https://nixsanctuary.com/ghost-cms-a-big-time-nasty-lock-in-publishing-platform/
Let me know what you think!
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Quick comment after a quick scan: I think you make some good points, and possibly ones worth discussing. However, your title comes across as not objective issues, but a slamming screed. You might think about changing your title; otherwise, most Ghost users are going to pass over your post as just trolling.
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If no one speaks up today without sugarcoating it, thenā¦ These issues from years ago might never be addressed. Iāve seen many people switch to WordPress or another platform after voicing their dissatisfaction with issues being closed. Iām not running away just because I allegedly posted something offensive. Iām here to stay. In summary, I might post one more time after observing what has changed in version 6 regarding things that matter. As long as it is a viable option, I still wonāt rage quit and migrate to WP like many other self-hosting users. As I said, it can still be done beautifully with Ghost if you host components individually. Whether or not it makes sense is something only an individual admin can answer.
Thank you for the kind comment!
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Well I didnāt. Title is the reason I had to read it completely.
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Fair points, and I agree with some of them. Iāve also moved my biggest publications away from Ghost for reasons that have been discussed repeatedly on the forums, though Ghost still seems to overlook many of them. Itās that ātheir way or the highwayā attitude that Iāve always disliked.
That said, I still use Ghost for smaller publications and am hopeful that version 6 shows theyāre at least starting to listen.
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I really hope that version 6 will address long-standing issues rather than introduce new ones, such as closed hosted services.
An initial overview of what it will be is available here:
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I reported some of those bugs/lockin issues and have been ignored by the team.
I come back from 15 years of WordPress and I learnt that no platform is perfect and no open source is truly open.
I hope ghost can see some of the issues and address them. The only way is to keep making noise because we want ghost to improve.
Thank you for the post!
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Yes. I chose an aggressive tone for the title for the same reason. With due respect, it seems no one on the Ghost team is listening to what users really want. Please comment on the post with your feedback, too, if you like.
Thank you too!
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Anyone who experienced the old (authentic?) Internet would agree with almost everything you wrote.
I like your style; truth isnāt something that can be marketed. Ghost had many commercial agreements that compromised the projectās integrity.
I believe thereās still room for improvement, and itās time to start truly listening to community concerns.
Thereās more to a fulfilling life than just business.
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I agree with many points, in fact, I think you underestimated the limitations of Ghost.
For one project, I stopped using Astro to integrate it with Ghost for convenience, and the project ended up forcing me to develop 15 microservices to add all the functionality I wanted.
For example, it doesnāt have a service to convert posts to audio, so I was forced to do it myself.
It also lacks functionality for associated posts, so once again I had to do it myself, creating vectors with OpenAI.
It doesnāt have a system for receiving feedback on posts, so I had to create that too.
Since I wasnāt satisfied with the tier system because it only integrates with Stripe, I had to build it entirely in another microservice and integrate it externally with Ko-fi.
Itās clear that Ghost is a good idea for SEO, but unless you start programming things externally, it falls short.
In fact, for the spam and moderation system, I will be forced to figure out how to automate it, to see if they have an API for comments to moderate them and, if necessary, delete them.
PD:
For the moderation system, I just saw that it has an API, and I can integrate it with Azureās moderation, then insert a user reputation system into a database, and if necessary, delete the user.
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Here are a few more issues I have experienced in the past 5 years:
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Limited Customization Without Coding: Customizing themes or implementing advanced features often requires coding expertise, posing challenges for non-technical users. Many theme providers are unresponsive and do not provide clarity on themes and level of support.
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Inadequate Theme Features: Official Ghost themes lack essential features, such as Table of Contents, social sharing, support for multiple tags, and dynamic fields, etc, despite repeated requests from users. For example, it is not possible to simply add nav drop down ā you need extensive knowledge of coding (Handlebars, Java, CSS) and understand how the theme was created.
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Restricted Plugin Ecosystem: Compared to platforms like WordPress, Ghost offers a limited selection of plugins, reducing flexibility for complex website requirements.
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Basic Functionality: Ghost is primarily designed for blogging and lacks robust features needed for e-commerce or intricate websites.
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Ineffective Support: The Ghost support team frequently responds with generic promises (āwe will note this and forward it to our teamā) rather than providing actionable solutions, and many longstanding forum issues dating back several years (yes, years!) remain unresolved.
