# Ghost vs Payload

> Ghost scores 58.3 (C) on agent readiness against Payload's 55.2 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Payload leads on schema & documentation. Both do cms content. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-payload
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-payload.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-payload.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-payload.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: 2026-10-09

Ghost scores 58.3 (C) on agent readiness against Payload's 55.2 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Payload leads on schema & documentation. Both do cms content.

- 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
- Payload: grade C, 55.2/100, rank #516 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payload.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payload.json

## Which one, for what

### Ghost (C)

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

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 64
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 45
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 78
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 62

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

### Payload (C)

Good for: Teams that build on Next.js and want the content model in TypeScript, with drafts, versions and localisation in the free core.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 70 against 51

Watch for: 49 security advisories in the 12 months to 8 October 2026, 8 critical, 38 of them published since 18 September 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Ghost | Payload | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 78 | Ghost +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 70 | Payload +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 64 | Ghost +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 57 | Payload +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 45 | Ghost +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 78 | Ghost +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 62 | Ghost +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -7 | -10 | |
| **Total** | | **58.3 · C** | **55.2 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Ghost | Payload |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Ghost Foundation | Payload CMS, Inc. (Figma) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT, copyright Ghost Foundation. Ghost(Pro) is a paid hosting service under the Ghost Foundation's terms | MIT for the core and the official packages. Enterprise add-ons are sold separately through sales |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-23 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2024-03-28 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | 56k stars, 24k npm/wk | 45k stars, 1.1M npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Payload.** Payload generates REST, GraphQL and MCP interfaces from one typed config, with drafts, restorable versions and per-key MCP permissions in the free MIT core. The security record is the limit. The vendor published 49 advisories in 12 months, 8 of them critical, so an install older than 3.90.0 is exposed. No OpenAPI file is published.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Payload

1. Check the installed version first. Anything below 3.90.0 carries published critical advisories, so ask the owner to upgrade before writing
2. Send REST keys as `Authorization: {collection-slug} API-Key {key}` and MCP keys as `Authorization: Bearer {key}`. The two key kinds are separate
3. To publish, set `_status: 'published'` in the data. The `draft` parameter only relaxes validation and chooses where an update is written
4. Upload files with multipart POST to the upload collection, with other fields as JSON in `_payload`. No MCP upload tool is documented
5. Roll back with `POST /api/{collection-slug}/versions/:id` after listing versions. Versions exist only where the collection config enables them

## Questions

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

Ghost scores 58.3 (C) on agent readiness against Payload's 55.2 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Payload leads on schema & documentation.

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

Both need an API key.

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

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

### Are Ghost and Payload open source?

Yes. Ghost is open source (MIT, copyright Ghost Foundation. Ghost(Pro) is a paid hosting service under the Ghost Foundation's terms). Payload is open source (MIT for the core and the official packages. Enterprise add-ons are sold separately through sales).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Ghost or Payload

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