If you’re planning to start a blog or build a website, choosing the right content management system (CMS) is one of the first big decisions you’ll face. Two names you’ll hear a lot are Ghost and WordPress. Both are popular tools for creating websites and managing content, but they’re quite different in what they offer and who they’re built for.
According to Web Technology Surveys, WordPress is currently used by 43.5% of all websites, while only 0.1% use Ghost as their CMS. It might seem like a big difference, but there are many WordPress alternatives that are true hidden gems, waiting to be discovered.
So, which one is right for you in 2025? We’ve tested a bunch of different CMSs over time, and now we’re sharing what we learned along the way. Whether you’re starting a personal blog, launching a newsletter, or planning a website for your business, this guide will help you weigh the pros and cons of Ghost vs WordPress to find the perfect fit.
Choosing the right Content Management System – WordPress vs Ghost
Choosing a CMS is about finding the right tool for what you want to do. Ghost CMS and WordPress are two popular options for bloggers and content creators, each with its own strengths.
WordPress gives you lots of control over how your website looks and works. It’s great if you want to customize many different things. Ghost CMS keeps things simple, made for writers and publishers who want something easy to use.
Your best choice depends on what you need. Want to build a website with lots of features or an online store? WordPress might work better for you. If you mainly want to write web content, Ghost could be a better fit.
If you’re just starting out, think about what matters most to you – customization options, ease of use, or specific features you need. The right CMS should help you focus on creating content, not fighting with technology.
Read also: Wix vs. WordPress: Which Blogging Platform is Best for SEO?
Ghost vs WordPress comparison table
| Feature | Ghost | WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Publishing, newsletters, memberships | Blogs, websites, eCommerce, everything |
| Ease of use | Very clean and simple | User-friendly but can get cluttered |
| Customization | Limited themes, less plugin variety | Thousands of themes and plugins |
| Performance | Fast and lightweight | Can be fast, but often bloated |
| Built-in features | Email newsletters, subscriptions, SEO | Basic blog tools — needs plugins for more |
| Monetization | Built-in paid memberships + email | Needs plugins (e.g., WooCommerce, MemberPress) |
| Hosting | Ghost(Pro) or self-hosted (Node.js) | WordPress.com or self-hosted (PHP/MySQL) |
| Developer-friendly | Modern stack (Node.js, handlebars) | Widely supported (PHP, MySQL, REST API) |
| Community & support | Smaller, focused community | Huge global community + plugin ecosystem |
| Pricing | Starts at $9/month (Ghost Pro) | Free core; hosting + plugins vary in cost |
Ghost vs WordPress: Target audience and use cases
Who you are and what you need from a CMS can play a huge role in deciding between Ghost and WordPress. Let’s break it down:
- WordPress: This is the ideal choice for bloggers and website owners who want complete control over their site. With WordPress, you can customize nearly everything – from how your site looks to what it can do. It works well whether you need a straightforward blog, a professional business website, or a fully functional online store.
- Ghost: Ghost CMS is perfect for creators who want a clean, straightforward blogging platform. It’s built specifically for writers, bloggers, and newsletter creators who prefer to focus on their writing rather than spending time with plugins and endless customization options. If your main goal is publishing content without technical distractions, Ghost offers that direct path.
For online stores or advanced websites, WordPress is the best platform because of its ability to integrate advanced features. Ghost, meanwhile, is better suited for minimalist blogs and content-driven newsletters.
Still unsure where you fall? Think about your long-term vision. If you’re planning something like an online store, check out this guide on how to schedule blog posts. It might spark ideas for structuring your goals and your website.
Ghost vs WordPress: Ease of use and learning curve
When it comes to ease of use, Ghost and WordPress take very different approaches.
- WordPress: With so many customization options, WordPress can feel a bit overwhelming when you first start. The learning curve is steeper, especially when you work with plugins, themes, and backend settings – though you don’t need to be a coding expert. Tools like the WordPress block editor and page builder plugins (like Elementor) make creating content easier once you learn how they work. There are also many other plugins that make your life easier, like calendar plugins for WordPress.
- Ghost: Ghost gives you a much simpler, cleaner interface. Since it’s made for writers, you’ll spend less time figuring out technical details and more time creating your content. The trade-off is that you get fewer ways to customize your site, which might not work for you if you want to build something highly personalized.
Ghost vs WordPress: Customization and design
Customization is where WordPress and Ghost truly show their key differences.
- WordPress: With thousands of free and premium themes, plus a huge collection of plugins, WordPress gives you tons of flexibility. You can build almost anything – a personal blog, portfolio, or complex business website. If you use the self-hosted version, you can change almost every part of your site to match exactly what you want.
- Ghost: Ghost keeps things simple. It doesn’t have as many themes and plugins as WordPress, but it comes with clean, modern designs ready to use. If you know some tech stuff, you can create custom themes using Handlebars, but many users might find the limited theme options a bit restrictive.
If you really care about having complete design freedom, WordPress is definitely your better choice. But if you’d rather have a simple setup that lets you focus on writing without distractions, Ghost’s simplicity might be exactly what you need.
