Ghost alternative
Hatamoto vs Ghost
Ghost is built to run a paid newsletter: members, Stripe payments and email are part of the core. Hatamoto is built for business websites, with custom content types, forms, redirects and a page builder that Ghost does not have.
40 lines compared
Against self-hosted Ghost 6.73 and Ghost(Pro) pricing. Last reviewed 28 October 2026.
- Hatamoto ahead
- 12 Content types, forms, page building and redirects
- Ghost ahead
- 13 Members, payments, newsletters and community features
- About the same
- 15 Writing, SEO basics, APIs and analytics
Six differences between a publishing platform and a business CMS
- 01
Ghost is built to sell subscriptions
Members, Stripe payments and newsletters are in Ghost's core. If your business is paid writing, that is hard to beat, and Hatamoto has none of it.
Getting started - 02
Hatamoto is built for service pages and enquiry forms
Service pages, team profiles, locations and forms are content types and sections you set up in the admin. Ghost has posts, pages and tags.
Content types - 03
Forms that do not need a third party
Hatamoto stores form entries, filters spam and exports them to CSV. Ghost's own forms collect newsletter signups only.
Edit and publish content - 04
Redirects you can manage without a code editor
Add a redirect in the admin and see every 404 the site serves. In Ghost you download, edit and upload a YAML file.
Redirects - 05
Plugins run inside the site, in a sandbox
Hatamoto plugins run in a sandbox with only the permissions you approve. Ghost has no plugins, so extras run as outside services.
How plugins are sandboxed - 06
Know which AI read your posts
Hatamoto shows which AI crawlers read each page and the visits they send. Ghost can publish llms.txt, but does not report on crawlers.
AI crawler reports
Line by line
The full comparison
40 lines in nine groups. "Ahead" means better out of the box for a typical business website.
| Line | Hatamoto | Ghost | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform and hosting Hatamoto 3Ghost 1Even 2 | |||
| What you run | One Go binary and a Postgres database | Node.js 22, MySQL 8 and NGINX, with separate services for social web and analytics | Hatamoto |
| Licence | Apache-2.0, open source | MIT, open source | Even |
| Self-hosting | One file or docker compose up on Linux or macOS | Ghost-CLI on Ubuntu, with Docker in preview | Even |
| Managed hosting | None, you run it yourself | Ghost(Pro) from US$18 a month, billed yearly | Ghost |
| Several servers | Supported, with one shared Postgres database | Not supported, one instance per site | Hatamoto |
| More than one language | Built in: per-locale URLs, translation groups, hreflang | No, Ghost suggests one install per language | Hatamoto |
| Editing and content Hatamoto 3Ghost 2Even 1 | |||
| Writing posts | Rich text editor that pastes cleanly from Google Docs and Word | Koenig editor with cards, Markdown shortcuts and edit history | Ghost |
| Building pages | Section-based page builder with live preview | Pages use the post editor, layout comes from the theme | Hatamoto |
| Custom content types | Set up in the admin, no code | Posts and pages only | Hatamoto |
| Categories and taxonomies | Categories, tags and your own groupings | Tags only, no custom taxonomies | Hatamoto |
| Revisions and scheduling | Built in | Built in | Even |
| Staff roles | Owner and editor | Contributor, Author, Editor, Administrator and Owner | Ghost |
| SEO and AI search Hatamoto 2Even 4 | |||
| SEO titles and descriptions | Built in | Built in | Even |
| Sitemaps | Built in | Built in | Even |
| Schema markup (JSON-LD) | Built in for every content type, including FAQs | Built in for posts and pages | Even |
| Redirects | Edited in the admin, with a 404 log | Download a YAML file, edit it and upload it again | Hatamoto |
| llms.txt | Built in | Optional switch, with Markdown copies of posts | Even |
| AI crawler reports | Which AI read which page, and the visits it sent | Not in the documentation | Hatamoto |
| AI agents and developer tools Hatamoto 1Ghost 1Even 1 | |||
| AI agents (MCP) | Built into the server | Through the official ghst CLI, still in beta | Hatamoto |
| API | REST API with scoped keys | Content API and Admin API. On Ghost(Pro) the Admin API starts on the US$29 plan | Even |
| Use as a headless CMS | No, pages are rendered by Hatamoto's themes | Yes, through the Content API | Ghost |
| Publishing and audience Ghost 5 | |||
| Members and sign-in for readers | Not included | Built in, with free and paid tiers | Ghost |
| Paid subscriptions | Not included | Stripe, and Ghost takes no cut | Ghost |
| Email newsletters | Not included | Built in, sent through Mailgun | Ghost |
| Comments | Not included | Built in, for members | Ghost |
| Social web (ActivityPub) | Not included | Built in, still marked beta | Ghost |
| Business site features Hatamoto 1Even 4 | |||
| Contact and enquiry forms | Built in, with spam protection and CSV export | Signup forms only. Contact forms need Formspree or similar | Hatamoto |
| Menus | Built in | Built in | Even |
| Visitor analytics | Built in, no cookies | Built in, through Tinybird. Self-hosters bring their own account | Even |
| Webhooks | Built in and signed | Built in. On Ghost(Pro) from the US$29 plan | Even |
| Site search | Built in | Built in | Even |
| Plugins and themes Hatamoto 1Ghost 1Even 1 | |||
