Complete guide to migrating your Ghost website to Gatsby. Leave Ghost's limited to blogs and newsletters behind and get rich plugin ecosystem for data sources (cms, apis, databases). Free migration tool included.
You can migrate from Ghost to Gatsby for free using LeaveWP. Enter your site URL, choose Gatsby as the destination, and download your content — posts, pages, and media — in minutes. No API keys, passwords, or CLI tools required. Difficulty: Medium. Estimated time: 20-40 minutes.
Official docs: Ghost Documentation · Gatsby Documentation
Modern publishing platform built for professional content creators. Professional writers, journalists, and newsletter creators who want to monetize content, but these limitations push teams toward modern alternatives.
Limited to blogs and newsletters — not a general CMS
This is the most common reason teams migrate away from Ghost. Gatsby eliminates this issue entirely.
Small theme ecosystem compared to WordPress
With Gatsby, rich plugin ecosystem for data sources (cms, apis, databases).
Self-hosting requires Node.js server expertise
Modern architectures like Gatsby are designed to avoid this from the ground up.
Managed hosting (Ghost Pro) is relatively expensive
After migrating, you'll no longer need to worry about this — Gatsby takes a fundamentally different approach.
React-based SSG with GraphQL data layer. Built with JavaScript/TypeScript (React), it's content-rich sites pulling data from multiple sources via graphql.
Rich plugin ecosystem for data sources (CMS, APIs, databases)
Unified GraphQL data layer pulls from any source
Excellent image optimization with gatsby-plugin-image
Pre-renders pages for fast initial load and good SEO
Gatsby is open-source and free to use. You own your code and data with no vendor lock-in. Deploy to any host that supports JavaScript/TypeScript, or use managed platforms like Vercel and Netlify for zero-config deployments.
Side-by-side comparison based on real platform characteristics
| Metric | Ghost | Gatsby |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Performance | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Flexibility | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Cost | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Scalability | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Ecosystem | ⭐⭐ 2/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Language | Node.js | JavaScript/TypeScript (React) |
| Pricing | Free (self-hosted) / $9-199/month (managed) | Free (open-source) |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
Ratings are based on publicly available data, documentation, and community consensus as of 2026. Individual experience may vary.
A detailed breakdown of how your Ghost content maps to Gatsby
What may need manual attention
Custom server-side logic, third-party integrations, and platform-specific plugins will need equivalent solutions in Gatsby. The core content (text, images, metadata) transfers cleanly.
Migrate your content in three simple steps
Enter your Ghost site URL — LeaveWP connects automatically.
Select Gatsby as destination and choose content options.
Download your migrated content or preview it in your browser.
Migrating from Ghost to Gatsby makes the most sense if you're experiencing limited to blogs and newsletters — not a general cms or outgrowing Ghost's architecture. Gatsby is best for content-rich sites pulling data from multiple sources via graphql.
You should migrate if: your Ghost site is slow, your hosting costs are climbing, you need developer flexibility, or you want to adopt a modern JAMstack architecture.
You might want to stay if: your Ghost site benefits from beautiful, focused writing experience (markdown + rich editor) and you don't have JavaScript/TypeScript developers on your team. Ghost is genuinely easy to use, and that simplicity has value.
The migration itself is straightforward with LeaveWP — enter your Ghost URL, select Gatsby, and download your content. The more important question is whether Gatsby's architecture fits your team's skills and your project's long-term needs.
Explore more migration paths from Ghost or to Gatsby
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