27 Best Ghost Themes 2026
Whether you want to start with Ghost or switch to it, these free Ghost themes will greatly assist you. There is something for everyone, regardless of your meticulous taste.
Ghost is a Node. js-supported open-source blogging platform for those who aren’t attracted to the bloatedness of WordPress. The slogan of Ghost is to help others choose a less clutter-filled blogging platform for simple content publishing needs. A determined favorite amongst the web developer and software engineer communities.
Anyone running a WordPress, Tumblr, or Blogger blog can easily migrate their existing blogs to Ghost. You can find documentation for these migrations on the Ghost Documentation page; however, the process is seamless, allowing anyone to execute it comfortably.
There are over 100,000 websites built with Ghost. Making it a popular alternative to WordPress.
We understand this. And because we do, we wanted to give back to the community and help those trying to transfer to Ghost and existing Ghost bloggers looking to change their blog style. However, moving from your favorite content platform to a new one may mean giving up a few things. Maybe it’s widgets, but more than likely, it will be your blog theme.
We gathered the most comprehensive collection of the best free Ghost themes available. These themes range from minimal to multi-purpose and can host news and other trending content.
Premium Ghost Themes
We just wrapped up our list of the best free Ghost themes, but letting go won’t be easy. Not before we look deeper at what the premium Ghost themes market has to offer. We will count down several of the most prestigious and sought-after premium Ghost themes. These extend beyond the functionality that open-source Ghost themes have brought. Perhaps not always, but the majority of the time. The following themes pack some unique features and additions you won’t find anywhere else online.
Table of contents — all 27 templates
1. Basho
Premium · Best for: tech publications and mixed feeds
Basho gives the homepage three header layouts and a post slider, so a publication can lead with a feature instead of a reverse-chronological list. Hero text scales to the length of the title, and content cards arrange the rest of the feed. Font pairings, colours and layouts are set from theme options rather than in code, and its author, fueko, keeps it current with Ghost releases.
2. Nurui
PremiumDark Mode · Best for: lifestyle and food publications
Nurui supports Ghost membership tiers and custom member pages, so part of a lifestyle or food archive can sit behind a subscription. Light and dark modes ship with it, along with author pages, contact forms, social sharing and several post formats. The styling stays minimal, which suits recipe photography and long personal posts alike.
3. Reiro
PremiumDark Mode · Best for: writers running paid subscriptions
Reiro adds a sepia reading mode next to light and dark, which counts when readers sit with long essays. Membership and subscription features are built in for paid tiers, and hero sections, font pairings and widgets are all configurable. Audio, video and gallery embeds are handled inside the post body.
Key Reiro Theme Features:
- Light, sepia and dark display modes
- Membership and subscription support
- Configurable hero sections and widgets
- Font pairing options
- Audio, video and gallery embeds
- Responsive layout tuned for load speed
4. Renge
PremiumDark Mode · Best for: creative agency and freelance sites
Renge is portfolio-shaped: designers and illustrators get a work showcase rather than a post feed. Three styles — light, dark and vivid — plus accent colours and per-post backgrounds control the look. Ghost membership tiers and responsive images are supported, and the theme ships with English and Polish translations.
5. Genki
PremiumDark Mode · Best for: magazine-style publications
Genki is built as a magazine: featured content sections and several post header layouts let each story arrive differently. Reading-time estimates, social sharing and Disqus comments are included, along with custom contact and error pages. It supports Ghost membership tiers and responsive images, and comes in light, sepia and dark schemes.
6. Paperleaf
Premium · Best for: masonry-grid business blogs
Paperleaf drops the whole archive onto one masonry grid, so readers scan many posts without paging. That suits a business blog or a list-post site where headlines do the selling. The layout is minimal and responsive, and its graphics and icons are prepared for high-resolution screens.
7. Aspire
Premium · Best for: news sites publishing daily
Aspire is built for a newsroom cadence: every post carries a sidebar, tags, an author bio, next and previous navigation, comments and recommended reading. Ghost tags and author pages do real work here, which matters when several writers file each day. Twitter and Instagram feeds surface your latest shares, and the markup is prepared for search engines.
8. BlogInn
Premium · Best for: occasional personal blogs
BlogInn suits a blog that posts now and then rather than daily — the layout gives each entry room instead of packing a feed. A code syntax highlighter makes it workable for developers writing occasional technical notes. The layout reads more like a journal than a publication, which is the point.
Haven’t you decided on the Ghost CMS platform yet? Here are Ghost website examples to see what others have created with it.
