EmDash vs Ghost: Which Should You Use for Your Blog?
Ghost is built for newsletters and paid memberships. EmDash is a flexible CMS on Astro that hosts free on Cloudflare. Here's how they compare, and who should pick which.
By the AstroBeginner team. Reviewed by Ankur Gandhi, VP of WordPressPublished 6 minute readComplete beginner
In this guide
Ghost and EmDash are both modern, open-source ways to run a blog. They’re good at different things. Ghost is a newsletter business in a box. EmDash is a flexible website you can grow in any direction.
The short answer
- Pick Ghost if your blog is a newsletter, and you want to sell paid memberships.
- Pick EmDash if you want a website first, with free hosting, and room to add other kinds of pages later.
Side by side
| EmDash | Ghost | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Cloudflare, launched in 2026 | The Ghost Foundation, since 2013 |
| License | MIT, open source | MIT, open source |
| Built on | Astro | Node.js |
| Newsletters | Not built in | Built in, its main feature |
| Paid memberships | Not built in | Built in |
| Charging for content | An optional add-on charges per page with x402, a new standard aimed mostly at AI bots | Paid memberships |
| Kinds of content | Any. Add types like Projects or Recipes in the dashboard. | Posts and pages |
| Hosting | Free on Cloudflare for most small sites | Ghost(Pro), a paid monthly plan, or your own server |
| Signing in | Passkeys, or a link sent by email | Email and password |
| Plugins | Sandboxed plugins with permissions | Integrations with other services |
| Moving from WordPress | Built-in import wizard | Import tools available |
Where Ghost wins
Newsletters and memberships. Ghost sends every post as an email, takes sign-ups, and lets readers pay you monthly. It does this out of the box, and it’s very good at it. If that’s your business, Ghost has a decade’s head start.
Maturity. Ghost has been around since 2013 and has a big community. EmDash launched in April 2026. Ghost has had longer to find and fix the odd problem.
Where EmDash wins
Cost. Ghost’s own hosting is a paid plan, and the price rises as your audience grows. EmDash fits Cloudflare’s free plan for most small sites. See what EmDash costs.
Flexibility. EmDash isn’t only a blog. Under Content Types, you can add new kinds of content, like Projects, Events or Recipes, each with its own fields. Its four templates cover blogs, company sites and portfolios. See them.
It’s Astro underneath. Your site is an Astro project, so everything on AstroBeginner applies. You can change any part of the design, or have an AI change it for you.
Sign-in. Passkeys by default, or a one-time link sent by email, with no passwords to steal.
Can you have both?
Some people use EmDash for the website and a newsletter service like Buttondown or Kit for email. That gives you a free, flexible site and good newsletters, at the cost of two tools instead of one. How to start a newsletter shows the sign-up form part.
Where to go next
- What is EmDash?, if you’re new to it.
- EmDash vs WordPress.
- Write your first post in EmDash, to see what using it feels like.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ghost or EmDash better for a newsletter?
Ghost. Sending newsletters and selling paid memberships are its main features. As of November 2026, EmDash has neither built in.
Which is cheaper?
Usually EmDash. Both are free to use, but Ghost's own hosting is a paid monthly plan, while EmDash fits Cloudflare's free plan for most small sites.
Are both open source?
Yes. Both use the MIT license, so you can use them for anything and host them yourself.
Stuck on a step?
Check the common errors guide, look up a word in the glossary, or ask the friendly people in the official Astro and EmDash Discords. How to ask so people can help.