Free Ghost AlternativesTop Blog Publishing & CMS Tools like Ghost

The best free alternative to Ghost is WordPress, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Ghost and loads of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Ghost are Drupal, Jekyll, Blogger and Medium.

filter to find the best alternatives

Ghost alternatives are mainly CMS Tools, but if you're looking for Blog Publishing Tools or Website Builders you can filter on that. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Ghost.
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Alternatives list

  1. WordPress icon
     1668 likes

    Create a website or blog with open-source software focused on accessibility, ease of use, performance, and security. Minimal setup, powerful growth features, and a large community supporting democratization of publishing.

    114 WordPress alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    • Cloudron
     
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    2
    WordPress vs Ghost Comments
    John Fastman
    Positive
    1

    Wordpress is based on open source code, is more established in this field and has a much greater range of functionality, esp. though its community-driven plugin system. WP is more complicated also, but probably the "default" alternative, if there had to be one.

    Shoji VR
    Positive
    0

    Most popular CMS in the world that empowers almost half of websites in the world

    • WordPress is Freemium and Open SourceGhost is Free Personal and Open Source
    • WordPress is CustomizableGhost is not according to our users
  2. Drupal icon
     493 likes

    Drupal is an open source platform for building amazing digital experiences. It's made by a dedicated community. Anyone can use it, and it will always be free.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
     
  3. Jekyll icon
     126 likes

    Jekyll is a simple, blog aware, static site generator. It takes a template directory (representing the raw form of a website), runs it through and Liquid converters, and spits out a complete, static website suitable for serving with Apache or your favorite web server.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
     
  4. Blogger icon
     224 likes

    Publish blogs with free hosting on a customizable platform offering a choice of templates, flexible layouts, custom or blogspot.com domains, built-in analytics and AdSense monetization, unlimited storage for posts and images, and secure Google service integration.

    198 Blogger alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • Chrome OS
    • Android Tablet
     
  5. Medium icon
     182 likes

    Medium is a new place on the Internet where people share ideas and stories that are longer than 140 characters and not just for friends. It’s designed for little stories that make your day better and manifestos that change the world.

    135 Medium alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
     
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    1
    Medium vs Ghost Comments
    Guest
    Negative
    15

    Medium is a publishing platform, Ghost is a content management system

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Medium is Freemium and ProprietaryGhost is Free Personal and Open Source
  6. Hugo icon
     92 likes

    Hugo is a general-purpose website framework for generating static web pages. Hugo flexibly works with many formats and is ideal for blogs, docs, portfolios and much more.

    105 Hugo alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
     
  7. Joomla icon
     350 likes

    Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular web site software available.

    205 Joomla alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
     
  8. Grav icon
     136 likes

    Grav is an easy to use, yet powerful, opensource CMS that requires no database. In a nutshell, installing Grav is a matter of unzipping the file. It is fast, has sophisticated caching, and a light footprint for optimal performance.

    187 Grav alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
     
  9. Substack icon
     33 likes

    Substack is a newsletter service and blogging platform, making it an alternative to Medium, TinyLetter and WordPress blogs.

    41 Substack alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Apple TV
    • Android TV
    • Google TV
     
  10. ProcessWire icon
     164 likes

    ProcessWire is a friendly and powerful open source CMS and CMF with an exceptionally strong foundation. With all custom fields, an easy-to-use jQuery-inspired API, and a powerful page selector engine, ProcessWire will rise to any task.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
     
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    1
    ProcessWire vs Ghost Comments
    noelboss
    Positive
    1

    You can build everything with ProcessWire and still get blazing fast sites!

    • ProcessWire is Free and Open SourceGhost is Free Personal and Open Source
12 of 214 Ghost alternatives