Ghost vs WordPress.com

Compare Ghost and WordPress.com for your content needs. Find out what actual users are saying about each product and which one is best suited for you!

Ghost
Ghost
Ghost is a powerful platform for professional publishers to create, share, and grow a business around their content. It integrates publishing, newsletters, memberships, and payments seamlessly.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com
Build your site with the ease of WordPress, trusted by millions. Create blogs, eCommerce sites, and more. Get started today!

What Users Say

See what users who have used Ghost and WordPress.com have to say about their overall experience with the product.

Ghost's Key Strengths

Read what users love about Ghost.

WordPress.com's Key Strengths

Read what users love about WordPress.com.

Ghost's Key Issues

Read what issues users have with Ghost.

WordPress.com's Key Issues

Read what issues users have with WordPress.com.

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What Marketers & Content Creators Say

Hear from the users who uses Ghost and WordPress.com daily about their experience with the editors.

Ghost's Editorial Experience Highlights

What marketers love about Ghost's editor.

WordPress.com's Editorial Experience Highlights

What marketers love about WordPress.com's editor.

Ghost's Editorial Experience Issues

What marketers dislike about Ghost's editor.

WordPress.com's Editorial Experience Issues

What marketers dislike about WordPress.com's editor.

Mobile Editing

Find out how the platforms handle the mobile-first experience for the new generation of workforce on the move.

Ghost:
Not Suitable for Mobile

Ghost CMS lacks a true mobile editor experience. Users report significant limitations while editing on mobile devices.

"I find it awkward that mobile Safari editing isn’t supported in Ghost admin... It would be tremendously useful to be able to write and edit blog posts on the go from mobile devices."
Source
"Though WP is great it is not just for blogging... But what could I win by switching to Ghost if WordPress worked out very well?"
Source
"Previewing, publishing and scheduling content is accessed from the top of the editor, with live previews for desktop, mobile, email and social."
Source
"Ghost is not mobile friendly... mobile devices are not fully supported."
Source
WordPress.com:
Not Suitable for Mobile

The WordPress mobile app does not support effective content creation for mobile users, leading to frustration.

"The WordPress mobile experience (especially in the block editor) leaves a lot to be desired, given that some settings and sections disappear entirely in portrait mode on mobile."
Source
"WordPress offers responsive themes and plugins, but lacks a dedicated mobile editing experience that truly supports mobile-first content creation."
Source
"WordPress does not have a dedicated mobile editor, limiting the ability to create and edit content effectively on mobile devices."
Source

Automatic Content Linking

Find out if the platform supports automatic linking of related content to help user discover more content without additional manual effort from the marketer. This automatically create topical clusters of content and is essential for SEO.

Ghost:
No Automatic Content Linking

Ghost CMS does not support automatic related blog linking; users must manually configure related posts in their themes.

"Ghost automatically creates and updates an XML sitemap for your website to help search engines understand the structure of your site and find all of its content."
Source
"To create a related posts section in Ghost, you'll need to make some modifications to your theme."
Source
WordPress.com:
AI-Powered Related Content

WordPress supports automatic linking of related posts based on content, tags, and categories.

"Related Posts uses your post content, tags, and categories to automatically generate a list of relevant posts on your site."
Source
"I have created a tool that automatically create blog titles, outlines and complete blog articles directly to your WordPress site."
Source
"It has a nice feature that auto updating internal links when post slugs changes."
Source

Automatic CTA Linking

Find out if the platform supports automatic display of Call-to-Actions using AI to help users take actions that are relevant to the content they are reading.

Ghost:
No Automatic CTA Linking

Ghost CMS does not support automatic CTA linking features based on current information obtained from various sources.

"This is indeed a built-in feature in Ghost. It's called public ... How to Use the Public Preview & Custom Content CTA in Ghost CMS."
Source
"In Ghost 3.0 some Ghost themes had a hard coded (in most cases blurred) text when users did not have access to that post."
Source
"Wondering how we can add an in-line button to a blog post? We have a that we have a..."
Source
WordPress.com:
Manual CTA Linking

Limited support for automatic CTA linking exists through specific plugins like MailOptin and Icegram.

