Ghost vs Umbraco
Ghost is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. Umbraco 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 16.
- Ghost Traditional · Open source · 10 of 28 built in
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Ghost on 29 Sept 2026, Umbraco 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
| 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 .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. |
| 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 | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Ghost Foundation (non-profit) ghost.org | Umbraco A/S umbraco.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 Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | Node.js, JavaScript, Handlebars themes | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | MySQL | SQL Server, SQLite |
| 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 to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise on request. |
| 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. | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 |
| 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 Document types are built in the backoffice. |
| 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 Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 |
| 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. | Built in Culture variants per property. |
| 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 ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in Content API and Admin API. 12 | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Not available | Not available No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 |
| 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 | Built in 8 |
| 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 Razor templates. |
| 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 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in Scheduled publishing only. | Built in 10 |
| 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 Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in | Built in |
| 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 | Not available |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Not available | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 |
| 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 | Not available |
| 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 User groups with granular permissions. |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 |
| 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 | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 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 | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Not available | Built in Several root nodes, each with its own domains. |
| 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 Backoffice extensions. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Limited Theme marketplace only. Ghost has no plugin system. 2 | Built in Umbraco Marketplace. |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Not available Member signup forms only. | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 |
| 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 | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Not available | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 |
| 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 Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
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)
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
Considering more platforms? Compare Ghost and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Ghost and Umbraco get a different status on 16 of the 28 features and the same status on 12. Ghost has 10 built in on its baseline edition, Umbraco has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
Built in on Ghost, a different answer on Umbraco 1
- Audit log Ghost: Built in. Umbraco: Limited.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Ghost 9
- Content model in the UI Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Localization Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Drafts Ghost: Limited. Umbraco: Built in.
- Custom roles Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Ghost: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Multiple sites Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Extensible admin UI Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Plugin marketplace Ghost: Limited. Umbraco: Built in.
- Official MCP server Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 6
- Content model in code Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Approval workflows Ghost: Limited. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Content releases Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Field-level permissions Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Limited.
- Form builder Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- AI writing assistant Ghost: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
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