CMS & Headless

What is a headless CMS?

A classic CMS like WordPress bundles content management and presentation in one application: you edit text in the backend, and the same system renders the website. A headless CMS drops the presentation layer. It stores structured content and serves it through an API, while the frontend is a separate project built with the framework of your choice. Open source options like Payload CMS or Directus run on your own infrastructure; Directus sits on top of an existing SQL database and exposes its tables through an API and an admin interface. Alongside these, there is the Git-based approach: Decap CMS and Tina store content as Markdown files in the repository and give editors an input interface without any database at all.

Typical use cases

One content source, several channels: Website, app, and newsletter pull their content from the same API. Text is maintained once and published everywhere, with no copy-paste between systems.

Technical documentation and static sites: Docusaurus renders documentation pages straight from Markdown, and 11ty builds lean static sites. The content lives versioned in the Git repository, so every change is traceable.

Editorial work on static sites: Git-based systems like Decap CMS give non-technical users an input form while the commits happen in the background. The static stack stays in place, and the editorial team never has to learn Git.

Structured data with an admin interface: If you manage data beyond blog posts (products, locations, events), an API-first system like Directus serves as a central data hub with roles and permissions.

What matters when choosing

Self-hosted or SaaS: Open source CMS like Payload or Directus run on your own server or with an EU hosting provider. That keeps content and user data under your control and simplifies the GDPR assessment compared to US cloud services.

Everyday editorial work: Developers pick the CMS, but editors use it daily. Live preview, media management, and clearly named fields decide whether the system gets accepted. Let the person who will maintain the content test the backend before you commit.

Data model: Relations, localization, and reusable blocks reveal whether a system can grow with you. Test against a real content type from your project to see how much can be modeled without workarounds.

Lock-in and export path: Markdown files in a Git repository are as portable as it gets, and a SQL database you own stays accessible too. Migrating out of proprietary cloud CMS is harder, since their export formats often need cleanup.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a headless CMS and WordPress?

WordPress delivers the backend and the website from one system, while a headless CMS only delivers content through an API. WordPress wins on themes and plugins for a fast start; the headless model wins on free frontend choice and a clean separation of content and code. WordPress can also run headless through its REST API, but then without the strengths of its theme system.

Which headless CMS is open source?

Payload CMS and Directus are among the best-known self-hostable open source systems, while Decap CMS and Tina cover the Git-based approach. The deciding factor is your stack: Payload is TypeScript-native and code-centric, Directus is database-centric and fits well when a SQL database already exists.

Does every website need a CMS?

No. A portfolio site or documentation maintained by two people who know Git runs leaner and safer on Markdown plus a generator like 11ty, because there is no admin backend to attack. A CMS pays off once people without Git knowledge need to change content regularly.

The tools above span the range from Markdown generator to API-first platform. If your editorial team should work without developers, start with the systems that offer live preview; if content flows into several channels, start with the API-first options.