WordPress
CMS
Ghost
CMSWordPress vs Ghost: Best CMS for Bloggers and Publishers in 2026?
WordPress and Ghost are both leading open-source content management systems, but they serve different publishing philosophies. WordPress is a general-purpose CMS that can do almost anything with the right plugins — blogs, e-commerce, directories, membership sites, and more. Ghost is a focused, modern publishing platform designed specifically for independent publishers, newsletters, and membership monetization. Ghost is leaner, faster, and opinionated. WordPress is broader, more flexible, and more complex.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CMS | CMS |
| AI Score | 20/100 — Traditional | 20/100 — Traditional |
| Detection Signals | 10 patterns | 7 patterns |
| Script Detection | 3 patterns | 2 patterns |
| CDN Detection | 1 domains | — |
| Header Detection | 2 headers | 2 headers |
| Sites Detected | 2,954 scans | 899 scans |
| Best For | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry WordPress → | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Ghost → |
| Official Website | Visit | Visit |
Example Websites
WordPress
CMS
WordPress is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 10 signal patterns to identify WordPress-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.
Pros & Cons
WordPress
- Most flexible CMS on the web — can do anything
- Massive plugin ecosystem (60,000+)
- Huge community, themes, and developer resources
- WooCommerce for monetization beyond memberships
- Requires more maintenance (updates, security, backups)
- Ghost beats it on performance and member/newsletter features out of the box
- Feature bloat can slow down sites
Ghost
- Built-in newsletter and membership monetization
- Much faster page speed by default
- Modern, clean editing experience (Notion-like editor)
- Zero maintenance on Ghost(Pro) managed hosting
- Limited plugin ecosystem compared to WordPress
- Less flexible for non-publishing use cases
- Fewer themes and customization options
Feature Comparison
| Feature | WordPress | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| Newsletter | Via plugin (Mailpoet etc.) | Built-in |
| Memberships | Via plugin (MemberPress etc.) | Built-in (Stripe) |
| Performance | Requires optimization | Fast by default |
| Editor | Gutenberg / Elementor | Clean card-based editor |
| Plugin ecosystem | 60,000+ | ~100 integrations |
Pricing Comparison
| Plan | WordPress | Ghost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | Free + hosting | Free + hosting | Both are open source |
| Managed | WordPress.com from $4/mo | Ghost(Pro) from $9/mo | |
| Creator/Pro | $25/mo (WordPress.com) | $25/mo (Ghost Pro) |
Verdict: WordPress vs Ghost
For independent publishers, newsletter creators, and membership businesses, Ghost is the purpose-built, lower-maintenance, and higher-performance choice. Try Ghost: https://ghost.org?via=aiwebsitedetector For everyone else who needs a CMS that can grow in any direction — e-commerce, community, courses, custom plugins — WordPress remains the most powerful and flexible platform in the world. Start with WordPress: https://wordpress.com?via=aiwebsitedetector
Our Pick — Based on 3,853+ detections
WordPress
Detected 3× more often than Ghost across our database of scanned sites.
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