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# What is Ghost? Publishing software that stays out of your way
- URL: https://www.synapsmedia.com/features/ghost-cms/
- Published: 2026-09-30T11:27:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-30T11:48:57.000Z
- Description: Ghost is a full publishing platform — website, newsletter, memberships and payments in one open-source app. Here's what it is, what's new in Ghost 6, and what Synaps Media adds on top.
- Author: Synaps Media
- Tags: Features

Ghost is a full online publication platform: website, newsletter, memberships and payments in one open-source application. There's no plugin stack to assemble and no settings maze to learn. You open the editor and write.

This page is a plain-language look at what Ghost actually is, what shipped in Ghost 6, and where Synaps Media — a managed Ghost hosting provider — fits in.

## One application, not a plugin stack

The things a publication actually needs ship with Ghost and work together out of the box.

**A writing surface, not a form.** The Ghost editor opens on a blank page. Cards add images, galleries, embeds, buttons and paywalls inline, so structure comes from writing rather than from a builder. It supports Markdown, drag-and-drop content cards, and autosave.

**Newsletters, from the same post.** Write once and choose who receives it by email. Multiple newsletters, branded email templates, and delivery reporting are part of the platform, not a separate service to wire up.

**Memberships and payments.** Free and paid tiers, subscriptions, tips and donations run natively through Stripe, with cards, Apple Pay, iDEAL, Bancontact and more. Ghost takes no cut of what you earn.

**Yours to customise.** Set brand colours, custom fonts and navigation from the admin, or take full control of the front end with the open theme layer and content API — right down to editing the theme directly in Handlebars.

**Connects to what you already use.** Hundreds of documented integrations, plus REST APIs and webhooks for the ones that don't exist yet (Zapier and Slack included). Nothing is locked behind a proprietary plugin format.

**A comments section you own.** Members-only discussion built into the platform, with threaded replies, sorting and moderation controls. No third-party embed, no ads in your comment box.

## Simple by design

Most publishing stacks ask you to pick a CMS, then a newsletter tool, then a payments plugin, then a caching plugin, then the plugin that fixes the other plugins. Ghost is one application with a small admin and sensible defaults.

[Get started for free](https://panel.synapsmedia.com/register?ref=synapsmedia.com)

1. **A small admin, not a control panel.** Posts, pages, members, newsletters, settings. You can read the whole sidebar in one glance.
2. **No plugin dependency chain.** Core features are maintained by the people who maintain Ghost, so an update can't break a stack you assembled.
3. **Fast because it's small.** Server-rendered pages with no plugin overhead. Ghost sites are quick without a performance project.

## Ghost 6: your site is now a social account

Ghost 6 connects your publication to the open social web through ActivityPub. People on Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Flipboard, WordPress and other Ghost sites can follow, like and reply to your posts from wherever they already are — and you keep the relationship.

- **Followed from anywhere** — one handle, many networks.
- **Notes and replies** — long posts and short ones.
- **A reader, built in** — follow other publications too.
- **No algorithm** — links are not suppressed.

## Ghost 6: reporting in the platform itself

Ghost 6 collects and reports its own data, so traffic, email engagement and member revenue sit in one place instead of three dashboards. It's built on a new analytics database with Tinybird and ClickHouse, and updates in real time.

- **Web traffic** — visitors and views per post.
- **Email reports** — opens and clicks per send.
- **Member engagement** — signup events and sources.
- **Conversion events** — which posts drive upgrades.

Want bots, RSS readers and email clients counted too? That's [Advanced Web Analytics](http://127.0.0.1:3001/features/advanced-web-analytics/?ref=synapsmedia.com), our server-side layer on top of Ghost's own reporting.

## AI ready: legible to machines, on your terms

Assistants and agents are becoming a real way readers find writing. Ghost is text-first and API-first, so your publication is already easy for them to read — and you decide how much of it they get.

- **Optional llms.txt support.** Publish a clean, machine-readable index of your content for language models that look for one. It's opt-in: turn it on when you want assistants to cite you accurately, leave it off when you don't.
- [**ghst**](https://github.com/TryGhost/ghst?ref=synapsmedia.com)**, the official CLI.** Ghost's command line tool drives the Admin API from a terminal, which also makes it a clean surface for coding agents. Draft, publish and manage content as scriptable commands instead of clicks.

## Built to outlast us

Ghost is MIT-licensed software owned by a non-profit foundation with no investors and no exit to plan for. If your publication is going to be around in ten years, the software under it should be too.

