I was told by a friend that he was worried about the future of Ghost because the market share was tiny.
And he shared links to builtwith and wappalizer:
Because it isn’t a simple php that any cheap host will setup and run. Arguably all apps start this way and grow as it’s been a decade and they continue to grow tell your friends to stop using survivor bias.
Oh, has Joomla survived? Many technologies are still popular only because coders became used to them and haven’t learned anything faster. Such as node.js, which is faster and is used by Ghost, Netflix, NASA, Trello, PayPal, LinkedIn, Walmart, Uber, Twitter, Yahoo, and eBay. But can’t be auto installed using Scriptaculous on a shared CPanel host. You need shell access to install Ghost.
Thank you for all the answers.
I really think that market share is important, not the only thing, but important and a fair question to ask by a client or someone that is considering multiple options for their website.
I think a bigger issue is that ads and e-commerce are a much bigger market than paid subscriptions.
The “paid newsletter” or “paywalled high-quality writing” business model is dramatically smaller, orders and orders of magnitude smaller, than ads and e-commerce.
Wordpress, Wix, Shopify, WooCommerce, even Squarespace all support various lucrative business models whereas Ghost is very opinionated about newsletter+blog.
And even within that niche, it faces competition from much more growth-focused providers like Beehiiv.
If Ghost uncoupled from “pay for newsletter and paid posts” and embraced things like “grow your Mediavine publication” or “sell digital products with Lemon Squeezy and Paddle”, it would be 10x bigger.
I don’t think that is the mandate of the non-profit, though!
Would counter it is garbage for a company to eschew support of itself in favor of a third party as third parties fail all the time, they get bought, API’s go away.
Better to keep and maintain, you can run ads simply on Ghost, selling products is just a link away to the buy it page.
Tdlr - I think the easier the install and a up to date install faq/help will increase market share.
For me the answer is simple: Ghost is hard to install, and there’s no easy way to get info how to troubleshoot the install VS 1 click install from WP.
Last month, after years out of it, I went to the Ghost blog how to install page in my new Mac and, after installing node and npm, I got like 3 screens of error from the 1st step. Looking around for almost 3 days and no answer about it, but other people with the same error and NO HELP.
I think Ghost want that way, so tech savvy users are pushed to use its hosting service instead, bringing more revenue.
Unfortunately, me and other users don’t think that way and just go for another solution that respect all users.
PS - I know I can have an one click VPS or docker solution, but I like to build by myself to learn.
PS 2 - the errors were about my disk permission, but now Ghost lost momentum and I went elsewhere. Maybe another try in some years ahead?
It is a shame you had trouble - the fact you can get a running local development environment with a couple of commands is one of the cool things about Ghost.
If you haven’t abandoned the attempt then posting details of the errors in the forum might help you get a solution and would help others in the same situation.
I love the Ghost Foundation. I believe in this project. But we are getting very behind. Just have a look at beehiiv.
I think we lack 2 main things:
MONEY. Publications need to be sustainable. That means making it easy to put Ads, to ask for donations, to put a metered paywall, etc.
EASY use for non-tech people. It’s extremely hard for a noob like me to deploy Ghost in a VPS, update it and so on… And also themes are great, but it’s hard to customize.
The ecosystem needs to rethink everything, and should aim to be more focus on developing tools for growing our businesses, from DATA, ANALYTICS AND MONEY perspectives.
@cieloazul, I think you are a bit tough towards the community and the eco system.
I believe you are missing few points and ghost is actually getting ahead.
1 - it is open source - beehiiv is not
2 - before making money you need an audience and ghost is great for this
3 - their is all the features to add paywalls, donations, membership etc… Yes regarding the banner ads you need to hack a bit but the tutorial and documentation are good enought for you to find the solution
4 yes it is a bit hard to setup but if you compare with beehiiv you still better with subscribing for the ghost pro service
last but not least they are close to link ghost with fediverse → https://activitypub.ghost.org/
It is a huge advantage coming
I hope you ll find your way with ghost, dig a bite and you ll see that it is definitely worth it.
No need for swearing. You are not motivating or supporting the team by complaining. You can participate / support / promote, so more people will improve the open source code.
You keep saying “we” and “our” but I guess I’m confused. Are you contributing to making Ghost better? (Time/code /money/community support?)
While sharing ideas and use cases for missing features might be contributing, complaining is not contributing.
If another platform has the features you need, you might want to consider whether you want to contribute to making this one better, or whether you should be on that one.
Like Jeremie, I also make money with Ghost. (I also do a ton of unpaid contributor work.) If that disqualifies me from responding to you in your mind, well, ok. I wish you good luck finding what works best for you.
This isnt WordPress, if you want WP then please go there. Otherwise feel free to contribute to the community, the code, but don’t be disparaging for a company following their plan has made them successful.
Others wish they were this successful, hands down.
I know that Ghost is designed to be very minimalistic, and it all makes a lot of sense in practice too since it is putting the publishers and content creators first by providing an uninterrupted content-first way to get going without worrying too much about the bells and whistles, but sometimes this works against Ghost.
Having a liberal/open way to add more integrations on the official Ghost website would be a great way to indulge developers wanting to add more functionality to Ghost websites.
Take Interactivity Studio, for instance- we currently have official integrations on Framer and Webflow, and are looking to get on the official list of Ghost Integrations so that more Ghost publishers can explore creative storytelling using Interactive Images- but the list is curated and not everyone gets to be on the list, even if there is merit for the product.
