Is Cardel an alternative to Ghost or Squarespace?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Ghost or Squarespace when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Ghost and Squarespace are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Ghost or Squarespace?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Ghost or Squarespace for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Ghost and Squarespace?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Ghost and Squarespace set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Ghost or Squarespace to Cardel?

Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.

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GhostvsSquarespace

Ghost is open-source publishing with a fast site, newsletters, and fee-free paid subscriptions. Squarespace builds sites with commerce, scheduling, and email as add-ons.

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How Ghost and Squarespace compare

Ghost is what serious independent publishing looks like. A fast, beautifully themed site, newsletters sent from your own domain, paid memberships with zero platform fees, comments, and a clean editor, all open source and portable. Ghost(Pro) hosting removes the ops, and the whole thing respects the writer and the reader.

Squarespace makes sites that look finished. Award-winning templates, a fluid editor, commerce, scheduling through Acuity, email campaigns, and member areas mean a designer or small business can build almost anything in one account. It is polished, dependable, and deservedly popular with people who care how things look.

Where they are different

Ghost

Ghost monetises by membership.
Ghost sends email and stops.
Ghost is publishing-first.

Squarespace

Squarespace sells pieces separately: commerce tiers, scheduling seats, email campaign plans.
Squarespace email is outbound.
Squarespace has comments on the blog.

Choose Ghost when writing is the business and you want paid subscriptions with no platform cut, on open-source software.

Choose Squarespace when design flexibility and a huge template library matter most and you are happy adding modules as you grow.

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What's on Ghost and Squarespace

A check means that capability is available. Ghost and Squarespace are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

Workspace site
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Custom domain
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Theme and fonts
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Brand kit
Ghost: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Public content

Blog
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Reader engagement
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Showcase pages
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Shop pages
Ghost: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Reach and quality

SEO
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Email on your domain
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Not included
Marketing emails
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Campaign workflows
Ghost: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Commerce

Shop payments
Ghost: Not included
Squarespace: Included
Orders and fulfillment
Ghost: Not included
Squarespace: Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.
Ghost: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Team

Admin users
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
Per-admin permissions
Ghost: Included
Squarespace: Included
AI Assistant
Ghost: Not included
Squarespace: Included

Feature comparison for Ghost and Squarespace
Feature	Ghost	Squarespace
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Brand kit	Not included	Included
Public content
Blog	Included	Included
Reader engagement	Included	Included
Showcase pages	Included	Included
Shop pages	Not included	Included
Reach and quality
SEO	Included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Email on your domain	Included	Not included
Marketing emails	Included	Included
Campaign workflows	Not included	Included
Commerce
Shop payments	Not included	Included
Orders and fulfillment	Not included	Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.	Not included	Included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Not included	Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Ghost or Squarespace, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Ghost or Squarespace may add or remove features that are not shown here.