PaperTrail vs Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PaperTrail
This app provides a full TaskPaper editing experience on iOS and iPadOS, allowing you to manage projects, tasks, and notes using simple, flexible plain text files. Sync your work with iCloud and edit across devices, with powerful search and filtering capabilities.
- Full TaskPaper format support
- OPML import
- Distraction-free editing
- Full query language search
- Tag system with progress tracking
- iOS Reminders integration
- Shortcuts and Siri integration
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PaperTrail brings full TaskPaper editing to iOS and iPadOS. TaskPaper is plain text productivity—simple, fast, flexible. Projects, tasks, notes, and tags. Filter, search, and archive. All in plain text files you can sync via iCloud and edit in TaskPaper on your Mac. FEATURES • Full TaskPaper format support (.taskpaper, .todo, .txt, .md) • Open Bike (.bike) and OPML (.opml) outlines, with clear warnings when an import can't carry everything across • OPML and Bike-style export, so tags and done state round-trip back into Bike • Fold and focus into any subtree for distraction-free editing • Full query language with text, tag, boolean, and semantic search • Tag system with dates, progress tracking, and cost aggregation • Tag autocomplete ranked by how often you use each tag • Smart filters with edge-swipe gestures and an iPad side-by-side sidebar • Colour lines by priority, depth, or due date proximity • Natural date parsing and two-way iOS Reminders integration—import a Reminders list as a project • Quick capture: append tasks, notes, clipboard text, or web links to your most recent document • Planning shortcuts: Open in Today, Random Next Task, and Morning Brief • Shortcuts, Siri, Action Button, and Spotlight integration via App Intents • Find & update documents from Shortcuts: run queries, mark done, set tags, append tasks • Command palette for projects, searches, tags, and every editor command • iPadOS menu bar with Item, Tag, Outline, View, and Palette menus • Export documents as interactive HTML slide presentations or as OPML outlines • Built-in and custom document templates • 50+ keyboard shortcuts for power workflow • Native Swift app—tiny install size, built for speed • Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, and dark mode support
Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher
This app allows Ghost blog owners to write, format, and publish posts directly from their iPhone using markdown. It supports image uploads and syncs instantly with any Ghost instance, prioritizing user privacy by keeping credentials on the device.
- Markdown formatting
- Image uploads
- Instant publishing
- Draft saving
- Post scheduling
- Direct Ghost API sync
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Your Ghost blog, in your pocket. Sign in with your Ghost account, open any post you've already written, and edit it beautifully — right there on your phone. EDIT ANY POST, PARAGRAPH BY PARAGRAPH Open any post and tap a paragraph, heading, quote or aside to change it, right where it already lives. PRESERVED EXACTLY AS GHOST SAVED IT Images, galleries, buttons, bookmarks and callouts are preserved exactly as Ghost saved them, so every edit stays precisely scoped to the paragraph you touched. A TRULY NATIVE EDITOR Formatting you can see as you type — bold, italic, headings, quotes, links and code. Select text and format it the way you expect on iPhone, with the toolbar where your thumb already is. POST ON THE GO Draft on the train, edit over coffee, publish before you're back at your desk. Save as a draft, schedule for later, or publish straight away. SIGN IN THE WAY YOU ALREADY DO Use the same email and password you already use for your Ghost site, and you're straight into your posts. Prefer an Admin API key? That works too. IMAGE UPLOADS Pick photos from your library and drop them into posts. They upload straight to your own Ghost server. SEE EVERYTHING AT A GLANCE Drafts, scheduled posts and published pieces in one list, with feature-image thumbnails, sorting and tag filters. PRIVATE BY DESIGN The app talks directly to your own Ghost site — your content goes straight to your server and nowhere else. Your site connections are end-to-end encrypted and sync only through your own iCloud, readable by no one but you, not even us. READY ON EVERY DEVICE Set your blog up once and it's there on your iPhone and iPad, and it survives reinstalling the app. WORKS WITH ANY GHOST SITE Self-hosted on your own server, on a VPS, or with a managed Ghost host. If it runs Ghost, this connects to it. HONEST ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT Paragraphs, headings, quotes and asides are fully editable today. Cards — images, galleries, bookmarks, callouts and buttons — display faithfully and are kept safe when you save, with editing on the way. Lists are next. Built by someone who writes on Ghost every day, for people who do the same.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher at $4.99 against PaperTrail's $19.99. Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (100% vs 77%). PaperTrail's advantage is ratings volume (16 vs 1). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and chart position there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
PaperTrail costs $19.99 and Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PaperTrail has 16 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of PaperTrail's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher's.
PaperTrail ships an update every 10 days, Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PaperTrail | Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 | $4.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (16 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #153 — better | #196 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | gingerbeardman | VERSIONPRIME LTD |
Customer experience
PaperTrail
Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher
In-app purchases
PaperTrail
No in-app purchases
Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is PaperTrail free?
Is Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher free?
Which has better reviews, PaperTrail or Ghost CMS Editor & Publisher?
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