Ghost Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Ghost hosting on infrastructure you control, instead of trusting your posts, members and mailing list to someone else's publishing platform. xCloud sets up Ghost CMS hosting in minutes: the pinned Ghost 6 image, a private MySQL database, persistent volumes for content and uploaded images, and HTTPS on your domain, ready for you to create the site owner account and start writing.

Deploy your Ghost

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is Ghost?

Ghost is an open-source, MIT-licensed publishing platform for blogs, newsletters, memberships and creator websites, built on Node.js and usable as a headless CMS through its Content API. Run on your own server, it is a self-hosted Ghost: the alternative to a hosted newsletter service such as Substack, or to Ghost's own Ghost(Pro) service, with your posts and member list in a database you hold on a server you run.

On xCloud it is deployed as two services: the Ghost 6.64.0 Alpine image, pinned by immutable digest, and a private MySQL 8.4 sidecar that publishes no port. The ghost_content and ghost_db volumes hold themes, images and the database, database credentials are generated, and the site is served over HTTPS on your domain. You create the owner account yourself on first visit.

From Sign-Up to a Live Ghost Site In Just 3 Easy Steps

Self-hosting a publishing platform normally means an application server, a database, persistent storage, a domain and a certificate before a single post is published. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Ghost from the OneClick catalog. Choose your site title, domain and target server — there is nothing else to fill in, since Ghost's database credentials are generated automatically.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the Ghost 6.64.0 image, pinned by immutable digest, alongside a private MySQL 8.4 database, mount the ghost_content and ghost_db volumes, generate the database credentials, and publish Ghost over HTTPS on your domain. MySQL itself is never exposed to the internet.
Step 03
Create Your Site Owner Account
Open the generated Admin URL, complete Create your account, and you're the site owner. Add SMTP settings before relying on member signups, newsletters or admin-invite emails.

Everything Ghost Does, On Your Own Server

Ghost runs in full here — posts, pages, themes, tags, memberships and the API, on infrastructure you control.

Posts, Pages And Newsletters
Publish posts and pages and send newsletters to your list, instead of splitting your writing across separate tools.
Tags For Content Organization
Group and filter posts with tags as your site grows past a handful of entries.
Custom Themes And Design
Install or build a custom theme to control how your site looks, independent of the hosting underneath it.
Memberships And Subscriptions
Turn on free or paid memberships and manage subscribers, once you connect your own payment provider inside Ghost.
Full Admin And Content API
Read published content programmatically through Ghost's Content API, not just the editor, for a custom front end or script.
Persistent Content, Images And Database
Themes, uploaded images and the MySQL database persist on their own volumes across restarts.

Everything You Need To Run Your Publishing Platform 24/7

Managed hosting for Ghost, so the parts that keep it online are not your problem.

Ghost 6 deployed instantly
Alpine-based image pinned by digest
Private MySQL database, credentials generated for you
MySQL never exposed to the internet
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Ghost

Run a Ghost newsletter platform you own
Publish posts and email them to subscribers while the member list sits in your own MySQL database. Add your SMTP settings first, since newsletters send nothing until mail is configured.
Publish a blog with your own theme
Install or build a Ghost theme to control the look, and keep themes and uploaded images on the ghost_content volume so a restart never loses them.
Offer free or paid memberships to readers
Turn on memberships inside Ghost and manage subscribers from its admin, connecting your own payment provider for paid tiers instead of renting a platform's checkout.
Feed a custom front end from the Content API
Use Ghost as a headless CMS: your developers read posts through the Content API while editors keep writing in the Ghost admin at /ghost/.

Ghost vs Alternatives

Substack: A hosted newsletter service that runs the platform for you; with Ghost on xCloud the posts, members and settings live in the MySQL database and volumes on your own server, which you configure for mail yourself.
Ghost(Pro): The managed service run by the Ghost project, whose README lists a CDN, backups and maintenance as handled for you; here you run the same open-source Ghost on your own xCloud server and own those tasks.
WordPress: A general-purpose CMS built around plugins and a large theme directory; Ghost is a narrower tool focused on publishing, memberships and newsletters, with those features part of the Ghost admin itself.
Joomla: A general-purpose open-source CMS with its own extension system and a MySQL database, available as another OneClick app; Ghost leans on themes and its API rather than extensions.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for Ghost and its private MySQL database. Pick the one that fits, and resize any time.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom for a growing member list and media library.

