Heads up! This article was written before Webiny 6.0 was released and may contain outdated information.
Webiny is the AI-programmable CMS that gives enterprises full control. Build, extend and automate your content operations with a platform designed to be shaped by both developers and AI agents.
Traditional Content Management Systems (CMSs) were designed in an era when the digital landscape was simpler, and omnichannel delivery, agility, and scalability weren’t primary concerns. These legacy systems feature tightly coupled architectures, where the frontend and backend layers are inseparably intertwined within the same monolithic application.
This architectural approach creates limitations for today’s businesses. The modern reality is that businesses need to be agile and adaptable. Getting content to users across all channels, from websites and mobile apps to watches and smart displays, demands a CMS that's built for speed.
This is where headless content management systems come into play. They offer decoupled architectures that enable businesses to boost productivity, support new touchpoints via the same backend infrastructure, and adapt to evolving digital trends and customer needs with ease.
A headless CMS is a backend-only system designed specifically for today’s multi-channel digital world. It doesn’t come with a built-in frontend layer, but can be used to simultaneously deliver content to several frontends.
Here are the defining characteristics of a headless CMS:
Next, let’s explore how a content workflow looks like in a headless CMS:
Headless and traditional CMSs are two fundamentally distinct types of software.
A traditional CMS takes a monolithic approach, where the backend and frontend are intertwined. A headless CMS decouples these layers.
Headless CMSs offer greater flexibility in frontend development, allowing developers to use any technology stack or framework. Traditional CMSs, on the other hand, limit frontend customizability due to their monolithic architectures.
Traditional CMSs can be expensive due to licensing fees and vendor lock-in. Headless CMSs can be more cost-effective due to open-source options and API-based integrations.
Headless CMSs can offer better performance, especially for high-traffic websites, as all the resource-intensive tasks happen on the decoupled server-side. Traditional CMSs may struggle with performance issues, especially as the complexity of the website increases.
Headless CMSs are inherently more scalable, as you can scale the frontend and backend components independently. Traditional CMSs often run into scalability challenges, especially when managing growing traffic and expanding data volumes.
Here’s a tabular overview of the differences between headless and traditional CMSs.
Businesses in today's digital age are sometimes hampered by just how many instances, or actions, a CMS takes. It can number in the dozens to the hundreds. While this is necessary, it certainly makes it difficult to track and harder to manage.
Organizations can use content infrastructure to merge all of their material into a single location, decreasing the need for manual copying and pasting. Companies that need to quickly create new landing pages, software, and microsites can benefit from a headless CMS.
Finally, the content infrastructure in a CMS must encourage reusability, which is vital for maximizing content creation resources. Let's take a quick look at some pros of headless CMS:
Anything else? Absolutely. A headless CMS also has a high level of functionality, flexibility, integration, and scalability.
A headless CMS doesn't limit your usage of layouts or themes, unlike traditional commerce sites. It allows businesses to customize their websites considerably more quickly because the front end and back end are independent of one another.
This means it's easier to make modifications to the display layer without affecting the back end.
Headless commerce systems allow for seamless integration of various third-party technologies and platforms. You can link any existing systems with your eCommerce site, using your preferred technologies and a robust API.
What is an example of headless CMS? You could seamlessly integrate new functionalities into your eCommerce website without changing the full eCommerce stack. This is a lot less work and is better for overall customer satisfaction.
Headless commerce allows you to adapt your brand to new trends and technologies without having to replatform your backend. APIs and frameworks can add functionality to your existing system as needed, so you don't have to create a new website from scratch when using a headless solution.
Instead, you can add additional features as your company expands, easily scaling up the website as needed.
Customer behavior is rapidly evolving, and if you can't keep up with their expectations, you'll struggle to stay afloat. Because you can make changes so quickly and efficiently, feature updates and adjustments can happen with the snap of a finger.
A headless commerce organization may easily introduce new functionalities to match the preferences of clients, resulting in a reduced time to market.
The customer journey has become more complicated, with 74% of customers starting transactions over multiple channels, depending on the situation. As a result, businesses can no longer rely on a single-channel strategy.