"MailOptin CTA implementation comes in two forms. Options to customize the button to match content."
Source
"Use the calls-to-action (CTA) tool to create button CTAs, banners, or pop-ups to add to your HubSpot pages."
Source
"Icegram Engage allows users to create effective CTAs easily and offers multiple CTA button options."
Source

Comments

Find out if the platform supports comments from your users to improve user engagement. This is often a great way to collect feedback and user emails.

Ghost:
Comments Supported

Ghost has a built-in commenting feature integrated with memberships, allowing users to comment if they are registered members.

"Member commenting can be enabled for either All members or Paid-members only from within Ghost Admin."
Source
"We built Ghost Comments with features that allow users to comment directly on your website."
Source
"Ghost's built-in comments feature is a part of the memberships feature - there is no way to use it without being a registered member on your site."
Source
"The complete guide to comments includes tutorials for using the built-in comment feature."
Source
WordPress.com:
Comments Supported

WordPress has built-in commenting features with approval, notification, and spam control options.

"Comments allow your website's visitors to have a discussion with you and each other. You can turn comments on or off by following the steps in this guide."
Source
"Log in to your WordPress Dashboard. Go to Settings > Discussion. Check or Uncheck Allow People to Post Comments on New Articles."
Source
"WordPress comments are an integral part of any blog powered by WordPress. They allow you to engage with your audience."
Source

Multi-tenancy

Find out if the platform supports managing multiple clients or projects within a single account. This is useful for agencies, multi-client or multi-project scenarios.

Ghost:
No Multi-tenancy

Ghost CMS does not support multi-tenancy; each site needs a separate Ghost account.

"Ghost is not multi-tenant, and does not have the ability to run multiple sites off a single instance."
Source
"No, it is not possible (currently) to run many blogs under many domains, served by one installation of Ghost."
Source
"If you need to create multiple sites each with their own domain, you would need to create separate Ghost(Pro) accounts."
Source
WordPress.com:
Multi-tenancy Supported

WordPress supports multi-tenancy via multisite with isolated site resources and databases.

"WordPress multisite, creating a SaaS out of a plugin, running an agency more efficiently... Will multi-tenancy be the solution of the future?"
Source
"For WordPress, multitenancy means multiple WordPress sites running off a single WordPress codebase."
Source

What Developers Say

Hear from developers who've integrated and built on Ghost and WordPress.com about their experiences.

Ease of Integrating Ghost:
Medium
Integration is achievable but requires technical knowledge and manual setup for optimal function.
Ease of Integrating WordPress.com:
Medium
Integration requires knowledge of plugins and configurations, but manageable with guidance.

Ghost's DX Highlights

What developers love about building with Ghost.

WordPress.com's DX Highlights

What developers love about building with WordPress.com.

Ghost's DX Issues

What developers dislike about building with Ghost.

WordPress.com's DX Issues

What developers dislike about building with WordPress.com.

Content Modelling

Find out how developers model and manage their content with the platform with key highlights and limitations.

Ghost:
Limited Customisation

Ghost CMS allows custom content types via collections and tags, but has inherent limitations compared to fully customizable CMS.

"Posts are created within Ghost-Admin using the editor to determine your site’s main content. Within them are all the fields which you might expect such as title, description, slug, metadata, authors, tags and so on."
Source
"Using custom routing, it's possible to create content collections just like this. You can define a content collection with tags, allowing a post to live in only one collection at a time."
Source
"The Content API provides access to Posts, Pages, Tags, Authors, Tiers, and Settings. All endpoints return JSON and are considered stable."
Source
WordPress.com:
Customisable Content Types

WordPress supports content modelling through custom post types and fields via plugins or native features.

