Ghost is a powerful CMS for publishing and memberships, but it has no WCAG accessibility audit, no Core Web Vitals scoring, and no site health monitoring. PageGuard audits any Ghost site externally — free, no theme changes, results in 30 seconds.
ADA Title II Deadline: April 24, 2026
State and local government websites must meet WCAG 2.1 AA. Ghost does not audit accessibility — even a well-designed Ghost site can have missing alt text, poor color contrast, or broken keyboard navigation depending on the theme. PageGuard monitors WCAG compliance continuously and alerts you when theme updates introduce accessibility regressions.
| Feature | PageGuard | Ghost |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | External website health monitor — scans any URL for performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices | Open-source headless CMS and publishing platform built for modern content creators, newsletters, and memberships |
| Free tier | Yes — unlimited one-off scans, no signup required | Ghost(Pro) starts at $9/mo; Ghost self-hosted is free (requires your own server) |
| Works on non-Ghost sites | ✓ Yes — scans any URL on any platform or CMS | No — Ghost is a CMS, not a monitoring tool for other sites |
| Accessibility audit (WCAG / ADA) | ✓ Yes — WCAG 2.1 AA scored 0–100 with specific issue list | No — Ghost has no built-in WCAG/ADA accessibility audit; theme-level accessibility depends on the theme used |
| Technical SEO audit | ✓ Yes — meta tags, headings, canonical, structured data | Partial — Ghost has built-in SEO settings (canonical, meta, structured data) but no live audit of rendered output |
| Performance audit (Core Web Vitals) | ✓ Yes — LCP, CLS, FCP scored 0–100 per scan | No — Ghost has no Core Web Vitals audit; you need PageSpeed Insights or a separate tool |
| Content management (CMS) | No — PageGuard is a monitoring tool, not a CMS | ✓ Yes — Ghost editor, content types, tags, authors, and membership tiers |
| Newsletter & membership | No | ✓ Yes — built-in email newsletters, paid memberships, and Stripe billing |
| Automated website monitoring | ✓ Yes — weekly or daily scans with email alerts on score drop | No — Ghost has no built-in health monitoring or regression alerts |
| AI-generated plain-English report | ✓ Yes — explains issues in non-technical language | No — no AI health report |
| ADA Title II compliance monitoring | ✓ Yes — WCAG audit + alert on accessibility regression | No — Ghost has no accessibility auditing or ADA compliance reporting; theme choice determines accessibility quality |
| Independent external audit | ✓ Yes — third-party scan, shareable URL for clients/stakeholders | No — no built-in tool to generate a shareable external health report |
| Instant on-demand scan | ✓ Yes — results in 30 seconds, no login required | No — no on-demand health scan for live pages |
| Multi-site dashboard | ✓ Yes — 1–50 sites depending on plan | Ghost manages one publication per install; no cross-site health monitoring |
| Pricing for health monitoring | ✓ Free + from $9/mo for automated monitoring | Health monitoring not available — Ghost is a publishing CMS, not a monitoring platform |
Get the accessibility and Core Web Vitals scores that Ghost doesn’t show you. Results in 30 seconds. No Ghost admin access required. Share with clients instantly.
Results in ~30 seconds. 4 scores: Performance, Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices.
Yes — PageGuard scans any live website URL regardless of platform. Simply enter your Ghost site URL and receive a full health report in ~30 seconds covering Core Web Vitals performance, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, technical SEO quality, and best practices. No theme installation, Ghost admin access, or code changes required.
No. Ghost has built-in SEO settings (canonical URLs, meta tags, structured data) but no WCAG/ADA accessibility audit. Accessibility on a Ghost site depends entirely on the theme — Ghost does not check for missing alt text, color contrast ratios, ARIA labels, or keyboard navigation issues. With the ADA Title II deadline on April 24, 2026, Ghost site owners need an external tool like PageGuard for accessibility monitoring.
Ghost manages your publishing workflow, but health monitoring is a separate concern. PageGuard adds (1) WCAG accessibility auditing that Ghost does not provide, (2) Core Web Vitals scoring so you can verify performance after theme updates, (3) automated regression alerts when changes break accessibility or SEO, and (4) shareable health reports for client handoffs — all from $9/mo for up to 5 sites.
Ghost generates clean, lightweight HTML which typically performs well, but Core Web Vitals scores still depend on your theme, image sizes, CDN configuration, and third-party scripts. Ghost does not measure or display your actual Core Web Vitals scores. PageGuard gives you an independent on-demand lab score so you can verify and track performance after every change.