Best managed hosting for Ghost CMS

Using Ghost with managed hosting is the best way to avoid the technical burden while enjoying peace of mind.

So, I've compiled the top 6 managed hosts to help you achieve that.

They all have different strengths to help you enjoy using Ghost CMS.

Also, you can use this article to discover the market prices and Ghost (Pro) alternatives.

Keep reading to discover which host is better suited for you.

Affiliate Disclaimer: Some links are affiliates. This means that if you buy after clicking on one of those, I get a commission at no additional cost for you.

TL;DR

Describing each hosting company in one sentence:

• Ghost (Pro) is the most reliable, have friendly prices for beginners and the structure for big businesses;
• Midnight has by far the best customer support. Plus, their prices are reasonable;
• Host Armada is great if you want more than one website and pay only to 1 hosting company;
• DigitalPress is the only free managed hosting in the market;
• Gloat price is excellent by including 20k newsletter emails per month;
• FirePress is the easiest to create a different home page on top of your Ghost Website.

1. Ghost (Pro) - best managed hosting for Ghost

Ghost (Pro) is, without much surprise, the best managed hosting for Ghost CMS.

After all, it's the official hosting provided by the creators of this open-source software.

Their plans start at $11 per month or $108 per year for 500 members.

This makes them cheap for beginners and websites with a small following.

And all plans include:

• Unlimited page views;
• Automatic updates;
• Automatic backups;
• Worldwide CDN;
• Unlimited newsletters;
• Security certificate;
• Threat & uptime management.

And on their higher plans like Creator, you get:

• Custom integrations;
• Custom themes;
• And migration help from other platforms.

Also, using Ghost (Pro) is the best way to support Ghost CMS's future development as they are a non-profit organization.

And Ghost has been profitable since its foundation in 2013, thanks to its Pro customers.

Even if people tell you they are expensive, remember that they take 0% commissions from memberships.

Also, consider this: if you have 10k subscribers, it will cost $99 per month or $0,0099 per user. And with a big following like that, it's wise to pick the most reliable team to take care of your website.

For all those reasons, I pick Ghost (Pro) as the top host for Ghost.

2. Midnight - best customer support

The second-best option for hosting a Ghost website is Midnight.

They're my current host for this website, The Stack Junction. And I have been with them for 6 months without any issue.

With fantastic customer support, fair prices, and generous limits.

Midnight Standard plan is $15 per month without any commitment.

They also have a $20/ month that includes 10k emails and a $65/ month Business plan with 35k emails included.

And for those prices you get:

• Unlimited members and page views;
• Unlimited staff users;
• Automatic backups;
• Automatic updates;
• Security Certificate;
• CDN for Images;
• Custom themes;
• Custom integrations;
• DDoS attack mitigation;

I discovered Midnight through Reddit and was skeptical about their prices, but I can say that I'm happy after giving them a try.

Even if I love them, there are a couple of reasons why they aren't the number 1.

One of those is because updates aren't always timely.

This happens if their team gets busy and they postpone updating my website.

Yet, this has happened only a couple of times and is the exception to the rule.

The other reason is that Ghost (Pro) lowered their prices after I started using Midnight. So, if I was using Ghost (Pro), I would be saving $72 per year right now.

Having that said, I still rate Midnight as an A+ host.

3. Host Armada - low prices for multiple websites

At 3rd place comes Host Armada.

They aren't talked about much in the community, but they have reasonable prices, features, and fast support.

Also, if you pick their Web Warp plan, you can have several websites on your account.

This makes Host Armada a solid option for more advanced users who can take advantage of hosting more than one website and only pay to 1 hosting company.

Plus, their cheapest plan, Start Dock, has 2GB of RAM, double the minimum requirement to use Ghost.

All their plans have:

• Unlimited visitors and members;
• Unlimited staff members;
• Automatic backups;
• Automatic updates;
• Security certificate;

As a bonus, they usually run sales around the year that you can take advantage of and save money.

