# Directus vs Ghost

> Directus scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Ghost's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Ghost leads on transparency & trust. Both do cms content. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-ghost
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-ghost.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-ghost.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-ghost.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Directus scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Ghost's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Ghost leads on transparency & trust. Both do cms content.

- Directus: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #217 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/directus.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/directus.json
- Ghost: grade C, 58.3/100, rank #455 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ghost.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ghost.json

## Which one, for what

### Directus (B)

Good for: Teams that already keep content in an SQL database and want an agent to edit items, files and the data model under a named user's permissions.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 51
- Security & auth, 68 against 56
- Payments & pricing, 55 against 50

Watch for: Version 12 (10 June 2026) added licence enforcement. The free Core tier allows 3 Studio seats, 25 collections and 5 flows, and an instance over its limits is locked after a grace period

### Ghost (C)

Good for: A publication, blog or newsletter where an agent drafts posts and a person or a higher role publishes.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 61

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No OpenAPI or other machine-readable description of the Admin API was found in the docs or the repository


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Directus | Ghost | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 82 | 80 | Directus +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 51 | Directus +30 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 69 | Directus +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 56 | Directus +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 55 | 50 | Directus +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 85 | Directus +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 72 | Ghost +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | -7 | |
| **Total** | | **67.1 · B** | **58.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Directus | Ghost |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Monospace Inc. (Directus) | Ghost Foundation |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MSCL-1.0-GPL (Monospace Sustainable Core Licence 1.0), source-available with a licence key for paid tiers, each version converting to GPL-3.0 after four years. `@directus/sdk` is MIT | MIT, copyright Ghost Foundation. Ghost(Pro) is a paid hosting service under the Ghost Foundation's terms |
| Tools exposed | 12 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-09 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 38k stars, 23k npm/wk | 56k stars, 24k npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Directus.** The built-in MCP server works under the connecting user's permissions, supports OAuth limited to the MCP endpoint and blocks deletes unless an administrator allows them. Since version 12 a licence check caps the free Core tier at 3 Studio seats, 25 collections and 5 flows, and the default tool list carries about 79 KB of instructions.

**Ghost.** A create needs only a title, updates are checked against `updated_at` so a stale write is refused, and a Contributor's staff token can draft without being able to publish. The Admin API has no OpenAPI file and one fixed permission set per integration, and 20 security advisories were published between 3 September and 1 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### Directus

1. Connect with OAuth or an `Authorization: Bearer` header. Don't put the token in the URL as `?access_token=`, where it can be logged
2. Use `/mcp?tool_mode=registry` when the client loads every tool definition. Default mode sends each tool's full instructions, about 79 KB in total
3. Read the `schema` tool before writing. Item payloads are untyped objects, so field names and types come only from the data model
4. Publish a version with `POST /versions/{id}/promote` over REST. The MCP `items` tool refuses system collections such as `directus_versions`
5. Count translation and junction tables against the 25-collection Core limit before creating collections

### Ghost

1. Sign a fresh HS256 token for each batch of calls. Decode the hex secret to bytes, set `kid` to the key id, `aud` to `/admin/` and `exp` at most 5 minutes ahead
2. Set `status` to `draft` on every create unless told to publish, and publish later with a PUT that sets `status` to `published`
3. GET the post before each PUT and send its `updated_at` back. Tags and authors in a PUT replace the existing lists
4. Send content as a Lexical JSON string, or add `?source=html` and send `html`. The HTML conversion is lossy unless wrapped in an HTML card
5. Page through lists with `limit` up to 100 and `page`. Since Ghost 6.0 `limit=all` returns 100 items without an error

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Directus or Ghost?

Directus scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Ghost's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Ghost leads on transparency & trust.

### Do Directus and Ghost need an API key?

Directus takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Ghost needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Directus and Ghost without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Directus. No hosted endpoint is listed for Ghost.

### Are Directus and Ghost open source?

No open-source release is listed for Directus. Ghost is open source (MIT, copyright Ghost Foundation. Ghost(Pro) is a paid hosting service under the Ghost Foundation's terms).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-ghost.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-ghost.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "directus", "b": "ghost"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare directus ghost`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/directus.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ghost.json

## Other comparisons with Directus or Ghost

- [Contentstack vs Directus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentstack-vs-directus.md)
- [Contentstack vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentstack-vs-ghost.md)
- [DatoCMS vs Directus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datocms-vs-directus.md)
- [DatoCMS vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datocms-vs-ghost.md)
- [Directus vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-payload.md)
- [Directus vs Sanity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-sanity.md)
- [Directus vs Storyblok](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-storyblok.md)
- [Directus vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-strapi.md)
- [Directus vs Webflow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-webflow.md)
- [Directus vs WordPress](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-wordpress.md)
- [Ghost vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-payload.md)
- [Ghost vs Sanity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-sanity.md)
- [Ghost vs Storyblok](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-storyblok.md)
- [Ghost vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-strapi.md)
- [Ghost vs Webflow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-webflow.md)
- [Ghost vs WordPress](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-wordpress.md)