Ghost: The Node.js CMS that powers serious publishing with 100M+ downloads. Built-in memberships, subscriptions, newsletters, and a headless API that plays nice with modern frameworks.

WordPress feels bloated, Medium owns your audience, and building a custom CMS from scratch? Good luck with that. Ghost cuts through the noise with a publishing platform that actually understands modern content creators. With 100M+ downloads and 51K+ stars, it’s clearly solving real problems for real publishers.

What sets Ghost apart is its laser focus on publishing workflows that matter: built-in membership systems, subscription handling, newsletter management, and a clean headless API for developers who want to customize everything. It’s fast (Node.js), editor-friendly (no wrestling with page builders), and comes with SEO baked in. The fact that major publications trust it for their content operations speaks volumes about its reliability.

Perfect for developers building client sites, content creators wanting control over their platform, or anyone tired of CMS solutions that try to do everything poorly instead of publishing excellently. Self-host it or use Ghost Pro – either way, you’re supporting open source development while getting a genuinely solid publishing stack.

⭐ Stars: 51731
💻 Language: JavaScript
🔗 Repository: TryGhost/Ghost