A Storipress alternative after the newsroom CMS closed and deleted the archive
Storipress emailed its customers in September 2024, kept the app running until 15 November, and then deleted everything. It was a genuinely good editorial tool. Grigora is a publishing platform with a CMS, a newsletter and a store in one plan from $12/mo, and it will not ask you to export by a deadline.
Published by Grigora · Updated · Sources and method
Is Grigora the right Storipress alternative?
Grigora can replace the public website, blog and newsletter part of a former Storipress setup. It does not replace Storipress's newsroom kanban workflow, real-time co-editing or editorial paywall. The hosted service is no longer available; start by locating your own exports and media backups before choosing a replacement.
Choose Grigora if you want…
- A publishing site that is still being sold and supported
- A CMS with directories, authors and moderated comments
- A newsletter in the same plan, not an integration
- A real product store rather than a Shopify embed
- AI that designs the site and helps write the posts
Storipress was better if you…
- •Ran a multi-writer newsroom that needed kanban and a calendar
- •Monetised with paywalls and ad integration
- •Wanted a customer data platform beside the CMS
Storipress or Grigora: the decision in one view
Where Storipress users go next
The realistic destinations for a publication that lost its CMS.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column
| Platform | Best for | Free access | Starting price | Sales fees | Data and site portability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grigora | A publishing site that also sells | Free trial | From $12/mo billed annually | 0% platform fee; Stripe/Razorpay fees apply | Posts/content; rebuild design |
| Ghost | Paid memberships and newsletters | Hosted trial; self-hosted software free | Ghost(Pro) from $18/mo billed yearly; member-based tiers | 0% Ghost fee; Stripe processing applies | Content JSON/members CSV; media/themes separately |
| Substack | Writers who want zero setup | Yes | Free | 10% of paid subscriptions | Partial |
| beehiiv | Newsletter growth and ads | Yes | From $43/mo, annual; scales with subscribers | 0% on subscriptions | Posts/subscribers; rebuild design |
| WordPress | Maximum plugin choice | Software is free | Hosting + plugins | 0% (processing only) | Yes |
| Self-hosted Storipress | Developers only | MIT code on GitHub | Your hosting | Not applicable | Yes |
Pricing as of September 2026; Storipress itself is no longer sold. Its archived repositories remain on GitHub under MIT. Verify current pricing on each provider's site.
Sources for the overview table
- Grigora: official reference 1
- Ghost(Pro): official reference 1, official reference 2
- beehiiv: official reference 1, official reference 2
Why Storipress users are still looking
What the closure left behind, two years on.
The archive was deleted
Data went after 15 November 2024. Anyone who missed the September email lost it.
No official destination
The company named no successor platform, so everybody chose separately and many stalled.
Lifetime deals did not survive
AppSumo buyers were outside the twelve-month protection window when the closure came.
The workflow has no equal
Most replacements are blogs with an editor. The desks and the calendar were the reason to be there.
What Storipress does well
- A editorial workflow in its class: kanban desks, calendar, co-editing
- Paywalls, newsletters and ad integration in one product
- A customer data platform beside the CMS
- Parts of the codebase open-sourced under MIT on closure
Where Storipress falls short
- Closed in November 2024 and was reported to have removed hosted customer data
- No native store, only a Shopify integration
- A learning curve that reviewers called heavy for solo bloggers
- No successor platform was named
Grigora vs Storipress at a glance
What Storipress had, and what replaces it.
| Feature | Storipress | Grigora |
|---|---|---|
| Still operating | No, closed Nov 2024 | Yes |
| Entry paid plan when sold | $16/mo (Blogger) | $12/mo |
| Editorial kanban and calendar | Specialist capability | No |
| Real-time co-editing | Yes | No |
| Paywall and memberships | Yes | No |
| Newsletter | Included | 2,500 to 25,000 subscribers |
| Product store | Shopify integration | Native, 0% commission |
| Directories and moderated comments | No | Yes |
| Free SEO tools suite | No | Free tools |
Grigora vs Storipress: feature by feature
A category-by-category breakdown, pricing, AI, design, e-commerce, email, SEO, performance, and support.
What happened to Storipress
Depends on your needsCustomers were emailed in the first days of September 2024. The app stayed usable until 15 November 2024, and after that hosted data was reported deleted. The company explained that its original thesis had held but that it had aimed at traditional media rather than B2B self-publishers, and that the site builder was consuming more than 35% of its development budget, which left no room to pivot.
| Feature | Grigora | Storipress |
|---|---|---|
| Product still sold | Yes | No, since November 2024 |
| Notice given | Not applicable | About ten weeks |
| What happened to content | Not applicable | Deleted after 15 Nov 2024 |
| Code available afterwards | No | Parts open-sourced, MIT |
Takeaway: Locate your own exports and media backups before planning recovery. Do not assume the former hosted service can supply them.
