News & Media · alternatives
Alternatives to Ghost
22 news & media tools sit alongside Ghost in this directory. Below is what separates each from Ghost on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 10
- Cheaper to start
- 3
- Ghost starts at
- Free, then $15/month
Why people look past Ghost
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Ghost entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
Cost climbs steeply across the tiers
Ghost publishes 4 tiers, from Free up to $199/month. Teams that outgrow the entry plan can find the next rung a large step, the Ghost pricing page breaks each one down.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Headless CMS with real-time collaborative editing and structured content APIs
Priced and rated the same as Ghost on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Membership platform for creators
- Starts $15 a month cheaper, at Free.
- 3 tiers to Ghost's 4.
Create and sell online courses your way
- No free tier, where Ghost has one.
- Starts $21 a month dearer, at $36/month.
- 3 tiers to Ghost's 4.
The all-in-one platform for newsletter creators
- Starts $15 a month cheaper, at Free.
Comprehensive news coverage powered by Google
- 1 tier to Ghost's 4.
All the news you want. From sources you trust.
- 2 tiers to Ghost's 4.
Every Ghost alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost (this page) | Free, then $15/month | - | 4 | |
| SanityHeadless CMS for content publishers with API-first architecture. | Free, then $15/seat per month | Subscription | - | vs Ghost |
| PatreonCreator monetization and membership platform for independent publishers. | Free | Freemium | 3 | vs Ghost |
| ThinkificCourse and content platform with membership and subscription capabilities. | $36/month | - | 3 | vs Ghost |
| Beehiiv | Free | Subscription | - | vs Ghost |
| Google News | Free | Free | 1 | vs Ghost |
| Apple News | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs Ghost |
| Free | Free | 1 | vs Ghost | |
| Buttondown | Free, then $9/month | - | 2 | vs Ghost |
| Ghost CMS | Free | Freemium | 3 | vs Ghost |
| Artifact | Free | Free | 1 | vs Ghost |
| Feedly | Free | - | - | vs Ghost |
| GlobeNewswire | On request | Usage-based | 4 | vs Ghost |
| ConvertKit | On request | Subscription | 2 | vs Ghost |
| EIN Presswire | On request | Usage-based | 3 | vs Ghost |
| Chartbeat | $1000/month | Quote | 1 | vs Ghost |
| CrowdTangle | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Ghost |
| Brightspot | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Ghost |
| Feedbin | On request | Subscription | 2 | vs Ghost |
| Cision | On request | Subscription | 2 | vs Ghost |
| Agility PR Solutions | On request | Subscription | 3 | vs Ghost |
| Arc Publishing | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Ghost |
| Business Wire | On request | Usage-based | 4 | vs Ghost |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Ghost badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (10)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Sanity , Free, then $15/seat per month
- Patreon , Free
- Beehiiv , Free
- Google News , Free
- Apple News , Free
- Flipboard , Free
- Buttondown , Free, then $9/month
- Ghost CMS , Free
Cheaper than Ghost (3)
Entry price under Ghost's $15/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Patreon , Free
- Beehiiv , Free
- Buttondown , Free, then $9/month
What you would be giving up
Ghost is most often brought in for api development, api gateway, api testing, api documentation, microservices. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Ghost is broadly right and the question is cost, the Ghost pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the News & Media category lists everything the directory holds, and best news & media tools ranks them.
Ghost runs on web, self-hosted, cloud-hosted. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Ghost alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Ghost?
- 22 other news & media tools are listed in this directory, led by Sanity, Patreon, Thinkific, Beehiiv. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Ghost?
- 10 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Sanity, Patreon, Beehiiv, Google News, Apple News.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Ghost?
- Yes. 3 of the alternatives below start under Ghost's $15/month: Patreon at Free, Beehiiv at Free, Buttondown at Free, then $9/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Ghost?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: cost climbs steeply across the tiers. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Ghost?
- Ghost is most often brought in for api development, api gateway, api testing, api documentation, microservices. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Ghost?
- None of the news & media tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Ghost alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, News & Media, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored slot runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Ghost against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Ghost covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every news & media tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the News & Media category, 22 tools beside Ghost. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.