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Ghost VS Summernote

Compare Ghost VS Summernote and see what are their differences

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.

Ghost Landing page
Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source Paid Free trial $36 / Monthly (100k views/month, 2 users)
Alternatives Is it good?
Summernote

Summernote is a JavaScript library that helps users create WYSIWYG editors online.

Summernote Landing page
Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source
Alternatives Is it good?
Umso
The Website Builder for Startups 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 seems to be a lot more popular than Summernote. While we know about 196 links to Ghost, we've tracked only 5 mentions of Summernote.

social mentions
196 vs 5
Blogging popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 116

Base details

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

Ghost
Summernote
Website ghost.org summernote.org
Pricing
Open source Paid Free trial $36 / Monthly (100k views/month, 2 users) Official pricing
Open source
Company Startup from the United Kingdom —
Listed in
Blogging CMS Blogging Platform Website Builder +1
Text Editors Rich Text Editor WYSIWYG Editor IDEs And Text Editors +1

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Ghost 5 features
Summernote 6 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.
  • User-friendly Interface
    Summernote has a simple and intuitive user interface that makes it easy for users to start creating rich text content without a steep learning curve.
  • Extensible with Plugins
    Summernote supports a variety of plugins which expand its functionality, allowing customization to meet specific needs.
  • Bootstrap Integration
    Out of the box, Summernote is designed to work seamlessly with Bootstrap, making it a good choice for developers already using this front-end framework.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source project, Summernote is free to use, and developers can contribute to its improvement and adapt it to their specific needs.
  • Lightweight
    Summernote is a lightweight editor, meaning it has a small file size which can result in faster loading times for web pages.
  • Image Upload and Drag & Drop
    Summernote supports easy and intuitive image uploads and drag & drop functionality, enhancing the user experience.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Advanced Features
    Compared to more comprehensive editors like CKEditor or TinyMCE, Summernote may lack some advanced features that power users might need.
  • Dependency on jQuery
    Summernote depends on jQuery, which could be a drawback for projects that aim to minimize dependencies or use a different framework.
  • Browser Compatibility Issues
    Some users have reported occasional issues with browser compatibility, which might affect the consistency of user experience across different environments.
  • Performance with Large Documents
    Summernote can experience performance issues when handling large documents or complex content, which can be a limitation for more extensive use cases.
  • Limited Support
    Being an open-source project, professional support options are limited compared to commercial editors which offer formal customer support.

Analysis

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

Ghost
Summernote

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

  • Yes, Summernote is considered a good and reliable option for implementing WYSIWYG text editing. It is user-friendly, easily customizable, and supported by a strong community of developers.

Why this product is good

  • Summernote is a popular WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that is highly regarded for its simplicity, ease of integration, and flexibility. It is open-source and offers features like drag-and-drop image uploads, keyboard shortcuts, and support for various formats. Its lightweight nature and compatibility with major frameworks such as Bootstrap make it a versatile choice for developers looking to implement rich text editing capabilities into their web applications.

Recommended for

    Summernote is recommended for developers and teams building web applications that need an intuitive and reliable rich text editor. It's particularly suitable for projects where ease of use, rapid integration, and support for responsive design are key considerations, such as blogging platforms, content management systems, and any web application that requires user-generated content input.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Ghost 2 videos + Add
Summernote 2 videos + Add

Why I Moved My Blog From WordPress to Ghost

More videos

  • Review - Ghost review - CMS for creators to build a membership

Demo Summernote WYSIWYG CodeIgniter

More videos

  • Review - สอน Laravel Framework - Summernote WYSIWYG editor

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
Summernote
100% 100%
Blogging
0% 0%
0% 0%
Text Editors
100% 100%
100% 100%
CMS
0% 0%
0% 0%
Rich Text Editor
100% 100%

User comments

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

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Reviews and articles

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

Ghost no reviews yet
Summernote 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...

  • 19 Best WordPress Alternatives in 2025
    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...

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Social recommendations and mentions

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

Ghost 196 mentions
Summernote 5 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

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  • Ask HN: What is your favorite FOSS WYSIWYG editor?
    Installing Summernote (https://summernote.org) was easy. ProseMirror and Lexical seem much more complicated. - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • WYSIWYG Editor Recommendation for Commercial/Enterprise Website Frontends?
    We use Summernote which is fine, there can be bugs with our integration but that is more down to our hacking around with it than the actual software. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Thoughts on Action Text
    These past days I tried Action Text for the first time and got a bit disappointed with it, in the end I ended up using Summernote (https://summernote.org/) instead, here are my thoughts on what could be improved:. Source: over 4 years ago

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Alternatives to Ghost and Summernote

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

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