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Open-source publishing with built-in membership and subscriptions
Reviewed by the RadarTrek editorial team · Last verified June 2026
Overall score
81/100
Verdict
Good
Pricing
$9/mo
Performance radar — Ghost
Score breakdown
Ease of Use
How fast a non-technical person can get something live and looking good
Source: RadarTrek research
Design Quality
Quality of built-in templates and visual output without custom work
Source: RadarTrek research
E-commerce
Built-in selling capability — products, checkout, subscriptions
Source: RadarTrek research
SEO Control
Ability to control meta tags, site speed, structured data, and indexability
Source: RadarTrek research
Customization
How far you can push it beyond templates without code
Source: RadarTrek research
Price / Value
What you get for the monthly cost at the entry paid tier
Source: RadarTrek research
Portability
How easy it is to export your content and move to another platform
Source: RadarTrek research
Built for writers, publishers, and newsletter creators. Fast, SEO-optimised, and has native membership/subscription billing. Self-hostable or managed.
In our independent evaluation across 7 scored dimensions, Ghost earns an overall score of 81/100 — a strong result in the website builders category. The platform is available starting at $9/month, positioned at the affordable end of the market. The score of 81 places it in the good tier of our website builders rankings, where we assess tools on criteria that matter to builders: ease of use, design quality, e-commerce, and more.
Ghost scores highest on SEO Control (90/100) and Price / Value (84/100), placing it among the stronger performers in those areas within the website builders category. The dimensions with the most room for improvement are E-commerce (72/100) and Customization (76/100) — teams who weight these criteria most heavily should compare Ghost carefully against alternatives before committing. The free entry point makes it easy to validate Ghost before committing to a paid plan — a practical advantage when evaluating a new tool category. Our recommendation: Ghost is worth a serious evaluation for teams that prioritise seo control — use the radar chart and dimension breakdown on this page to see at a glance whether its profile matches your priorities.
Pros
Cons
Ghost is the right choice for teams that prioritise seo control above everything else — the dimension where Ghost scores highest. Skip it if e-commerce is a hard requirement for you, since Ghost scores only 72/100 there — in that case, the website builders category page ranks every alternative by that specific dimension so you can find a closer fit. For most other use cases, the 81/100 overall score reflects a tool that holds up well in day-to-day use.
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Yes — Ghost offers a freemium model, meaning a free tier is available permanently alongside paid plans. The free tier lets you evaluate the tool with a real workload before committing. Paid plans start at $9/month. Check the official pricing page for current limits on the free tier.
Ghost scores highest on SEO Control in our independent assessment — 90/100, placing it among the stronger performers in this dimension within the website builders category. Ability to control meta tags, site speed, structured data, and indexability. Teams who count seo control as a primary criterion should put Ghost high on their evaluation list.
The lowest-scoring dimension for Ghost in our testing is E-commerce (72/100). This does not make it the wrong choice — if e-commerce is not a priority for your use case, the gap is irrelevant. But teams who weight e-commerce most heavily should compare Ghost carefully against alternatives before committing, using the radar chart on this page to see the full profile at a glance.
Ghost earns an overall RadarTrek score of 81/100 — a strong result in the website builders category. Scores above 75 indicate a tool that performs well across most dimensions without a critical weakness. At 81/100, Ghost is a reliable choice for most teams evaluating this space. Scores are reviewed when significant updates are released, so the number reflects the current version of the product.
The best alternative to Ghost depends on which dimension matters most to you. Use the "Compare with" links in the sidebar to see a head-to-head radar chart against any specific competitor in the website builders category. The main website builders category page ranks all tools by overall score and lets you filter by dimension to find alternatives that lead on your priority criterion.
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