Best Free Ghost Themes
9. Attila
Free · Best for: writers and developers
Attila puts a reading-progress bar at the top of every post and a parallax cover image behind the header. Author details, sharing buttons and optional Disqus comments close each article, and code blocks are highlighted automatically. The layout borrows from Medium, which makes it a plain home for long writing.
10. Vapor
Free · Best for: typography-led personal blogs
Vapor is a typography exercise: the layout positions almost nothing, leaving type size and spacing to carry the page. Cover images sit at the top of posts, and Google Fonts can be swapped in for the body text. Sharing buttons, author details and Disqus comments finish each article.
11. Saga
Free · Best for: photo-led posts and visual journals
Saga treats posts as pictures first: the homepage is a Pinterest-style grid and each post opens on a full-width image. It is the pick for photographers who describe recent work in a caption rather than an essay. Author details and sharing buttons are not there by default and need a small style change to add.
12. Crisp
Free · Best for: author sites with a fixed sidebar
Crisp keeps a left sidebar alongside the writing, carrying your mission statement, a social widget and menu links. The rest is a white page built for text, which suits programming write-ups and portfolio-style author sites. Responsive sharing buttons and Disqus comments are already wired in.
13. ABC Theme
Free · Best for: developers customising the markup
ABC is a developer’s theme: it builds on the Foundation framework with SASS styling and Highlight.js for code. Because Foundation components can be used inside post content, layouts reach past what a standard Ghost theme allows. It assumes you are comfortable compiling styles yourself.
14. Ghostium
Free · Best for: a Medium-style reading experience
Ghostium copies Medium’s reading patterns and loads content asynchronously, so moving between posts never reloads the page. Prism handles code highlighting, and Twitter Cards plus Open Graph tags are built in, so shared links preview properly. Font choices and text alignment are the whole design argument here.
15. Dawn
Free · Best for: newsletter-style personal blogs
Dawn is one of Ghost’s own themes, and its subscription options put the signup prompt where readers finish a post. A load-more button keeps the homepage on one page and a pop-up search bar covers the archive. The default view is minimal, with styling options if you want to push it further.
16. Edge
Free · Best for: minimal creative portfolios
Edge is a portfolio theme from the Ghost team, with a dedicated project page rather than a blog feed. Freelancers, photographers and other creatives get a plain project layout, a handy navbar, social buttons and little else competing with the work. It is among the most minimal themes in this collection.
17. Wave
Free · Best for: podcasts and audio publishing
Wave is aimed at podcasters as much as bloggers, so episodes sit alongside written posts. The design is plain enough to run unchanged, which is usually what a show page needs. If you would rather host the show on WordPress, compare these podcasting WordPress themes first.
18. Mnml
Free · Best for: text-heavy blogs on slow connections
Mnml resizes thumbnails per device and loads scripts, styles and comments asynchronously, so the text is readable before the extras arrive. A responsive typographic scale and a controlled line length do the rest of the work. Post thumbnails appear on the homepage, which most minimal Ghost themes leave out.
19. Ghostwriter
Free · Best for: startup announcement blogs
Ghostwriter can pin one featured post to the homepage and push everything else into the archive — useful when a launch note should stay on top. Page transitions run through AJAX, so browsing between posts stays smooth, and SASS sources are included for restyling. Typography is tuned for reading on phones as well as desktops.
20. Massively
Free · Best for: single-story visual features
Massively builds the homepage around one full-screen image, with parallax and scrolling effects carrying the reader down it. That fits a journalist or blogger publishing a few long features rather than a daily feed. Predefined elements, social icons and a scroll-down cue are included, and the default look can be restyled.
21. Editorial
Free · Best for: news sites with sticky navigation
Editorial keeps a sticky sidebar menu in view, so section links stay reachable through a long news scroll. The layout is aimed at news publishing and holds up on phones and high-resolution screens. It is open source, so the design can be taken as far as you want to modify it.
22. London
Free · Best for: image-led publications
London is the one to pick when photographs carry the story and the writing supports them. Images run large, with an about page, social buttons and a set of ready components around them. It looks like a designer’s portfolio at first glance, but posts remain the structure underneath.
23. The Shell
FreeDark Mode · Best for: developer notes and code posts
The Shell reads like a terminal: dark, typographically distinctive and built around code highlighting. It is pure CSS, so restyling means editing one stylesheet rather than untangling a build. Google Analytics and Disqus comments are supported out of the box.
24. Odin
Free · Best for: developer blogs with code snippets
Odin is a fork of Casper, Ghost’s default theme, extended for developers who post code snippets. Because the base is familiar, anyone who has edited Casper can find their way around it immediately. Responsive social sharing buttons are included, along with support for the libraries a community site tends to need.
