Ghost VS Medium

Compare Ghost VS Medium and see what are their differences

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Ghost

Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

Medium

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

Landing page //
2022-10-10

Landing page //
2023-07-08

Ghost

Website: ghost.org
Pricing URL: Official Ghost Pricing
$ Details: paid Free Trial $36.0 / Monthly (100k views/month, 2 users)
Startup details
Country: United Kingdom

Edit details

Medium

Website: medium.com
Pricing URL: -
$ Details
Startup details
Country: United States

Edit details

Ghost features and specs

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 of Ghost

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.

Medium features and specs

User-Friendly Interface
Medium offers an easy-to-use interface that makes it simple for anyone to start writing and publishing content without any technical knowledge.
Built-in Audience
The platform has a large and active user base, so new content has the potential to reach a wide audience quickly.
Publishing Tools
Medium provides versatile publishing tools that support text, images, and various media formats, which helps in creating rich and engaging content.
SEO Benefits
Articles posted on Medium tend to rank well in search engine results, thanks to the platform's high domain authority.
Community and Interaction
Medium encourages reader engagement through comments, claps, and highlights, fostering a sense of community among writers and readers.

Possible disadvantages of Medium

Monetization
While Medium has a Partner Program, it may not be as lucrative as other methods of monetization available on independent blogging platforms.
Control and Customization
Medium offers limited customization options compared to dedicated blog platforms like WordPress, restricting how you can brand and personalize your blog.
Content Ownership
By publishing on Medium, you agree to their terms and conditions, which may include giving up some control over how your content is used and distributed.
Paywall Issues
Some articles are placed behind a paywall, which might limit the reach of your content if you want it to be freely accessible to everyone.
Dependency on Platform
Relying solely on Medium means that any changes to the platform's policies or algorithms can directly impact your reach and engagement.

Analysis of Ghost

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

Analysis of Medium

Overall verdict

Medium can be considered a good platform for those who enjoy a wide array of content and appreciate quality writing on diverse subjects. However, the value of Medium depends on individual preferences and whether the topics and writing styles align with what the reader is looking for.

Why this product is good

Medium offers a diverse range of articles from both professional and amateur writers, providing readers with numerous perspectives on various topics. Its clean user interface and ease of use make it an appealing platform for both writers and readers. The platform also supports monetization for writers, allowing them to earn from their content.

Recommended for

Medium is recommended for avid readers seeking a variety of topics ranging from personal development to technology. It's also ideal for writers looking to publish their work to a broad audience and potentially earn revenue through the platform's Partner Program.

Ghost videos

+ Add

Why I Moved My Blog From WordPress to Ghost

Medium videos

+ Add

Medium Review - with Tom Vasel

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Ghost and Medium)

Ghost

Medium

Blogging

29 29%

Blogging

71% 71

CMS

57 57%

CMS

43% 43

Blogging Platform

27 27%

Blogging Platform

73% 73

Website Builder

100 100%

Website Builder

0% 0

User comments

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

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Ghost and Medium

Ghost Reviews

Comparing 9 WordPress alternatives & competitors in 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 singular focus on blogging makes it great for individuals and small teams, but it lacks features like real-time collaboration that are necessary for larger companies.

Source: webflow.com

19 Best WordPress Alternatives in 2025

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.

Source: www.pixpa.com

7 Best Buy Me a Coffee Alternatives

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 themes available, but most are priced from around $80 to $150. The Ghost API also gives you a way to publish content you create on the platform to another...

Source: wpforms.com

Top 10 Web Content Management Systems

Ghost is here as one of the first entries that can be classified as a pure headless CMS. Ghost is not only one of the best headless CMS options, but it also does so while being focused primarily on the blogger community. So if you have or are thinking about starting a large blogging operation featuring many different presentation layers, then Ghost is definitely for you....

Source: cloudzy.com

25+ Medium Alternative Platforms for Publishing Articles

Ghost open-source blogging and the indirect medium alternative platform. Its interface makes blogging easy for users, but also offers SEO tools and other plugins that are built into the platform. This makes it simple for users to publish high-quality content without technical difficulties.

Source: forgefusion.io

Medium Reviews

19 Best WordPress Alternatives in 2025

Medium focuses on thoughtful content and community engagement. It offers a user-friendly interface, a large readership base, and various features for writers and readers.

Source: www.pixpa.com

25+ Medium Alternative Platforms for Publishing Articles

Medium is an online platform that was created in 2012 by Evan Williams. It is a place for people to share their thoughts and ideas on various topics. Medium has about 100 million monthly visitors, which makes it one of the most popular platforms for publishing articles.

