Ghost vs Instatic
Ghost is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. Instatic is an open-source site builder that you host yourself. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 15.
- Ghost Traditional · Open source · 10 of 28 built in
- Instatic Site builder · Open source · 15 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Ghost on 29 Sept 2026, Instatic on 30 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
| Platform |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Open-source Node.js publishing platform with built-in newsletters, memberships and paid subscriptions. Self-hosted or run on Ghost(Pro). | Open-source, self-hosted CMS with a visual canvas editor. One Bun server runs the editor, content store and publisher, and publishing writes plain HTML files to disk. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Ghost 6, self-hosted open source and Ghost(Pro) Version 6.65.0, released 22 Sept 2026 | Instatic 0.0.20, open source Version 0.0.20, released 13 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Ghost Foundation (non-profit) ghost.org | CoreBunch instatic.com |
| Licence | Open source MIT | Open source MIT |
| Hosting | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Ghost(Pro) Starter allows only the default theme and no custom integrations. | Self-hosting No vendor cloud No managed hosting. You deploy the Docker image to your own server, or use the Railway and Render templates. |
| Built with | Node.js, JavaScript, Handlebars themes | TypeScript, Bun, React admin |
| Database | MySQL | SQLite, PostgreSQL |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free to self-host. Ghost(Pro) Starter $18, Publisher $29, Business $199 per month, billed yearly. | Free to start Free and open source, with no paid tiers. You pay only for hosting. |
| 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. | Not available Fixed model of posts, pages, tags and members. | Not available Tables and fields live in the database and change in the Data workspace. Plugins can create tables through the SDK. 610 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Not available | Built in Custom post types and data tables in the Data workspace. 616 |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Fixed set of editor cards plus reusable snippets. 10 | Built in Visual Components with typed parameters and named slots, placed and reordered on the canvas. 72 |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Not available One content language per site. | Not available One site-wide language setting. No per-locale fields or entries. 21 |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Ghost generates theme-defined image sizes automatically. 5 | Built in Uploads get a set of WebP sizes, and the publisher writes srcset and sizes from the layout. 81 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in Content API and Admin API. 12 | Limited The JSON API under /admin/api/cms serves the admin behind a session cookie. No token-based content API outside MCP. 920 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Not available | Not available |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Built in Via custom integrations. Not available on Ghost(Pro) Starter. 42 | Not available No built-in webhooks. A plugin with network access can call a URL from content hooks. 10 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Built in Handlebars themes. | Built in Publishing renders every page to static HTML on the server's disk. 11 |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Limited Edits to a published post go live on Update. No pending draft. 13 | Built in 51 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in Scheduled publishing only. | Built in Per page and per post-type entry. 5 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in Post history with one-click restore. 6 | Built in Published versions of pages and entries, restorable into the draft. Added in 0.0.20. 124 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in | Built in The canvas renders drafts in the site design. Branch preview links work without an account. 122 |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Not available The admin toolbar on the live site links to the editor. 9 | Built in Editing happens on the rendered page canvas, with a live mode for the full-size page. 214 |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Limited Contributors draft and Editors publish. No configurable stages. 7 | Limited Branch merge requests with a review page and comments. No configurable review stages. 12 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Not available | Limited Publish ships all draft pages at once. Branches group edits across pages and entries, but entries still publish one by one. 125 |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Not available | Limited Live co-editing of pages, components and layouts in the Site editor. Content workspace entries save separately. 13144 |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Not available Fixed staff roles. 7 | Built in The Owner builds roles from a fixed list of capabilities. 1516 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available | Not available Capabilities apply per table type and edit category, not per field. 16 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Paid tier Ghost(Pro) Custom plan only. Not in self-hosted Ghost. 2 | Not available Email and password with optional TOTP two-factor. 15 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Built in History log of staff actions. 8 | Built in Append-only log of logins, content changes, role edits and plugin actions. 17 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Not available | Not available One site per installation. 2 |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Not available The admin app has no extension points. | Built in Plugins add admin pages, editor extensions, dashboard widgets and canvas modules. 10 |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Limited Theme marketplace only. Ghost has no plugin system. 2 | Not available Plugins install as uploaded zip packages. No official directory. 10 |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Not available Member signup forms only. | Built in Forms are built on the canvas and submissions land in a data table. 18 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Built in Members with free and paid tiers. 3 | Not available |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Not available | Built in Built-in agent in the Site and Content workspaces, with your own Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter or Ollama key. 19 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Not available Community MCP servers only. 11 | Built in Built in at /_instatic/mcp, with OAuth or scoped personal access tokens. 20 |
Ghost sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Ghost 6, self-hosted open source and Ghost(Pro).