WordPress vs Ghost: E-commerce integration
If you’re planning to sell something through your website, your choice between Ghost and WordPress really matters for your online shop options.
- WordPress: WordPress is super powerful for ecommerce. With plugins like WooCommerce, you can sell physical products, digital downloads, or services easily. The platform handles payment systems, inventory tracking, and even advanced features like shipping calculators and tax settings. It supports your online store alongside your blog with lots of tools and add-ons.
- Ghost: Ghost focuses on a different kind of selling – memberships and paid subscriptions. It’s great for creators who want to make money from their content through paid memberships, offering exclusive articles, newsletters, or courses. However, it’s not designed for traditional online stores selling physical products.
If you’re planning to run an e-commerce business selling products, WordPress is a better option. But if you want to build a subscription-based blog where people pay for your content, Ghost might be exactly what you need.
WordPress vs Ghost: Monetization and revenue streams
- WordPress: This platform gives you many ways to make money. You can use ads, affiliate links, online stores, sponsored posts, and more. With the right plugins, you can set up almost any kind of income stream – from membership programs to selling event tickets.
- Ghost: Ghost has a more specific focus for making money. It’s built for content creators who want to offer paid memberships or subscriptions. You can create premium content, newsletters, or courses for paying subscribers, but it doesn’t work well with regular ad networks or have the advanced shop features that WordPress does.
Ghost vs WordPress: Accessibility, SEO, and performance
Your website’s visibility and user experience depend heavily on accessibility, SEO, and performance, and Ghost and WordPress tackle these areas in different ways.
- WordPress: As one of the most popular CMS platforms, WordPress has a primary focus on search engine optimisation. Best SEO plugins for WordPress, like Yoast SEO and Rank Math, make it easy to optimize your content for search engines. WordPress also supports accessibility features such as canonical tags, ARIA tags and Facebook Open Graph tags, which can boost your site’s visibility and usability. Create content with target keyword, optimise urls, clean semantic markup, xml sitemaps and all the other things on your WordPress SEO checklist to improve your search engine rankings.
- Ghost: Ghost site is all about speed and performance. Its lightweight design ensures fast loading times, which is great for user experience and SEO rankings. It also includes built-in SEO tools, like structured data and automatic sitemaps, so you don’t need to install plugins.
WordPress gives you more control over advanced SEO settings and accessibility features, making it a solid choice for bloggers aiming to maximize their online presence. However, if performance and simplicity are your priorities, Ghost delivers a great high-speed experience right out of the box.
Related: How to Add Keywords in WordPress for Better SEO: A Detailed Guide
WordPress vs Ghost: Security and maintenance
Security and maintenance are key factors to consider when choosing between Ghost and WordPress, as both blogging platforms handle these aspects differently.
- WordPress: WordPress’s popularity makes it a target for hackers, but its large community provides many security solutions. Tools like Wordfence and Sucuri can protect your site, and keeping your themes, plugins, and WordPress core updated helps reduce security risks. Many site owners find keeping up with these updates tedious, though.
- Ghost: Ghost comes with fewer security concerns thanks to its simpler design and limited third-party connections. Having fewer components means less maintenance and fewer potential weak points. Ghost also handles core software updates automatically, cutting down on the manual work you need to do.
If you’re comfortable managing updates and adding security layers, WordPress gives you the tools to secure even the most complex sites. For those who prefer a low-maintenance option, Ghost CMS might be a better fit.
Ghost vs WordPress: Scalability and growth
When planning for the future, scalability is an important factor to consider. Both WordPress and Ghost can grow with your website, but they have different strengths in this area since they are designed for different purposes.
- WordPress: WordPress is highly scalable and can handle anything from small personal blogs to large ecommerce websites with massive traffic. Thanks to its large plugin library and customization options, WordPress can grow with you as your website expands. Whether you need to add more features or scale your hosting, WordPress can accommodate these changes.
- Ghost: Ghost is also scalable, but its simplicity can sometimes limit its growth potential. While it’s a great choice for content-focused websites, if you plan to add complex features or extensive customization down the road, you might find Ghost more restrictive. However, if your growth is centered on expanding your audience and increasing subscription revenue, Ghost’s structure is well-suited for that.
WordPress offers more flexibility for growing websites with varied needs. But if your goal is to keep things simple and focus on curated content, Ghost can still grow with you, just in a more limited way.
WordPress vs Ghost: Community and support
Unlike other blogging platforms, WordPress and Ghost have active communities, but they differ in size and resources.
- WordPress: WordPress has one of the largest and most active communities of any CMS. With millions of users worldwide, you can find an abundance of tutorials, forums, blogs, and support forums. There are also thousands of developers and designers available to help with everything from troubleshooting to custom development. The sheer number of resources available makes it easier to find solutions and support for any issues you might encounter.
- Ghost: Ghost’s community is smaller, but it’s still active and growing. The platform has a dedicated group of users, and the official Ghost forums and documentation provide plenty of helpful information. While it might not have the same number of third-party resources as WordPress, the community is known for being passionate and supportive, especially when it comes to content creation.
