COMPARISON: Ghost vs WordPress vs Medium: The Real Cost of Your Content Platform

The Platforms at a Glance

*If you can export it, untangle it, and migrate it

Setup Reality Check

Ghost: The 10-Minute Launch

1. Sign up for Ghost(Pro) or install on DigitalOcean
2. Pick theme (like Neutrino)
3. Add logo, colors, fonts
4. Write first post
5. Done

No plugins to research. No security to configure. No caching to optimize. It just works.

WordPress: The Week-Long Project

1. Choose hosting (2 hours research)
2. Install WordPress (10 minutes)
3. Pick theme (6 hours browsing)
4. Install plugins (2 hours minimum):
   • SEO (Yoast)
   • Security (Wordfence)
   • Backup (UpdraftPlus)
   • Caching (W3 Total Cache)
   • Spam (Akismet)
   • Page builder (Elementor)
5. Configure everything (4 hours)
6. Realize theme conflicts with plugins (2 hours fixing)
7. Write first post
8. Something breaks

Medium: The Five-Minute Trap

1. Sign up with Google
2. Write first post
3. Realize you can't customize anything
4. Accept it or leave
5. Discover the catch later

Ghost Hidden Costs:

• Custom theme development: $2,000+
• Migration from other platform: $500+

WordPress Hidden Costs:

• Premium plugins: $200-500/year
• Developer fixes: $100-200/hour
• Security cleanup: $500-2000/incident
• Speed optimization: $500+

Medium Hidden Costs:

• Lost SEO value: Priceless
• Platform risk: Your entire audience
• Customization: Impossible

Feature Comparison That Matters

Content Creation

Monetization

The Maintenance Reality

Ghost: Set and Forget

Monthly maintenance: 0 hours

• Auto-updates (managed hosting)
• No plugin conflicts
• No security patches
• Automated backups

Annual tasks:

• Review analytics
• Maybe update theme
• That's it

WordPress: Part-Time Job

Monthly maintenance: 5-10 hours

• Update WordPress core
• Update 15 plugins
• Fix 2 plugin conflicts
• Check security logs
• Clear cache
• Optimize database
• Test backups
• Fix random breakage

When hacked: 20-40 hours + $500-2000

Medium: No Control

Monthly maintenance: 0 hours

But also:

• Can't fix what's broken
• Can't add what's missing
• Can't leave with your audience

Performance Comparison

SEO & Ownership

The Domain Authority Problem

The Medium trap: Every link you earn builds Medium's domain, not yours. Leave Medium, lose everything.

Real-World Scenarios

"I want a simple blog"

Winner: Ghost

• Literally built for this
• No complexity to manage
• Scales if you grow

"I need ultimate customization"

Winner: WordPress

• If you have technical skills
• And time to maintain it
• And budget for problems

"I just want to write"

Winner: Medium

• If you don't care about ownership
• Or customization
• Or monetization control

"I want to build a business"

Winner: Ghost

• Native memberships
• Email built-in
• Predictable costs

Medium → Ghost:

• Export tool available
• Lose comments
• Redirect setup needed
• 2-4 hours

WordPress → Ghost:

• Official migrator
• Most content transfers
• Some manual cleanup
• 4-8 hours

Ghost → WordPress:

• Why would you?
• But yes, possible
• Export as JSON
• Import with plugin

The Five-Year View

Total Cost of Ownership (1,000 subscribers)

Ghost:

• Hosting: $1,500
• Theme: $100
• Total: $1,600

WordPress:

• Hosting: $1,200
• Plugins: $2,000
• Security: $500
• Developer: $2,000
• Your time: Priceless
• Total: $5,700+

Medium:

• Platform: $0
• Lost revenue (10%): $5,000+
• Lost SEO value: Immeasurable
• Platform risk: Everything
• Total: ???

The Decision Framework

Choose Ghost if:

• You want to focus on content
• Memberships are in your future
• You value your time
• Clean design matters
• You're building for long-term

Choose WordPress if:

• You need specific functionality
• You have technical skills
• Customization is critical
• You enjoy tinkering
• Budget allows for maintenance

Choose Medium if:

• You're testing ideas
• Audience building isn't priority
• You write occasionally
• Simplicity trumps everything
• You trust platforms

The Verdict

The real question isn't features. It's philosophy:

• Ghost: Content first
• WordPress: Features first
• Medium: Platform first

Choose accordingly.