Ghost vs WordPress is a choice between a publishing tool and a general site builder. Pick Ghost for newsletters and paid memberships. Pick WordPress when the site must do more than publish.
We read Ghost’s pricing page, docs and changelog and the WordPress.org pages in October 2026. We also tested a fresh WordPress 7.1.3 site. We did not install Ghost and took every Ghost detail from Ghost’s own pages.
This guide compares both platforms on memberships, cost, themes, SEO and upkeep. It also shows how to move content in either direction.
Ghost vs WordPress at a Glance
Ghost is an open source publishing platform with memberships, newsletters and analytics built in. WordPress is general site software that adds those features through plugins. Ghost suits a focused publication, and WordPress suits blogs, business sites and stores that need room to grow.
| Feature | Ghost | WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Memberships | Built in with free and paid tiers | Added with plugins |
| Email newsletters | Built in | Added with plugins |
| Hosting | Ghost(Pro) or your own server | Any host you choose |
| Starting price | $15 a month on yearly billing | Free software plus hosting |
| SEO basics | Listed as built in | Partly in core and extended by plugins |
| Best for | Newsletters and paid publications | Blogs and business sites and stores |
The Ghost prices come from its pricing page, as of October 2026. The WordPress row reflects that the software is free from WordPress.org and you pay a host.
What Is Ghost CMS?
Ghost is an open source publishing platform that runs on Node.js. Its home page calls the project independent and funded by its users. The core features are memberships with free or paid tiers, email newsletters and native analytics that ship with the software.
Ghost 6.0 shipped on August 4, 2025. Its changelog lists a social web feature built on ActivityPub, native analytics built on Tinybird and a rebuilt editor. It also lists native comments and native search.
The social web feature lets readers on Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads and other networks follow your publication. The changelog says it is free and works on Ghost(Pro) and self-hosted sites.
The same changelog says Google AMP support is deprecated. Older Ghost reviews that praise AMP support are out of date.
What Is WordPress?
WordPress is free site software from WordPress.org that you install on a host you choose. The current download is WordPress 7.1.3, as listed on the WordPress.org download page. Its editor is the block editor, a modular system of blocks according to the block editor handbook.
Out of the box it is a blank workspace. The admin menu on our test site listed Posts, Media, Pages, Comments, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Tools and Settings. It showed no membership or newsletter screen.
That blank start is the whole trade. You assemble the features you need from plugins and themes, and you own every choice.
Memberships and Newsletters Compared
Ghost has memberships and newsletters built in, and WordPress adds both through plugins. A Ghost publication can take signups, send email and charge for access without extra software. A WordPress site needs a separate plugin for each of those jobs and for the settings that connect them.
Ghost’s home page lists memberships with free or paid monthly and yearly tiers. It also lists newsletters that you can segment across several lists. Ghost’s pricing page says every plan has no payment fees, and paid subscriptions start on the Publisher plan.
On WordPress the choice is wider and harder. On 15 October 2026 a search for “membership” in Plugins > Add Plugin returned 2,118 items. A search for “newsletter” returned 1,779 items.
Membership plugins cover paid access. Each plugin brings its own settings, updates and price. That freedom helps when your site needs unusual rules and costs time when you only want a newsletter.
Editor and Daily Writing Experience
Ghost 6.0 ships a rebuilt editor with native comments and native search, according to its changelog. WordPress uses the block editor, where a slash opens a list of blocks. We used only the WordPress editor, and the Ghost side rests on Ghost’s own description.
On our test site the WordPress editor opened with a title field, a block prompt and a Post panel. The panel listed status, publish date, slug, author, template, discussion and format.
Teams should count seats before they pick a plan. Ghost’s pricing page lists 3 staff users on Publisher and 15 on Business. Check your writers and editors against those numbers.
How Much Do Ghost and WordPress Cost?
Ghost(Pro) starts at $15 a month on yearly billing, and WordPress software is free but needs hosting. The two prices cover different things and need a fair comparison. Ghost(Pro) includes hosting, members and email, while a WordPress host covers the server only.
| Ghost(Pro) plan | Yearly billing | Monthly billing | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $15 a month | $18 a month | Own website and custom domain and newsletter |
| Publisher | $29 a month | $35 a month | Custom themes and paid subscriptions and advanced analytics |
| Business | $199 a month | $239 a month | 15 staff users and priority support and 10,000 members |
The figures are from Ghost’s pricing page for an audience of up to 1,000 members, as of October 2026. The page changes its price with audience size.
