WordPress, Ghost, Static Site or Hosted Platform? Choosing Where Your Blog Lives
An honest comparison of self-hosted WordPress, Ghost, static site generators and hosted platforms, by cost, control, maintenance and portability, with a decision guide.
Choosing a blogging platform feels like a technical decision, but it is mostly a decision about how you want to spend your time. Every platform trades off control, cost, convenience and how easily you can leave later. There is no best platform, only the best fit for how you work.
This guide compares the four main options and ends with a short decision guide.
The four options
1. Self-hosted WordPress
WordPress is open-source software that you install on your own web hosting. It powers a very large share of the web.
Strengths
- Enormous ecosystem of themes and plugins for almost any feature.
- Full control over your site, data and design.
- Easy to find help, tutorials and developers.
- Mature SEO plugins and good support for structured content.
Weaknesses
- You are responsible for updates, security, backups and performance.
- Plugin bloat can make sites slow and fragile.
- Costs creep: hosting, premium themes, premium plugins.
Best for: bloggers who want flexibility and are willing to do, or pay for, basic maintenance.
2. Ghost
Ghost is an open-source publishing platform focused on writing, newsletters and paid memberships. You can self-host it or use the official managed hosting (Ghost(Pro)).
Strengths
- Clean, fast writing experience.
- Newsletters and paid subscriptions built in, without plugins.
- Good default performance and SEO basics.
Weaknesses
- Smaller ecosystem than WordPress; fewer themes and integrations.
- Managed hosting costs rise with audience size.
- Self-hosting requires comfort with servers.
Best for: writers whose main goal is a newsletter-driven publication, possibly with paid tiers.
3. Static site generators
Tools such as Hugo, Eleventy, Jekyll and Astro turn plain text files (usually Markdown) into a website of static HTML files that can be hosted cheaply or free.
Strengths
- Very fast and very secure: no database or server-side code to attack.
- Cheap or free hosting.
- Your content is plain text files you fully own, easy to back up and move.
- Excellent for version control.
Weaknesses
- Technical setup; comfort with the command line and some code helps a lot.
- Features such as comments, search and forms need external services or extra work.
- Less friendly for non-technical co-authors.
Best for: technically comfortable bloggers who value speed, security and ownership.
4. Hosted platforms
Services such as Substack, Medium, WordPress.com (the hosted service), Squarespace and Wix host everything for you.
Strengths
- Fastest to start; no maintenance.
- Some offer built-in audience discovery.
- Predictable pricing.
Weaknesses
- Less control over design, SEO settings and features.
- Some do not let you use your own domain on lower tiers, which weakens the long-term value of your work.
- Moving away later can be awkward; exports may lose formatting or URLs.
- You are subject to the platform's policy and pricing changes.
Best for: people who want to write immediately and are less concerned about long-term portability, or who are testing whether they enjoy blogging.
The five questions that decide it
1. How much maintenance will you tolerate?
If the answer is "none", choose a hosted platform or managed Ghost. If "a little, monthly", self-hosted WordPress on good managed hosting is fine. If you enjoy tinkering, a static site or self-hosted Ghost is very rewarding.
2. Is a newsletter central or secondary?
If email is the heart of what you do, Ghost or Substack-style platforms save you from stitching tools together. If the blog is central and email is a sideline, any platform plus a separate email service works well.
3. How important is search traffic?
All four options can rank well. What matters most is content quality and structure. That said, you want control over title tags, meta descriptions, URLs, redirects and sitemaps. Check that a hosted platform gives you these before committing.
4. Will you sell anything?
Digital products, memberships or physical goods add requirements. WordPress has the most e-commerce options; Ghost handles memberships natively; static sites need external checkout services; hosted platforms vary widely.
5. How easily can you leave?
This is the question most people skip, and the one they regret. Before you commit, find out:
- Can you use your own domain from day one? (Always do this. Your domain is the asset that carries your reputation.)
- Can you export all posts, images and subscriber lists?
- Can you set up redirects if your URLs change?
Costs, roughly
Prices change, but the shape of costs is stable:
| Option | Typical ongoing cost | Hidden costs |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted WordPress | Hosting plus domain | Premium plugins and themes; developer time |
| Ghost (managed) | Monthly plan scaling with members | Higher tiers as you grow |
| Ghost (self-hosted) | A small server plus domain | Your time on server updates |
| Static site | Domain; hosting often free | Your time; third-party services for forms/comments |
| Hosted platform | Free to monthly subscription | Revenue share on some paid newsletter platforms |
Migration is possible, but plan for it
People switch platforms all the time. The pain is mostly in URLs and images. If you keep your own domain and keep URL patterns simple, such as /topic/post-name/, migrating later is a matter of exporting content and adding redirects for any URLs that change.
Avoid putting dates in URLs unless your content is genuinely news; they make evergreen posts look stale and make restructuring harder.
A quick decision guide
- "I just want to write and see if I like it." Start on a hosted platform, but with your own domain if possible.
- "Newsletter first, maybe paid subscriptions." Ghost.
- "I want flexibility, plugins and a big community." Self-hosted WordPress on reputable managed hosting.
- "I'm technical, I want speed and full ownership." A static site generator.
Whatever you pick, the platform matters far less than what you publish on it. Choose the one that gets out of your way, own your domain, keep your URLs clean and start writing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I move platforms later? Yes. Most platforms offer exports, but plan URL redirects so you keep links and search visibility.
Which choice is cheapest? Hosted free tiers cost least upfront; a static site on low-cost hosting is often cheapest long-term, but it requires technical comfort.