| Plugins | Sandboxed plugins that run inside the server | No plugins. Integrations connect over the API | Hatamoto |
| Themes | A small catalogue of Go template themes | Handlebars themes. Custom themes on Ghost(Pro) from the US$29 plan | Even |
| Ready-made integrations | A small first-party set | A curated directory, plus Zapier and n8n | Ghost |
| Security and data Hatamoto 1Even 2 | |||
| Staff sign-in | Two-factor, passkeys, rate limits and a private admin address | Two-factor and device checks on Ghost(Pro) | Even |
| Updates | Signed and automatic, with release channels and rollback | Weekly releases. Run ghost update yourself, or Ghost(Pro) does it | Even |
| Full-site export | One command exports content, media and settings | JSON export, members CSV. Self-hosters copy media by hand | Hatamoto |
| Track record and community Ghost 3 | |||
| Maturity | Version 1.0, runs hatamoto.dev | Around since 2013, now on version 6 | Ghost |
| Community | Small and growing | About 55,000 GitHub stars | Ghost |
| Importers | WordPress, with a URL audit | WordPress, Substack, Medium, Mailchimp and more | Ghost |
Compared against self-hosted Ghost 6.73 and Ghost(Pro) pricing. Last reviewed 28 October 2026. Sources: Ghost pricing, Ghost on GitHub, hosting docs, redirects, integrations, ghst CLI. Found something out of date? Open an issue.
What a business site needs
6 things a business site needs that Ghost leaves to you
Ghost is excellent at posts and newsletters. A service business usually needs these too.
| Job | Add or work around | Built into one binary |
|---|---|---|
| Contact forms | Formspree, Typeform or Google Forms | Forms with spam protection and CSV export |
| Service, team and location pages | tag-based routes in routes.yaml | Custom content types set up in the admin |
| Redirects | a YAML file you upload | Redirects edited in the admin, with a 404 log |
| Page layouts | theme code | Section-based page builder with live preview |
| Categories beyond tags | not available | Categories, tags and your own taxonomies |
| Plugins | external services over the API | Sandboxed plugins installed in one click |
Being straight with you
When Ghost is the better choice
Ghost is one of the best tools there is for independent publishing. If that is your business, use it. Choose Ghost if any of these describe what you are building.
- Your revenue comes from paid subscriptions or a newsletter.
- You want readers to sign up, log in and comment.
- You want a managed host and do not want to run a server.
- Your team needs contributor and author roles with an approval step.
- You are moving from Substack, Medium or Mailchimp and want subscribers to come with you.
- You want to follow and be followed on the social web through ActivityPub.
Moving from Ghost
Moving from Ghost is a manual job
Hatamoto's importer reads WordPress only. Ghost's JSON export holds your posts, pages and tags as HTML, so the copy is simple to script. Members and subscriptions stay with Stripe.
- 1
Install Hatamoto
Run it with Docker or the single binary, next to a Postgres database. Getting started
- 2
Export from Ghost
In Ghost, export all data from Settings, then copy the images folder from the server if you self-host. First run
- 3
Create the pages
Have an AI agent or a script read the JSON and create each post and page through Hatamoto's MCP server or CLI, keeping the same slugs. Connect an AI agent
- 4
Carry over redirects
Add each line of your redirects.yaml as a Hatamoto redirect, then point your domain across. Redirects
Questions people ask
Written by the Hatamoto team, from Ghost's documentation and pricing as of October 2026.
Is Hatamoto a Ghost alternative?
For a business website, yes. Hatamoto has the content types, forms, page builder and redirects a service business needs. For a paid newsletter or membership site it is not, because Hatamoto has no members, payments or email sending.
Can Hatamoto send newsletters like Ghost?
No. Hatamoto does not send email newsletters or manage subscribers. If the newsletter is the business, stay on Ghost. If it is a side channel, pair Hatamoto with an email service and a signup form.
Does Ghost have plugins?
Not in the WordPress sense. Ghost extends through integrations that connect over its API, webhooks and code injection. Hatamoto runs plugins inside the server, each in a sandbox with the permissions you approve.
Which is better for SEO?
Both cover the basics without plugins: titles, descriptions, sitemaps, canonical tags and structured data. Hatamoto adds redirects you manage in the admin, a 404 log, internal link suggestions and reports on AI crawlers.
Can I build service and location pages in Ghost?
Only by reusing posts and tags for the job. Ghost has no custom content types, so teams use tag-based routes and theme code. In Hatamoto you create a Services or Locations type in the admin with its own fields and address.
How do I move from Ghost to Hatamoto?
There is no Ghost importer yet. Export all data from Ghost, then create the posts and pages in Hatamoto through its MCP server or CLI with the same slugs, and copy your redirects across. Members stay in Ghost and Stripe.
How much does each cost?
Ghost is free to self-host, and Ghost(Pro) starts at US$18 a month billed yearly, with paid subscriptions from the US$29 plan. Hatamoto is free and open source, and you pay for the server you run it on.
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