Is Cardel an alternative to Ghost or WordPress?

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 WordPress when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Ghost and WordPress are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Ghost or WordPress?

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

How much does Cardel cost compared with Ghost and WordPress?

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

How do I switch from Ghost or WordPress 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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GhostvsWordPress

Ghost is open-source publishing with a fast site, newsletters, and fee-free paid subscriptions. WordPress.com hosts the world's most used publishing software with themes, plugins, and commerce plans.

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How Ghost and WordPress 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.

WordPress powers a huge share of the web for good reason. This page compares WordPress.com hosted plans. You get the block editor, thousands of themes, comments and likes, Jetpack newsletters, and on higher plans the full plugin ecosystem and WooCommerce. Nothing else offers this much freedom to extend, and your content is exportable and yours.

Where they are different

Ghost

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

WordPress

WordPress extends by plugin: a form plugin, a booking plugin, an email plugin, each with its own settings.
WordPress email is Jetpack newsletters or a plugin.
WordPress accessibility and SEO depend on your theme and plugins.

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

Choose WordPress when you want maximum control, plugins for anything, and the option to self-host.

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What's on Ghost and WordPress

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

Site and brand

Workspace site
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Included
Custom domain
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Included
Theme and fonts
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Included

Public content

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

Reach and quality

SEO
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Included
Email on your domain
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Not included
Marketing emails
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Included
Bulk email workflows
Ghost: Included
WordPress: Included

Commerce

Shop payments
Ghost: Not included
WordPress: Included
Orders and fulfillment
Ghost: Not included
WordPress: Included

Team

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

Feature comparison for Ghost and WordPress
Feature	Ghost	WordPress
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	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
Bulk email workflows	Included	Included
Commerce
Shop payments	Not included	Included
Orders and fulfillment	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 WordPress, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Ghost or WordPress may add or remove features that are not shown here.