Alternate versions

Aside from several minor dialog changes because of translation issues, the German-dubbed version changed the baby's name from Oscar to Donald.

The ghost of the jogger that gets captured during the music montage was actually a separate scene entirely where the Ghostbusters sit in the park watching him run laps. As he is about to finish, Stanz "zaps" him into the trap and then runs to pick it up. Venkman walks up to him holding a stopwatch.... Venkman: He finished that last lap in six minutes! Stanz: If he weren't dead he'd be an Olympic prospect.

A subway scene was cut from the "chaos" montage, after the woman's fur coat comes to life. In the scene the subway jerks to a halt and the conductor informs the passengers that there are "technical difficulties". On the subway track, two attendants confront a large, frog-like monsters with an enormous tongue. This was meant to be one of the more frightening scenes in the film, but after takes with the two baffled attendants turned out too funny, the scene was cut.

In the Spanish Castilian version the mayor's dialogue about Fiorello LaGuardia's ghost is changed to Rudolph Valentino's ghost.

Several shots were eventually deleted from the opening scene of Oscar's stroller rolling across 1st Avenue, being several cars crashing into each other to avoid it. The original trailer features a couple of these shots, namely a Dodge Diplomat running into the back of the taxi seen swerving in the final version, and a Cadillac hitting the back of that.

In the Hungarian dubbed version, the kids at the birthday party demand to see Batman rather than He-Man, as He-Man is a very obscure property in Hungary.

Two attempts by Louis to capture Slimer. The first involved several Kentucky Fried Chicken legs strung up to the fire house ceiling. Slimer comes out and grabs a leg, and Louis pushes the button for the trap. The light comes out, but Slimer floats out of the way and the ceiling collapses, falling on Louis' desk. The second attempt involves Louis carrying a proton pack and faking a pizza delivery (Oh, hello, Pizza Man! Oh, two larges! I only ordered one. Oh, pepperoni and pineapple. My absolute favorite. I guess I'll have to eat these both by myself.) Slimer floats down from the ceiling, and Louis tries to shoot him with the proton pack. Slimer flies away, and the beam flies towards Janine carrying a stack of files, who casually steps aside of the beam.

A scene before the Statue of Liberty attack where Venkman tries to get the ectoplasm to break itself open by singing. He asks a group of firefighters outside the museum if they know cumbaya. Several raise their hands, and Venkman has them line up and join hands. He joins them, and they all start to sing. Meanwhile Stanz watches the ectoplasm through goggles, and sees a crack smaller than the eye of a needle. Venkman gets annoyed and walks off, yelling "The Vienna boys choir couldn't get this thing open!"

An original shot of a ghost coming through a large arch in the streets of New York had a giant skeleton standing in the archway. The cut shown in theatres featured a large, reptillian monster.

A scene where the Ghostbusters re-unite in Ray's store while he is reading a book to Venkman about a man who caused a flower cart to levitate and fly 150 feet.

After the ghostbusters visit the museum and inspect the painting, Ray falls under Vigo's hypnotic gaze and goes crazy through the streets, running a red light and nearly killing the four of them. Winston finally manages to gain control and the Ectomobile runs into a tree. Peter remarks to Egon to watch Ray and not let him shave by himself. This scene was cut, but the shot of the Ectomobile running the red light and Peter and Egon trading bewildered looks was saved for the montage sequence. However, this sequence remained in the novelization.