10 Ways Ghost Beats WordPress for Content Publishing

Why Ghost Is Worth a Serious Look

Ghost is open-source software you can use to build your website, much like WordPress. But where WordPress tries to be everything to everyone — e-commerce platform, forum, LMS, portfolio — Ghost has a much tighter focus: publishing content.

That focus pays off in ways you feel immediately. The entire platform is built around getting your words, images, and ideas out into the world with as little friction as possible. If you've ever found yourself fighting with WordPress plugins, waiting on page loads, or wrestling with a bloated editor, Ghost is a breath of fresh air.

Here are ten features that make Ghost a compelling choice for anyone serious about content publishing.

1. Lightning-Fast Backend Speed

The first thing you notice when using Ghost is how fast the admin area feels. Want to create a new post? One click and you're in the editor instantly. Need to see all your posts? Click the posts tab and the list loads without any perceptible delay. Searching for a setting? Start typing and results appear in real time.

It genuinely feels like working in a native desktop app rather than a browser-based CMS. WordPress, by contrast, always has a slight delay between clicks — even on premium hosting. That lag adds up across hundreds of interactions per day, and once you've experienced Ghost's responsiveness, it's hard to go back.

2. Out-of-the-Box Site Speed

Ghost doesn't just feel fast for you as the admin — it's fast for your visitors too. Right out of the box, without any caching plugins or CDN configuration, Ghost-powered sites load almost instantly.

A demo site running on a $6 server loads in a flash. Articles with multiple images still feel smooth and responsive, largely because Ghost handles image optimization automatically. Upload an 8.5 MB photo straight from a stock library, publish the post, and Ghost compresses it down to around 294 KB without any manual intervention. That's still a decent-sized image, but it's a massive improvement that happens completely behind the scenes.

With WordPress, you'd typically need a plugin like ShortPixel or Imagify plus a caching plugin plus potentially a CDN to achieve similar results. Ghost handles it natively.

3. Image Editing and Built-In Unsplash

Ghost makes working with images surprisingly pleasant. You can add images by clicking the plus button and selecting the image card, or just type `/image` — similar to Notion's slash command system.

The standout feature here is the built-in Unsplash integration. Type `/unsplash` and you get instant access to a massive library of free stock photography right inside the editor. No need to open a new tab, download an image, and re-upload it. Find a photo you like, click it, and it's in your post.

Ghost also includes a built-in image editor. Click the pencil icon on any image and you can apply filters, resize to specific dimensions, redact sensitive information like logos, and even annotate images with arrows or text. This works with any image in your post, not just ones pulled from Unsplash. It's the kind of thoughtful feature that saves you from constantly switching between your CMS and a separate image editor.

4. Built-In SEO Tools

One of the biggest headaches in WordPress is choosing and configuring an SEO plugin — Yoast, RankMath, All in One SEO — each with its own learning curve and settings. Ghost sidesteps this entirely by building SEO tools directly into the platform.

From the post sidebar, you can view and edit your Google metadata, including a custom meta title and description. As you type, Ghost shows a live preview of how your listing will appear in Google search results, making it easy to craft something clickable.

Social sharing is handled the same way. You can customize both your Twitter card and Facebook card with specific images and descriptions. Before publishing, the preview feature lets you see exactly how your post will look when shared on Facebook, Twitter, and Google. If you haven't set a featured image, Ghost will fall back to your site's default — and updating it is as simple as pulling a new image from the built-in Unsplash library.

5. A Distraction-Free Editor You'll Actually Enjoy

The Ghost editor is genuinely one of the best writing experiences available in any CMS. It's clean, fast, and gets out of your way so you can focus on writing.

Formatting is handled through a contextual toolbar that appears when you select text — add headings, bold, italic, and links without hunting through menus. If you're comfortable with Markdown, Ghost supports it natively. Type `## ` and you've got an H2 heading.

