CMS comparison Contentful vs Ghost

Contentful vs Ghost

Contentful is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Ghost is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 20.

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Contentful Headless · Closed source · 14 of 28 built in
Ghost Traditional · Open source · 10 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentful on 29 Sept 2026, Ghost on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.

WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.

Feature comparison

Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available

Contentful vs Ghost feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentful Headless	Ghost Traditional
Overview
What it is	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentful. Contentful stores content in its cloud and delivers it over REST and GraphQL APIs.	Open-source Node.js publishing platform with built-in newsletters, memberships and paid subscriptions. Self-hosted or run on Ghost(Pro).
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	Ghost 6, self-hosted open source and Ghost(Pro) Version 6.65.0, released 22 Sept 2026
Vendor	Salesforce (acquired Contentful in September 2026) contentful.com	Ghost Foundation (non-profit) ghost.org
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Open source MIT
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud Runs only in Contentful's cloud. The local MCP server and SDKs are open source.	Self-hosting Vendor cloud Ghost(Pro) Starter allows only the default theme and no custom integrations.
Built with	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, SDKs for JavaScript and other languages	Node.js, JavaScript, Handlebars themes
Database	Managed by Contentful	MySQL
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Free plan. Lite $300 per month. Extra Lite Space $850 per month. Enterprise on request.	Free to start Free to self-host. Ghost(Pro) Starter $18, Publisher $29, Business $199 per month, billed yearly.
Content modelling
Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited.	Limited Migration scripts run by the Contentful CLI change the model. No declarative schema files. 3	Not available Fixed model of posts, pages, tags and members.
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in 1	Not available
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Reorderable reference fields to typed entries. Studio page building is Enterprise. 1	Built in Fixed set of editor cards plus reusable snippets. 10
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in 2 locales on Free, 3 on Lite, custom on Enterprise. 1	Not available One content language per site.
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Images API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 4	Built in Ghost generates theme-defined image sizes automatically. 5
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in 1	Built in Content API and Admin API. 12
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in 5	Not available
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in 1	Built in Via custom integrations. Not available on Ghost(Pro) Starter. 4 2
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Not available	Built in Handlebars themes.
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 1	Limited Edits to a published post go live on Update. No pending draft. 13
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Paid tier Scheduled publishing on Lite and Enterprise. 1	Built in Scheduled publishing only.
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in 1	Built in Post history with one-click restore. 6
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 6	Built in
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Live preview inspector mode opens the field next to the page. Needs the live preview SDK. 6	Not available The admin toolbar on the live site links to the editor. 9
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Paid tier Not on the Starter Space. Up to 5 on a Lite Space at $850 a month, custom on Enterprise. 1	Limited Contributors draft and Editors publish. No configurable stages. 7
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Plugin or add-on Launch is available on Lite and Enterprise plan families, but requires Contentful admin support to purchase and install. 7 8	Not available
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Paid tier Live collaboration on Lite and Enterprise, with per-field presence avatars. 1 13	Not available
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Paid tier Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. Free has 2 fixed roles, Lite 3. 1 9	Not available Fixed staff roles. 7
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Paid tier Field and locale rules in custom roles. Premium plans only, sold as Enterprise. 10	Not available
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier SAML 2.0 SSO on Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. 11	Paid tier Ghost(Pro) Custom plan only. Not in self-hosted Ghost. 2
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Paid tier Audit logs on selected Enterprise plans, by sales agreement. 12	Built in History log of staff actions. 8
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Paid tier One Starter Space on Free and Lite, plus one paid Lite Space. Multiple spaces on Enterprise. 1	Not available
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in App Framework for custom field, sidebar, entry and page apps. 14	Not available The admin app has no extension points.
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Contentful Marketplace. 15	Limited Theme marketplace only. Ghost has no plugin system. 2
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Not available Member signup forms only.
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Built in Members with free and paid tiers. 3
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Plugin or add-on Official AI Content Generator app with your own OpenAI key. AI Actions need Enterprise. 1 15	Not available
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in Hosted beta server at mcp.contentful.com and an open-source local server. 16	Not available Community MCP servers only. 11

Contentful sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans.

Ghost sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Ghost 6, self-hosted open source and Ghost(Pro).

Considering more platforms? Compare Contentful and Ghost with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.

Where they differ

Contentful and Ghost get a different status on 20 of the 28 features and the same status on 8. Contentful has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Ghost has 10. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Licence: Contentful is closed source (Proprietary). Ghost is open source (MIT).
Self-hosting: Contentful cannot be self-hosted. Ghost can be self-hosted.

Built in on Contentful, a different answer on Ghost 8

Content model in the UI Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Not available.
Localization Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Not available.
GraphQL API Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Not available.
Drafts Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Limited.
Visual editing Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Not available.
Extensible admin UI Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Not available.
Plugin marketplace Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Limited.
Official MCP server Contentful: Built in. Ghost: Not available.

Built in on Ghost, a different answer on Contentful 4

Renders the website Contentful: Not available. Ghost: Built in.
Scheduled publishing Contentful: Paid tier. Ghost: Built in.
Audit log Contentful: Paid tier. Ghost: Built in.
Site member accounts Contentful: Not available. Ghost: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 8

Content model in code Contentful: Limited. Ghost: Not available.
Approval workflows Contentful: Paid tier. Ghost: Limited.
Content releases Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Ghost: Not available.
Real-time co-editing Contentful: Paid tier. Ghost: Not available.
Custom roles Contentful: Paid tier. Ghost: Not available.
Field-level permissions Contentful: Paid tier. Ghost: Not available.
Multiple sites Contentful: Paid tier. Ghost: Not available.
AI writing assistant Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Ghost: Not available.

More comparisons

Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Contentful vs Payload.

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