"Create Content Model brings powerful content management capabilities directly into WordPress Core."
Source
"Custom post types in WordPress allow you to create and manage content that goes beyond standard posts."
Source
"WordPress gives you a simple way to extend the standard data types into an array for custom needs."
Source
"WordPress custom post types are powerful features that elevate it from a blogging tool to a content management system."
Source

Custom React Components

Find out if the platform supports custom React components to go beyond the basic HTML components for content.

Ghost:
No Custom React Components Supported

Ghost CMS does not support inserting custom React components directly in the content editor.

"Is there a way to insert a React component inside Ghost cms? I know I can consume the content API, but what I need is to be able to insert a React component from the admin panel."
Source
"Ghost's RESTful Content API delivers published content to the world and can be accessed in a read-only manner by any client to render in a website."
Source
"Manage content via Ghost's Admin API, with secure role-based authentication."
Source
"Using the Content API means that attribute data, such as tags and authors, will be included in the post object data."
Source
WordPress.com:
No Custom React Components Supported

Custom React component integration is not natively supported; requires workarounds with blocks or scripts.

"Your “components” sound like custom blocks to me. You wouldn't be using the editor per se, you're creating blocks for end user use within the block editor."
Source
"There are three major ways we can add them... we can add them as the output of a custom block."
Source

Full Text Search

Find out if the platform supports full text search across multiple fields to help users find content quickly.

Ghost:
Limited Search

Ghost CMS supports native search, but it's limited to titles, excerpts, authors, and tags, not full post content.

"The search feature indexes post titles, excerpts, authors and tags - but it does not search across post content."
Source
"Ghost Search works out-of-the-box with any theme, and allows your readers to search across all published posts, tags and authors."
Source
"The post title and excerpt are used to search post content from the most recent 10,000 posts."
Source
"For full-text search capabilities, using a third-party solution like OpenSearch is recommended."
Source
"Starting with Ghost v5.3.0 a native search function was added, but it’s limited in scope."
Source
WordPress.com:
Full Text Search Supported

WP Fast Total Search allows full text search across posts, meta-fields, and attach file contents.

"WPFTS extends standard search capabilities by creating a word-based index, allowing full text search across multiple fields."
Source

Starter Kits

Discover starter kits and templates to help you get started with the platform.

Ghost:
Available

Ghost CMS provides a starter theme for custom development.

(Expand section to see a list of Ghost templates and starter kits.)

WordPress.com:
Available

Multiple starter sites and kits available for WordPress themes.

(Expand section to see a list of WordPress.com templates and starter kits.)

Pricing & Plans

Compare the prices of Ghost and WordPress.com.

Ghost's Pricing
Starter
$9 / month
- 500 Members
- 1 staff user
- 18 free official themes
Creator
$25 / month
- 1,000 Members
- 2 staff users
- Unlimited custom themes
- 1,000+ integrations
- Build custom integrations
Team
$50 / month
- 1,000 Members
- 5 staff users
- Priority support
- Higher usage limits
Business
$199 / month
- 10,000 Members
- Unlimited staff users
- Advanced configuration
- 99.9% uptime SLA
WordPress.com's Pricing
Free
$0 / month
- No expiration date
- Basic features
Personal
$12 / month
- Custom domain for the first year
- 6 GB storage
- Ad-free browsing
- Premium themes
- Fast support
Premium
$25 / month
- Custom domain for the first year
- 13 GB storage
- Ad-free browsing
- All premium themes
- Upload videos
- Premium stats
Business
$54 / month
- Free domain for one year
- 50 GB storage
- Priority support
- Install plugins
- Connect analytics
Commerce
$97 / month
- Free domain for one year
- 50 GB storage
- Prioritized support
- Install plugins
- Unlimited products
Enterprise
$25000 / year
- Scalability
- Security features
- Premium support

Compare with other technologies

Looking for a better alternative to Ghost & WordPress.com? Try Wisp.
Wisp is the best solution for blogging. Try it free today!