Ghost vs Shortwave
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Ghost is from $9/user/mo, Shortwave is free tier available.
- How to start: Ghost is from $9/user/mo, Shortwave is free tier available.
- Where they differ: only Ghost has open source / self-hostable and only Shortwave has mobile app and sso (saml); both offer public api.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Ghost is
Ghost is the world's cleanest and most focused blog platform for independent creators and professional publishers. Eschewing WordPress's complexity, it focuses on speed and the writing experience. Its greatest strength is the built-in 'Memberships' system, allowing you to monetize your content through paid subscriptions. It also doubles as a newsletter tool, automatically emailing your posts to your subscribers.
What Shortwave is
Shortwave rebuilds the Gmail experience around bundles, AI summaries and fast keyboard navigation.
Side by side
| Ghost | Shortwave | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| How to start | $9/user/moverified | Free tiernot a monthly price |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | Yes | No |
| SSO (SAML) | No | Yes |
| Visit | Ghost ↗ | Shortwave ↗ |
What Ghost is built to do
- Memberships & Tiers
- Create free and multiple paid subscription levels for your readers.
- Email Newsletters
- Send your posts as stylish email newsletters to subscribers the moment they publish.
- Deep Integrations
- Works directly with Stripe, Zapier, and standard analytics tools.
- Rich Editor
- Easily craft rich content including images, videos, and code blocks.
Choose Ghost if
- Independent Writers, Newsletter Publishers, and Modern Media Firms.
Choose Shortwave if
- Heavy Gmail users drowning in threads.
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Ghost: pros & cons
- Flawless Writing: A minimalist editor that keeps your focus strictly on the content.
- Incredible Speed: Node.js-based, resulting in very low page load times.
- Native Subscriptions: Collect paid memberships and donations without harici plugins.
- SEO Ready: Automatically handles meta tags, XML sitemaps, and more.
- Hosting Cost: If not self-hosted, the monthly cost of Ghost(Pro) is high.
- Plugin Limits: Far fewer plugins than WordPress; customization is mostly via themes.
- Technical Setup: Self-hosting requires command-line knowledge.
Shortwave: pros & cons
- AI summaries of long threads
- Fast keyboard-driven interface
- Works on top of existing Gmail
- Gmail only
- Subscription on top of your mail account
- AI features require sending content to a model
Our verdict on Ghost
The most elite publishing platform for those looking to earn from their writing.
Our verdict on Shortwave
A real improvement over the Gmail web client. Non-Gmail users are out of luck.