Are you using the Ghost platform for your blogs and looking for Ghost hosting? You are at the right place. We will see the best Ghost hosts that you can use here. The guide will cover everything you need to know about Ghost web hosting.
We will see what are the hosting requirements and then see the best hosting providers. We will also consider the official recommendations. Let’s begin with the overview of Ghost and then we will dive into the other parts.
What is Ghost exactly?
Ghost is a publishing platform where you can create your website and write blogs on them. It’s a content management system that allows you to handle all things with ease. Originally, it was a blogging platform. Now, they have a few more features allowing you to create something more than just a blog. However, the main application is for blogging.
So, if you are planning to create a blog, you can surely go with Ghost.
You will need dedicated hosting for Ghost. There are two main hosting types for Ghost. One is where you can get it as SaaS and the other one is the self-hosted one. Here, in this article, we are talking about the self-hosted Ghost.
We will now see the hosting requirements for Ghost.
Recommended Requirements for hosting Ghost
Usually, when you go with the hosting, you go with the shared hosting. However, that won’t be possible here. You can’t host Ghost in shared hosting.
If you want to host Ghost, you will have to get VPS, cloud, or you can even go with the dedicated hosting.
Here are other requirements that you need to look for:
- Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, or 20.04 (Important)
- MySQL 5.7 version or 8.0
- NGINX webserver
- Systemd
- 12x or 14.x Node version installed via NodeSource
- A web server with atleast 1GB of memory
- A non-root user for running ghost commands
Now, we will see some of the Top recommendations.
We will now have a quick look at the top hosting services for Ghost.
1. A2Hosting
A2Hosting is known for its speed and support. The people who want to use Ghost not only for blogging purposes but want to create a full-fledge website using Ghost can go with A2Hosting.
Their VPS servers are configured to run Ghost in the smoothest way possible. As we mentioned before, they are known for their support as well. So, if you face any issues (even technical issues with Ghost), the team will help you out.
Talking about Ghost installation, they have a dedicated page for Ghost hosting. Once you buy the hosting package, you can then install it from SSH.
The servers are well configured for Ghost. So, you can rely on that. A2hosting is 20x faster and has a 99.9% uptime guarantee. So, it can be a good choice to go with. You can check out the top features now.
Ghost installation: Manual.
Top Features
- 20x faster speed.
- The support is great.
- Configured VPS for Ghost.
- 30-days Money-back guarantee with great security as well.
- It has got a 40% faster CPU.
- You can get SSH root access as well.
- 99% uptime is yet another great advantage.
2. Dreamhost
Dreamhost is officially recommended by Ghost. It has advantages as well as a few disadvantages.
One of the best things here is the money-back guarantee. It has the largest money-back guarantee of 97 days. So, it is safe to say that their hosting is top-class. This is the reason why they have got a 100% uptime guarantee. That’s right, you get a 100% uptime guarantee here.
They also have dedicated resources for VPS. The plans for VPS are affordable. Therefore, you can surely go with them if you like other features.
Now comes the disadvantage. If you don’t have any technical knowledge, this will be a big disadvantage for you.
Here, you will have to install Ghost all by yourself. You can check out the complete commands and then install the Ghost tool. If you don’t have any problem with this, you can surely go with Dreamhost. We will now look at some of the top features.
Ghost installation: Manual.
Top Features
- 100% uptime guarantee.
- 97 days money-back guarantee.
- It comes with the resources dedicated to you.
- Easy to use the panel with great support from the team.
- Managed VPS account.
- You can also create a sub-account (great for clients).
- Unlimited file usage.
3. Digital Ocean (Official recommendation by Ghost)
It’s always better to go with the hosting that is officially recommended by Ghost. Digital Ocean is the #1 recommended hosting by Ghost. Digital Ocean is one of the easiest and developer-friendly cloud hosting services. Along with being fast and easy to use, it is affordable. They make it super-easy for any to host the website. For that reason, it is the first on the list.
It allows you to install Ghost with one click. When you create a Ghost droplet, it will also install all the other recommended software. Therefore, it will make the work easier for you. Whenever there is an update, you can update it directly from the droplet.
Further, Digital Ocean has a decent community for Ghost. So, if you face any problem, they can help you out. You can always start a free trial at Digital Ocean to know how it works.
The free trial will give you a complete idea of whether you should be using Digital Ocean or not.
Ghost installation: One-click.
Top Features
- One-click install for Ghost.
- Predictable pricing along with low-cost.
- Global data centers with great security.
- Simple and easy to use the cloud for regular users and even for the developers.
- The speed is great.
4. Fastcomet
Fastcomet is yet another popular hosting service. It’s a managed cloud hosting provider that has various services. One of their services is the managed cloud for Ghost. Yes, they have got dedicated hosting for Ghost. You can easily start using the dedicated hosting as it has got all the features. It works on SSD. You get premium support for Ghost. There is Rocketbooster which will increase the speed of Ghost websites.
As it’s dedicated hosting, you don’t have to worry about installing the software. When you go with the hosting, it will automatically install the software as well.
