How to Self-Host Ghost with Docker Compose

What Is Ghost?

Ghost is an open-source publishing platform built for professional bloggers, journalists, and content creators. It handles content creation, memberships, newsletters, and monetization in a single platform. Think of it as a self-hosted alternative to Substack or Medium with full control over your content and audience. Official site

Updated March 2026: Verified with latest Docker images and configurations.

Prerequisites

A Linux server (Ubuntu 22.04+ recommended)
Docker and Docker Compose installed (guide)
2 GB of free disk space
1 GB of RAM (minimum)
A domain name (required for production use)
SMTP credentials for transactional email (Mailgun, SendGrid, or similar)

Docker Compose Configuration

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  ghost:
    image: ghost:6.22.0
    container_name: ghost
    environment:
      database__client: mysql
      database__connection__host: ghost_db
      database__connection__user: ghost
      database__connection__password: ghost_db_password  # Change this
      database__connection__database: ghost_db
      url: https://example.com              # MUST match your actual site URL
      NODE_ENV: production
      # Mail configuration (required for member signups and newsletters)
      # mail__transport: SMTP
      # mail__options__host: smtp.mailgun.org
      # mail__options__port: 587
      # mail__options__auth__user: [email protected]
      # mail__options__auth__pass: your-smtp-password
      # mail__from: [email protected]
    volumes:
      - ghost_content:/var/lib/ghost/content   # Themes, images, settings
    ports:
      - "2368:2368"          # Web UI
    depends_on:
      ghost_db:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: unless-stopped

  ghost_db:
    image: mysql:8.0
    container_name: ghost_db
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root_password_change_me   # Change this
      MYSQL_USER: ghost
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: ghost_db_password               # Must match above
      MYSQL_DATABASE: ghost_db
    volumes:
      - ghost_db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

volumes:
  ghost_content:
  ghost_db_data:

Create a .env file for sensitive values:

# Ghost database credentials
GHOST_DB_PASSWORD=change_me_to_a_strong_password
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=change_me_root_password

Start the stack:

docker compose up -d

Initial Setup

Open http://your-server-ip:2368/ghost to access the admin panel
Create your admin account (first user becomes the owner)
Set your site title, description, and branding under Settings → General
Configure your publication’s design under Settings → Design

Important: The url environment variable must exactly match the URL users will access your site at, including the protocol (https://). A mismatch causes asset loading failures and broken links.

Configuration

Email (SMTP)

Ghost needs SMTP for member signups, password resets, and newsletters. Uncomment the mail configuration in your Docker Compose and set your SMTP provider details:

    environment:
      mail__transport: SMTP
      mail__options__host: smtp.mailgun.org
      mail__options__port: 587
      mail__options__secure: "true"
      mail__options__auth__user: [email protected]
      mail__options__auth__pass: your-api-key
      mail__from: "Your Blog <[email protected]>"

Ghost supports Mailgun natively for bulk newsletter sending. Configure under Settings → Email newsletter → Mailgun.

Memberships and Subscriptions

Ghost has built-in membership and payment support:

Free members: Collect emails, gate content behind free signup
Paid members: Connect Stripe for paid subscriptions
Configure tiers under Settings → Membership

Themes

Ghost uses Handlebars templates. The default Casper theme is solid, but you can:

Install themes via Settings → Design → Change theme
Upload .zip theme files
Edit the default theme files in the content/themes/ directory

Popular free themes: Casper (default), Starter, Edition, Alto.

Content API

Ghost provides two APIs:

Content API: Read-only, for building custom frontends (headless CMS use)
Admin API: Full CRUD, for automation and integrations

Create API keys under Settings → Integrations → Add custom integration.

Advanced Configuration (Optional)

Headless Ghost (API-only)

Ghost works well as a headless CMS. Use the Content API to fetch posts and render them with any frontend framework (Next.js, Astro, Hugo). This decouples your frontend from Ghost’s built-in themes.

