# dotCMS vs Ghost

> dotCMS scores 57.7 (C) to Ghost's 51.2 (D) for content management. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-ghost
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-ghost.md (~4,650 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

dotCMS scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Ghost's 51.2 (D), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Ghost leads on reliability, payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do content management.

- dotCMS: grade C, 57.7/100, rank #780 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dotcms.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/dotcms.json
- Ghost: grade D, 51.2/100, rank #1027 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ghost.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ghost.json
- Best headless CMS and website publishing for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/cms/index.md
- All 136 cms comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cms/index.md

## Which one, for what

### dotCMS (C)

Good for: Enterprises already on dotCMS who want an agent to manage content and pages.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 65 against 51
- Security & auth, 63 against 56

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- No incidents deducted, where Ghost loses 15 points for them

Watch for: Pre-1.0 package, with the dev docs still pointing at the beta tag

### Ghost (D)

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

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 83 against 47
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 75
- Transparency & trust, 75 against 54

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


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Ghost +36

- dotCMS (47): Read with the local-software lines, since the MCP server is a stdio package the owner runs against their own instance. Official npm package with Node 20 or later and Bun stated (20). The monorepo has CI and the MCP app has vitest tests and smoke tests; whether they pass on main wasn't read (12 of 25). Open issues weren't read because the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (10 of 25). 0.1.0 and 0.1.1 without release notes for the package (5 of 15). Pre-1.0, and the dev docs still call it beta (0). 20+12+10+5+0 = 47.
- Ghost (83): Read with the local-software lines, since the graded surface is the open-source release its owner hosts. Ghost(Pro)'s status page isn't scored here. Official `ghost` package on npm, with Node.js ^22.23.1 or ^24.20.0 in `engines` in the 4 November source, and a supported stack named in the hosting guide (20). A public CI workflow (ci.yml) runs on pushes to main and runs the unit, type and end-to-end tests; GitHub's pages answer 403 in this session, so today's result is unread (the badge read failing on 8 October) (15 of 25). The repository showed 33 open issues and 140 open pull requests against weekly releases on 8 October; not re-read (20 of 25). Semver version numbers, release notes per version and a breaking changes page per major, with the 6.0 removal of `limit=all` documented there (13 of 15). 6.x is the current stable line (15).

### Transparency & trust: Ghost +21

- dotCMS (54): dotCMS core is under the Business Source License 1.1, source-available rather than OSI, with an additional use grant under $5 million; the MCP package is GPL-3.0 on npm (20 of 30). The privacy policy of 8 September 2026 covers website visitors only; no cloud data-handling terms were found (10 of 30). A deprecations page, an LTS lifecycle and dated changelogs (16 of 20). Telemetry and sub-processors weren't established (5 of 20). 20+10+16+5 = 51.
- Ghost (75): MIT, copyright Ghost Foundation, with the source public (30). Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (ghost.org and docs.ghost.org paused under the terms): a self-hosted site keeps content on its owner's server. For Ghost(Pro) the privacy policy places servers in Amsterdam and a DPA lists subprocessors in an annex, while retention is stated only as kept where necessary and the terms make the customer responsible for backups (18 of 30). A table dates each major's end of life (5.x in January 2026, 6.x to be confirmed), endpoints carry a stability index and breaking changes are catalogued per major. No notice period in days was found (15 of 20). The configuration page documents Gravatar, structured data and IndexNow calls with a switch for each and `useTinfoil` for all. The default configuration also points `updateCheck` at updates.ghost.org, which that section doesn't list; the 4 November source sends only `ghost_version` in that request (13 of 20).