You can also use their transfer service if you already have a Ghost website running on another hosting server. They will help you transfer the website for free.
So, it becomes one of the best choices for Ghost blog hosting. We will have a look at the top features. A small glance at the list of the features will help you to make a better decision here.
Ghost installation: One-click.
Top Features
- Ghost security with FastGuard. This will keep the website secure.
- Rocket booster for speed.
- Ghost Resource monitoring.
- Daily and weekly backups.
- Free migration.
- Premium support from the team.
5. Vultr (unmanaged)
Vultr is one of the cloud servers that you can go with. Vultr is easy to use and has global data centers. It has got many great features. The cloud is fully customizable.
You can also upload your ISO file and have your OS. The server is stable for Ghost. For that reason, you can surely install Ghost here and create your Ghost website. The control panel is extremely easy to use.
Therefore, even a beginner can use the Vultr server without any issues. However, there is a small effort needed when it comes to the installation part.
Talking about installation, there is no direct way to install the software. You will have to do it manually by entering the command.
So, this can be a time-consuming task that you will have to do. On the plus side, it’s one of the officially recommended hosting providers. Therefore, we can ensure that the servers are stable and Ghost will run smoothly here. Therefore, you can also consider Vultr.
Ghost installation: Manual.
Top Features
- Easy to deploy and simple to use.
- 17 data centers.
- Great security and performance.
- Powerful API.
- Decent support.
6. Linode (unmanaged)
Linode is yet another recommendation from the official Ghost team. By this line, we can certainly ensure that the server will be stable. Linode claims to be better than all of the other competitors. As a result, you will get better speed here as well as you can rely on the server security. Predictable pricing is one of the best features by Linode. You will have an exact idea of how much you will be spending on the server.
Now, if you talk about the features concerning Ghost, there is one problem. It’s the same problem we saw in the above-given one. That is, you will have to install Ghost all by yourself. There isn’t any one-click installation feature available by which you can install the script. As a consequence, this can be a problem for some people. Other than this, Linode is a great cloud.
Ghost installation: Manual.
Top Features
- Predictable pricing.
- Oldest in the industry.
- More than 50% affordable than AWS.
- It’s also faster than its peers.
- Great support from the team
7. Cloudways
Cloudways is a unique managed cloud platform. It uses 5 different data center providers to host your data. You can choose any of them. The 5 partners include Google Cloud, AWS, Linode, Vultr, and Digital Ocean. Want to know one more good news? All of these 5 are officially recommended by Ghost. As a result, you can choose anyone from these and get started.
When you sign up with Cloudways, you will get easy to manage panel where you can configure the cloud. It makes the installation for Ghost very easy and fast. You can get support from their team whenever you want. The good thing is that you are paying a fixed price and it’s very much affordable. They also offer a pay-as-you-go pricing model. So, you can choose any of them as per your choice. Cloudways will also provide many other services to increase the performance and security of the website.
Ghost installation: Manual.
Top Features
- Easy to use panel.
- 5 cloud partners. So, you will also get the features of the cloud you choose.
- Free trial.
- Support is great.
- Managed cloud at a very affordable price.
Where can I get free ghost hosting?
Want free Ghost hosting? Well, there is nothing as totally free Ghost hosting. However, you can surely go with the trial version of the hosting providers. Many providers that we mentioned above provide a free trial that you can benefit from. Here are some of the hosting providers you can use.
- Digital Ocean offers a free trial of 60 days,
- Vultr a free trial of 30 days.
- Linode a free trial of 60 days.
- Cloudways 14 days trial.
- Dreamhost, Fastcomet, and A2Hosting have money-back guarantees. So, you can also treat them as a trial.
Is Ghost better than WordPress
The features might sound very familiar to WordPress, right? So, let’s compare it with WordPress and see which one is better.
We will see a clear comparison here. So, it will give you the exact idea of which is better.
- Hosting: WordPress can be installed in shared hosting too. Ghost needs VPS which is expensive. So, WordPress is better here.
- Installation: WordPress has a one-click install in almost all the hosting providers. For Ghost, it might vary. Some hosting providers allow you to install Ghost in one click whereas you will have to do it manually in some providers.
- Speed: Ghost works on Nodejs. As a result, Ghost is faster.
- In-built features: Ghost has got all the in-built features pre-configured. In WordPress, you will have to install the plugins and configure them on your own.
- Community: WordPress is a very popular CMS. So, WordPress has a better community.
- Blog/Site: Ghost is more dedicated to blogging as of now. Few features allow you to do a little bit more. However, the main focus is blogging. With WordPress, you can create almost any website you want.
- Learning: Ghost is easy to learn and use.
Final Words
To conclude, this was all about Ghost hosting. If you are still not able to choose one, you can directly go with Digital Ocean. It’s not only the best hosting from our list but it’s also the #1 recommended hosting by Ghost.
Therefore, you can surely go with it. Talking about WordPress and Ghost comparison, it’s surely your choice on how you want to proceed. Depending on your requirements, you can choose the one that is best for you.
