(Ghost CMS · London)
Ghost CMS, built for
publishers who care
about the craft.
WebAnts is a London Ghost CMS development agency. We build custom Ghost themes, membership sites, and newsletters, or go headless with Ghost + Next.js for complete design freedom.
Zero
Transaction fees on membership revenue
Native
Newsletter & email built in
Open
Source, self-host or Ghost(Pro)
5ms
Average TTFB on Ghost(Pro)
(Services)
Custom Ghost development,
traditional and headless.
01
Custom Ghost Themes
Handlebars-based Ghost themes built pixel-perfect from your Figma designs. Fast, accessible, and tuned to Ghost's content API, not a tweaked starter theme.
02
Ghost Membership Sites
Tiered membership with free, monthly, and annual plans. Stripe-powered checkout, member-only content gating, email-based access, and a clean member dashboard.
03
Newsletter Customisation
Custom newsletter templates that match your site design, optimised for email clients. Welcome sequences, subscription landing pages, and unsubscribe flows.
04
Headless Ghost + Next.js
Ghost as a headless CMS, with a Next.js frontend consuming the Content API. Faster than traditional Ghost rendering, with full design freedom and React interactivity.
05
Ghost Migrations
Migrate from WordPress, Substack, Medium, or any other platform to Ghost. Content migration, redirect mapping, subscriber import, and DNS cutover.
06
Ghost(Pro) Setup & Configuration
Ghost(Pro) plan selection, custom domain setup, SMTP configuration (Mailgun / Postmark), integrations (Zapier, Slack, analytics), and team access.
07
Performance & SEO
Ghost is fast by default, we make it faster. Image optimisation, font loading strategy, CDN, sitemap configuration, structured data, and Open Graph tags.
08
Ongoing Support & Maintenance
Ghost version updates, theme tweaks, A/B testing landing pages, email template changes, and content help, on a monthly retainer or ad-hoc.
(How we work)
Design-first. Ship clean.
Discovery
Map your content model, membership tiers, newsletter needs, and design direction. Ghost(Pro) or self-hosted, agreed before we start.
Design
Figma designs for home, post, tag, and membership pages. Newsletter template designed alongside the site.
Build & Configure
Theme built, Ghost configured, Stripe connected, newsletter templates set up, and content migrated. Staging preview before launch.
Launch & Handover
DNS cutover, subscriber import, Google Search Console setup, and an editorial walkthrough so your team can publish independently.
(FAQ)
Ghost CMS questions,
answered directly.
Is Ghost better than WordPress for a content-focused site?
For publications, newsletters, and membership sites focused purely on content, Ghost is significantly better than WordPress. It's faster (no plugin bloat), has native newsletter and membership features, and the editorial experience is cleaner. For complex custom functionality, multiple user roles, or a large plugin ecosystem, WordPress remains more flexible. We recommend Ghost for content-first businesses and WordPress when you need more customisation.
Ghost(Pro) or self-hosted, which should we choose?
Ghost(Pro) is the simplest option, fully managed hosting by the Ghost Foundation, automatic updates, and reliable infrastructure starting from $9/month. Self-hosted Ghost gives you more control over the stack, custom integrations, and no monthly platform fee, but requires server management. For most publishers, Ghost(Pro) is the better choice. For technical teams with specific hosting requirements, self-hosted makes sense.
How does Ghost membership work?
Ghost has native membership built in, no plugins required. You define free and paid tiers, connect Stripe for payment processing, and Ghost handles checkout, billing, and content access automatically. Members receive transactional emails, you keep 100% of revenue (Ghost takes no transaction fee), and subscriber management is built into the admin dashboard.
Can you migrate our Substack newsletter to Ghost?
Yes. Ghost provides a Substack import tool that migrates posts, subscribers, and basic formatting. We handle the technical migration, redirect any existing post URLs to Ghost equivalents, set up your custom domain, configure your newsletter template, and import your subscriber list. Your paid subscribers' Stripe relationships transfer across.
How much does a Ghost website cost?
A custom Ghost theme for an existing Ghost site starts from £1,500–£3,000. A full Ghost setup with custom theme, membership configuration, newsletter templates, and content migration typically costs £4,000–£10,000. A headless Ghost + Next.js build starts from £10,000. Flat written quote after a free discovery call.
What is headless Ghost?
Headless Ghost uses Ghost purely as a content management backend, accessed via its Content API, while the frontend is built in a separate framework like Next.js. This gives you the excellent Ghost editorial experience for your team, combined with full design and development freedom on the frontend, React interactivity, and superior performance through SSG/ISR.
(Start a project)
Free 30-min call.
Flat quote.
No prepayment.
Tell us about your publication. We’ll advise on Ghost(Pro) vs self-hosted, traditional vs headless, and quote flat before any work begins.
WebAnts is a London Ghost CMS development agency. We build custom Ghost themes, membership sites, newsletter systems, and headless Ghost + Next.js publications for content creators and publishers. Based in London, serving clients across the UK and worldwide. 4.9★ rated on Google and Clutch.