With headless commerce, you can provide a superior buying experience to your clients regardless of the shopping channel they use. You can also customize your front end and create an eCommerce website that operates across several channels without strange bugs or weird formatting.
Headless and decoupled CMS architectures are often confused with each other. Despite having some functional overlap, they represent different architectural approaches to content management.
Think of a decoupled CMS as a traditional CMS with added flexibility. While it maintains the core structure of a traditional system (with tightly coupled frontend and backend), it also provides APIs for connecting to external frontends. This means the built-in frontend, while present, becomes optional.
On the flip side, a headless CMS lacks any built-in frontend, making it inherently more lightweight, performant, and scalable than a decoupled counterpart.
Let’s look at a few ways headless CMSs can power real-life business use cases:
Moving away from a traditional CMS to a headless is a big decision for any organization. It’s important to weigh up the needs of the business versus what a headless CMS can offer.
Consider the following factors when choosing an enterprise headless CMS for your business:
Consider your future content growth and traffic volume. The chosen headless CMS should be able to scale seamlessly to meet your evolving needs. Opting for a platform with a serverless architecture allows your website to scale as required.
Evaluate the security features, compliance certifications, and intrusion detection capabilities of the CMSs under consideration. You’ll want to choose a platform/provider with features that include encryption at rest and in transit, regular updates to fix bugs, and subscribes to industry-standard security protocols.
The chosen CMS should be user-friendly for all members of the digital team, including marketers, content creators, and developers. This may include starter kits for developers, or no code, drag and drop functionality for marketing teams.
Look for a headless CMS with a large and active user base that can provide helpful resources, tutorials, and troubleshooting assistance.
Prioritize open-source, enterprise-ready headless CMSs – like Webiny – that offer limitless customizability and self-hosted functionality. This will allow you to tailor both the frontend and backend per your specific needs.
The pricing models of headless solutions can vary. Some offer freemium plans, while others charge based on features or storage. Choose a model that aligns with your budget and project requirements. SaaS-based applications generally fall foul of charging clients when looking to scale, we cover this in our article ‘Webiny vs Contentful’ if you wish to explore this further.
Here are some guidelines and best practices to ensure a smooth and successful implementation of a headless CMS:
The headless CMS landscape is brimming with options, each vying for your attention. Some cater specifically to large enterprises, offering robust features and scalability at a premium. On the other hand, there are more affordable options, but they often lack the feature set or scalability needed for complex projects.
In this crowded space, Webiny stands out as a true outlier. It shatters the traditional mold by being the only enterprise-ready headless CMS that is open-source, cost-effective, and deployable within your own AWS infrastructure.
Here are a few reasons why modern enterprises are choosing Webiny over the likes of Sanity, Contentful, Contentstack, Strapi, and Storyblok:
With Webiny, you can self-host on your own terms, enjoying full control over your content and infrastructure. This eliminates vendor lock-in and ensures compliance with even the most stringent data security regulations.
Webiny is built on top of serverless infrastructure, allowing it to scale automatically based on demand. This eliminates the need for manual server provisioning and reduces infrastructure costs, all while delivering optimal performance, even during traffic spikes.
A standout Webiny feature is its native support for multi-tenancy, complete with data segregation and per-tenant customizability. This means that you can manage multiple projects or clients within a single deployment.
Webiny is available as an open-source software under the MIT license. Moreover, it comes with an easy-to-use development framework that allows you to extend or customize the platform according to your unique operational needs.
Webiny is an all-in-one digital solution that goes beyond traditional headless CMS offerings. You can build dynamic landing pages using the page builder, manage all your assets with the file manager, streamline content review processes with the advanced publishing workflow, and create customized forms with the form builder.
Companies looking for more from their CMS systems should seriously investigate the potential of a headless CMS. They not only make your content more flexible but are easier to update and maintain.
Plus, that separation between content and code is key. Without it, you run the risk of tying your content into a single infrastructure and rooting it into a single, stationary system.
This could easily lead to delays. When there is consistent demand, you can't afford to have anything stalling on the back-end. A headless CMS solves that.
Sound interesting? Why not try a headless CMS for free and see if you like what you find? It could be a game-changer. To find out more about Webiny, get in touch today. Our team is on hand to walk you through how Webiny can benefit your organization.