$59.99per month

16 GB RAM
6 vCPU cores
200 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

Ghost alongside a larger self-hosted stack.

$84.99per month

24 GB RAM
8 vCPU cores
300 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in — delete the server and the unused balance comes back to your account. Ghost itself is free under the MIT licence.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Ghost on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

Start your journey without cost.

$0forever

1 server
10 sites

Start free

Starter

Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

6–10 servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

11+ servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts automatically as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Self-managed hosting

Ready To Run Your Own Publishing Platform?

Ghost on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own the server. Stay in control.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

Hear what people are saying about us

See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.

xCloud works really well, I am surprised by its performance being this the release version, I have tried many paid platforms such as runcloud, cloudpages or serveravatar, as well as free platforms such as CyberPanel, CloudPanel or Hestia Control Panel and direct competitors such as SpinupWP and FlyWP. Of all those that I have tried, the platform that works best for WordPress is SpinupWP and I believe that xCloud can reach and surpass that development, its roadmap is promising. Congratulations to the xCloud team, I hope they become the leading platform in the segment, it has all the potential to achieve it!

Brian Geovanny

I've been with runcloud for the last 3 years. However, after trying xcloud for the last month, I'm switching over. They are on a roll with their setup.

Kevin Pineda

I'm moving my servers to xCloud, a cloud control panel by M Asif Rahman and the WPDeveloper team. Their roadmap looks interesting and no, there are no team mates nor API limits with xCloud! #xCloud #wordpress #hosting

Leo Koo

How Cloud Nine Web Elevated Client Experience While Streamlining Hosting Operations using xCloud

Ed Ellingham

xCloud is like having an expert server team on call — without the big agency costs. It's given me back my time and given my clients peace of mind. Highly recommended for freelancers and small teams who want reliable performance and security.

Dumitru Butucel

xCloud isn't just a solution. It's like one of that friend who got your back when you screw things up pretty bad.

Waqar Ahmed

Trust me when I say, once people explore the potential of xCloud they gonna switch from other panels, just keep delivering the best tech, lots of love for the team 😍😍

Rahul Singh

So far my experience has been smooth like silk. I didn't imagine that configuring and managing a VPS would be so easy. As of today, I have deployed 8 sites. The support is good, and they treat users with respect, even if they ask stupid questions (myself included). For the future, I hope for greater flexibility in scheduled backups and more comprehensive and consistent documentation. I'm sure that within a few months, xCloud will become the leader in its segment. This community is amazing, and the Staff here is super helpful.

Massimo Villa

Came from cloudways then to runcloud then to xcloud. Looks like I'm staying here.

Gerson El

I've recently taken all of my Vultr-hosted sites and gotten rid of cPanel for them to substitute it with xCloud. I have to say, I'm really impressed with xCloud so far! The interface is definitely the standout feature for me.

Tony Lewis

I came from Cloudways and won't go back. Highly impressed with xCloud. Glad I gave them a chance.

Jared McDowell

I like xCloud better than RunCloud, but one thing I'll point out is that some years ago RunCloud was hungry for business, the support was outstanding, and the community was active and helped each other. Maybe it was sold, there was a change in management, or they stopped being hungry, but the quality of the RunCloud offering declined and it hasn't been moving forward quickly. My point is that currently the xCloud team has the edge and it is theirs to keep or lose

David McCan

How Kevin Heinrichs Cut Hosting Costs by 84% While Running WooCommerce & Node.js Sites Efficiently

Kevin Heinrichs

I had 150 sites on cloudways and am in the process of moving them to xcloud. Much faster and better priced.