For WordPress, Hostinger’s WordPress hosting page shows the Premium plan at $2.99 a month on a 48-month term. That term costs $143.52 upfront and renews at $10.99 a month. The plan lists 3 websites, a free domain for one year and weekly backups.
Here is a worked example with round numbers. A year of Ghost Starter on yearly billing is $15 times 12, or $180. A year of that WordPress host at the renewal price is $10.99 times 12, or $131.88.
The WordPress figure leaves out a domain and any paid plugins. The Ghost figure leaves out nothing for members or email up to its limits. Add the plugins you would need before you compare totals.
Ghost’s pricing page offers a “Try for free” button on each plan. It does not state the trial length. Check it when you sign up.
Themes and Design Control
Both platforms let you change the look of your site, and Ghost ties custom themes to its plan. Ghost’s Starter plan lists simple design settings and custom themes appear on Publisher and above. WordPress lets you install any theme on your own host.
Ghost’s home page says hundreds of marketplace themes are available, and you can also build a custom design.
On our WordPress 7.1.3 test site the install shipped with four default themes.
Ghost marks the line on its pricing page. Starter lists simple design settings, and Publisher adds custom themes. If you plan a custom design, budget for Publisher from the start.
A theme controls more than looks on both platforms. It decides how fast the site feels and how much layout freedom you get. Test a theme on a staging copy before you commit.
SEO Features Compared
Ghost lists its SEO basics as built in, and a fresh WordPress install covers only some of them. Ghost’s SEO help page names metadata, social tags, an XML sitemap, canonical tags and structured data. WordPress core adds a sitemap and a canonical tag, and plugins fill the rest.
We tested that on a fresh WordPress 7.1.3 site with no plugins. A page had a canonical tag, and the site served a sitemap at wp-sitemap.xml. We found no meta description, no Open Graph tags and no structured data.
Ghost’s SEO page says it creates metadata and an XML sitemap and adds canonical tags and structured data automatically. We did not run Ghost and did not check that output ourselves.
WordPress plugins close the gap. Our own site uses Rank Math for titles, descriptions and schema. A plugin adds setup work, but it also gives you more control than a fixed set of built-in fields.
Can Ghost Run an Online Store?
Ghost is built to sell memberships and subscriptions, and WordPress is the better base for a product store. Ghost’s feature list covers memberships, newsletters, analytics and themes but names no product catalog or cart. A shop needs a different platform.
Ghost’s pricing page does list paid subscriptions and tips on its Publisher plan. Those sell access to your writing. They do not replace a store with products, stock and shipping.
WordPress stores usually run on WooCommerce, a plugin from the WordPress.org directory. Hostinger’s plan list marks eCommerce as available on its WordPress plans.
Our team builds WooCommerce extensions and is an official WooCommerce core contributor. We lean toward WordPress for shops. Our guide to WordPress and WooCommerce explains how the two relate.
Speed and Upkeep
Ghost needs a specific server stack when you host it yourself, while WordPress runs on common hosting. We did not benchmark either platform and make no claim about a speed winner. Upkeep is the clearer difference, and it shows up in server setup and in updates.
Ghost’s Ubuntu install guide lists Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 or 26.04 and NGINX. It also lists a supported Node.js version, MySQL 8.0 or 8.4, systemd and at least 1GB of memory. You need a domain with a DNS record in place first.
WordPress.org recommends PHP 8.3 or greater, MariaDB 10.11 or greater or MySQL 8.0 or greater, and HTTPS. Check your host’s PHP and database versions against those numbers.
The Ghost 6.0 changelog warns that self-hosted upgrades include breaking changes. It recommends extra time and backups.
On WordPress, upkeep means updating the core, themes and plugins. Our guides to a WordPress security checklist and a WordPress care plan cover that routine.
Ghost(Pro) vs Self-Hosted Ghost
Ghost(Pro) is Ghost managed hosting, and self-hosting means you run the software on your own server. The choice changes which Ghost 6 features you get. Native analytics and the social web service work most simply on Ghost(Pro) and take extra setup elsewhere.
The changelog says analytics are included on Ghost(Pro) from the Publisher plan up. Self-hosters can use them with a free Tinybird account and their own API key.