- Ghost releases on GitHub
- Ghost(Pro) pricing
- Ghost 6.0 changelog
- Webhooks (Ghost docs)
- Theme assets and responsive images (Ghost docs)
- Post history (changelog)
- Staff users (Ghost docs)
- History log (Ghost help)
- Your new admin toolbar (changelog)
- Intro to the editor (Ghost help)
- MFYDev/ghost-mcp on GitHub
- A new Ghost Admin API (changelog)
- Add option to save changes in published posts (Ghost Forum)
Instatic sources
Checked 30 Sept 2026. Instatic 0.0.20, open source.
- Instatic homepage
- Instatic repository on GitHub
- Instatic 0.0.20 release
- Instatic changelog
- Instatic docs: Content storage
- Instatic docs: Data workspace
- Instatic docs: Visual Components
- Instatic docs: Media
- Instatic docs: Server
- Instatic docs: Plugin system
- Instatic docs: Publisher
- Instatic docs: Site branches
- Instatic docs: Site shell and real-time co-editing
- Instatic docs: Content workspace
- Instatic docs: Auth and access
- Instatic docs: Capabilities
- Instatic docs: Audit log
- Instatic docs: CMS-native forms
- Instatic docs: AI agent
- Instatic docs: MCP connectors
- Instatic docs: Editor
Considering more platforms? Compare Ghost and Instatic with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Ghost and Instatic get a different status on 15 of the 28 features and the same status on 13. Ghost has 10 built in on its baseline edition, Instatic has 15. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Vendor cloud
- Ghost has a vendor-run cloud. Instatic has no vendor-run cloud.
Built in on Ghost, a different answer on Instatic 3
- REST API Ghost: Built in. Instatic: Limited.
- Webhooks Ghost: Built in. Instatic: Not available.
- Site member accounts Ghost: Built in. Instatic: Not available.
Built in on Instatic, a different answer on Ghost 8
- Content model in the UI Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Built in.
- Drafts Ghost: Limited. Instatic: Built in.
- Visual editing Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Built in.
- Custom roles Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Built in.
- Extensible admin UI Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Built in.
- Form builder Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Built in.
- AI writing assistant Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Built in.
- Official MCP server Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 4
- Content releases Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Limited.
- Real-time co-editing Ghost: Not available. Instatic: Limited.
- Single sign-on Ghost: Paid tier. Instatic: Not available.
- Plugin marketplace Ghost: Limited. Instatic: Not available.
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Instatic against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Instatic
- Contentful vs Instatic
- Contentstack vs Instatic
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Instatic
- Craft CMS vs Instatic
- DatoCMS vs Instatic
- Decap CMS vs Instatic
- Directus vs Instatic
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- Framer vs Instatic
- HubSpot CMS vs Instatic
- Hygraph vs Instatic
- Instatic vs Joomla
- Instatic vs Keystone
- Instatic vs Kirby
- Instatic vs Liferay DXP
- Instatic vs Optimizely CMS
- Instatic vs Payload
- Instatic vs Prismic
- Instatic vs Progress Sitefinity
- Instatic vs Sanity
- Instatic vs Sitecore
- Instatic vs Squarespace
- Instatic vs Statamic
- Instatic vs Storyblok
- Instatic vs Strapi
- Instatic vs TYPO3
- Instatic vs Umbraco
- Instatic vs Wagtail
- Instatic vs Webflow
- Instatic vs Wix
- Instatic vs WordPress
- Instatic vs Xperience by Kentico
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