### Payments & pricing: Ghost +15

- dotCMS (35): Scored with the self-hosted rule, with prices from the cloud plans. No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Cloud prices are on request only (0). Free with every capability under $5 million in revenue under the BSL, with no card (20). Self-hosting needs no dotCMS account, and tokens can be minted by API on one's own instance (15 of 20). 0+0+20+15 = 35.
- Ghost (50): Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (ghost.org paused under the terms). Scored with the self-hosted rule, taking prices from Ghost(Pro) beside the free software. No x402, MPP or L402 found (0). The software is free under MIT, and Ghost(Pro) lists $18, $29 and $199 a month billed yearly at up to 1,000 members (20). Self-hosting needs no card or account. Whether the Ghost(Pro) trial asks for a card wasn't readable (20). The docs create Admin API keys in the Ghost Admin screens, so a person sets up the integration. Install is scriptable, so half (10).

### Schema & documentation: dotCMS +14

- dotCMS (65): The search tool exposes the instance's own OpenAPI spec, so the contract is machine-readable, though the tools themselves take JavaScript code (20 of 25). llms.txt and Markdown pages on dev.dotcms.com (10). The README says what each tool is for and gives examples; when not to use them isn't stated (12 of 20). Code strings rather than typed parameters for search and execute (4 of 15). Examples for both tools; error behaviour of the sandbox isn't documented (9 of 15). dotCMS changelogs are dated; the MCP package has no changelog (10 of 15). 20+10+12+4+9+10 = 65.
- Ghost (51): Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November (docs host paused under the terms). No OpenAPI or similar file was found in the docs index or the repository (0 of 25). llms.txt with 177 links, llms-full.txt and a Markdown copy of every page (10). The reference states what each endpoint does and which fields are required, with little on when not to use one (10 of 20). No published schemas. Required fields are named (`title` on create, `updated_at` on edit), and post content is one Lexical JSON string (6 of 15). Request and response examples on each page and token generation in Bash, JavaScript, Ruby and Python. The errors page lists five status codes and the `errorType` and `message` fields, without a list per endpoint (10 of 15). `Accept-Version` header, a stability index per endpoint, a breaking changes page and release notes (15).

### Maintenance & community: Ghost +10

- dotCMS (75): dotCMS core tagged v26.11.06-03 on 6 November 2026; the MCP package's last release was 0.1.1 on 2 September (30). Core tags several times a week (20). GitHub issues and a community forum; response times weren't read because the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (10 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry; official JavaScript client libraries (8 of 15). The MCP package's dependencies and CI state weren't read (7 of 10). 30+20+10+8+7 = 75.
- Ghost (85): v6.74.0 was tagged on 3 November 2026, the day before this check, after v6.70.0 (13 October), v6.71.0 (15 October), v6.72.0 (20 October) and v6.73.0 (27 October) (30). Five tags since 13 October alone, and 19 npm versions between 10 July and 8 October per the earlier check (20). 33 open issues on 8 October and advisories fixed and published with reporter credits; reply times on individual issues not read (18 of 25). @tryghost/admin-api 1.14.13 was published on 21 September 2026 per the 8 October check; npm couldn't be read on 4 November. The official MCP registry listed third-party Ghost servers only (10 of 15). A Renovate workflow keeps dependencies current. The CI badge on main read failing on 8 October; today's result is unread (7 of 10).

