Substack
CMS
Ghost
CMSSubstack vs Ghost
Substack and Ghost are both popular choices, but they serve different needs. Substack is a CMS with a traditional, manual approach to building, while Ghost is a CMS that prioritises developer or designer control.
Below you'll find a side-by-side breakdown of detection signals, AI scores, and technical fingerprints — plus our honest take on which builder wins for different use cases.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CMS | CMS |
| AI Score | 20/100 — Traditional | 20/100 — Traditional |
| Detection Signals | 5 patterns | 7 patterns |
| Script Detection | 2 patterns | 2 patterns |
| CDN Detection | 1 domains | — |
| Header Detection | — | 2 headers |
| Sites Detected | 4 scans | 1,750 scans |
| Best For | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Substack → | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Ghost → |
| Official Website | Visit | Visit |
Example Websites
Substack websites
Substack
CMS
Substack is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 5 signal patterns to identify Substack-built sites.
Ghost
CMS
Ghost is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 7 signal patterns to identify Ghost-built sites.
Platform Overviews
Substack
Substack is the largest and most influential newsletter and subscription platform, hosting hundreds of the world's top writers, journalists, and independent media outlets — including publications that have generated millions in annual subscriber revenue. It pioneered the paid newsletter model with simple 10% revenue sharing, a writer-friendly setup experience, and a built-in discovery network. Substack Recommendations has become a major growth channel, with reader suggestions driving new subscriber acquisition. Substack sites are identifiable through resources loaded from substackcdn.com for media and assets, the Substack JavaScript runtime on all publication pages, and distinctive *.substack.com subdomain patterns. Custom domain sites still load all media through substackcdn.com, making it a reliable detection signal. The platform is free to use with Substack taking 10% of paid subscription revenue.
Ghost
Ghost is an open-source headless publishing platform specifically designed for professional content creators, newsletters, and media businesses. It competes with Substack and WordPress for creators who want full ownership and control of their audience without platform dependency. Ghost's membership and subscription features let creators monetize directly without revenue sharing. Ghost sites are identifiable through their distinctive kg-card CSS class patterns used by Ghost's rich content editor (Koenig), assets served from Ghost's CDN, and the x-powered-by: Express header common to Ghost's Node.js architecture. Ghost(Pro) plans start at $9/month, while self-hosted Ghost is free.
Key Differences
- Both Substack and Ghost are classified as CMS tools, making them the most direct competitors in this comparison.
- Substack scores higher on AI involvement (20/100 vs 20/100 for Ghost), meaning it relies more heavily on AI for site generation and content creation.
- Our detection engine identifies Substack using 5 fingerprint patterns and Ghost using 7 patterns — more signals generally means more reliable detection.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Substack if…
- You prefer a cms solution
- You want more manual control over the final output
- Substack's detection fingerprint of 5 signals means your site is reliably identifiable
Choose Ghost if…
- You need a cms approach
- You prefer traditional building tools with predictable output
- Ghost's ecosystem and community better match your team's existing workflow
Our Pick — Based on 1,754+ detections
Ghost
Detected 438× more often than Substack across our database of scanned sites.
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