hubspot-cms vs ghost
HubSpot CMS vs Ghost — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
HubSpot CMS and Ghost serve different publishing philosophies. HubSpot delivers an all-in-one marketing platform where your CMS integrates with CRM, email marketing, and analytics dashboards. Ghost focuses purely on fast, clean publishing with built-in SEO optimization and membership features.
The choice typically comes down to whether you need marketing automation integration or prefer a streamlined publishing experience. HubSpot excels when you're running complex inbound campaigns, while Ghost dominates for content creators prioritizing page speed and reader experience.
Feature Comparison
HubSpot CMS provides drag-and-drop page building, A/B testing capabilities, and automatic SEO recommendations based on your content. The platform analyzes your pages and suggests improvements for meta descriptions, header structure, and internal linking. You also get heat mapping, conversion tracking, and lead capture forms built directly into the editor. Ghost takes a minimalist approach with a distraction-free editor, automatic image optimization, and lightning-fast page loads through its headless architecture. The platform includes native newsletter functionality, membership paywalls, and analytics focused on content performance rather than lead generation. Ghost's SEO features are more technical — clean URLs, structured data, and optimized Core Web Vitals out of the box. HubSpot's strength lies in its marketing automation integration, while Ghost excels at pure publishing speed and reader experience.
Pricing Comparison
HubSpot CMS starts free for basic websites but jumps to $23/month for the Starter plan with custom domains and basic SEO tools. Professional plans at $360/month add advanced SEO recommendations, A/B testing, and marketing automation. Enterprise pricing reaches $1,200/month for advanced personalization and reporting. Ghost begins at $9/month for the Creator plan supporting up to 500 members, including newsletters and basic analytics. Pro plans at $25/month handle 1,000 members with advanced analytics. Ghost's pricing scales with your audience size rather than feature restrictions, making it predictable for growing publications.
Best For
HubSpot CMS works best for businesses running comprehensive inbound marketing campaigns where you need CRM integration, lead scoring, and marketing automation. Choose HubSpot when your website serves as part of a broader sales funnel, and you want SEO recommendations tied to conversion tracking. Ghost is ideal for publishers, bloggers, and content creators who prioritize reading experience and page speed. Pick Ghost when you're building an audience through quality content, need built-in newsletter functionality, or want membership capabilities without complex marketing automation.
The Verdict
Ghost wins for most content-focused websites due to superior page speed, cleaner SEO architecture, and straightforward pricing. Choose HubSpot CMS only if you specifically need marketing automation integration and have the budget for their higher-tier plans. For pure publishing and SEO performance, Ghost delivers better results at a fraction of the cost.