> I've been running on WordPress for about 10 years and it got unworkable because everything requires a plugin
You'd need to treat WP as if it was a Linux installation - you can install ANY package you want, and there are a zillion packages that instantly to be able to do anything, but if you go postal and install a billion packages, you will have to maintain all of them. Even if WP makes it easier thanks to prioritizing backwards compatibility, its still a task.
But there is no comparison - one day you will need to do something, and Ghost/Substack/Whatever won't have the feature for it. Then, back to WordPress.
You'd need to treat WP as if it was a Linux installation - you can install ANY package you want, and there are a zillion packages that instantly to be able to do anything, but if you go postal and install a billion packages, you will have to maintain all of them. Even if WP makes it easier thanks to prioritizing backwards compatibility, its still a task.
But there is no comparison - one day you will need to do something, and Ghost/Substack/Whatever won't have the feature for it. Then, back to WordPress.