News & Media · head to head
Ghost vs Sanity
Ghost
News & Media
Modern publishing platform with content API and membership support
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Sanity
API Management
Headless CMS with real-time collaborative editing and structured content APIs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Ghost backup and migration processes have significant limitations and are problematic for long-term users; Sanity free plan limited to 10,000 documents and 100GB assets
- They diverge on capability: Ghost covers Membership, Sanity covers Collaborative editing.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Ghost and Sanity actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Ghost
- Membership
- Analytics
- Zapier
- Custom integrations
- Node.js support
- Self-hosted support
Only in Sanity
- Collaborative editing
- Structured content
- Third-party services
- GROQ query language
- JavaScript SDK support
Both cover
- Content API
- Webhooks
- Cloud support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Ghost
- API Developmentnot Sanity
- API Gatewaynot Sanity
- API Testingnot Sanity
- API Documentationnot Sanity
- Microservicesnot Sanity
Sanity
- Headless CMS for structured content managementnot Ghost
- Collaborative content editing with real-time multiplayer supportnot Ghost
- API-driven content delivery with GROQ query languagenot Ghost
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Ghost
- Backup and migration processes have significant limitations and are problematic for long-term users
- Open-source version lacks automatic backups, email subscriptions, and ad placement features
- No built-in e-commerce functionality; separate platform required for product sales
- Smaller community compared to WordPress, making support and resources harder to find
- Narrow focus on publishing limits use cases outside content-only websites
Sanity
- Free plan limited to 10,000 documents and 100GB assets
- Free plan supports only public datasets
- Growth plan capped at 50 seats maximum
- Private datasets, scheduled drafts, and comments/tasks require paid plans
- Annual billing unavailable for Growth plan; Enterprise-only
Pricing, plan by plan
Ghost
Free- Self-HostedFree
- Open-source Ghost CMS
- Full control over data
- No payment fees
- Starter$15/month
- Up to 1,000 members
- Newsletter functionality
- Membership management
- Publisher$29/month
- Unlimited members
- Continuous member scaling
- Advanced analytics
- Business$199/month
- All Publisher features
- Custom domain
- Priority support
Sanity
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Sanity review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Ghost if
- You need membership.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud-hosted.
- You also want analytics.
Choose Sanity if
- You need collaborative editing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want structured content.
Questions people ask
- Is Ghost or Sanity better?
- Neither clearly leads. Ghost starts at Free and Sanity at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Ghost or Sanity?
- Ghost starts at Free and Sanity at Free.
- Does Ghost or Sanity run on more platforms?
- Ghost runs on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud-hosted. Sanity runs on Web.
- Can I use Ghost for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Ghost best used for?
- Ghost is most often used for api development, api gateway, api testing, api documentation. Of those, api development and api gateway are not what Sanity is typically brought in for.
- What can Ghost do that Sanity cannot?
- Ghost covers Membership, Analytics, Zapier, Custom integrations. Sanity covers Collaborative editing, Structured content, Third-party services, GROQ query language. Both handle Content API, Webhooks, Cloud support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Ghost: What is the free option for Ghost?
Ghost is open-source software that can be self-hosted for free. Self-hosting costs depend on your own server, domain, SSL, email delivery infrastructure, and DevOps expertise.
SourceGhost: What is the starting price for Ghost(Pro) managed hosting?
Ghost(Pro) Starter plan is USD 15/month when billed yearly or USD 18/month when billed monthly. This plan includes up to 1,000 members with membership features enabled.
SourceGhost: Can I collect payments and manage subscriptions with Ghost?
Yes. Ghost includes native membership and subscription management with support for free signups and paid tiers (monthly/yearly options). All revenue goes directly to publishers with zero payment fees.
SourceGhost: Does Ghost integrate with Stripe?
Yes. Ghost integrates with Stripe for payment processing and subscription management, plus Zapier, Slack, Google Analytics, and thousands of other third-party apps.
Source