Ghost exports a single JSON document, stores content as structured data rather than HTML, and sends its own newsletters. None of those three assumptions holds in WordPress.
The posts are the straightforward part. The audience and the billing behind it are what need planning.
Ghost produces one JSON document containing posts, tags and authors. Nothing imports it directly, so it is translated rather than uploaded.
Ghost stores content as structured data rather than HTML. A naive conversion flattens cards and embeds into plain paragraphs, which is only obvious once it is published.
Members are the part that cannot simply be re-imported. The subscription relationship has to be carried deliberately, and that is planned before anything moves.
Ghost URLs carry no date or category segment, so matching them means choosing a WordPress permalink structure that behaves the same way.
Ghost sends email itself; WordPress does not. A publication that emailed every post needs that capability chosen and tested before launch.
Posts can be re-imported if something goes wrong. A broken billing relationship with paying members cannot, which is why that part is planned first.
A paid publication serves most of its value to signed-in readers, and no page cache helps there. What decides it is the object cache and the database.
Ghost is a narrower product than WordPress, so several things it did for you become explicit choices here.
| Setting | What we do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Export format | Ghost JSON translated into posts, tags and authors | Ghost produces a single JSON document rather than WordPress XML, so no standard importer will take it without translation. |
| Content format | Structured content converted to blocks rather than pasted as HTML | Ghost stores structured data, and a naive conversion silently flattens cards and embeds into plain paragraphs. |
| Members and subscriptions | Migrated to a membership plugin with the billing relationship planned first | Paid members are the one part of a Ghost site that cannot be re-imported if it goes wrong, because the money is attached to it. |
| URL structure | Flat /slug/ addresses preserved by permalink choice | Ghost URLs carry no date or category segment, so keeping them means picking a WordPress structure that does the same rather than redirecting everything. |
| Newsletter sending | Replaced explicitly and tested before launch | Ghost sends email as part of the product; WordPress does not, so a publication that emailed its posts loses that capability unless it is rebuilt. |
Every plan includes free migration, daily backups, SSL and 24/7 support.
Free migration, structured content converted properly, and billing planned before anything switches.