Ghost vs. Square Online

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Ghost
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Ghost is a CMS for new-media creators to publish, share, and grow a business around their content. Available open source and free (e.g. for blogging), it can also come with tools for business' content marketing.
$0
Square Online
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Square Online (formerly Weebly) is a basic content management system with blogging and eCommerce features. It can be utilized for building standard websites or specialized webpages for online stores.
$13
per month
Pricing
GhostSquare Online
Editions & Modules
Ghost (community)
$0
Starter
$11
per month 1 staff user, 500 members
Creator
$31
per month 2 staff users, 1000 members
Team
$63
per month 5 staff users, 1000 members
Business
$249
per month unlimited staff users, 10,000 members
Personal
$13
per month
Professional
$16
per month
Performance
$29
per month
Free
Free
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GhostSquare Online
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPricing decreases when paid annually: Personal - $10/Month Professional - $12/Month Performance - $26/Month
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GhostSquare Online
Features
GhostSquare Online
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Ghost
-
Ratings
Square Online
5.6
30 Ratings
36% below category average
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings5.630 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Ghost
-
Ratings
Square Online
6.5
21 Ratings
15% below category average
API00 Ratings6.516 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings6.517 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Ghost
-
Ratings
Square Online
7.6
42 Ratings
2% below category average
WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings8.735 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings6.838 Ratings
Admin section00 Ratings7.438 Ratings
Page templates00 Ratings6.542 Ratings
Library of website themes00 Ratings7.142 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings9.441 Ratings
Publishing workflow00 Ratings7.434 Ratings
Form generator00 Ratings7.535 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Ghost
-
Ratings
Square Online
6.8
39 Ratings
8% below category average
Content taxonomy00 Ratings6.725 Ratings
SEO support00 Ratings7.635 Ratings
Bulk management00 Ratings7.520 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings5.832 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings6.529 Ratings
Best Alternatives
GhostSquare Online
Small Businesses
ManageWP
ManageWP
Score 10.0 out of 10
ManageWP
ManageWP
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GhostSquare Online
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(1 ratings)
7.5
(43 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
GhostSquare Online
Likelihood to Recommend
Ghost Foundation
It is well suited for distributed writing and publishing with a subscription component
Read full review
Block, Inc (Square)
If you are having students create websites or information pages about something they are studying in class, this is a great option. The fact that students can spend less time getting situated and learning the app and get right to work researching and creating their pages is great. For middle to high school, this is a fantastic app to use. However, if you want more nuanced analytics or want students to focus on blogging more than webpage building, this is limited.
Read full review
Pros
Ghost Foundation
  • Creating a newsletter for web and email simultaneously
  • Allowing for paid subscriptions
  • Allowing content to be segmented by subscription type
Read full review
Block, Inc (Square)
  • Drag and drop interface makes it very easy to add all types of content, including images, text, video (and YouTube videos), embeddable applications and more.
  • It's very easy to set up navigation features like cascading menus and sticky navigation (where the menu stays put - may depend on the template chosen though).
  • A technical backend is fairly straight-forward for setting up a fav icon, 301 redirects, SEO, Google Analytics, etc.
Read full review
Cons
Ghost Foundation
  • They wysiwig editor is missing critical functions like superscript and subscript
  • The markdown complement has those features but it doesn’t integrate well with the wysiwig editor
  • Footnoting is hard to do
Read full review
Block, Inc (Square)
  • Weebly doesn't have a lot of templates to choose from, so if you don't have any experience with CSS or HTML, it's hard to customize your site to an extent.
  • Weebly isn't fully SEO friendly. They don't allow you to add H1 tags to pages out of the box.
  • You can't create folder structures when it comes to web page URLs. You can put web pages under a main menu dropdown, but they don't allow you to put all sub-menu items in a structured folder (like site.com/folder/page-1 and site.com/folder/page-2).
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Ghost Foundation
No answers on this topic
Block, Inc (Square)
Weebly is consistently adding features that line up with our needs. The ease of use makes it the perfect program for us since we have users of multiple age brackets and knowledge of web design. We love that we can give users access to only the pages they are affiliated with
Read full review
Usability
Ghost Foundation
No answers on this topic
Block, Inc (Square)
Very easy to use and intuitive to design after all of our business needs. From the website and POS system to how we represent ourselves internally and to our customers... Square is second-to-none in helping our business and others in our same boat become the kind of businesses we want to be when it comes to our inventory and sales of these kinds of products.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Ghost Foundation
It is simpler, headless, faster than WordPress. The core functionality is focused on subscription membership which is a bloated add on for WordPress.
The simplicity has a cost as WordPress, while complicated, offers more expansion opportunities.
Read full review
Block, Inc (Square)
Weebly's designs, plugins, and customization options are a little more advanced in some cases than other similar programs. WordPress requires a different level of expertise and knowledge of code, keywording, and plugins, so I wouldn't even compare them. Wix is a little more user-friendly because you can drag and drop your design, which was very convenient for customizing your site. I didn't personally select Weebly, but it is user-friendly and nearly anyone comfortable with a computer could figure it out. Weebly support is also pretty good.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Ghost Foundation
  • Our business is totally built around this product
  • It has allowed us to easily and quickly scale our free and (soon) our paywalled content
Read full review
Block, Inc (Square)
  • Weebly has allowed our business to create a connection with our customers by offering home decor, cooking and styling tips.
  • Weebly gives us the chance to relay information to customers regarding merchandise, current sales and promotions, store hours and locations etc. Which has helped increase business.
  • Weebly has given our not very tech savvy business the opportunity to have a website and stay relevant with our competitors.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Ghost Screenshots

Screenshot of the Ghost dashboardScreenshot of Ghost postsScreenshot of Ghost member managementScreenshot of Ghost member profile