Ghost’s install guide adds a limit for Ghost-CLI installs. It says they support social web features only through Ghost’s hosted ActivityPub service. It also says they are not compatible with web analytics.
Self-hosting also means you handle updates and backups yourself. Ghost’s install guide says it suits anyone comfortable installing, maintaining and updating their own software. Ghost(Pro) removes that work for a monthly fee.
Self-hosters who want both analytics and the social web service need the Docker Compose method. The changelog calls it a developer preview and says it becomes the default in Ghost 7.0.
How to Move Between Ghost and WordPress
You can move content between the two platforms in either direction. Ghost has a WordPress importer built into its admin and lists it next to its other import tools. A Ghost to WordPress migration takes an extra conversion step, because the two platforms use different export formats.
Move From WordPress to Ghost
Ghost’s WordPress migration guide describes the built-in migrator. It imports posts and pages. It also imports WordPress categories as tags.
- Export from WordPress: Create an XML export of your content in Tools > Export.
- Open the migrator: In Ghost Admin go to Settings > Advanced > Import/Export and choose WordPress.
- Upload and review: Add the XML file and check the counts it shows.
- Import the content: Click Import content.
The guide lists limits. The XML file can be up to 100 MB and 2,500 posts. Custom post types are not supported, and you may need redirects so backlinks reach the right pages.
Move From Ghost to WordPress
Ghost’s export help page says to open Settings > Advanced > Import/Export, choose the Export tab and click All data. The zip holds posts, pages and tags as JSON.
WordPress cannot read that JSON directly. A community converter such as ghost-to-wp turns the export into a WordPress XML file.
You then run the WordPress Importer from Tools > Import. Test the whole move on a staging site first.
Which Platform Should You Choose?
In the Ghost vs WordPress choice you pick Ghost when you run a publication and want newsletters and memberships without plugins. Pick WordPress when the site may grow into a store, a directory or a business site. Neither wins every project, and the WordPress vs Ghost question has no single answer.
Here is a quick guide:
- A paid newsletter: Ghost, because memberships and email are built in.
- A blog that may add a store later: WordPress, because shops run on it. See our comparison of WordPress and WooCommerce.
- A business site with custom features: WordPress, because themes and plugins give you the room.
- A personal blog with no budget: WordPress on low-cost hosting, or a free trial of Ghost(Pro).
A WordPress site that needs custom features is where a developer saves the most time. If that is you, our WordPress development services cover custom builds. You can also read how to create a WordPress site from scratch or what self-hosted WordPress involves.
Conclusion
Ghost vs WordPress has a clear answer once you know what you publish. Ghost fits a newsletter or paid publication, and WordPress fits any site that needs more than that.
Compare the totals before you commit. Ghost(Pro) bundles hosting, members and email, while WordPress costs less to start and more as you add plugins.
Test your choice on a free trial or a staging site. Both platforms let you export your content. A wrong first pick is fixable.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Is Ghost free?
The Ghost software is open source and you can host it yourself. Ghost(Pro), the managed service, is paid. Its pricing page shows plans from $15 a month on yearly billing and a “Try for free” button, without a stated trial length.
Q2. Can Ghost replace WordPress for a business website?
It can for a publication, but it is a poor fit for a store. Ghost’s home page lists memberships, newsletters, analytics and themes but no online shop. A store is better built on WordPress.
Q3. Does Ghost still support AMP?
No. The Ghost 6.0 changelog says Google AMP support is deprecated. Any review that counts AMP as a Ghost feature predates that release.
Q4. How many posts can Ghost import from WordPress?
Ghost’s migration guide says the migrator accepts an XML file of up to 100 MB and 2,500 posts. Larger sites need Ghost’s migration tools or its migrations team, according to the same guide.
Q5. Can WordPress readers follow a Ghost site?
Ghost 6.0 added social web support. Its changelog says people can follow, like and reply to posts from clients on networks such as Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads and WordPress.
Q6. Which costs less over a year?
It depends on what you need. Ghost Starter on yearly billing is $15 times 12, or $180. A WordPress host at Hostinger’s renewal price is $10.99 times 12, or $131.88, before a domain and plugins.
Q7. Is a Ghost site harder to host yourself than WordPress?
Ghost’s install guide recommends a specific stack of Ubuntu, NGINX, MySQL and Node.js. WordPress asks only for PHP, a database and HTTPS. Check that your host supplies all three.
