks
  • Zapier automation
  • n8n automation
  • Custom integrations
  • Admin API
  • Webhooks
  • Multiple newsletters
  • Custom sending domain
  • Advanced native analytics
  • Signup attribution
  • Tips/donations
  • Email support
  • All Starter features

Business

$199 USD/mo billed yearly
  • 15 staff users
  • Priority support
  • Higher usage limits
  • Early access to features
  • 1,000 members
  • 250MB file uploads
  • 10,000 registered members
  • 3 premium tiers
  • 15 special offers
  • 10 newsletters
  • Advanced native analytics
  • All Publisher features
  • Higher limits overall
  • Early feature access

Custom

Custom
  • Unlimited staff users
  • Advanced configurations
  • Dedicated IP address
  • 99.9% uptime SLA
  • Unlimited members
  • 1GB file uploads
  • Unlimited premium tiers
  • Unlimited special offers
  • Unlimited newsletters
  • Custom SSL certificate
  • Custom subdirectory install
  • SSO (Single Sign-On)
  • Account manager
  • Invoice billing
  • Deliverability consultation
  • All Business features

Cost Calculator

Pricing data not available for Ghost. Check their website for current pricing.

Build vs Buy

Should you build a Ghost alternative or buy the subscription? Estimate based on 66 features.

Buy Ghost

Better Value
Monthly costContact Sales
3-year totalVaries
Time to deployDays

Build Your Own

Development cost$60,000
Maintenance$900/mo
3-year total$92,400
Dev time~5 months

Buying Ghost saves ~$92,400 over 3 years vs building.

Estimates based on 66 features and a BuildScore of 4/5. Actual costs vary.

Integrations

46 known integrations

ActiveCampaignActivityPubAirTableBlueSkyBufferBuySellAdsChartMogulCoveDiscordDiscourseFacebookFastlyFathomFeedlyFirst PromoterFlipboardGeckoBoardGiphyGitHubGoogle AdSenseGoogle AnalyticsHelpScoutiA WriterImgurInstagramIntercomLet's EncryptMailchimpMastodonn8nNetlifyPinterestPlausibleSlackSpotifyStripeTallyThreadsTwitterUdeslyUlyssesUnsplashVimeoWordPressYouTubeZapier