Custom Redirects

Create a redirects.yaml or redirects.json file and upload via Settings → Labs → Redirects. Useful for maintaining SEO when migrating from another platform.

Bulk Email with Mailgun

For newsletters to large subscriber lists, Ghost integrates directly with Mailgun’s bulk sending API. This bypasses SMTP limits and provides delivery analytics. Configure under Settings → Email newsletter.

Reverse Proxy

Ghost must run behind a reverse proxy for production use (HTTPS is required for memberships and Stripe).

For Nginx Proxy Manager:

Scheme: http
Forward Hostname: ghost (container name) or server IP
Forward Port: 2368
Enable Websockets Support
Request an SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt

Ensure the url environment variable matches your domain with https://.

See Reverse Proxy Setup for detailed configuration.

Backup

Ghost stores content in two locations:

MySQL database: All posts, members, settings, tags
Content volume (/var/lib/ghost/content): Themes, uploaded images, redirects

Back up both. Ghost also has a built-in export under Settings → Labs → Export content that exports posts as JSON (but not images or themes).

For database backup:

docker compose exec ghost_db mysqldump -u ghost -p ghost_db > ghost_backup.sql

See Backup Strategy for a comprehensive approach.

Troubleshooting

Ghost Shows “Site is Starting Up”

Symptom: Browser shows a loading screen that never resolves. Fix: Check logs with docker compose logs ghost. Common causes: database not ready yet (wait for MySQL healthcheck), incorrect url environment variable, or missing database credentials.

Images Not Loading After Reverse Proxy Setup

Symptom: Pages load but images are broken (mixed content errors). Fix: Ensure url is set to https://your-domain.com (with https://). Ghost generates image URLs based on this setting. If it says http://, images won’t load over HTTPS.

”Cannot Send Email” Errors

Symptom: Member signups fail or newsletters don’t send. Fix: Verify SMTP credentials. Test with a simple integration (Mailgun’s sandbox domain works for testing). Check that port 587 is not blocked by your hosting provider. Some providers block outbound SMTP — use an API-based email service instead.

Database Connection Refused

Symptom: Ghost logs show “ECONNREFUSED” for MySQL. Fix: Ensure ghost_db container is healthy before Ghost starts. The depends_on with condition: service_healthy in the Docker Compose handles this. If the database was just created, give it a minute to initialize.

High Memory Usage

Symptom: Ghost consuming 500+ MB of RAM. Fix: Ghost runs on Node.js, which pre-allocates memory. This is normal for a Node.js application. For memory-constrained servers, add node__env: production (already set in our config) and avoid running Ghost’s background jobs too frequently.

Resource Requirements

RAM: 512 MB idle, 800 MB-1 GB under moderate traffic
CPU: Low to moderate (Node.js single-threaded)
Disk: ~200 MB for the application, plus uploads and database

Verdict

Ghost is the best self-hosted option for professional publishing and newsletter platforms. Its editor is excellent, the membership system is built-in (no plugins needed), and it’s fast. If you’re building a publication, newsletter, or content business, Ghost beats WordPress on simplicity and performance. WordPress wins on extensibility and plugin ecosystem. For a blog that “just works” with modern features, Ghost is the clear choice.

FAQ

Ghost vs WordPress — which should I self-host?

Ghost is purpose-built for publishing — it’s faster, simpler, and has built-in memberships. WordPress is more flexible with thousands of plugins but requires more maintenance. See our Ghost vs WordPress comparison for details.

Can I migrate from WordPress to Ghost?

Yes. Ghost has a WordPress migration plugin under Settings → Labs → Migration. It imports posts, tags, and authors. Images need to be migrated separately (exported from WordPress uploads directory).

Is Ghost free to self-host?

Ghost is open source (MIT license) and free to self-host. Ghost(Pro) is the paid hosted version. Self-hosting gives you the same software without monthly fees, but you’re responsible for hosting, backups, and updates.