head to head · open source
Ghost vs hexo
Ghost has 55,339 GitHub stars, 11,975 forks, 182 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hexo has 41,770 stars, 42 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. Ghost leads on adoption by 32% (55,339 vs 41,770 stars). Ghost is written in TypeScript under MIT; hexo is written in TypeScript under MIT. Ghost has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, hexo 0%. Ghost was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (javascript, nodejs), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Ghost | hexo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 55K | ★ 42K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 42 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ghost if
- You weight community size — 55K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick hexo if
- You want the hexo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and hexo fits your workflow better
About Ghost
Ghost is an open source publishing platform built in Node.js and TypeScript, designed for blogs, newsletters, and membership based content sites. It runs as a self hosted web application and also powers Ghost(Pro), a managed service where all revenue supports the Ghost Foundation. The project lives in the JavaScript/Node.js ecosystem and is licensed under MIT.
read the full Ghost overview →
About hexo
Hexo is a static site generator for blogs, built on Node.js and distributed as the hexo package through npm. The project is written in TypeScript, licensed under MIT, and lives in the Node.js and JavaScript ecosystem alongside the broader set of static site generators tracked under the static site generator topic. It has been published for roughly 14 years, carries about 41,766 stars, and points users to a dedicated website and documentation set at hexo.io.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ghost or hexo more popular?
Ghost has 55,339 GitHub stars and hexo has 41,770. Ghost has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ghost and hexo free?
Both are open source. Ghost is licensed under MIT and hexo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ghost and hexo?
Ghost is written in TypeScript and hexo in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Ghost or hexo?
Choose Ghost if you want the larger community (55,339 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose hexo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.