CMS & Commerce

Ghost Hosting on Your Own VPS

Q: Why self-host instead of using Ghost(Pro)?

Ghost(Pro) prices by member count. Self-hosting is a fixed server cost regardless of list size, which matters most when a large share of members are free.

Q: Can I send newsletters?

Yes, through Mailgun, which Ghost integrates with specifically. Set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC and reverse DNS or deliverability will be poor.

Q: What VPS size does Ghost need?

2 vCPU and 2 GB runs a typical site comfortably. Storage, not CPU, is what grows — driven by the image library.

Q: Can I use custom themes?

Yes. Ghost themes are Handlebars and fully editable, with no restriction on what you upload.

Q: Do I get root access?

Yes, full root over SSH, including the Node runtime, MySQL and NGINX.

Publishing, memberships and newsletters without per-member pricing.

Deploy Ghost Recommended specs

Size a server for Ghost

Every stop is a real configuration you can deploy. Priced per 30 days, billed by the hour, exclusive of 18% GST.

vCPU 2 vCPU

Memory 4 GB

NVMe disk 40 GB

Bandwidth 5 TB

What Ghost is

Ghost is a publishing platform built on Node.js, focused on writing rather than page building. Beyond the editor it includes memberships, paid subscriptions and email newsletters — which is what distinguishes it from a plain blog engine and what makes the hosting decision consequential.

Ghost(Pro), the official hosted service, prices by member count. That is a reasonable model, and it also means a growing list costs progressively more regardless of whether those members generate revenue. Self-hosting turns that into a fixed server cost, which is the whole argument for people with large free tiers.

The operational catch is email. Ghost sends newsletters through Mailgun specifically, and bulk mail from a fresh server address will land in spam without proper authentication. Budget for a mail provider and set SPF, DKIM and DMARC — the server is the easy part.

Why run Ghost on a VPS

No per-member pricing — the list size is a database row count, not a bill.

Your subscriber list lives in your own database.

Root access for Node versions, themes and custom integrations.

Resize when the archive and image library grow, without migrating platform.

Ghost features

Editor with cards for embeds, galleries and bookmarks

Memberships with free and paid tiers

Newsletters to segmented audiences

Handlebars themes, fully customisable

Content API and webhooks

Built-in SEO metadata and structured data

Recommended server

A starting point for Ghost, not a hard floor — size it on the sliders.

Memory	2 GB for a typical site; 4 GB with a large archive and image library
CPU	2 vCPU
Storage	40 GB; images dominate as the archive grows
Operating system	Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, which Ghost-CLI supports directly

How deployment works

Ghost is installed with Ghost-CLI on Ubuntu, with MySQL and NGINX in front, and TLS for your domain. Newsletter sending requires a Mailgun account configured separately — and reverse DNS plus SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, without which bulk email will not reach inboxes reliably.

It is your server. Ghost is installed directly on your VPS or VDS, not inside a container we manage. You get root over SSH, you can install anything alongside it, change its configuration, or remove it entirely. We do not hold a key to it.

What people run it for

Paid newsletters

Subscriptions and gated posts without a platform taking a percentage.

Large free lists

Where per-member pricing would cost more than the server.

Company publications

A fast blog on your own domain and infrastructure.

Headless content

The Content API feeding a separate front end.

Ghost hosting questions

What is Ghost hosting?

A VPS running the Ghost publishing platform, with posts, members and subscriber data in a database you control.

Why self-host instead of using Ghost(Pro)?

Can I send newsletters?

What VPS size does Ghost need?

Can I use custom themes?

Do I get root access?

Related applications

WordPress Hosting WordPress on a server you control, with no plugin blocklist and your own PHP and caching stack.

WooCommerce Hosting A store on your own server, tuned for the pages a CDN cannot cache.

Discourse Hosting A modern forum with no per-user pricing, sized properly for what it actually runs.

TYPO3 Hosting Enterprise CMS with multi-site and granular permissions, on a server sized for it.

Magento Hosting Magento 2 on a server actually sized for it, with the search and cache services it requires.

Deploy Ghost on your own server

Root access, your choice of size, and no container between you and the application.

Deploy Ghost All applications