If you need quick help or want to explore a wide range of solutions, WordPress’s larger community is a great asset. But if you’re looking for a more focused, close-knit group, Ghost’s community can offer great support in a more specialized way.
Ghost vs WordPress: Cost and pricing structure
When it comes to cost, both Ghost and WordPress offer different pricing models, catering to a variety of users from hobbyists to large enterprises.
- WordPress: WordPress itself is free open-source software, but there are costs associated with running a WordPress site. You’ll need to pay for web hosting, which can range from a few dollars per month for basic shared hosting to hundreds for managed WordPress hosting. Additionally, premium themes and plugins can add to the cost, though there are thousands of free options available in the WordPress.org plugin repository. If you opt for a self-hosted WordPress site, you’ll have full control over your expenses, allowing you to scale your investment as your site grows.
- Ghost: Ghost offers a more straightforward pricing model with its hosted service, Ghost(Pro). Pricing starts at $9, which includes hosting, security, and updates. This can be more convenient for users who prefer an all-in-one package without worrying about separate hosting and maintenance costs. However, if you choose to self-host Ghost, you’ll need to consider the costs of a web host, which might be comparable to WordPress hosting prices. Ghost’s focus on memberships and subscriptions makes it a compelling choice for content creators looking to monetize their work.
Ultimately, the cost of using WordPress or Ghost can vary significantly based on your needs. WordPress offers more flexibility in terms of cost management, while the Ghost platform provides a pricing structure for users who prefer simplicity and ease of use.
Conclusion: WordPress vs Ghost
In the WordPress vs Ghost debate, your choice really depends on what you want to do. WordPress works well if you need lots of customization options, want to use free plugins and themes, or need to build complex websites or online stores. It’s flexible enough for bloggers, businesses, and developers.
You might want to check out Strive Calendar for your WordPress blog. It helps you manage when you publish content and makes creating posts easier.
Ghost, however, keeps things simple with a clean, easy-to-use design that focuses on writing and publishing. Writers and bloggers who want something straightforward will appreciate its built-in SEO tools and ways to make money through memberships.
If you want a highly customized website, WordPress probably makes more sense. But if you mainly want to write and share content without compromising your blog content strategy, Ghost might be better for you.
Think about your long-term plans, how tech-savvy you are, what you can afford when deciding. Both platforms have their good points – what matters is picking the one that fits what you want to accomplish with your blog in 2025.
FAQs about Ghost vs WordPress
Is Ghost better than WordPress?
It depends on what you’re looking for. Ghost is great if you want a simple platform focused on content creation, such as blogging or newsletters. It’s a bit easier to use, fast, and ideal for creators who want to focus on writing rather than customization. On the other hand, WordPress is a more flexible platform, perfect for those who want full control over their website’s design and features. If you need a highly customizable site with advanced features or plan to run an e-commerce store, WordPress might be the better choice. Ultimately, it’s about your specific needs and goals.
Is Ghost blogging platform good for SEO?
Yes, Ghost is excellent for SEO. Its built-in features like fast loading speeds, automatic sitemaps, and structured data ensure that your site is optimized for search engines right from the start. Ghost’s simplicity and focus on performance also mean that your website will provide a great user experience, which is a key factor for SEO rankings. While WordPress offers more free plugins and flexibility for SEO, Ghost’s clean and streamlined interface design makes it a strong contender for those who want a fast and SEO-friendly website with less effort.
Can WordPress and Ghost be used for e-commerce?
WordPress is highly suitable for e-commerce thanks to its extensive range of plugins, especially WooCommerce, which allows you to easily create a fully functional online store with ease. It supports various payment gateways, inventory management, and other advanced e-commerce features. Ghost, however, is more focused on content monetization through memberships and subscriptions rather than traditional e-commerce, making it less ideal for selling physical products.
How does the community support differ between WordPress and Ghost?
WordPress boasts one of the largest communities in the CMS world, offering a vast array of tutorials, forums, and third-party resources. There are numerous developers and designers available to assist with custom development and troubleshooting. Ghost has a smaller, more specialized community focused on content creation and web development, with active forums and documentation to support its users. While not as extensive as WordPress, Ghost’s community is passionate and supportive.
What are the hosting requirements for WordPress and Ghost?
WordPress requires a web host that supports PHP and MySQL, and there are many hosting providers offering specialized WordPress hosting plans. Ghost, on the other hand, is built on Node.js, which may require a different hosting setup. Ghost(Pro) offers a managed hosting solution, but if you choose to self-host, you’ll need to ensure your server supports Node.js. Both platforms have hosting solutions tailored to their specific needs, and your choice will depend on your technical preferences and budget.
Are there any hidden costs associated with using WordPress or Ghost?
WordPress itself is free, but you may incur costs for web hosting, premium themes, and plugins. These can add up depending on your customization needs. Ghost offers a straightforward pricing model with its Ghost(Pro) service, which includes hosting and maintenance in the subscription cost. If you opt for self-hosting, you’ll need to pay for a web host. It’s important to consider these potential costs when choosing between the two platforms.