Introduction
Ghost has been around for some time offering what they describe as a lighter option than WordPress. Their previous motto "just a blogging platform", has changed to "Node.js open source Headless CMS" recently to join the headless CMS space to offer their previously monolithic CMS as API-first. Cosmic is an alternative to Ghost that your developers and content creators will love.
Monolithic vs Headless CMS
Ghost, as a monolithic CMS, and other older installed CMS systems like it, comes with a coupled front end application layer that requires additional development and maintenance. Cosmic is a Headless CMS meaning that the content API and presentation layer are decoupled which gives your team great flexibility.
Cosmic provides everything your team of developers and content creators need: powerful and intuitive APIs for developers, and an easy-to-use dashboard for content creators. We've removed all complexity and CMS maintenance, so your team can focus on building great products faster, together.
Isn't Ghost also Headless?
Although Ghost can be used as a Headless CMS, you still have a lot of work to do to bring it up to the level of an optimized CMS system that's truly headless. Plus you will need to maintain the CMS itself AND your application, adding more development cost, taking focus away from what really matters: creating great content and user experiences.
Cosmic vs Ghost Headless CMS
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Technology
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MongoDB database, serverless Node.js Lambda functions. | Node.js, Nginx, MySQL. |
Scalability
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All components are infinitely scalable. Built on Serverless technology. | Does not scale easily. Limited by your servers, hosting provider, and budget. |
Security
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We manage the security for you. Data encryption at rest with 256-bit SSL encryption in transit. Two-factor authentication included free. | You manage the security yourself. No default data encryption at rest or in transit. |
CMS maintenance
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We maintain everything for you so you can focus on what matters most: building great content and user experiences. | You deploy, host, and maintain everything yourself. Along with your application and content, you need to maintain updates and security for your CMS system. |
Global caching
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High-performance global caching layer included. (Fastly) | No caching included out of the box. |
Media CDN
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Global media CDN included. (Cloudfront) | No CDN included out of the box. |
Image processing
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Image optimization and processing service included. (imgix) | Manually manage your own image sizes and optimizations. |
Extendability
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Apps and extensions. | Themes and integrations. |
Front end
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BYOFE (Bring your own front end) Front end code is decoupled from CMS. | Front end is coupled with backend CMS. Can be made to be Headless. |
Number of projects
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One login, unlimited projects. | One login, one website. |
Costs
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Save time and money on developer resource spending. Consider us your outsourced CMS team. Team plans start at $99/month. |
You will need to hire developer resources. Average salary of a full-stack developer is $111,600 per year. You may need to hire 1-3 developers to maintain the CMS. |
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Starting at $1,188 per year |
Average $223,200 per year |
Feature comparison subject to change. Contact support@cosmicjs.com to report any needed updates.
Uptime you can depend on
Don't fear downtime on cloud or Enterprise plans. Enterprise plans start at a 99.95% uptime guarantee. Check our status page for historical uptime on our serverless, cloud infrastructure.
Cosmic drives results for industry leaders
See how Cosmic helps teams deliver amazing content-powered products faster.