Ghost also offers a wide selection of "cards" — widgets you can drop into any post. Embed a YouTube video by simply pasting the URL. Add buttons, callouts, toggles, bookmark cards, and more. After spending time trying to convince yourself that the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg) is fine, using Ghost's editor makes it very hard to go back.

6. Snippets for Reusable Content

Snippets are a powerful time-saver built into the Ghost editor. They let you save any piece of content — an image, a card, a block of text, or even a complex layout — and reuse it instantly across any post or page on your site.

The workflow is simple. Say you've uploaded an SVG of your logo. Select it, click the snippet icon, give it a name like "DS Logo," and hit return. Now, in any future post, just type `/DS` and your logo appears. It works with any content type Ghost supports.

This is especially useful for recurring elements like call-to-action banners, author bios, or "buy me a coffee" sections. Create a full-width header card, save it as a snippet, and insert it mid-article whenever you want to break up your content with a promotional element. Snippets save a surprising amount of time once you start building a library of reusable blocks.

7. Built-In Newsletters

Ghost has newsletters baked directly into the platform — no Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or any other third-party email service required. You write your content once and choose how to distribute it.

The newsletter template is fully customizable. You can adjust the design, remove the icon, hide the publication title, or strip everything back so your emails read like personal, handwritten letters. You can even remove the "Powered by Ghost" branding if you prefer.

Publishing options are flexible. When you hit publish, Ghost gives you three choices: publish on your website and send as an email, publish on your website only, or send as an email only. You can preview exactly what the email will look like in an inbox and send yourself a test before it goes out to your list. For creators who want to run a newsletter alongside a blog without managing two separate platforms, this is a significant advantage.

8. Easy Lead Magnets

Every newsletter you send through Ghost can double as a lead magnet with just a couple of clicks. After sending out your newsletter as normal, open the post sidebar and change the post access to "Members only." Now, anyone who lands on that article from search or social media will need to subscribe before they can read it.

The post still appears on your website and gets indexed by search engines, but instead of seeing the full content, non-subscribers see a prompt to sign up. It's a clean, built-in gating mechanism.

If you want to give readers a taste before asking them to subscribe, Ghost offers a "Public Preview" card. Insert it anywhere in your post — everything above the card is visible to everyone, and everything below is locked for subscribers only. This teaser approach tends to convert well because readers can see the quality of your content before committing.

9. Content Monetization Without Extra Plugins

Ghost lets you monetize your content directly through the platform with no additional plugins or services beyond a Stripe account. Setting up paid memberships is straightforward: go to settings, find tiers, connect Stripe, and create as many membership levels as you need.

You can protect individual posts by setting access to "Paid members only" or even restrict content to specific tiers. When a non-paying visitor lands on a gated post, they see a message prompting them to become a paying subscriber.

The beauty of this system is its flexibility. Behind that paywall, you can put anything — written articles, podcast episodes, videos, downloadable resources, or exclusive newsletters. Ghost handles the subscription management, payment processing, and access control. For creators who want to build a membership business without stitching together WordPress, WooCommerce, MemberPress, and a payment gateway, Ghost offers a dramatically simpler path.

10. A Clear Vision for Independent Publishing

The final point is less about a specific feature and more about Ghost's philosophy. Their tagline — "Independent technology for modern publishing" — tells you exactly what they're about. Ghost knows who it's for and what problem it solves, and that clarity shows in every design decision.

When a software company tries to be everything to everyone, the product inevitably becomes bloated and unfocused. Ghost's commitment to publishing means every update, every new feature, and every optimization is aimed squarely at helping content creators do their best work. That's a reassuring sign for anyone considering building their content business on the platform.

If you're a blogger, newsletter writer, or content creator who's tired of fighting with WordPress, Ghost is well worth exploring. The combination of speed, built-in tools, and a focused publishing experience makes it one of the best alternatives available today.

Watch the Full Video

Prefer watching to reading? Check out the full video on YouTube for a complete walkthrough with live demos and commentary.