Ghost alternatives – See how Ghost compares to the rest
Hey there! If you’re deep in the research process of choosing a new publishing platform then you’re probably looking to compare Ghost with other options to figure out whether it might be right for you. To help make this as easy as possible, we’ve put together a detailed overview of how Ghost stacks up to the rest.
Below you’ll find a high level comparison of the main features, links to in-depth profiles of different products, and even a set of cases where Ghost is not the best choice, and recommendations for what might work better!
| Ghost | BeeHiiv | Substack | WordPress | Medium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $15/mo | From $43/mo | 10% of your revenue | From $35/mo | Free (ish) |
| Open source | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Native email newsletters | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Run a membership business | ✅ Yes, with 0% transaction fees |
✅ Yes, with 0% transaction fees |
⚠️ Yes, with 10% transaction fees |
❌ Using a premium plugin only | ❌ No independent memberships |
| Secure content protection | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Native SEO features | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No |
Why isn’t Ghost free? I want a free platform
All companies have to find some way to stay in business, so if a product is free then often that means your private data is being sold and shared with advertisers and investors. If you’re just making a small blog to write on a couple of times a year and don’t care about issues like this, then Medium is easy to get started with.
On the other hand if you have plans for a more serious publication, that’s where Ghost really shines. You control everything, and have security that the platform you rely on isn’t going to disappear in the next few years.
I want a simple click’n’drag website builder
Ghost is focused on professional publishing, and is deeply customisable for professional use by a small team of developers. If you’re looking for a simple website builder where you can click and drag elements around to create some basic marketing pages, check out Squarespace.
I’m trying to build a complicated site with many features
Ghost is focused on professional publishing, and we cater specifically to that use case. If you’re trying to build custom features, data structures, job boards, ecommerce stores, digital downloads or other types of website which are not related specifically to publishing — Ghost probably won’t be the best fit for you! Check out WordPress which, with enough plugins, can do just about anything.
I need a great authoring experience
Ghost is best suited for people who want to build a business around publishing. The platform comes with everything you need to publish content, including a familiar editor, built-in SEO functionality, sensible content management and flexible themes. This is why thousands of businesses choose Ghost to tell their story.
I want secure, protected members-only content
Ghost provides 100% secure server-side content gating for members-only content, allowing you to publish to a limited audience. It is not possible to achieve this from most other platforms like Squarespace, Wix, Memberstack, SentryLogin, Piano and others — which are insecure and easily bypassed.
If you want secure, member-based publishing where you have full control and ownership of both your content and the platform itself, Ghost is a good choice.
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