How to Choose a Ghost Blog Theme

Your Theme Is Your Brand

Every Ghost publication starts with a theme choice. This decision shapes how readers experience your content — first impressions, reading comfort, navigation, and whether someone stays to subscribe or bounces after 3 seconds.

Ghost’s theme ecosystem includes 19+ free official themes and dozens of premium options from independent developers. This guide helps you evaluate what matters for your specific publishing goals.

What to Evaluate in a Ghost Theme

1. Post Layouts

How your articles are presented is the most visible design decision. Free themes typically offer one post layout. Premium themes offer 3-9 options:

• Default: Standard header image above title
• Text-first: Title and excerpt before any images (good for long-form writing)
• Full-width image: Edge-to-edge featured image (good for photography)
• Split layout: Image on one side, text on the other
• No image: Clean text-only presentation
• Background image: Title overlaid on the featured image

Different content types deserve different presentation. A photo essay benefits from full-width images. A technical analysis benefits from text-first layout. A theme with only one layout forces every article into the same mold.

2. Homepage Design

Your homepage is the highest-traffic page. Evaluate:

• Hero section: Does the theme highlight your best content above the fold?
• Featured posts: Can you pin important articles to the top?
• Post grid/list: How are posts displayed? Grid view? List view? Magazine layout?
• Newsletter signup: Is there a prominent signup form on the homepage?
• Navigation: Clear menu structure? Dropdown support? Tag-based navigation?

3. Dark Mode

In 2026, dark mode is a reader expectation. Evaluate whether the theme includes:

• Light and dark color schemes
• System preference detection (auto-switches based on OS setting)
• Manual toggle for reader control
• Consistent dark mode across all page types (homepage, posts, membership pages)

Free themes rarely include dark mode. Premium themes typically include it as a standard feature.

4. Membership Pages

If you monetize with Ghost memberships, your theme needs custom membership pages:

• Sign-up page: Branded page showing your membership tiers and pricing
• Sign-in page: Clean login page matching your site design
• Account page: Where members manage their subscription, newsletter preferences, and payment

Ghost’s default Portal modal works as a fallback, but custom membership pages convert better because they match your brand and provide space to explain the value of each tier.

5. Performance

Page speed directly affects reader experience and SEO rankings. Check:

• PageSpeed Insights score: Run the theme demo through Google PageSpeed Insights
• Core Web Vitals: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
• Image optimization: Does the theme use lazy loading and modern formats?
• Code weight: Minimal JavaScript and CSS for fast load times

Some premium themes target PageSpeed 100 across all categories. Heavy themes with excessive JavaScript can hurt rankings.

6. Internationalization

If your audience reads languages other than English:

• Translation files: Does the theme include .json locale files?
• RTL support: Right-to-left layout for Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian
• Language coverage: How many languages are pre-translated?

This matters more than most publishers realize. A theme without i18n requires manual translation in Handlebars template files — time-consuming and error-prone.

7. Search

Ghost does not include built-in search. Your theme either adds custom search or your readers cannot search your archive.

For publications with dozens or hundreds of posts, search is essential. Some premium themes include custom search that indexes your content and provides instant results. Free themes almost never include this.

8. Support and Updates

Consider the long-term:

• Update frequency: Is the theme actively maintained?
• Ghost version compatibility: Does it support the latest Ghost release?
• Support channel: Email support? GitHub issues? Forum only?
• Documentation: Setup guide? Configuration instructions?

Free themes have community-only support. Premium themes include dedicated developer support (typically 6-12 months).

Theme Categories

For Newsletter Publications

Newsletter-focused themes prioritize signup forms, clean reading experiences, and email consistency.

Key features: prominent signup CTAs, minimal distractions, reading-focused post layouts, consistent design between web and email.

Good choices: Dawn (free), Rune ($89), Flow ($89).

For Magazine-Style Publications

Magazine themes handle high content volume with organized navigation and category-based browsing.

Key features: multiple post layouts, tag/category navigation, featured post sections, sidebar options, grid layouts.

Good choices: Source (free), Shiro ($149), Edition (free).

For Membership Publications

Membership themes prioritize conversion pages and tier-based content presentation.

Key features: custom sign-up/sign-in/account pages, pricing table layouts, content preview with paywall cards, tier badges.

Good choices: Luno ($89), Shiro ($149).

For Personal Blogs

Personal blog themes are minimal, focusing on typography and the writing itself.

Key features: clean typography, author bio sections, minimal navigation, reading-focused design.

Good choices: Solo (free), Nio ($69), Homa ($69).

The Ghost(Pro) Theme Restriction

An important caveat: Ghost(Pro) Starter ($15/month) limits you to official free themes. Custom and premium themes require the Publisher plan ($29/month) or higher.

If you plan to use a premium theme, factor the Publisher plan cost into your decision. The $14/month upgrade from Starter also unlocks paid memberships, custom sending domains, and advanced analytics — so the theme restriction is not the only reason to upgrade.

How to Install a Ghost Theme

1. Purchase or download the theme (delivered as a .zip file)
2. In Ghost Admin, go to Settings → Design → Change theme
3. Click Upload a theme and select the .zip file
4. Ghost validates the theme using GScan (catches compatibility issues)
5. Click Activate to make it live
6. Configure theme settings in Settings → Design → Customize

Most premium themes include detailed setup documentation covering configuration options, content organization, and customization.

Our Recommendation

Start with your publishing goals, not aesthetic preferences:

1. What is your primary content type? (Newsletter, magazine, blog, membership publication)
2. Do you need paid memberships? (If yes, prioritize custom membership pages)
3. Is your audience international? (If yes, prioritize i18n and RTL support)
4. What is your budget? (Free themes work for starting; $69-149 covers premium needs)

Then evaluate 2-3 themes against the checklist above. Use the live demo to test navigation, post layouts, and membership flows before purchasing.

Themes Built for Ghost Publishers

Our themes are designed around the checklist in this guide: multiple post layouts, dark mode, membership pages, i18n, and performance.

Shiro includes 7 color schemes, 9 post layouts, custom search, and comments — the most comprehensive theme in our collection.

See Shiro live demo →

Every Luxe Themes theme starts at $69 and includes dark mode, membership support, and 46 language translations.

Browse Ghost themes →

For the full ecosystem overview, see our best Ghost themes roundup.