Source: forgefusion.io

10 Best Medium Alternatives for Reading and Publishing

From thе simplicity of Ghost to thе vеrsatility of Substack, thеrе’s a homе for еvеryonе seeking great Medium alternatives. Thеsе altеrnativеs offеr a world of possibilitiеs for rеadеrs and authors alikе. Whеthеr you’rе in sеarch of a uniquе platform to sharе your thoughts or want to read frеsh contеnt, thеsе platforms havе somеthing spеcial to offеr. All in all, we...

Source: www.geeksforgeeks.org

9 Best Medium Alternatives for Making Money With Your Writing in 2023

Substack and Medium differ primarily in their monetization methods. Medium pays creators based on reader engagement, while Substack enables writers to monetize directly through paid subscriptions to their newsletters. This business model allows Substack users to build a direct relationship with their readers via their email inboxes, whereas Medium interactions primarily...

Source: www.authorityhacker.com

How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2021 (Compared)

Medium works much like a social networking site where you can create an account and start publishing your articles. After you sign up, you’ll have a profile address like this: https://medium.com/@yourname. But you cannot use your own domain.

Source: www.wpbeginner.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Medium seems to be a lot more popular than Ghost. While we know about 3089 links to Medium, we've tracked only 196 mentions of Ghost. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Ghost mentions (196)

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 Ghost themselves a non-profit org that doesn't mark up the Stripe transaction fees! One local news outlet recently switched to that, saving about %5 on Patreon fees and a second is... - Source: Hacker News / 6 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 / 7 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 Grav (https://getgrav.org/). Or Wordpress! - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
Typepad Is Shutting Down
They should provide an option to move to https://ghost.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
Build an analytics agent to analyze your Ghost blog traffic with the Vercel AI SDK and Tinybird
In this post, I'll show you how to build an agent with sufficient contextual understanding of underlying analytics data - and the tools to query it - so that you can have a chat with your data (any data!). Specifically, I'll build a simple analytics agent for a blog - hosted on the open-source publishing platform Ghost. The agent will tell us which content is performing the best, and why. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago

Medium mentions (3089)

Gpu.ai $1k Grand Prize Buildathon August 22nd 2026: Build on Free Cloud GPUs
Hey guys! GPU.ai is hosting a buildathon with free cloud GPUs on August 22nd 2026 -- register at gpu.ai/buildathon -- all projects will be open-sourced. Learn more: https://medium.com/@john_64490/gpu-ai-1-000-grand-prize-buildathon-on-august-22nd-2026-build-ai-apps-on-free-cloud-gpus-fe27ece9783c?sharedUserId=john_64490. - Source: Hacker News / about 23 hours ago
I built a privacy-first crypto portfolio tracker after the Ledger breach
Back in the day I used the now-defunct site coin.fyi or coinexplorers.com to track my portfolio. When they disappeared, I looked at the alternatives — and none of them adapted to my necessities. The main one: a private, encrypted portfolio management platform in the style of ProtonMail. One where the service provider itself cannot see what I hold. So I decided to create my own.... - Source: Hacker News / 2 days ago
Must actively fund open source AI [pdf]
Insurance companies basically are banks, in that while they make low profit margins they wield such vast amounts of capital, some of which they invest in, they might as well be financial service institutions. There's also other categories of entities (pharmacy benefit managers, wholesalers and distributors) that also get a cut.... - Source: Hacker News / 3 days ago
The Tower Keeps Rising
A friend of mine built just built a project for doing something like that, although it's built on enforcing a spec rather than elegance: https://medium.com/@joeldg/architecting-out-of-the-vibe-how-to-enforce-compliance-in-ai-coded-apps-42b9d0113321. - Source: Hacker News / 4 days ago
Can't English be considered an indigenous Indian language, asks Supreme Court
It's do with the education policy - My Neighbour’s Language: Can We Overcome the NEP's 'Hindi Imposition' Through Regional Solidarities? - https://thewire.in/education/hindi-imposition-nep-regional-language-learning How CBSE's Three-language Policy Excludes French, Erasing Puducherry's Cultural Memory -... - Source: Hacker News / 4 days ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Ghost and Medium, 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.

DEV.to - Where software engineers connect, build their resumes, and grow.

Drupal - Drupal - the leading open-source CMS for ambitious digital experiences that reach your audience across multiple channels. Because we all have different needs, Drupal allows you to create a unique space in a world of cookie-cutter solutions.

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

Tumblr - A feature rich and free blog hosting platform offering professional and fully customizable templates, bookmarklets, photos, mobile apps, and social network integration.

SquareSpace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, e-commerce, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

SquareSpace vs Medium