Compare / Ghost vs WordPress
Ghost vs WordPress
Pick Ghost if the product is a publication (site + members + newsletter). Pick WordPress.org if you want the CMS family WordPress.com rents back to you, with plugins you already know.
Facts checked 17 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Ghost in the catalog WordPress in the catalogStart on Railway
How they compare
| Ghost | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT License (catalog) source | GPL-2.0 (catalog) source |
| Language | TypeScript (catalog) | PHP (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 55,549 stars in the catalog | 21,477 stars in the catalog |
| Self-host | Publishing, memberships, newsletters. Published Ghost stack. | Classic CMS (WordPress.org, not WordPress.com). PHP + MySQL. |
| Best for | A site that is also the publication. | The software WordPress.com wraps, with plugins you already know. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Ghost is /stacks/ghost-cms. WordPress.org is the GPL-2.0 CMS in the catalog — not WordPress.com. Catalog stars: Ghost 55,549; WordPress 21,477. Ghost wants Node and its own data dir; WordPress wants PHP and MySQL.
FAQ
- Ghost or WordPress?
- Ghost if the product is a publication. WordPress.org if you want the CMS family WordPress.com rents back to you. That is the stack FAQ.
- Is this WordPress.com?
- No. The catalog row is WordPress.org (GPL-2.0). /replace/wordpress-com is the hosted meter.
- What about a headless API?
- Payload or Strapi Community — see /compare/ghost-vs-payload and /compare/payload-vs-strapi.
- How do I deploy Ghost?
- Open /stacks/ghost-cms. Railway CTAs stay on that page.
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