Ghost on Render
Render publishes its own guide for deploying Ghost.
Open-source publishing platform running as a long-lived Node process, requiring MySQL in production and a writable content directory for uploads and themes.
What Ghost needs.
Every host claims to run Ghost, so the claim on its own decides nothing. These are the things Ghost actually requires from the platform underneath it, and what Render publishes about each. Render documents 5 of the 6.
Persistent storage
Supported
Ghost writes uploaded images and installed themes into its content directory at runtime. On an ephemeral filesystem those disappear at the next deploy, and the posts referencing them break.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Persistent Disks – Render Docs ↗
“You can attach a persistent disk to a paid Render web service, private service, or background worker. This enables you to preserve local filesystem changes across deploys and restarts.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Managed databases
Supported
Ghost 5 supports only MySQL 8 for production. SQLite works for development, so a guide that sets one up is not showing you a production install.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Render Postgres ↗
“Deploy fully managed, enterprise-grade databases that scale to any workload.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Persistent processes
Supported
Ghost is one long-running Node process that serves requests and fires scheduled publishing. It is not a set of functions and cannot be deployed as one.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Background Workers – Render Docs ↗
“Background workers are services that run continuously (like a web service or a private service), but they don't receive any incoming network traffic.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Storage (entry plan)
No persistent disk is included on any instance type, including the entry `0.5c-512mb` plan; services run on an ephemeral filesystem unless a persistent disk is attached separately
A publication's image library grows steadily and is almost never pruned, so disk is the cap a busy Ghost site reaches before any other.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Persistent Disks – Render Docs ↗
“By default, Render services have an ephemeral filesystem.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Scheduled jobs
Supported
Ghost publishes posts at a future time and sends newsletters on a schedule, both fired by timers inside the running process. A host that sleeps the process or offers no scheduler will publish late or not at all.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Cron Jobs – Render Docs ↗
“You can create cron jobs on Render that run periodically on a schedule you define.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Backup retention
Not documented
A Ghost install is a MySQL database plus a content directory, and losing either loses the publication. How far back the host's own backups reach is the difference between an incident and an outage.
What Render documents.
Render publishes its own guide for deploying Ghost.
This guide shows how to deploy a Ghost instance on Render in just a few minutes. This version uses a SQLite database stored on a Render SSD Disk so your data is saved across deploys and automatically backed up with daily snapshots. [...] As of Ghost 5, MySQL 8 is the only supported database for production deploys of Ghost. SQLite is only supported by Ghost 5 in a development environment.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Deploy Ghost — Render Docs ↗
“This guide shows how to deploy a Ghost instance on Render in just a few minutes. This version uses a SQLite database stored on a Render SSD Disk so your data is saved across deploys and automatically backed up with daily snapshots. [...] As of Ghost 5, MySQL 8 is the only supported database for production deploys of Ghost. SQLite is only supported by Ghost 5 in a development environment.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Ghost features on Render
Capabilities Render documents specifically for Ghost, with the constraint it documents alongside each.
mysql_database
Limited
This version uses a SQLite database stored on a Render SSD Disk so your data is saved across deploys and automatically backed up with daily snapshots. As of Ghost 5, MySQL 8 is the only supported database for production deploys of Ghost. SQLite is only supported by Ghost 5 in a development environment. [...] In your Render Dashboard, navigate to the Environment tab for your newly created MySQL Private Service.
smtp_email
Supported
Sending Mail from Ghost You can set up Ghost to send email using an external service like Mailgun which allows up to 10,000 emails per month for free.
one_click_install
Limited
Create a new Blueprint Instance on Render, and give Render permission to access your new repo. [...] Create a new environment variable called database__connection__password with the value copied from the MYSQL_PASSWORD environment variable of the MySQL Private Instance. [...] Use the Manual Deploy button to deploy the latest commit to your Ghost Web Service.
Sources (1) →Sources ↓
- Deploy Ghost — Render Docs ↗
“This version uses a SQLite database stored on a Render SSD Disk so your data is saved across deploys and automatically backed up with daily snapshots. As of Ghost 5, MySQL 8 is the only supported database for production deploys of Ghost. SQLite is only supported by Ghost 5 in a development environment. [...] In your Render Dashboard, navigate to the Environment tab for your newly created MySQL Private Service.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs
What it costs to run there.
- Pricing model
- The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.
- When you exceed a cap
- Pipeline minutes: overage is auto-purchased, but with no payment method or once the monthly spend limit is reached Render stops running pipeline tasks, builds included.
- Regions
- Oregon, USA; Ohio, USA; Virginia, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Singapore
Sources (3) →Sources ↓
- Platform Features by Plan – Render Docs ↗
“The Hobby plan does not have a monthly fee, so you only pay for usage.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Build pipeline — Render Docs ↗
“Running out of minutes If you run out of pipeline minutes during a given month, you automatically purchase a supplementary amount of minutes for your current tier, unless: You've reached your monthly spend limit, or You haven't added a payment method.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs
- Regions — Render Docs ↗
“You can deploy Render services to any of the following regions to minimize latency for your users: Oregon, USA Ohio, USA Virginia, USA Frankfurt, Germany Singapore”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs
Whether it suits you.
Workloads that need real background workers and persistent processes alongside web services, deployed from a repository or a Dockerfile. Managed Postgres and static sites run on the same platform.
Consider something else if…
Free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic, which makes the free tier unsuitable for anything that must answer immediately.
Visit Render documentation