Marble vs Ghost
Ghost is a complete publishing platform: a website with themes, email newsletters, and paid memberships in one product. Marble is a headless CMS: it handles writing, media, and delivery, and your own frontend renders the posts. Which one fits depends on whether you want Ghost's built-in audience tools or your own site.
The short answer
Choose Marble when
- You're building the site yourself in Next.js, Astro, or another framework and want posts delivered through an API.
- Your blog should live inside an existing site, for example at example.com/blog next to your product.
- You need posts, authors, categories, tags, and custom fields, not newsletters or memberships.
- You want to start free and pay $5 or $20 a month per workspace.
Choose Ghost when
- You want a complete publication, including website, themes, and hosting, without building a frontend.
- Email newsletters are central. Ghost can send each post to subscribers and run several newsletters.
- You plan to sell memberships or paid subscriptions. Ghost connects to Stripe and charges no transaction fee of its own.
- You want to schedule posts or self-host MIT-licensed software.
Marble and Ghost, side by side
The differences that change which product fits. Plan and product details link to Ghost's own documentation. Last checkedSeptember 2026.
| Topic | Marble | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Blogs, articles, and changelogs on a site you build. | Independent publications that want a website, newsletter, and memberships in one product. |
| Website frontend | Not included. You render posts with your own components in any framework. | Included, with Handlebars themes. Custom themes need the Publisher plan or higher. Ghost can also run headless.Ghost(Pro) pricingGhost docs: Ghost on the JAMstack |
| API | REST API and TypeScript SDK. Content comes back as sanitized HTML or Markdown. | Read-only Content API on every plan. The Admin API needs Publisher or higher on Ghost(Pro).Ghost docs: Content APIGhost(Pro) pricing |
| Included API usage | 5,000 requests a month on Free, 25,000 on Hobby, 50,000 on Pro. | Ghost's docs describe the Content API as fully cacheable and say you can fetch from it as often as you like.Ghost docs: Content API |
| Email newsletters | Not included. A webhook can pass new posts to your email tool. | Built in. Publisher and higher can run several newsletters per site.Ghost help: Setting up email newslettersGhost(Pro) pricing |
| Memberships and paid subscriptions | Not included. | Built in with Stripe on Publisher and higher. Ghost's docs say these features need Ghost's own frontend, not a headless setup.Ghost(Pro) pricingGhost docs: Ghost on the JAMstack |
| Content model | Posts with multiple authors, one category, tags, and typed custom fields. | Posts and pages with tags and authors. Ghost's own Contentful comparison lists custom fields as unsupported.Ghost: Contentful vs Ghost |
| Scheduled publishing | Not available yet. | Yes, for posts and newsletters.Ghost help: Publishing and scheduling |
| Webhooks | On every plan (100 events a month on Free), with signed payloads, retries, and a delivery log. | On Ghost(Pro) Publisher and higher.Ghost(Pro) pricing |
| Blog at example.com/blog | Yes. Your framework serves posts on whatever route you choose. | With Ghost's own frontend, Ghost(Pro) runs on a domain or subdomain. A subdirectory needs your own reverse proxy and a $50/month add-on on the Business plan.Ghost(Pro) pricing |
| Hosting and license | Hosted by Marble. The source code is AGPL-3.0. | Ghost(Pro) managed hosting, or self-host the MIT-licensed software.Ghost docs: How to install GhostGhost on GitHub |
| Team members | 1 on Free, 5 on Hobby, 10 on Pro. | 1 staff user on Starter, 3 on Publisher, 15 on Business. Contributors are free.Ghost(Pro) pricing |
| Starting price | Free. Hobby is $5/month and Pro is $20/month. | Ghost(Pro) Starter from $18/month and Publisher from $29/month, billed yearly.Ghost(Pro) pricing |
What publishing a post looks like
With Marble
- 1Write a post in Marble's editor.
- 2Publish it. The post becomes available through the API.
- 3Your site fetches it with the SDK and renders it with your components.
- 4A webhook revalidates or rebuilds the page, or notifies other tools.
With Ghost
- 1Write a post in Ghost's editor.
- 2Publish it. Ghost renders the post with your theme on your Ghost site.
- 3Optionally send it as an email newsletter to your members.
- 4Ghost handles signups, paid tiers, and gated content.
Moving from Ghost to Marble
- Export your content from Ghost as JSON under Settings → Advanced → Import/Export (Ghost help).
- Marble imports Markdown and MDX files, not Ghost's JSON. Convert each post to a .md file, then upload files one at a time or as a ZIP of up to 100. Posts arrive as drafts for review (import docs).
- Images in exported posts still point to your Ghost site. Upload them to Marble's media library before you shut Ghost down.
- Members, paid subscriptions, and newsletter lists have no equivalent in Marble. Move them to your email or membership tool.
- Keep your post slugs, or add redirects in your frontend so existing links keep working.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about choosing between Marble and Ghost.
Is Marble a good Ghost alternative?
It depends on what you use Ghost for. If you mainly publish articles on a site you build, Marble covers writing, media, and API delivery. If you rely on Ghost's newsletters, memberships, or themes, Marble doesn't replace them.
Can Marble send email newsletters?
No. Marble doesn't send email. You can subscribe a webhook to post events and pass new posts to an email service.
Can I use Ghost as a headless CMS instead?
Yes. Ghost has a Content API and guides for Next.js and other frameworks. Ghost's docs note that memberships, paid subscriptions, and comments need Ghost's own frontend, and that features like tag archives and sitemaps must be rebuilt in a custom frontend.
Is Marble open source like Ghost?
Yes. Marble's source code is on GitHub under the AGPL-3.0 license, while Ghost uses the MIT license. Marble is offered as a hosted service; Ghost can run on Ghost(Pro) or your own server.
Which is cheaper, Marble or Ghost?
Marble has a free plan, and its paid plans cost $5 or $20 a month per workspace. Ghost(Pro) starts at $18 a month billed yearly, and that price includes hosting for your website and newsletter. Self-hosting Ghost costs whatever your server does.
More resources
- Marble vs SanitySanity models any content in code with a configurable Studio. Marble is a ready-made CMS for posts.Comparison
- How Marble works as a headless CMSThe editor-to-API workflow, what's included, and who Marble suits.Product
- Marble for Next.jsFetch posts in Server Components and revalidate when you publish.Guide
- Marble for AstroLoad posts into content collections and rebuild on publish.Guide
Try Marble with your own site.
Create a free workspace, publish a post, and fetch it from your frontend in a few minutes.