### Security & auth: dotCMS +7

- dotCMS (63): JWT API tokens per user with role permissions and an expiry, created only by administrators (25 of 30). A read-only token can be made through a restricted role, but the MCP server asks for write permission; workflows support multiple-approval steps (14 of 20). Content returned from the CMS reaches the agent, and the sandbox isolates the token, with no prompt-injection guidance (5 of 15). Audit logging for API calls wasn't established in the pages read (5 of 15). A valid security.txt with PGP, a responsible disclosure policy with bounties, LTS security backports and a public list of known security issues, which is drawn by script and couldn't be read. No certification was found (14 of 20). 25+14+5+5+14 = 63.
- Ghost (56): An Admin API key belongs to one custom integration, can be regenerated, and signs tokens that last at most 5 minutes and travel in the Authorization header. Integrations have one fixed permission set and no scopes, so we scored plain revocable keys plus 2 for role-bound staff tokens (22 of 30). The Content API key is sent as a query parameter. It reads published content only and isn't the graded credential, so no deduction. A Contributor's staff token can add and edit drafts but not change status, per the post model. No read-only Admin key and no approval step for a publish or delete (12 of 20). Posts, members and comments hold text written by other people, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (3 of 15). An actions log is readable at `GET /actions`. No per-call log was found (8 of 15). A disclosure policy with response times and security@ghost.org per the 8 October check, and advisories published on GitHub with credits (OSV holds 46 published from 4 November 2025 to 27 October 2026). No bug bounty or certification was found, and ghost.org/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 (11 of 20).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | dotCMS | Ghost | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 47 | 83 | Ghost +36 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 51 | dotCMS +14 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 69 | Ghost +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 63 | 56 | dotCMS +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 50 | Ghost +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 85 | Ghost +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 75 | Ghost +21 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -15 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **51.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | dotCMS | Ghost |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | dotCMS LLC | Ghost Foundation |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | BUSL-1.1 | MIT, copyright Ghost Foundation. Ghost(Pro) is a paid hosting service under the Ghost Foundation's terms |
| Tools exposed | 7 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-02 | 2026-11-03 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-08 | 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 | not found in the text | 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 | 43 npm/wk | 56k stars, 24k npm/wk |

## How the scores have moved

### dotCMS

No score change since it was listed.

### Ghost

- -7.4 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): new evidence, correction
- +0.2 on 28 October 2026: new evidence
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**dotCMS.** dotCMS's MCP server keeps the tool list to seven by letting the agent search the instance's OpenAPI spec and run API calls in a sandbox that never sees the token. It is a pre-1.0 package that needs a write token, and cloud prices are on request.

**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 publishing. The Admin API has no OpenAPI file and one fixed permission set per integration, and OSV lists 46 Ghost advisories in the year to 27 October 2026, 15 high or critical.

## Before you call either

### dotCMS

1. Search the spec with `search` before writing an `execute` call, and return only the fields you need
2. Use a token for a dedicated user and role, not an administrator's
3. Confirm with the user before execute calls that publish, archive or delete content
4. Keep results small with pick and first, since output is capped at about 25,000 characters
5. Use download_assets for theme folders so files land on disk instead of in context

### 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, dotCMS or Ghost?

dotCMS scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Ghost's 51.2 (D), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Ghost leads on reliability, payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

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

Both need an API key.

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

dotCMS runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for Ghost.

### Are dotCMS and Ghost open source?

No open-source release is listed for dotCMS. 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/dotcms-vs-ghost.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-ghost.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "dotcms", "b": "ghost"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare dotcms ghost`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/dotcms.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ghost.json

## Other comparisons with dotCMS or Ghost

- [BCMS vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bcms-vs-dotcms.md)
- [BCMS vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bcms-vs-ghost.md)
- [ButterCMS vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-dotcms.md)
- [ButterCMS vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-ghost.md)
- [Contentstack vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentstack-vs-dotcms.md)
- [Contentstack vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentstack-vs-ghost.md)
- [Cosmic vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cosmic-vs-dotcms.md)
- [Cosmic vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cosmic-vs-ghost.md)
- [DatoCMS vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datocms-vs-dotcms.md)
- [DatoCMS vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datocms-vs-ghost.md)
- [Directus vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-dotcms.md)
- [Directus vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-ghost.md)
- [dotCMS vs Hygraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-hygraph.md)
- [dotCMS vs Kontent.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-kontent-ai.md)
- [dotCMS vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-payload.md)
- [dotCMS vs Prismic](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-prismic.md)
- [dotCMS vs Sanity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-sanity.md)
- [dotCMS vs Storyblok](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-storyblok.md)
- [dotCMS vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-strapi.md)
- [dotCMS vs Webflow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-webflow.md)
- [dotCMS vs WordPress](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-wordpress.md)
- [Ghost vs Hygraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-hygraph.md)
- [Ghost vs Kontent.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-kontent-ai.md)
- [Ghost vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-payload.md)
- [Ghost vs Prismic](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-prismic.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)

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