My Perspective on Ghost’s “Low Market Share” & Community
Hey everyone, Shawn here from Trizone. Thought I’d jump in and share my perspective. Trizone ran on WordPress for nearly 12 years, but we’ve moved to Ghost(Pro) because of performance, ease of publishing, and overall vision of the platform. There’s no “right or wrong” CMS—it all comes down to your needs and preferences. But I’d like to respond specifically to some of the concerns in this thread about Ghost’s perceived limitations, low market share, and community engagement.
1. Market Share & Ghost’s Size
“Ghost’s market share is tiny compared to other platforms.”
Not Always Apples to Apples
Ghost is a lean (super lean both in employees and code - that’s deliberate), modern publishing platform focused on content and membership. WordPress, Joomla, Wix and Shopify have larger market share because they cater to broader use cases—everything from e-commerce to small business sites. And why does market share really matter?
Real Numbers vs. Market Share
Ghost is fully transparent about its finances and growth (you can find annual reports on their site). Even if “percentage of the internet” stats look small, the actual business data shows consistent health and steady adoption.
Community vs. Corporate
WordPress has been around for two decades, with a huge commercial ecosystem. Ghost is relatively newer (about a decade old), but has a sustainable non-profit foundation and focuses on building a strong membership and publishing community rather than chasing “mass market” features. And maybe the last few weeks of WP turmoil might get you to rethink WP.
2. Addressing Complexity & Installation Woes
“Ghost is harder to install on a VPS than WP; the docs are lacking for novices.”
Node.js vs. PHP
Ghost is built on Node.js, whereas WordPress uses PHP. If you’re used to a cPanel one-click install, Ghost’s command-line approach can feel more involved. Digital Ocean has a one-click install.
Ghost(Pro) Simplifies
For me, the main reason to go with Ghost(Pro) was to offload the technical overhead—like security layers, caching or multiple plugins. If you don’t want to manage that, Ghost(Pro) is a great solution. There are other hosting providers out there as well.
Growing Documentation & Community
Documentation gets better all the time, and the forum is a solid resource. For those comfortable with Docker or command-line tools, self-hosting Ghost is straightforward. Otherwise, Ghost(Pro) removes the heavy lifting.
3. The Membership & Paid Newsletter Focus
“Ghost is so membership-centric; the bigger markets are ads and e-commerce.”
Intentional Product Focus
Ghost started by serving professional publishers and journalists who want membership-based monetisation. That’s by design, and the platform is optimised for it.
Integrations Exist
You can add ads, e-commerce or custom functionality via embeds, widgets or code injections. It may not be as plug-and-play as WordPress, but it’s still quite flexible.
Avoiding Bloat
Ghost stays “opinionated,” meaning fewer plugin options but also fewer performance issues. It’s built to remain lightweight and fast.
4. Comparisons to Alternatives (Beehiiv, WordPress, Substack, etc.)
“Beehiiv or Substack has more features for newsletters and growth.”
Different Target Audiences
Beehiiv and Substack also focus on membership-based newsletters, but they’re not open source. Ghost gives you the freedom to own your entire stack if you self-host, or use Ghost(Pro) if you prefer fully managed.
Roadmaps & Priorities
Other platforms may introduce growth-related features faster. However, Ghost’s roadmap includes expansions to membership, analytics integrations, and new features like ActivityPub for broader audience reach.
5. Community & Ecosystem
“The community is a nightmare; not enough official integrations.”
Smaller but Vibrant
Ghost’s community is active and gradually growing. Though it’s not as extensive as WordPress’s plugin marketplace, many developers (myself included) appreciate the modern codebase and how straightforward custom integrations can be.
Curated Official Integrations
Ghost maintains an official list of integrations to ensure quality. If your service or product is relevant, you can propose it or create a custom how-to for the community.
6. What I’ve Learned at Trizone
From my own journey with WordPress to Ghost:
Performance
Ghost is faster out of the box—no juggling multiple caching or performance plugins.
Focus on Writing
The editor is built for clean, intuitive content creation.
Less Maintenance
Updating Ghost is simpler than the plugin patchwork I managed in WordPress.
Community-Driven
The Ghost forum, Discord channels and GitHub are full of people who genuinely want to help. It can feel scrappy (open source typically does), but that also means everyone can contribute.
7. Final Thoughts & Encouragement
No One-Size-Fits-All
If you need a Swiss Army Knife CMS, WordPress or Shopify might fit better. Ghost’s strength is in delivering a clean, modern publishing experience with robust membership tools.
Long-Term Viability
Ghost’s transparent model and consistent revenue growth signal staying power. “Small market share” isn’t the best measure; the company’s actual metrics, plus the community’s passion, tell a different story.
Get Involved
If you need specific features, share them here in the forum, sponsor a developer, or build it yourself. That’s how open source thrives.
Ultimately, Ghost works best for creators wanting a lean, well-supported platform that evolves based on community input. It’s not perfect—no platform is—but for me and Trizone, it’s been a breath of fresh air.
Feel free to reply or message me if you have questions. I’m happy to chat about migrating from WordPress, share performance tips and talk about where Ghost is heading.
Many technologies are still popular only because coders became used to them and haven’t learned anything faster. Such as node.js, which is faster and is used by Ghost, Netflix, NASA, Trello, PayPal, LinkedIn, Walmart, Uber, Twitter, Yahoo, and eBay. But can’t be auto installed using Scriptaculous on a shared CPanel host. You need shell access to install Ghost.