Ghost CMS 6.0 released: Exciting New Features – But Self-Hosting Users Miss Out
Today, August 4, 2025, Ghost CMS released its latest version, Ghost 6.0. Only a couple of hours have passed, and we are already live with Ghost 6.0. There is a lengthy change log post dedicated to Ghost 6.0 on Ghost.org.
The following changes are worthy of mention:
a. Native real-time web analytics with Tinybird
It is, of course, well integrated with the official hosted service, Ghost Pro, and works as expected out of the box.
However, things are different for a self-hosting admin. While this sounds good on paper, it's literally half-baked and released in a hurry.
For starters, I don't even qualify to use it.
According to Ghost's documentation, in order to use this new feature, your site must be running Ghost 6.0 using the Docker Preview installation method and have an active Tinybird account configured. I am using the Ghost CLI method with the recommended stack for production.
There are things that self-hosting admins must do, but the instructions are not very clear. The amount of work required of a self-hosting admin is so great that you might opt for other options, such as Matomo, which you can deploy in production right now.
b. Federated Ghost sites over ActivityPub (social web), but with a catch!
Ghost CMS has a Growth Network feature, even for self-hosting users. However, there is a catch.
Currently, the recommended Ghost-CLI installation option only supports social web features via the Ghost(Pro) hosted ActivityPub service. To fully self-host the ActivityPub service, try the new Docker Compose installation method, which is currently in preview.
You can sign up at activitypub.ghost.org to gain access to the service. Nixsanctuary hasn't signed up yet. I'm not sure if it's required. Again, the admin UI makes no mention of it.
Now, you can grow your audience by sharing your posts on social media. More people can find you, follow you, and interact with your content on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Flipboard, WordPress, and other platforms.
You also have a social web reader in the admin section that allows you to interact with other platforms. I really like that it's built on an open protocol called ActivityPub.
Unfortunately, I could not try it much because it kept crashing.
[2025-08-04 16:05:05] INFO "GET /.ghost/activitypub/v1/notifications/unread/count/" 404 2ms
[2025-08-04 16:05:05] INFO "GET /.ghost/activitypub/v1/feed/reader/" 404 9ms
[2025-08-04 16:05:05] INFO "GET /.ghost/activitypub/users/index/" 404 2ms
[2025-08-04 16:05:05] INFO "GET /.ghost/activitypub/v1/account/me/follows/following/" 404 3ms
[2025-08-04 16:05:05] INFO "GET /.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/accounts/" 404 1ms
[2025-08-04 16:05:05] INFO "GET /.ghost/activitypub/v1/blocks/domains/" 404 1msOutput from ghost log command
c. Node.js v20 and Node.js v18 are no longer supported
This is a welcoming and expected change for security and other improvements.
Node.js v20 has already entered the maintenance LTS release cycle, and v18 is no longer supported. Node.js v18 has already reached EoL on March 27, 2025. According to the Node.js project, production applications should only use active LTS or maintenance LTS releases.
d. Docker Preview and updated Stack
Ghost is moving to a new official Docker Compose env, and the officially recommended production stack is now Ubuntu 24, Node 22, and MySQL8.
The new Docker installation method is ideal for both developers and self-hosting admins. As mentioned above, the newly highlighted feature in Ghost 6.0 is currently only available to fully self-hosted users with the Docker Preview.
e. gscan is updated for Ghost 6.0
gscan is a wonderful online utility created by the Ghost Team that scans your theme for errors, deprecations, and other compatibility issues with a specific Ghost version. You can use it to check if your current custom themes are compatible with Ghost 6.0.
Ghost 5.x to Ghost 6.0 - Excellent Upgrade Experience
Ghost-CLI made it easy. Not only did it fetch and download the Ghost 6.0.0 packages, but it also checked theme compatibility for me.
It also prompted me to make sure that I had a backup, just in case. Of course, the Ghost backup was already fixed in the previous version.
After confirming that everything was in order, I performed a major version update, which updated my Ghost instance in production to Ghost 6.0 in a couple of seconds.
Nothing major for Self-hosting Ghost instances in production
In conclusion, as a fully-self hosting admin, I haven't found any of the new, cool features useful yet. However, it is a good showcase of what you can expect in the future or with their hosted Ghost Pro service.
Self-hosting admins can wait. They can let the dust settle before migrating to Ghost 6.0.
I am interested in open protocol-based communication using ActivityPub.
I was hoping for some new themes. I know it's too much to ask from an open-source project like Ghost CMS without pledging anything in return.
It is too early to tell, but I am sure that the exciting new features released with Ghost 6.0 will also be made available for Ghost-CLI installations in upcoming releases. As it is currently the recommended method for production.
