Ghost vs October CMS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Ghost | October CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 55,413 | ★ 11,147 |
| First released | 2013 | 2014 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Substack, Medium | WordPress, Wix |
What are Ghost and October CMS?
Ghost
Ghost is a powerful open-source publishing platform built on Node.js, designed for professional bloggers, publications, and creators. It includes native membership, subscription, and email newsletter features alongside a fast, modern editor.
- Built-in membership and paid subscriptions
- Native email newsletters
- Fast modern editor
- SEO-optimized by default
October CMS
October CMS is a self-hosted content management system built on the Laravel framework, designed to make web development simple again. It uses flat-file templating with a clean backend for content editors.
- Built on Laravel
- Flat-file twig-style templating
- Plugin marketplace
- Clean developer experience
Ghost vs October CMS: key differences
Ghost is written in TypeScript, while October CMS is built with PHP. October CMS is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Ghost. Ghost has the considerably larger community, at 55,413 GitHub stars versus 11,147.
Why pick each one
Choose Ghost if…
- Excellent for newsletters and memberships
- Clean, fast publishing experience
Watch out for
- Plugin ecosystem smaller than WordPress
- MySQL recommended for production
Choose October CMS if…
- Great for Laravel developers
- Simple, transparent architecture
Watch out for
- Some plugins are paid
- Less suited to non-developers
Frequently asked questions
Is Ghost or October CMS 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 October CMS free and open-source?
Yes. Ghost is licensed under MIT and October CMS under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ghost and October CMS with Docker?
Ghost: yes. October CMS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Ghost or October CMS?
October CMS has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Ghost. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.