25. Coder
Free · Best for: single-author developer blogs
Coder keeps a left sidebar for your logo and bio, leaving the right side as a plain white column for posts. Each post takes a single thumbnail, and syntax highlighting is tuned for the light background. It suits one author writing short technical entries rather than a multi-writer publication.
26. Uno Zen
Free · Best for: portfolio landing with a post drawer
Uno Zen opens as a full-screen card — background image, portrait, social icons — and slides the post list in from the right when you ask for it. Articles are listed by title and publication date rather than excerpts, which keeps the front page working as a profile. Developers sharing occasional insights next to a portfolio are the fit.
27. Mapache
Free · Best for: material design news blogs
Mapache brings Material Design to Ghost, with a layout close to the one TechCrunch used. It holds up on phones and carries the features a regularly updated blog needs. Pick it if the flat, layered Material look is what you are after rather than another minimal grid.
FAQ: Free Ghost Themes
1. What is Ghost?
Ghost is a professional publishing platform that focuses on simplicity and clarity. It’s designed as an alternative to other blogging platforms, providing both writers and publishers with a more streamlined and experience.
2. How is Ghost different from other blogging platforms?
Ghost is unique due to its minimalist design, focus on publishing (as opposed to general website management), and its dedication to performance. Unlike some platforms that cater to many website types, Ghost concentrates specifically on bloggers and publishers.
3. Is Ghost open-source?
Yes, Ghost is open-source, meaning its source code is freely available. This encourages community involvement and allows developers worldwide to customize and improve it.
4. Where can I host my Ghost blog?
Ghost(Pro): The official hosted platform that the Ghost team provides. You don’t have to worry about setup or maintenance when you choose this.
Self-hosting: You can also download Ghost and host it on your own server or select a web hosting provider.
Here you can find more information on the best Ghost hosting providers.
5. How do I install a Ghost theme?
Follow these steps to install a Ghost theme:
– Download your chosen Ghost theme (ensure it’s in a .zip format).
– Log in to your Ghost admin dashboard.
– Navigate to the “Design” section.
– Scroll down to the “Upload a Theme” button and click on it.
– Choose your downloaded .zip theme file and upload it.
– Once uploaded, the theme will appear in the installed themes list. Click “Activate” to apply the theme to your blog.
6. Are free Ghost themes as good as paid ones?
Free Ghost themes often provide a clean and functional design. However, paid themes might include additional features, premium support, or unique designs. Evaluating a theme based on your requirements, whether it’s free or paid, is essential.
7. Can I customize a Ghost theme?
You can customize your Ghost theme if you know HTML, CSS, and Handlebars (Ghost’s templating engine). Some themes also offer built-in customization options, which can be adjusted from the Ghost admin dashboard.
8. How often should I update my Ghost theme?
It’s a good practice to update your Ghost theme whenever the theme developer releases a new version, especially if it contains security patches, bug fixes, or compatibility updates for the latest Ghost version.
9. Can I switch my theme later on?
Absolutely! You can easily switch between Ghost themes. However, always backup your content and settings before making significant changes to avoid potential data loss.
10. Where can I get support for my Ghost theme?
Support for free themes might come from community forums or the theme’s documentation. For premium themes, the theme developer usually offers dedicated support.
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You should remove “Beverly” from the list. It looks beautiful in the demo, so I paid $24 for it, only to discover it only works with Node .10… that’s SIX versions of Node ago… and it appears to be abandoned. No response from “support.” Had a nightmarish time trying to set up a server with old versions of Node, NPM, and Ghost, and even then it never looked like the demo.
Since then, I have tested nearly all of your recommendations, and the rest of them appear to be robust and work well with the latest versions of Node and Ghost. I especially like “Saga” and “Crisp.” Another free one I highly recommend is “Chopstick”. I like how it packs so much on a single page, in contrast with the ‘sparse’ look that everyone else seems to prefer.
Thanks for saving me 24 bucks
Nice list, I recently developed a Ghost Theme called Gazette.
If you like it you can include it in the list 🙂
Norbert,
Is it a free or premium theme? There is no mention for that on your website since your website is still under development.
I’m using chopstick master in may Ghost website, and then edited some thing to make it better.
Ghostscoll won’t run anymore, It’s like 6+ more years old, have a look at related github page.
Thank you for pointing that out! We have since removed this theme alongside several others.
Thank you Sir, for this wonderful collection of free Ghost themes for bloggers.