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Open-Source Myth: Despite being marketed as open-source, Ghost restricts open discussion in forums, often editing or removing user posts, and provides no clarity on upcoming releases or feature development, leaving users uncertain about the platformās future improvements or maintenance (not everyone understand github or comes from a technical background). If you want to promote open source publishing, you need to make it easier for publishers to actually publish.
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Expensive Managed Hosting: Ghost Proās managed hosting is costly compared to self-hosting or other platforms, especially given the very basic themes and inclusions they provide starting with the Starter plan.
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Lack of Dynamic Fields: Ghost offers no straightforward way to dynamically pull posts, modify portal behavior, or customize search bar text. Creating a custom homepage is limited to static headers and text, with no option to embed a widget for pulling the latest posts. Using bookmarks to display recent posts is a poor substitute. Achieving advanced functionality requires extensive coding knowledge or scouring forum discussions and leveraging AI to find workarounds.
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Limited Payment System: Ghost hardwires Stripe as its payment system, which isnāt available in every country. Integrating an alternative payment system requires coding expertise, which most users lack.
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āBest Platformā Claim: Ghost markets itself as the best platform for independent publishing, but this feels misleading. A more fitting tagline would be: āA faster platform for publishers with coding skills who are willing to wait for the Ghost team to release features at their discretion or figure out solutions independently.ā
Bottom Line: Ghost is faster than WordPress due to its modern architecture, but its lack of transparency, unresolved issues, and heavy reliance on coding expertise overshadow this advantage.
(As an aside, no one I know is excited about ActivityPub; users are far more interested in marketing tools, official custom themes, better native features, advertising options, and growth-focused features.)
I trust that the team will heed the feedback of its users and prioritize genuinely assisting publishers, particularly in an era where companies like Google, which initially pledged to aid publishers, have now become evil.
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@danieljsaldana @bert_o_t @satonotdead @darkpollo I only mentioned basic issues because when the fundamentals arenāt right with a self-hosting platform, especially a free and open one, itās not doing anything new or right compared to other popular options.
Also, I know why we arenāt getting a neat core like Debian Stable, excluding the non-free repository. Itās simply a matter of model. The most popular CMS never offered us that until it saw threats from other platforms. My complaint is the lack of attention to the very basics. But then again, I do know why it is the way it is. It would be best to discuss it in a separate, dedicated post.
Furthermore, I request that you comment on the post directly, just in case. 
Thank you, guys!
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The real question is whether this level of work should be expected of every admin. If you were to invest time and skill, hosting a Discourse instance would be a far better idea. This way, you can build a better community around your publication.
I have both Ghost and Discourse on one of my projects. Discourse has full IA integration, SSO, basic Auth and a very solid community.
They build literally from what them recieves from their community. Thatās really how open-source needs to be.
After ~3 years on mainstream AI itās harder for me to understand why that wasnāt addressed by the core team. Today is so easy (more for those who have the experience like them!) to integrate.
I ended up doing tricky magic with multiple tag filtering but it still need to randomize the posts, so itās not a replacement for a simple āembed and show me related contentā.
I understand the golden days are gone, no one want to pay for nothing, so itās time to re-build with all this on mind 
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I was requested to post a link to Shlomi Fishās Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List - Shlomi Fishās Homesite where I explain why I prefer using SSGs for some sites than CMSes. Iām not implying CMSes do not have valid usecases.
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Upfront: Iām not a Ghost member yet, but Iām considering trying. The one item I can counter is @John_Noxās comment about being open source.
In most companies Iāve worked in, certainly those in mainland Europe, the devs learned to hack in order to spot their own security weaknesses. Without fail, all of them started on WordPress and then any open source platform they could find. If Iām looking for a platform which manages user data in any way, I wouldnāt want it to be open source at all.
you might want to keep away from the internet altogether in that case - it is almost entirely built on open source software.
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Ha ā first time Iāve been ratioed in the Ghost forum. 
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The core or base is usually secure and patched in a timely manner. It is only the integrations or plugins that can be vulnerable.
If you like, you can use non-free, user-subjugating software. There are a couple of blogging and community/forum options.
However, I am afraid I wonāt use any of them. Itās not just the cost, but other variables that matter to me as well.
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Sometimes people need an icebreaker.
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