Ghost vs Middleman
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Ghost
Professional publishing platform for blogs and newsletters
VS
Middleman
Ruby static site generator with modern tooling
| Feature | Ghost | Middleman |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Blogging Platforms |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 54,707 | ★ 7,113 |
| First released | 2013 | 2009 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Substack, Medium | Jekyll, WordPress |
Why pick each one
Choose Ghost if…
- Excellent for newsletters and memberships
- Clean, fast publishing experience
Choose Middleman if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 7.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Ruby
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Ghost or Middleman better?
Neither is universally better. Ghost has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Ghost and Middleman free and open-source?
Yes. Ghost is licensed under MIT and Middleman under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ghost and Middleman with Docker?
Ghost: yes. Middleman: check the project docs for container support.