The best CMS for a magazine depends on who builds and runs it. Ghost offers a managed service or self-hosting under the MIT licence, Craft CMS and Statamic are commercial-licence PHP systems for custom builds. Compare licence, price, draft handling and editorial roles first, and trial each before committing.
Magazines differ from daily news sites in the way they publish. Issues, long features, columns and a strong visual identity put pressure on content modelling and page layout more than on speed of posting. The CMS has to let designers shape pages and let editors review work before it goes out.
This guide gives a method for shortlisting, then three systems with different approaches. It rests on vendor documentation. We have not installed any of them, so nothing here is a test result. For the daily-news angle, see choosing a CMS for a news website and the self-hosted shortlist.
How should you shortlist a magazine CMS?
Work through these questions in order:
- Who builds the site? A custom design needs a developer, whichever system you pick.
- How many people edit? Edition limits on users and roles can decide the price.
- How do drafts and review work? Check whether editors can change a published piece without it going live.
- Who hosts it? Decide between a managed service and a server your team patches.
Our features checklist turns these into a list, and how to trial a CMS covers testing before you commit.
Comparing Ghost with Craft CMS and Statamic
| Ghost | Craft CMS | Statamic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | MIT | Commercial | Commercial |
| Entry price | Not covered here | Solo free; Team $279 per project; Pro $399 per project | Core free; Pro US$349 per site |
| Updates | Not covered here | $99 a year after the first year on Team and Pro | US$99 a year after the first year on Pro |
| Stack | Node.js 22 LTS, MySQL 8.0 or 8.4, NGINX | PHP 8.2+, Composer, MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL | PHP 8.3+, Composer, Laravel package |
| Managed option from the maker | Ghost(Pro) | Not covered here | Not covered here |
| Users | Five fixed staff roles | 1 user on Solo, 5 on Team, unlimited on Pro | One super admin on Core; more users on Pro |
| Drafts and revisions | Contributors cannot publish | Drafts and read-only revisions | Revisions on Pro, with a working copy |
“Not covered here” means we did not read a source for it today, not that the feature is absent. For fuller detail see the profiles for Ghost, Craft CMS and Statamic.
When does Ghost fit a magazine?
Ghost’s repository states the MIT licence and recommends its CLI for running your own instance. It also presents Ghost(Pro) as the official managed service, so you can price self-hosting against a subscription. The documented production stack is Ubuntu LTS, Node.js 22 LTS, MySQL 8.0 or 8.4 and NGINX, with at least 1GB of memory.
Its five roles are Contributor, Author, Editor, Administrator and Owner. A Contributor can draft but not publish, which gives a basic approval step. From what we read, the roles are fixed, so a magazine needing several review stages would have to work around that. See WordPress vs Ghost and Ghost vs Craft.
When does Craft CMS fit a magazine?
Craft is a commercial-licence PHP system. The pricing page lists a free Solo edition, Team at $279 per project and Pro at $399 per project, with $99 a year for updates after the first year. Solo has one user account and Team has five, so a larger masthead points to Pro.
Craft’s documentation describes drafts as changes that are not meant to go live yet, and revisions as read-only prior states. That suits editors who rework a feature over several days. The cost is developer time: Craft 5 needs PHP 8.2 or later and Composer. See Craft vs Statamic.
When does Statamic fit a magazine?
Statamic is a Laravel package and needs PHP 8.3 or above. Core is free with a single super admin account. Pro costs US$349 per site, includes a year of updates, and then costs US$99 a year for updates.
Statamic’s documentation says Revisions is a Pro feature. Edits to a published entry go to a working copy until someone publishes them, so a live article is not changed by accident. A magazine with more than one editor will need Pro.
Which should you choose?
- You want a managed service or a small, documented stack: Ghost.
- You have PHP developers and want shaped, design-led pages: Craft CMS.
- Your developers already work in Laravel: Statamic.
- Your editors need several review stages: check the approval options in Drupal and Wagtail before settling.
- Nobody can maintain a server: compare managed plans in the cost guide.
Whatever you choose, budget for design and development as well as the licence. The licence guide explains what each licence type permits.
Questions people ask
What is the best CMS for a magazine website?
There is no single best choice. It depends on whether you have developers, whether you want to self-host, and how much approval your editors need. This guide compares Ghost, Craft CMS and Statamic using vendor documentation only.
Which magazine CMS has the simplest editorial roles?
Ghost documents five staff roles, from Contributor to Owner. Craft limits Solo to one user account and Team to five, and Statamic's pricing page lists unlimited user accounts and roles only on Pro. Check the user limits of the edition you can afford.
Do I need a developer to run a magazine CMS?
For Craft and Statamic, in practice yes, because both are PHP systems that list Composer as a requirement. Ghost can be bought as the managed Ghost(Pro) service, which the repository says covers hosting, backups and maintenance.
Are Craft CMS and Statamic free?
Both have a free entry edition, Craft Solo and Statamic Core, limited to a single admin user. Multi-user editing, and for Statamic revisions, sit in paid editions, so a magazine with several editors will need one.
Can I move a magazine from one CMS to another later?
Yes, but plan for redirects and content mapping. The [migration guide](/guides/migrate-news-site-between-cms/) covers moving a publication without losing search traffic.
Sources
- The Ghost repository states that Ghost is released under the MIT licence, recommends the Ghost CLI for running your own instance, and presents Ghost(Pro) as the official managed service. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Ghost's hosting documentation lists the supported production stack as Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 or 26.04 LTS, Node.js 22 LTS, MySQL 8.0 or 8.4, NGINX and a server with at least 1GB of memory. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Ghost has five staff roles: Contributor (can draft posts but not publish), Author (can write and release new posts and create tags), Editor (can manage author and contributor accounts), Administrator (full permissions to edit all data and settings) and Owner (a protected admin account with access to billing details). — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Craft CMS's pricing page lists Solo as free, Team at $279 per project and Pro at $399 per project, with $99 a year for updates after the first year on Team and Pro, and Enterprise without a listed price. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Craft's pricing page lists one user account on Solo, five on Team and unlimited on Pro; Team includes one user group and Pro adds unlimited user groups. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Craft's documentation describes drafts as holding changes that are not meant to go live yet, and revisions as read-only prior states that make edits auditable and recoverable. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Craft 5 requires PHP 8.2 or later, Composer 2.0 or later, and MySQL 8.0.17+, MariaDB 10.4.6+ or PostgreSQL 13+. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Statamic's pricing page lists Core as free with one super admin account, Pro at US$349 per site including one year of updates and US$99 a year for updates after that, and Enterprise without a listed price. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Statamic's documentation says Revisions is a Pro feature, with entry states of unpublished, published, working copy and revision, and that edits to a published entry go to a working copy until published. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Statamic's requirements page lists PHP 8.3 or above and Composer, and describes Statamic as a Laravel package. — source, checked 26 October 2026.