Render raises $100M at a $1.5B valuation
Read the announcementWhy deploy Ghost CMS on Render?
Ghost is an open-source headless CMS built for professional publishing. It solves the problem of creating and managing content-driven websites, newsletters, and membership-based publications without the bloat of traditional CMS platforms.
This template deploys Ghost with MySQL already connected and configured, including the persistent disk storage Ghost needs for uploads and media content. You skip the manual work of setting up MySQL 8 (Ghost's only supported production database since 5.0), configuring database connection strings, and mounting persistent storage correctly. One click gets you a production-ready Ghost blog with Render Disks handling your content storage, instead of debugging Docker volume mounts and database compatibility issues yourself.
Architecture
What you can build
After deploying, you'll have a fully functional Ghost blog or publication running with MySQL for data storage and persistent SSD storage for your uploads and content. You can immediately start creating posts, inviting team members, and managing subscribers through Ghost's admin interface. Your content and media files will persist across deployments and restarts.
Key features
- Official Docker Image: Uses the official Ghost Docker image from Docker Hub for reliable, maintained container builds.
- Persistent SSD Storage: Leverages Render Disks to provide permanent SSD storage for uploaded files and content that survives deployments.
- MySQL 8 Database: Configured to use MySQL 8 as the production database backend, which is required for Ghost 5.0+.
- Render Platform Ready: Pre-configured template for one-click deployment on Render's hosting infrastructure.
Use cases
- Indie blogger deploys self-hosted publication without managing server infrastructure
- Startup founder launches company blog with persistent storage for media uploads
- Newsletter creator migrates from hosted Ghost to cost-effective Render deployment
- Developer sets up MySQL-backed Ghost instance for client's membership site
What's included
Service | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
ghost | Web Service | Application service |
mysql | Private Service | Application service |
Next steps
- Open your Ghost service URL and navigate to /ghost — You should see the Ghost admin setup screen prompting you to create your site title and admin account
- Create your admin account and publish a test post with an image — The post should appear on your blog's homepage and the uploaded image should display correctly, confirming Render Disk storage is working
- Configure your site settings under Settings > General and set your site timezone and language — Changes should save successfully and persist after refreshing the page, confirming MySQL database connectivity