Editorial workflow
Fit: StoripressThe honest category, and Storipress wins it outright. Kanban desks moved a story from pitch to published, a calendar showed the month ahead, several writers could edit the same piece at once, and roles and progress tracking were built for a team rather than bolted on. Grigora has drafts, scheduling and author profiles, and nothing resembling the desks.
| Feature | Grigora | Storipress |
|---|---|---|
| Kanban desks | No | Yes |
| Editorial calendar | No | Yes |
| Real-time co-editing | No | Yes |
| Drafts, scheduling, author profiles | Yes | Yes |
Takeaway: If the desks were why you used Storipress, nothing on this page brings them back.
Making money from the audience
Depends on your needsTwo different answers to the same question. Storipress monetised readers with paywalls, newsletters and ad integration, backed by a customer data platform. Grigora monetises with a store: products, variants, stock and digital downloads, with no platform commission. Neither does the other's job.
| Feature | Grigora | Storipress |
|---|---|---|
| Content paywall and memberships | No | Yes |
| Ad integration | No | Yes |
| Customer data platform | No | Yes |
| Product store | Native, 0% commission | Shopify integration |
| Newsletter in the plan | Yes | Yes |
Takeaway: Storipress sold access to the writing. Grigora sells things beside it.
Publishing & community
Depends on your needsBoth are proper CMS products rather than page builders with a blog attached. Storipress had theme blocks, a WordPress importer and an API. Grigora adds directories, collections and moderated comments with admin replies.
| Feature | Grigora | Storipress |
|---|---|---|
| Posts, categories, authors | Yes | Yes |
| Directories and collections | Built in | No |
| Moderated comments with admin replies | Yes | No |
| WordPress import | Yes | Yes |
| AI writing | Yes | Yes |
Takeaway: Comparable depth. Grigora is stronger on the community around the writing.
The website itself
Fit: GrigoraStoripress's own post-mortem named the site builder as the thing that ate its budget, and it showed: themes were customisable within limits. Grigora generates a design direction from a description and gives you a block editor and website templates.
| Feature | Grigora | Storipress |
|---|---|---|
| AI first-draft site | Yes | No |
| Templates | Template library | Theme blocks |
| Block-level editing | Yes | Limited |
| Headless option | No | karbon framework |
Takeaway: Grigora builds the site. Storipress built the newsroom and struggled with the site.
SEO
Depends on your needsStoripress covered metadata and sitemaps and had a real API. Grigora adds schema controls, IndexNow submission and free tools.
| Feature | Grigora | Storipress |
|---|---|---|
| Meta and sitemap controls | Yes | Yes |
| Schema controls | Yes | Limited |
| IndexNow submission | Yes | No |
| Free SEO tools suite | Free tools | No |
Takeaway: Compare the published SEO controls with your actual content and workflow. Test representative pages for crawlability, metadata and performance; platform features do not guarantee rankings or AI citations.
Ownership & platform risk
Depends on your needsStoripress ended better than most closures, because parts of the codebase were released under MIT and are still on GitHub. For a team with developers that is a genuine escape hatch. For everyone else it is a repository they cannot run.
| Feature | Grigora | Storipress |
|---|---|---|
| Content export | Yes | Until 15 Nov 2024 |
| Self-host after closure | No | MIT repositories |
| Support today | Email, priority on higher plans | None |
| White label for agencies | $199/mo plan | No |
Takeaway: Open-sourcing on the way out was the right thing to do, and it only helps developers.
Explore Grigora before switching from Storipress
Current public product pages and plans, so you can inspect what you would be moving to. Open any image at full size.
Grigora vs Storipress pricing
Storipress's prices are historical. They cannot be bought today.
Website, newsletter & store in one plan
Annual rates shown. The CMS, newsletter and store are included on every plan, with 0% platform commission on any gateway.
Closed November 2024, prices shown for reference
Storipress pricing as reported before closure; sources vary, with another listing quoting $26 per admin per month after a $3 two-week trial, and AppSumo lifetime deals up to $299. Treat all as historical.
Grigora Starter at $12/mo is below what Storipress charged for its entry plan, and adds a native store and moderated comments. It does not add the kanban desks or the paywall.
The real cost: Grigora vs Storipress
A small publication that lost its CMS and needs a site, a list and a way to earn.
| What you pay for | Storipress | Grigora |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | $16 to $24/mo, no longer sold | $12/mo |
| Newsletter | Included | Included (2,500 to 25,000 subs) |
| Selling products | Shopify subscription on top | Included, 0% commission |
| Paywalled memberships | Included | Not offered |
| Editorial kanban workflow | Included | Not offered |
| SEO tooling | Basic | free tools |
Payment-processor fees apply where a store exists. Two of these rows are things Grigora does not replace.
Storipress and Grigora: public website references
These captures show each product’s public website. See the feature and pricing sections for capabilities and plan details.
Is Grigora the right Storipress alternative for you?
Where each option is the right one.
Best Storipress alternative for a small publication
A CMS with directories and moderated comments, a newsletter and a store, in one plan at $12/mo.
… for publications that sell something
A native store with 0% platform commission instead of a Shopify subscription bolted to the CMS.
… for anyone rebuilding from scratch
The archive is gone, so the AI draft matters more than an importer. Describe the publication and start from a real design.
