Ghost VS Ably

Compare Ghost VS Ably and see what are their differences

Rating: 0 reviews
Pricing: Open source Paid Free trial $36 / Monthly (100k views/month, 2 users)

Alternatives Is it good?

Rating: 0 reviews
Pricing: Freemium Free trial

Alternatives Is it good?

OmniDeck Pro

Sovereign In-Browser Workstation, 50+ Local RAM Utilities & 150+ 4K Wallpapers sponsored

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Ghost should be more popular than Ably. It has been mentioned 196 times since March 2021.

social mentions: 196 vs 26
Blogging popularity: 100% vs 0%
alternatives listed: 240+ vs 226

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

	Ghost	Ably
Website	ghost.org	ably.com
Pricing	Open source Paid Free trial $36 / Monthly (100k views/month, 2 users) Official pricing	Freemium Free trial Official pricing
Company	Startup from the United Kingdom	Startup from the United Kingdom · 50 - 99 employees · 2016
Listed in	Blogging CMS Blogging Platform Website Builder +1	Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS) Realtime Backend / API Mobile Push Messaging Developer Tools +1

About Ghost and Ably

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Ghost

Ably

No description of Ghost yet.

We help teams deliver resilient AI UX and high-performance live experiences that stay fast and in sync worldwide. We provide the global realtime layer for AI agents, chat, notifications, live dashboards, and collaboration - engineered to handle peak demand without self-managed infrastructure....

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Ghost 5 features

Ably 8 features

User-Friendly Interface
Ghost offers a clean and intuitive interface that makes content management straightforward, even for those without technical expertise.
Speed and Performance
Ghost is built on modern technology like Node.js which makes it faster and more efficient compared to some traditional CMS platforms.
SEO Optimized
Ghost comes built-in with SEO features like clean URLs, meta tags, and sitemaps which help in improving search engine rankings.
Customizable Themes
Ghost supports a variety of themes that can be easily customized to fit the branding and functionality needs of a website.
Markdown Support
Content creation in Ghost is made easy with Markdown support, allowing writers to focus on text rather than formatting.

Possible disadvantages

Limited Plugin Ecosystem
Compared to WordPress, Ghost has a more limited selection of plugins, which might restrict some functionalities users are looking for.
Higher Hosting Costs
Ghost's official hosting is relatively expensive, making it less suitable for users on a tight budget.
Technical Knowledge Requirement
While Ghost is user-friendly, setting it up on a custom server can require a higher level of technical knowledge compared to some other platforms.
Less Community Support
The user community for Ghost is smaller compared to more established platforms like WordPress, which can make it harder to find support and resources.
Limited Ecommerce Capabilities
Ghost is primarily a publishing platform and lacks the more advanced eCommerce functionalities that other CMS platforms might offer out of the box.

Scalability
Ably is designed to handle a massive number of concurrent connections and messages, making it scalable for both small and large applications.
Real-time Messaging
Ably provides robust real-time messaging capabilities with low latency, supporting use-cases like live chat, gaming, and real-time data streaming.
Global Presence
Ably has a globally distributed network, ensuring low latency and high availability for users around the world.
Advanced Features
It offers advanced features such as message history, presence, and push notifications, which can enhance the functionality of real-time applications.
Security
Ably includes built-in security features such as TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels to ensure secure communication.
Extensive Documentation
The service provides extensive and well-organized documentation, making it easier for developers to integrate and utilize its features.
SDKs and Libraries
Ably offers a wide range of SDKs and libraries for different programming languages and platforms, easing the development process.
Reliable Delivery
It ensures reliable message delivery with features like message queuing and message de-duplication.

Possible disadvantages

Complexity
Due to its wide range of advanced features, the initial learning curve can be steep for new users.
Cost
For large-scale applications or extensive use of advanced features, the costs can add up, making it potentially expensive.
Vendor Lock-in
Relying heavily on Ably’s platform-specific features may result in vendor lock-in, making it challenging to switch to other services in the future.
Dependence on Internet Connection
As a cloud-based service, Ably’s performance is highly dependent on the quality and reliability of the internet connection.
Third-party Integration
While Ably offers various integration options, integrating certain third-party services may require additional custom development or may not be as seamless.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Ghost

Ably

Overall verdict

Ghost is a highly regarded platform for serious bloggers and publishers who want a minimalistic yet powerful content management system. It is especially beneficial for those who prefer a distraction-free writing environment with the capability to scale and customize as their needs grow.

Why this product is good

Ghost is a popular open-source platform designed for professional bloggers and publishers. It is known for its clean design, speed, and ease of use. Ghost offers robust features for content creation, management, and distribution while focusing on providing an optimal writing experience. Additionally, Ghost is built on modern technology stacks and offers flexibility through themes and integrations. It also supports membership and subscription models, making it ideal for those looking to monetize their content.

