Inkpress and Ghost solve the same problem from opposite directions: one is source-available software you can own outright for $29, the other is a subscription at $9/mo run entirely on someone else's servers.
Head to head
| Inkpress | Ghost | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $9/mo ($108/yr), forever |
| Cost after 3 years | Still $29 | $324+ |
| Your data | Your server, one SQLite file | Their cloud |
| Zero-JS public pages | Yes | No |
| Themes | 3 built in — or edit the code | Paid/limited |
| Remove "Powered by" badge | Yes — it's your code | Paid tier |
| Works offline / air-gapped | Yes (desktop mode) | No |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Open core, hosted tiers |
What Inkpress does well
- Zero-JS public pages — Pure HTML/CSS, no client framework, no hydration, no bundle — instant load and perfect Lighthouse scores by default.
- 3 built-in themes — Paper (light serif classic), Carbon (dark dev-blog mono) and Editorial (magazine, large covers) — switch site-wide instantly in Settings.
- Server-side syntax highlighting — Code blocks highlighted with Shiki at save time and cached — beautiful dev-blog code with no client-side library.
- Split-pane live preview — The preview uses the exact same rendering pipeline as the public site, so what you see is literally what ships.
What Ghost still does better
There's a real reason Ghost costs what it does: a bigger team, broader integrations and dedicated support behind it. If that ecosystem is genuinely what you need, it's worth paying for.
Which one should you pick
If your workflow depends on Ghost's specific integrations or you'd rather not run anything yourself, stay put — that's a legitimate call. If you're comfortable owning the tool and want to stop paying $9/mo for a job your own hardware can do, Inkpress pays for itself and then some: pays for itself in about 3.2 months against Ghost Starter — then it's strictly cheaper for the life of the blog, $324+ saved over 3 years.
Try Inkpress — $29, once
Split-pane markdown editor, 3 themes, server-side highlighting, RSS & SEO — one SQLite file.