How to Properly Move from Ghost to WordPress (Free Tool)

Moving your website from Ghost to WordPress can be a smart decision if you’re looking for more flexibility and features. While Ghost is a user-friendly platform, its limitations often prompt users to consider WordPress as a better alternative.

The process of migrating from Ghost to WordPress might seem difficult, especially when trying to preserve your content. However, with the right approach, you can successfully transfer most of your data without losing important elements.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps to move from Ghost to WordPress, ensuring a smooth transition while keeping your content intact.

Moving From Ghost to WordPress

We compared Ghost and WordPress side-by-side, testing both platforms thoroughly to see how they compare in terms of ease of use, features, pricing, and more.

We noticed many similarities between Ghost and WordPress. However, we found it to be quite limited in terms of features.

When we say WordPress, we are talking about self-hosted WordPress.org, not WordPress.com, which is a hosting service. To understand the difference, see our guide on the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

Many users who start with Ghost soon realize its limitations and want to move to WordPress. This article will help you do that.

Here is what we will cover in this article:

Step 1: Getting Started with WordPress

To start a WordPress website, you need a domain name and website hosting.

A domain name is the name of your website (like wpbeginner.com), and it’s what users will type in their browsers to visit it. A web hosting account is where all your website files are stored.

While WordPress is free, both the domain name and web hosting are charged ($14.99 / year for the domain and $7.99 / month for web hosting).

Thankfully, Bluehost, an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over 70% off on web hosting.

Once you have signed up for a hosting account, you can follow our instructions on how to install WordPress.

Tip: If your Ghost website uses a custom domain name that you would like to keep for your WordPress website as well, then you can still install WordPress on a temporary subdomain. We will show you how to add your domain to your WordPress hosting account later in this article.

After installing WordPress, you will see the WordPress admin dashboard, which looks like this:

Step 2: Export Content From Ghost

Ghost allows you to export content from your account easily.

Simply log in to your account dashboard and click on the ‘Settings’ icon located at the bottom of the left column.

From here, you need to click on the ‘Labs’ menu. This will bring you to Ghost features that are still under development.

Click on the ‘Export button’ next to the ‘Export your content’ section.

Your browser will now download an export file in JSON format. However, WordPress importer tools do not support this format, so you’ll need to convert it to WordPress XML format.

Step 3: Converting Ghost Export File to WordPress Format

The default Ghost export file does not use a format supported by WordPress, and there used to be no reliable way to convert it into the correct format safely.

We decided to fix this issue and created the Ghost to WordPress Importer tool. This tool is free to use and allows you to convert your Ghost JSON export file into a WordPress-compatible XML file.

Simply go to the Ghost to WordPress migration tool website and fill in the form. Next, you need to select the Ghost export file you downloaded earlier.

Click on the ‘Generate WP Import File’ button to continue.

The Ghost to WordPress migrator tool will then convert your Ghost export file into WordPress XML format. Once it is finished, you can download the file to your computer.

Now, you are ready to start importing content to your WordPress website.

Step 4: Import Content in WordPress

From your WordPress admin area, you need to visit the Tools » Import page and click on the ‘Install Now’ link below the WordPress importer.

WordPress will now install the importer plugin. Once finished, the install link will change to say ‘Run Importer.’ Go ahead and click on the ‘Run Importer’ link.

On the next screen, you need to click on the ‘Upload file’ button to select the WordPress XML file you downloaded in the previous step.

Click on the ‘Upload file and import’ button to continue.

WordPress will now upload the import file. After that, you will be asked to assign authors.

You can import an author from your Ghost website, create a new author, or assign all content to an existing WordPress user.

Remember to check the box next to ‘Download and import file attachments.’ This will attempt to fetch images from your Ghost website and import them into the WordPress media library so you can use them later.

Once the importer has finished running, you will see a success message.

In rare cases, you might see an issue, like some posts are missing or the importer timed out.

Don’t worry. You can run the importer as many times as you like. It will automatically avoid duplicate imports and only import items that it missed.

Depending on the amount of content you have, the importer may fail to import images inside posts and pages to your WordPress media library.

Let’s see how to easily fix this and import images from Ghost to WordPress.

Step 5: Import Images From Ghost to WordPress

The WordPress importer will try to import images from your Ghost website to your WordPress media library.

However, it may miss some images or not import any images at all.

Your website would still show images from your Ghost website, which would become an issue if your Ghost website is deleted.

Luckily, there is an easy way to import external images into the WordPress media library using a plugin.

Simply install and activate the Auto Upload Images plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you simply need to edit and update your blog posts. The plugin will then import any external images in those articles to your media library.

You can also bulk update all your blog posts to quickly import images from your Ghost site.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to easily import external images in WordPress.

Step 6: Pointing Your Domain to WordPress

Once you have successfully migrated content from Ghost to WordPress, it is time to start pointing your users to the new WordPress website.

If your website was using a Ghost branded sub-domain (like yourwebsite.ghost.io), then you cannot point that link to your new WordPress website.

Instead, we recommend editing your Ghost website and adding a plain text notification informing users to check out your website at the new location.

On the other hand, if you were using a custom domain like yourdomain.com, you can change its DNS settings and point it to your new WordPress hosting provider.

To change domain settings, log in to your domain registrar account and find the option to change the DNS settings.

In the DNS settings area, you need to enter your new WordPress hosting provider’s nameserver information. Usually, it looks something like this:

ns1.bluehost.com
ns2.bluehost.com

For other domain registrars, see our complete guide on how to easily change DNS nameservers.

Once you change the DNS name server, your domain will show your WordPress website instead of your older Ghost website. Note that the changes can take a couple of days to take effect.

Step 7: Setting Up Permalinks

The next step is to redirect users from each page of your Ghost website to the correct post or page in WordPress.

Ghost websites use the post or page name as the default permalink structure by default. You can match them on your WordPress site by simply going to Settings » Permalinks and choosing ‘Post name’ as your URL structure.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your changes.

Step 8: Install Essential WordPress Plugins and Tools

Now that you have transferred from Ghost to WordPress, it’s time to take advantage of WordPress plugins and tools to grow your website:

1. WPForms – WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin. It allows you to easily create any form on your WordPress website without writing any code.

2. All in One SEO – AIOSEO is the most comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It is super easy to use and comes with a setup wizard, SEO audit tool, TruSEO score for posts and pages, and other features to help you get more traffic.

3. PushEngage – Want to send instant notifications to users on mobile and desktop devices? PushEngage is the best push notification service on the market, helping you bring back website visitors, increase pageviews, and boost conversions.

4. MonsterInsights – MonsterInsights helps you easily install Google Analytics in WordPress and shows you easy-to-understand website traffic reports right inside your dashboard.

5. SeedProd – SeedProd is a powerful WordPress page builder that allows you to design beautiful landing pages for your website. It also comes with a theme builder, which lets you create a complete WordPress theme without writing any code.

Need more tools and tips to grow your new WordPress website? See our full list of essential WordPress plugins for all types of websites.

We hope this article helped you properly migrate from Ghost to WordPress. You may also want to see our checklist of things to do after installing WordPress or see our ultimate WordPress review to learn more about its pros and cons.

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