Ghost is the better move if…
Paid memberships and a content paywall were the point. Grigora has neither.
Which one is right for you?
Choose Grigora if…
- You want the site, CMS and newsletter in one plan
- You sell products beside the writing
- You want directories and moderated comments
- You want AI to design and help write
- You are an agency that resells
Look elsewhere if…
- •You need kanban editorial workflow, which no builder replaces
- •You need a paid membership paywall, where Ghost fits better
- •You have developers and want to self-host the MIT code
How to rebuild a Storipress publication on Grigora
Storipress deleted its data after 15 November 2024, so this is a rebuild rather than a migration. If you exported in time, the export is your starting point. Before moving everything, test a representative content export and check supported import formats. Keep media backups, reconcile product variants and retain subscriber consent and unsubscribe records; an export does not guarantee a direct import.
- 1
Find whatever you exported
Check for the export you took before 15 November 2024, and for any WordPress source you originally imported from.
- 2
Recover what you did not
Where nothing was exported, the Internet Archive often holds published posts that can be copied back in.
- 3
Start your Grigora site
Describe the publication in a sentence and the AI generates a site with its own design.
- 4
Import posts and rebuild the list
Bring posts into the CMS with authors and categories, and import subscribers into the newsletter.
- 5
Point your domain and redirect
Keep the old service active while you test the new site. Match existing URL paths or configure permanent redirects, verify canonicals and the sitemap, and test forms and checkout on mobile. Change DNS after these checks, then monitor indexing and errors before cancelling services you no longer need. Rankings may change during a migration.
What happened to Storipress
Storipress was a CMS built for newsrooms rather than bloggers, and the people who used it tended to like it a great deal. In the first days of September 2024 its customers received an email saying it was closing.
Ten weeks, then deletion
The app stayed usable until 15 November 2024. After that, data was deleted. A migration guide existed at the time and the help centre is now offline with it, which means anyone who did not act inside that window has no archive to recover.
Why it closed
The company was unusually candid. Its 2020 thesis had held, it said, but it had built for traditional media rather than the B2B self-publishers who turned out to be the market, and its site builder was consuming more than a third of the development budget. There was no room left to pivot.
It left the code behind
On the way out, Storipress worked with its investor to open-source parts of the platform. The karbon headless framework, the PHP backend and a paywall component remain on GitHub under MIT, in an organisation marked archived on 5 January 2026. For a team with developers that is a real option. For a small publication it is not.
How Grigora compares
Grigora is a publishing platform with a store attached rather than a newsroom tool, and the difference matters in both directions.
What it covers
Starter at $12 a month billed annually includes an AI-designed site, the CMS with directories, author profiles and moderated comments with admin replies, a newsletter with 2,500 subscribers, and a native store with no platform commission on your own gateway. That is below what Storipress charged for its entry plan.
What it does not cover
There are no kanban desks, no editorial calendar, no real-time co-editing, no content paywall and no customer data platform. If a newsroom of several writers chose Storipress for the workflow, Grigora is not that tool and no page should pretend it is. If the paywall was the point, Ghost is the closer fit.
Frequently asked questions
No. Customers were emailed in early September 2024, the app remained usable until 15 November 2024, and hosted data was reported deleted afterwards. The domain no longer resolves and its GitHub organisation was archived on 5 January 2026.
The hosted service closed in 2024. The current official GitHub organisation is archived and no longer maintained. The public sources available for this audit do not establish a complete explanation of the closure, so this comparison focuses on recovery options and replacement capabilities.
Start with files you exported before closure, local media copies and backups held by your team. The archived code repositories do not contain your hosted customer data. Recovery of a missing account archive cannot be promised.
Parts of it. The karbon headless framework, the PHP backend and a paywall component were released under MIT and remain in the archived GitHub organisation. Running them requires developers.
For a small publication that wants a site, a CMS, a newsletter and a way to sell, Grigora is a suitable all-in-one option at $12/mo. For paid memberships and a content paywall, Ghost is the closer match. Nothing replaces the kanban editorial workflow.
Reported plans were Free, Blogger at $16/mo and Professional Publisher at $24/mo, with custom Enterprise pricing. Sources vary, with one listing quoting $26 per admin per month, and AppSumo sold lifetime deals up to a $299 tier. All figures are historical.
Sources and comparison method
Published by Grigora, one of the products compared here. This is a comparison of public product documentation and published plans. Recommendations reflect the use cases described; they are not independent performance benchmarks. Homepage screenshots show how each product presents itself and do not establish feature availability.
Check the billing term, currency, regional availability, usage limits and add-ons before purchasing. A content export does not necessarily include the design, integrations or a working store. Migration steps need testing on your own site.
- Storipress official archived repository
Primary source for the product, plan or migration scope discussed in this comparison.
- Storipress official archived repository
Primary source for the product, plan or migration scope discussed in this comparison.
- Grigora pricing and plan limits
Annual and monthly billing, free trial, page/bandwidth/storage allowances, support and optional services.
Grigora references: plans and limits, commerce, MCP access, and help documentation.
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