Dan Spinoza

Dear xCloud Team, I have been using xCloud for some time now and am genuinely impressed with its capabilities and the flexibility it offers by allowing users to bring their own VPS for management. It's a fantastic service, and my experience so far has been very positive. Successful migrated 5 sites on a single server. Xcloud migration tool worked great. There were few hiccups with security plugin like MalCare but disabling the plugin prior to migration worked just fine.

Rahil Maknojia

Came from runcloud. Tried xcloud and never came back.

Karl Fanega

How Advanced Web Strategies Saved Over $2,000 & Recovered 56 Hours per Month Managing 70+ Client Websites

Gary Moody

xCloud gave me what no other hosting platform could: the flexibility of a VPS with the convenience of managed WordPress. As a solo founder running an entire business on one server, that combination is an important unfair advantage.

Jorge de los Reyes Martínez

I use Server Avatar and xCloud and I'll sooner use xCloud than Server Avatar personally.

Jay Pagano

How Newman Web Solutions Ensured Perfect Uptime and Seamless Scaling For 120+ WordPress Sites with xCloud

Lori Newman

I too have moved over to xCloud. It's pretty sweet. One click n8n and uptime Kuma apps

John Aperture

I went from Cloudways to xCloud. No intention on switching in the foreseeable future.

Blaine Moore

Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Is Ghost free to self-host?

Yes. Ghost's core is open source under the MIT licence, so the software costs nothing. The monthly cost is the Cloud VPS underneath it. Paid memberships and mail delivery depend on providers you connect yourself.

Can I self-host Ghost with Docker?

Yes, and Ghost Docker hosting on xCloud is exactly this template: Ghost 6.64.0-alpine pinned by digest next to a private mysql:8.4 container, with generated database credentials and two named volumes. You skip writing the compose file, reverse proxy and certificate.

How much RAM does Ghost need?

The manifest asks for 1024 MB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 4 GB of disk, as a floor for Ghost and its MySQL sidecar together. This page sells the 6 GB tier, leaving room for a growing content library, uploaded images and a member list.

What database does Ghost use?

MySQL 8.4, run as a sidecar container with a generated database name, user and password. It publishes no port and is reachable only from Ghost over the internal network. Its data lives on the ghost_db volume, apart from themes and images on ghost_content.

What is the difference between Ghost and Ghost(Pro)?

Ghost(Pro) is the managed service run by the Ghost project. Ghost is the same open-source software you run yourself. On xCloud you run it on your own server, so mail settings, content backups and version changes are your decisions.

Does Ghost have an API?

Yes. Ghost provides a Content API for reading your published content, and upstream positions Ghost as a headless CMS, so a separate front end or script can work with your site. It is part of the Ghost app itself and needs no extra service.

How do I update a self-hosted Ghost site?

Nothing updates itself. The Ghost image is pinned to 6.64.0-alpine by digest and MySQL stays on the 8.4 tag; a catalog re-sync only affects new installs. Back up ghost_content and ghost_db, check Ghost's release notes, then redeploy a newer template version.

Do I need to configure email to use Ghost?

Not to publish, but yes for member signup magic links, newsletters and admin-invite emails. None of those work until you add the mail__transport and mail__options__ keys in the Environment editor and redeploy. This template does not configure mail for you.

Who becomes the site owner, and how do I sign in?

No administrator account is generated. Open the Admin URL from your credentials after deployment, at /ghost/, and complete Create your account. The first signup becomes the site owner, and that account exists only inside Ghost, not in the credentials panel.

Is this a Ghost cloud service like Ghost(Pro)?

It is Ghost on a dedicated Cloud VPS that xCloud provisions, separate from Ghost(Pro). You get the Admin URL, a private database and HTTPS, and you own the content, themes, members and mail setup yourself.

What should I back up for Ghost?

Both ghost_content and ghost_db, taken together. ghost_content holds themes and uploaded images, while ghost_db holds the MySQL database with posts, pages, members and settings. Restoring only one volume does not give you a working site.

Backups in xCloud

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.