Recommended for

Professional bloggers
Content creators looking for a minimalist interface
Publishers seeking to monetize their content
Developers looking for an open-source platform
Organizations that require a fast and reliable CMS
Writers who value a focused writing experience

Overall verdict

Ably is a reliable and efficient real-time messaging platform, well-suited for applications requiring high performance and scalability. It is generally well-regarded within the developer community for its ease of use and robust feature set.

Why this product is good

Features

Ably provides a comprehensive suite of features such as pub/sub messaging, presence, and history.
Security

It implements robust security practices including TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels.
Integration

Supports numerous protocols and provides SDKs for various programming languages, making it easy to integrate with different systems.
Reliability

Ably offers high availability and low latency, ensuring messages are delivered in real-time.
Scalability

The platform can handle millions of active connections and is designed for horizontal scaling.

Recommended for

developers building real-time applications like chat apps, dashboards, or multiplayer games
businesses in need of a scalable solution for live updates and notifications
teams looking for a platform with strong security and compliance credentials
organizations requiring integration with existing development workflows and tools

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Ghost 2 videos + Add

Ably 3 videos + Add

Why I Moved My Blog From WordPress to Ghost

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100

Ghost

Ably

100% 100%

Blogging

0% 0%

Developer Tools

100% 100%

CMS

0% 0%

Realtime Backend / API

100% 100%

User comments

Share your experience with using Ghost and Ably. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

Ghost no reviews yet

Ably no reviews yet

Comparing 9 WordPress alternatives & competitors in 2024
webflow.com · Dec 2024

Ghost specializes in creating a monetized blogging platform. Based on their subscription status, readers can create user profiles, sign up for newsletters, and browse your entire blogging calendar. The platform’s...
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www.pixpa.com · Oct 2024

Ghost is known for its simplicity and focus on content creation. It's a great option for writers and creators who want a clean and distraction-free environment to publish their work.
7 Best Buy Me a Coffee Alternatives
wpforms.com · Mar 2024

If you don’t already have a website, Ghost may be an appealing option as a Patreon alternative. However, customizations are limited, and you’ll need to choose a pre-built design from the theme library. There are a few...

We have no reviews of Ably yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Ghost 196 mentions

Ably 26 mentions

Local Journalism Is How Democracy Shows Up Close to Home
Digital production has lowered the cost, and the Ghost platform in particular is a great value for small publishers, bundling together the blog, newsletter and subscriptions in one package, even now including ActivityPub federation. And... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
Bye Bye Big Tech: How I Migrated to an Almost All-EU Stack (and Saved 500€/Year)
Https://ghost.org — Open-source run by a non-profit headquartered in Singapore. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
Ask HN: Looking for Headless CMS Recommendation
If you're hell-bent on headless, I can personally recommend 11ty (https://www.11ty.dev/) and hugo (https://gohugo.io/). That said, for non-technical admins, you probably want a user interface. For that, Ghost (https://ghost.org/) and... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago

AWS us-east-1 outage: How Ably’s multi-region architecture held up
During this week’s AWS us-east-1 outage, Ably maintained full service continuity with no customer impact. This was our multi-region architecture working exactly as designed; error rates were negligibly low and unchanged throughout. Any... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
Real-Time Sync Alternatives: Vaultrice vs. localStorage, DIY, Firebase, Pusher
Services like Pusher and Ably are experts in real-time messaging. They provide robust APIs for pub/sub channels, allowing you to broadcast events to clients reliably. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
CometChat Alternatives – Comparing the Top 10 Competitors
Ably is a real-time infrastructure platform that focuses on delivering low-latency, reliable messaging across global distributed systems. It's designed for developers building event-driven applications, including chat, but also supports... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago

Alternatives to Ghost and Ably

When comparing Ghost and Ably, you can also consider the following products.

WordPress
WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

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Pusher
Pusher is a hosted API for quickly, easily and securely adding scalable realtime functionality via WebSockets to web and mobile apps.

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Medium
Welcome to Medium, a place to read, write, and interact with the stories that matter most to you.

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Socket.io
Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)

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Blogger
Publish your passions, your way. Create a unique and beautiful blog. It’s easy and free.

Compare Blogger to Ghost or Ably:

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PubNub
PubNub is a real-time messaging system for web and mobile apps that can handle API for all platforms and push messages to any device anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second without having to worry about proxies, firewalls or mobile drop-offs.

Compare PubNub to Ghost or Ably:

PubNub vs Ghost PubNub vs Ably