Why I Switched from WordPress to Ghost
Recently, I moved my blog from WordPress to Ghost. I originally picked WordPress because it's a popular solution. It offers tons of features, receives support from many website hosts and developers, and is easy to create.
However, I've realized I did not need everything that WordPress provided. While WordPress is great, the number of features available was excessive for my case. I simply wanted a platform where I could just write my blog posts and hit the publish button.
I've looked at other solutions and decided to use Ghost as my blogging platform of choice. The platform specializes in blogging with a simple and clean interface. Until further notice, I'm satisfied with Ghost and will continue to use it as my blogging platform.
I'll explain why I moved my blog from WordPress to Ghost in this post.
Setting Up Ghost Was Easy
Both WordPress and Ghost are easy to set up. Many web hosts have a "one-click" installation feature where with just a click of a button, you can start a blog. However, the next steps you need to take to configure your blog before going live differ between the two.
On WordPress, I would configure almost every corner of my site from themes to site settings to plugins and much more. I thought I would take advantage of every option, but the complexity takes away the time I could have spent on creating content.
Meanwhile, on Ghost, there are only a few configuration options. All I need to do is pick a theme and configure a few things and I'm set.
Ghost Offers Just What I Need
While both WordPress and Ghost are platforms that people can use for blogging, WordPress has evolved to become a general solution for websites. You can use it to create a simple website for sharing information, an e-commerce store, a membership site, a learning platform, and more. To accommodate that, WordPress can be modified to help developers attain their goals.
That is great for anyone who needs a complex website. However, all of that might be too much if you simply want to blog. Even the founder of Ghost, who was the deputy head of the WordPress UI Group, noticed the increasing complexity of WordPress and wanted something a more niche solution.
Ghost is and will be a platform that solely specializes in blogging and nothing more, which is exactly what I wanted.
Ghost is Much Smaller Than WordPress
One thing I noticed when I moved my blog to Ghost is the big difference in the file size. When I exported my WordPress content, I was bringing over about 300 MB of content including plugins, media, posts, and WordPress itself. Meanwhile, the total size of my Ghost blog is currently about 50 MB.
The filesize was not a deciding factor in my decision to switch platforms, but it is another advantage. Especially as I grow my blog over time.
Ghost is Growing in Support and Popularity
Ghost is an open-source project that began in 2013. In addition to the open-source solution, it offers a managed solution for a price. I would not use the managed solution, but it can be a solution depending on your needs.
Looking at the project's repository on GitHub, you can see it has been starred and forked by many users. It also receives constant updates from many contributors. As it is a popular open-source project, many people want this platform to thrive. With that being said, I can feel confident that Ghost will be a popular blogging platform for a long time.
Conclusion
WordPress can be a great solution with several use cases. However, for a blogging platform, I find WordPress to be too complex. With Ghost being a simple platform that focuses on just blogging, I think it is the perfect solution for now. Ghost is easy to set up, only offers the essential features for blogging, is a lot smaller than WordPress, and is supported by a large community. I hope to continue using this platform while I can.