For example, you can get 3 years of hosting for less than you would pay for 1 year.

Also, they have a 45-day money-back guarantee if you're not happy.

Plus, their renewal prices are reasonable, starting at $12 per month.

But sending newsletters is paid extra. So, you have to pay for all the Mailgun emails.

If this sounds appealing to you, give them a try.

Guides and reviews to help your blog or newsletter every Monday

4. DigitalPress - only free managed hosting

Next on the rankings comes DigitalPress at number 4.

They are a popular recommendation in the community because they are the only managed hosting with a free plan.

Yes, I wrote that right. DigitalPress has a free managed hosting plan.

And to pay for your usage of their service, they will run Google Adsense ads on your website.

But you can remove those ads by upgrading to their Starter plan at 6.9€ + taxes. Which is around $8/ month.

Their prices are lower than competitors, but they offer less disk space.

Yes, disk space is essential if you upload many photos. But 10GB is still a lot.

Also, I've contacted them to get more info about their plans that's not on their website.

And got to know that all plans include:

• unlimited members and staff users;
• Automated backups every hour;
• Automatic updates;
• a CDN;
• Security certificate;
• custom integrations;
• Around twelve hundred free emails per month (you need to pay for Mailgun emails if you send more than that);
• DDoS protection;
• 99,9% Uptime guarantee on Premium plan.

Also, all their plans are monthly payments without long-term commitments.

5. Gloat - excellent price with 20k email newsletters

At number 5, we have Gloat.

Gloat is run by Dan Rowden, a well-known face in the Ghost community.

And they have a simple pricing structure:

• $19 per month or $189 paid annually, which includes 20k newsletter emails per month;
• Or $449 per year for sending unlimited newsletter emails.

Prices are exclusive of taxes.

These are fabulous prices! Especially if you consider that it would cost $16 alone for sending 20k emails via Mailgun.

And this is what you get with Gloat:

• Unlimited visitors and members;
• Unlimited staff members;
• Weekly updates;
• Daily backups;
• Unlimited bandwidth and media storage (aka. unlimited disk space);
• Security certificate;
• Custom themes;
• Free subdomain (ongloat.com);
• Migration help from a previous host;

I've put Gloat this low because I have contacted them by email, and the response wasn't fast.

But more recently, Dan was fast to reply to me on Twitter DMs. Be careful because this was only 1 interaction and doesn't paint the whole picture!

However, I had better experiences with the support of all the companies mentioned before. Especially, Midnight that replied in under an hour several times!

6. FirePress - best for adding a custom homepage

And at number 6 comes FirePress.

This company was created in 2019 and is run by Pascal Andy.

And they only have 1 plan at $19/ month or $190 per year.

And they aren't cheap because of the low limits of 1000 subscribers and 1000 emails per month.

However, the rest of their limits are generous, like:

• Unlimited visitors;
• Unlimited staff members;
• Weekly updates;
• Daily backups;
• A CDN;
• Security certificate;
• 500 pictures/month limit;
• DDoS protection;
• 99,999% uptime guarantee;

One thing I like about FirePress is that you can add a custom home page to your website.

However, you'll be responsible for designing it and sending the files to them.

This gives one extra layer of customization to your website. But, this will cost you $90 per year.

So, if you want, give them a go with a 21-day free trial without needing a credit card.

Final Considerations

As you can see, there are a lot of managed hosting options available.

Even if I consider Ghost (Pro) the best, you might find other options more attractive. And now you're equipped with the knowledge to make a better decision.

But one thing I'll defend with ferocity: Ghost CMS is better with managed hosting.

It's not worth it to take the risk of debugging or dealing with attacks on your website.

So, with managed hosting, you pay someone more experience to worry about those problems if those things happen.

After all, you decide to use Ghost for their unique features to support your content and not learn web development.

And if this was enough to make you start using Ghost today, go ahead and buy Ghost (Pro) starting at $9/ per month.

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