- **Open source, MIT.** The whole platform is public on GitHub. Read it, fork it, self-host it, or move your data out whenever you like.
- **Non-profit stewardship.** The Ghost Foundation can't be sold or take investment. Revenue funds development rather than a valuation.
- **A healthy ecosystem.** Hundreds of themes, an integrations directory, certified experts, active docs and a busy community forum.

## Everything else that ships with Ghost

- **Multi-staff editorial management** — owner, admin, editor and contributor roles with draft review before anything goes live.
- **Comments and reader replies** — threaded discussion for members, with sorting and moderation controls.
- **Scheduling and email-only posts** — queue posts ahead, or send something to subscribers without publishing it on the site.
- **Tiers, offers, tips and donations** — multiple paid tiers, discount offers, and one-off payments with no membership required.
- **Contextual content visibility** — show specific blocks to specific segments, for sponsorships, offers and paywalls.
- **Branded newsletters and custom fonts** — your own email template and typography, so the inbox matches the site.
- **Internationalisation** — publishing and member-facing text in more than 60 languages.
- **Signup spam protection** — control who can create an account and keep automated signups off your member list.
- **SEO, sitemaps and feeds** — structured data, canonical URLs, sitemaps, clean markup and RSS, all handled by default.
- **Content and Admin APIs** — build a custom front end, sync content elsewhere, or automate editorial work with webhooks.
- **Import and export, any time** — bring content in from other platforms and take everything with you in an open format.
- **Multiple newsletters** — run separate lists from one publication and let readers choose what they receive.

## Where Synaps Media comes in

Ghost is the software. Everything around it — the server, the mail delivery, the CDN, the backups, the upgrades — is the part that quietly eats your evenings. That's the part we run.

- **Live in minutes.** Pick a name, pick a plan, and your Ghost site is up on a working domain with TLS before you've finished your coffee. No VPS, no command line.
- **Everything already wired.** Newsletter delivery, Social Web, analytics, global CDN, daily backups and version upgrades are configured and monitored on your behalf.
- **We support Ghost.** Synaps Media is — and is committed to remaining — part of the Ghost community. We support Ghost development with code contributions and support the ecosystem with sponsorships.

### Self-hosting vs. Synaps Media

|                        | Self-hosting                                                                | Synaps Media                                               |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Getting started**    | Provision a server, install Ghost, configure Nginx, TLS and a mail provider | A working site in minutes, from a form                     |
| **Keeping it running** | Your job: upgrades, backups, security patches, deliverability, uptime       | Managed and monitored, with daily backups and CDN included |
| **What it costs**      | VPS, email, CDN and storage billed separately, plus your hours              | One predictable bill, in the same range                    |

Read the full breakdown: [Self-hosting Ghost vs Synaps Media](https://www.synapsmedia.com/help/self-hosting-ghost-vs-synaps-media/).

## FAQ

#### Is Synaps Media the same thing as Ghost?

No. Ghost is open-source publishing software made by the Ghost Foundation. Synaps Media is an independent hosting company that runs Ghost for you. We are not affiliated with the Ghost Foundation, and we do not speak for them.

#### Do I get standard Ghost, or a modified version?

Standard Ghost. We don't fork it or patch the application, so every feature works the way the documentation says it does and your themes and integrations behave normally. Our additions sit in the infrastructure around Ghost and in our own panel.

#### Who handles Ghost version upgrades?

We do. New Ghost releases are tested and rolled out for you, including major versions like Ghost 6\. You don't need to touch a server to get new features.

#### Are Social Web and Web Analytics available on my plan?

Yes. Both are Ghost 6 features, so every Synaps Media site running Ghost 6 has them. Advanced Web Analytics, our own server-side reporting layer, is part of the Premium plan.

#### Can I leave and take my site with me?

Any time. Because it's standard Ghost, you can export your content, members and theme and move to your own server or another host. Open source means the exit is real, not a policy we could change.

#### Why not just self-host it myself?

You can, and Ghost documents how. Once you add a VPS, transactional email, a CDN, object storage and the hours spent on upgrades and backups, the cost lands close to ours. We wrote up the full numbers in the "Self-hosting Ghost vs Synaps Media" article linked above.

#### Does Ghost take a cut of my subscription revenue?

No, and neither do we. Payments run through your own Stripe account, so what your members pay goes to you minus Stripe's fees.

## Start publishing on Ghost today

We'll have your site running in minutes. You can spend the rest of the day writing.

[Get started for free](https://panel.synapsmedia.com/register?ref=synapsmedia.com)

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