Comparison
Ghost vs WordPress
Overview
Ghost is an open-source publishing platform for newsletters, memberships, and subscription content, combining CMS, email delivery, and payments in one focused tool.
WordPress.com is a hosted website and blogging platform based on the open-source WordPress CMS, powering over 40% of the web with flexible themes and a vast plugin ecosystem.
Features
- —Content editor
- —Newsletter publishing
- —Membership subscriptions
- —Paid tiers
- —SEO tools
- —Custom themes
- —Native analytics
- —Headless CMS API
- —Website builder
- —Blog publishing
- —Theme marketplace
- —Plugin ecosystem
- —WooCommerce (ecommerce)
- —SEO tools
- —Jetpack security
- —AI assistant (Jetpack AI)
Pricing
Ghost
freemiumFree plan availableGhost(Pro) offers hosted trials, while Ghost’s open-source self-hosted software remains available separately at no license cost.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted Open Source | Free | Free software; infrastructure and operations are your responsibility. |
| Starter | $18/mo | Ghost(Pro) hosted plan billed yearly. |
| Publisher | $29/mo | Ghost(Pro) hosted plan billed yearly. |
| Business | $199/mo | Ghost(Pro) hosted plan billed yearly. |
| Custom | Contact sales | Custom hosted pricing. |
WordPress
freemiumFree plan available
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | WordPress.com subdomain; basic features. |
| Personal | $4/mo | Per month billed annually; custom domain. |
| Premium | $8/mo | Per month billed annually; advanced design tools. |
| Business | $25/mo | Per month billed annually; plugins and themes. |
| Commerce | $45/mo | Per month billed annually; WooCommerce included. |
Company Fit
Ghost
StartupSMB
WordPress
StartupSMBEnterprise
Stacks
Ghost
WordPress