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Ghost

Ghost Review and Features

Written by Fernando Gruning

Last update: 6/11/2024

Feature		Ghost
CMS Type		API
Editor Experience
Dashboard Internationalization The CMS interface can be displayed in multiple languages, making it accessible for non-English speakers.
Multilanguage Content Support for creating and managing content in multiple languages. Useful for global websites that need to cater to different regions.
Scheduling & Releases Allows you to schedule content to be published at a specific time and date in the future.
Content Versioning Keeps track of different versions of content, allowing you to revert to previous versions if needed. Like an "undo" button for your content.
Autosave Automatically saves changes as you work, preventing data loss if something unexpected happens, like a browser crash.
Preview Content Lets you see how content will look on your live site before publishing it. Like a sneak peek before it goes live.
Multiple Environments Support for different stages of content (e.g., development, staging, production). This allows testing changes in a safe environment before going live.
Workflow Sets up an approval process for content creation. For example, a writer might submit content, then an editor reviews and approves it before publishing.		through plugins
Customizable UI Allows customization of the CMS user interface to match your brand or specific needs.
Team Management
User Roles Predefined roles (like admin, editor, viewer) with specific permissions.
Custom User Roles Ability to create custom roles with specific permissions tailored to your organization’s needs.
Organization Management Allows you to manage different user groups and access within the CMS.		N/A
Developer Experience
REST API An API that follows REST principles, allowing developers to interact with the CMS using standard HTTP requests.
GraphQL API An API that uses GraphQL, allowing clients to request exactly the data they need, making data fetching more efficient.
Images API API specifically for managing images, including uploading, processing, and retrieving images.
Content Management API API for managing content, including creating, updating, and deleting content items.
Field Types Different types of data fields available for content, such as text, number, date, media, etc.
Custom Field Types Allows you to create even more specific field types beyond the basic ones, to perfectly match the type of content you manage.
Webhooks Allows the CMS to send real-time notifications to other systems or services when certain events happen (e.g., content published). You can use these to trigger actions in other applications.
CLI Command Line Interface tools that allow developers to perform tasks and manage the tool via the command line.
SDK A set of tools and pre-written code snippets that developers can use to integrate the CMS with their project more easily.
Free Tier
Free Plan Available Some headless CMS providers offer a free plan with limited features, allowing you to try it out before committing.		Open-source
Team Members The number of users (team members) that can be added to the CMS.		N/A
Locales The number of different languages and regional settings the CMS supports for content creation and management.		N/A
Projects Support for managing multiple projects within the same CMS account.		N/A
Security & Compliance Offerings
Two-factor authentication Adds an extra layer of security when logging in.
Team Logs Tracks user activity within the platform for better accountability.
GDPR Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation for handling personal data.
SOC2 Service Organization Control 2 compliance for managing customer data.
ISO27001 International standard for information security management.
Others
Extensions Additional plugins or add-ons that can enhance the functionality of the platform.
Built-in Backups & Restore Features that automatically back up content and settings, allowing easy restoration in case of data loss.

What is Ghost?

Ghost is an open-source, professional publishing platform built in Node.js, with a paid PaaS service for hosting and managing Ghost instances.

It was built in 2013 as an antidote for slow and complicated CMSs, bringing modern features to publishing teams that need a lightning-fast, secure, and fully customizable platform for their content. The editor allows publishers to focus solely on the content without clumsy UIs and controls. The control interface is only shown when needed and it’s simple to use but very powerful at the same time.

Rich content like images, videos, raw HTML, and more can be added as blocks of content

Ghost interface

This is how the Dashboard page is:

You can view your site:

Also, access your posts:

Finally, there is the page where you can manage your Pages:

How to use Ghost as headless CMS?

By default, Ghost ships with Handlebars as its default front-end theme layer, but can be used as a headless CMS with other front-end frameworks, especially Jamstack ones.

The core architecture of a Ghost app consists of a data/storage layer, where different types of databases (SQLite, MySQL) and storage solutions (Azure, S3, local) can be plugged into the Ghost core, and the other part of the architecture, which itself is a RESTful JSON API split into content and an admin API.

Ghost can be integrated with the most popular Jamstack frameworks like Gatsby, Next.js, Hexo, 11ty, and many more. Docs are available from the Ghost site for getting started on working with

Ghosts and these frameworks.

Support

The Starter and Basic Ghost(Pro) plans include basic email support, while the Standard plan has priority support. The Business plan comes with a dedicated account manager available to assist the team with anything Ghost-related.

Also, Ghost has thorough developer docs with guides and tutorials, a developer forum, and a help center for common questions.

Ghost Pricing

Ghost is first an open-source publishing tool, meaning that you can clone the repo and deploy an instance to your own servers for free. Alongside that option, Ghost offers several paid plans for managing your instances on their own infrastructure, called Ghost(Pro).

Ghost(Pro) comes with some added benefits like automatic weekly updates, server maintenance, backups, worldwide CDN, enterprise-grade security, and product support ranging from basic email support to a dedicated account manager.