Ghost vs WordPress
Ghost
ghost.orgWordPress
wordpress.orgSide by side
| Figure | Ghost | WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $18/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 2 |
| Spec score · Blogging Platforms | 8.9 (#9) | 9.1 (#5) |
| Spec score · Blog Software | 8.7 (#3) | 8.4 (#7) |
| Spec score · Website Template Marketplaces | 8.5 (#7) | 8.2 (#13) |
| Spec score · Website Development tools | 8.7 (#7) | 8.2 (#18) |
| Founded | 2013 | 2003 |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| App Integrations | Ghost connects with services including Stripe, Zapier, Slack, YouTube, Google Analytics, and GitHub. | Capterra lists integrations including Google Docs, Google Drive, PayPal, Slack, Trello, Dropbox, Salesforce Sales Cloud, and Microsoft 365. |
Plans
Ghost
- Starter$18 a month
- Publisher$29 a month
- Business$199 a month
- CustomPriced on request
In their own words
Ghost
Ghost is an open-source blog and newsletter platform for professional publishers, with tools for publishing, memberships, analytics, and editorial workflows. It runs on the web and supports custom domains, theme customization, SEO tools, multilingual content, and CSV export. Publishers can send multiple email newsletters and offer free or paid memberships with monthly or yearly billing. The editor supports galleries, GIFs, video, audio, products, files, and bookmarks. Integrations include Stripe, Zapier, Slack, YouTube, Google Analytics, and GitHub. Paid plans start at $18/mo (annual), with a 14-day trial and no permanent free plan. Starter costs $18 a month, billed yearly, and includes 1,000 members, one staff user, and a 5 MB file upload limit. Ghost charges a 0% fee on publication revenue; payment processor fees still apply. Ghost(Pro) includes security protections, while all plans include device verification and email-based two-factor authentication.
WordPress
WordPress is a free, open-source publishing platform and content management system for websites, blogs, portals, and applications. You can build pages with blocks and themes, then customize them without code. Plugins add capabilities including stores, analytics, newsletters, social integrations, forms, and spam protection. Publishing controls cover drafts, scheduled posts, revisions, public or private material, and password-protected posts and pages. WordPress also provides media uploading and editing, with roles for administrators, editors, authors, contributors, and subscribers. Developers can create plugins, themes, custom content types, and integrations through the REST API. The software is available in more than 70 languages and licensed under GPLv2-or-later, permitting use, modification, and redistribution, including commercial projects, without licensing fees. You can install it on your own hosting and domain or use a hosting provider. Recommended requirements include PHP 8.3 or later, MariaDB 10.11 or later or MySQL 8.0 or later, and HTTPS.