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DonkeyCMS vs Ghost

Ghost is a publishing platform built around newsletters and paying members, and it is very good at that. DonkeyCMS is a blog that moves into your own website: the one you already have, or the one you are building by hand, with a framework or from a template. They overlap less than you would think, which makes the choice easier than most.

Checked on against Ghost’s own website. How we checked

The short answer

Choose Ghost if the publication is the business: you want newsletters, paid memberships and subscribers in one place, hosted for you or on a server you run.

Choose DonkeyCMS if you have a website on ordinary hosting, or are building one, and want a blog inside it that wears the site’s own design.

DonkeyCMS and Ghost, side by side

DonkeyCMS compared with Ghost, fact by fact
DonkeyCMS Ghost
The basics
What it is A blog for a website built some other way An “open source blog & newsletter platform”
Design Your site’s own header, menu and footer A Ghost theme, free or paid ($49 to $149 when we looked). Starter has one built-in theme
Price Free for one site, paid plans from €6 a month Ghost(Pro) from $15 a month billed yearly ($18 paying monthly), rising with your audience. Or host it yourself
License Commercial Open source
Hosting Shared hosting with PHP 8.1 or newer and MySQL Hosted by Ghost, or your own server: Ubuntu, Node.js, MySQL 8, 1GB of memory
Installing it Upload it, then an installer in your browser Sign up for Ghost(Pro), or the command line on your server
Growing an audience
Newsletters Connects to 6 newsletter platforms, on Business Built in. Self-hosted, it needs a Mailgun account
Paid memberships No From the Publisher plan ($29 a month billed yearly, $35 monthly), with “0% payment fees” from Ghost
Analytics Built in on Business, no cookies “Native analytics”
Comments Open to visitors, spam-protected, on Pro and up Native, for logged-in members
Looking after it
Updates One click, backed up first, undone if it fails Done for you on Ghost(Pro); yours to run when self-hosting
Backups Built in on every plan, on a schedule Handled on Ghost(Pro); yours to arrange when self-hosting
Team From 1 seat on Free to unlimited on Business Ghost(Pro): 1 staff user on Starter, 3 on Publisher, 15 on Business
Moving in from WordPress Posts, pages, categories, tags and images, on Pro and up Posts and pages; categories become tags

Where Ghost wins

Newsletters are part of it

Write a post and send it to your subscribers from the same screen. DonkeyCMS connects to newsletter services on Business, but it does not send newsletters itself.

It can charge your readers

Free and paid memberships are built in, and Ghost takes no cut of what you earn (paid subscriptions start on the Publisher plan). DonkeyCMS has no memberships at all. If readers paying you is the plan, the comparison ends here.

Someone else can run the server

On Ghost(Pro) the hosting, updates and backups are their job. With DonkeyCMS the hosting is yours, even if our updates are one click.

It is open source

The code is open and you can host it yourself. DonkeyCMS is a commercial product.

Hundreds of ready-made designs

If you have no website and no wish to design one, a Ghost theme gives you a good-looking publication the same afternoon. Some are free, others cost $49 to $149.

Where DonkeyCMS wins

It lives inside your website

DonkeyCMS installs into a folder of your website, existing or brand new, and reuses its header, menu and footer. The blog does not look like a second site next door, because it is not one.

Ordinary hosting is enough

PHP and MySQL, which nearly every hosting plan includes. Self-hosting Ghost means a server with Node.js that you set up from the command line.

There is a free plan

One site, no time limit, no card. Paid plans start at €6 a month and the price never depends on how many readers you have. Ghost(Pro) starts at $15 a month billed yearly ($18 paying monthly) for up to 1,000 members and rises with your audience.

Anyone can leave a comment

On Pro and up, visitors comment without creating an account, and spam protection keeps the robots out. Ghost’s comments are for signed-in members.

Categories and tags

Both, on every plan. Moving from WordPress keeps your categories as categories.

More is already inside

FAQ blocks that search engines and AI tools can read, pictures made lighter automatically, a report of which AI tools and search engines visit your blog (Pro and up), and a team board with plans and tasks (Business). All part of the product, none of it an add-on.

Who should choose which

Choose Ghost if…

  • Your publication is the product, and readers will subscribe or pay.
  • You want to send posts as email newsletters from the same tool.
  • You would like hosting, updates and backups handled for you.
  • You are starting fresh and want a ready-made publication design.
  • Open source is a requirement for you.

Choose DonkeyCMS if…

  • You have a website, or are building one, and the blog should be part of it, not beside it.
  • Your hosting is ordinary shared hosting with PHP and MySQL.
  • You want to start free and see how it goes.
  • You want readers to comment without signing up for anything.
  • You build sites for clients and want the blog to match each one.

Try DonkeyCMS free One site, no card, no time limit.

DonkeyCMS vs Ghost: questions, answered

Still deciding? Ask us. We will tell you if Ghost is the better fit.

For a blog on your own website, yes. For newsletters and paid memberships, no: that is Ghost’s home ground and we do not play there. DonkeyCMS suits a business whose website needs a blog; Ghost suits a publication that is the business.

Ghost’s own documentation recommends a server running Ubuntu with Node.js, MySQL 8 and at least 1GB of memory, set up from the command line, or its hosted service, Ghost(Pro). DonkeyCMS runs on ordinary shared hosting with PHP 8.1 or newer and MySQL.

It depends on what you count. Ghost(Pro) starts at $15 a month billed yearly ($18 paying monthly), with hosting included; the price rises with your audience, and paid subscriptions need the Publisher plan ($29 a month billed yearly). Self-hosted Ghost is open source: you pay for the server, and for a Mailgun account if you send newsletters. DonkeyCMS has a free plan for one site, and paid plans from €6 a month on hosting you already have.

No. On Business it connects your blog to six newsletter platforms, so readers can subscribe, but the sending happens there. Ghost sends newsletters itself.

Yes, in different ways. With Ghost you pick a theme or build one. With DonkeyCMS there is no theme: it copies the header, menu and footer of your own website, whether that has been online for years or is being built right now.

How we checked

Everything this page says about Ghost was read on Ghost’s own website on 11 October 2026. Words in quotation marks are theirs. What it says about DonkeyCMS matches our full feature list.

Software changes faster than web pages do. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Ghost and Ghost(Pro) belong to their owner. DonkeyCMS is not affiliated with Ghost.