15 min read

Beehiiv vs Ghost CMS: finding the best tool for blogs and newsletters

Beehiiv and vs Ghost CMS logos on featured image.

This article will help you decide if beehiiv or Ghost is the best platform for your needs.

I can imagine you are feeling a mix of excitement and confusion when putting beehiiv vs Ghost, but don't worry, they are both 2 great options.

Let's see why.

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Affiliate Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. This means that if you buy after clicking on them, I get a commission without costing you extra. ๐Ÿ˜Š

beehiiv vs Ghost overview

Best for newsletters
beehiiv
  • Content creation: 8.9
  • Customization: 6.9
  • SEO: 7.8
  • Growth: 10
  • Management: 9.5
  • Monetization: 7.8
  • Overall Rating: 9.5
Best for blog
Ghost CMS
  • Content creation: 9.0
  • Customization: 6.8
  • SEO: 9.0
  • Growth: 6.9
  • Management: 9.0
  • Monetization: 6.5
  • Overall Rating: 9.4

Ghost and beehiiv are 2 great tools for creators. And what I like the most is that both are suited for hobby and professional use.

The main difference between Ghost and beehiiv is that Ghost is better for blogs and SEO, while beehiiv is better for newsletters focused on growing as fast as possible.

I recommend Ghost CMS for creators who give more importance to their blog and publish articles, as their SEO is fantastic, and you can buy a theme or create one yourself.

Beehiiv is the better option for creators looking for the best newsletter tool, as it has good tools for publishing and monetizing via ads and memberships.

Overall, beehiiv and Ghost are 2 of the best tools creators can pick from that combine blogging and newsletter capabilities.

beehiiv overview

Beehiiv is a newsletter tool with blogging capabilities. This means you can use it to publish different content in the same place.

Beehiiv is a no-code solution for creators who want to focus on writing without having to deal with technical configuration and is probably the best Substack alternative available.

Things I like about beehiiv:

  • Nothing to install;
  • Free plan (up to 2,500 subscribers);
  • 0% membership fees;
  • Do everything without code;
  • Works as blog + newsletter;
  • Good email analytics;
  • Amazing newsletter design customization;
  • Multiple newsletters in the same account;
  • Referral program;
  • Integrations;

Things I don't like about beehiiv:

  • The free plan is extremely limited;
  • Average website customization;
  • Custom domain only on paid plans;

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Rating explanation: These ratings are based on a formula I created that considers 70+ features. The formula analyzes feature existence (options), how they work (ease of use), and their importance (weight). This is a way to standardize reviews across tools and is based on what I consider more important in a way that's easy to understand.

Ghost CMS overview

Ghost CMS is a fantastic platform for bloggers and writers who want to publish content and monetize it with memberships.

The strongest points of Ghost are its SEO and ease of use. The best part is that Ghost is safe, fast, and optimized out of the box. So you can focus on creating the content instead of having to tweak things around.

Ghost is super easy to use with managed hosting like Ghost (Pro) because this type of service takes care of updates, backups, and installation. I've used Ghost since 2021, always with a managed hosting.

Things I like about Ghost CMS:

  • 0% membership fees;
  • Fantastic search engine optimization (SEO);
  • The websites are fast;
  • No coding knowledge required with managed hosting;
  • Best writing experience on any platform I know;
  • Works as blog + newsletter;
  • You can self-host Ghost;
  • Ghost sites are safer than WordPress;
  • Integrations that work like plugins;
  • Team members (editors and writers);
  • Ghost themes are beautiful.

Things I don't like about Ghost CMS:

  • Lack of email sequences and welcome emails;
  • Self-hosting isn't intuitive (requires command-line knowledge);
  • Theme customization requires coding;
  • Limited newsletter analytics.

Other comparison articles

Beehiiv vs Substack: Pick the right newsletter tool (Sep 2023)
Beehiiv and Substack are great newsletter tools for creators. Read this to learn which is better for SEO, monetization, customization and growth.
Ghost vs Substack - making money with memberships
A comparison between two content heavyweights. Substack made newsletters cool again. Ghost is powering independent creators to earn more.
ConvertKit vs Ghost CMS - monetizing with memberships
Picking between Ghost and ConvertKit will depend, for the most part, if you already have a blog or not.

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