Headless CMS
Write once. Publish everywhere.
Sanity, Contentful, Strapi, Storyblok, Prismic — content hubs decoupled from where it renders. One editing interface feeds your website, mobile app, email system, digital signage, in-store kiosks, even chatbots. The API handles the rest.
Sanity Studio
Draft → PublishedEditing · Post
Title
editing
Winter Collection is live
Body
Our new winter range drops...
Hero image
winter-2026.jpg
Tags
launch · winter · drop
Author
Ailbhe O'Connor
Publishing...
Website
updated
Winter Collection is live
Our new winter range drops...
launchwinterdrop
Mobile app
updated
Winter Collection is live
Read more
Email
updated
From: hello@yourbrand.ie
Winter Collection is live
Our new winter range drops...
Shop now
Signage
updated
Winter Collection is live
Trailkit · In-store now
One content item4 channels instantly updatedZero duplicate editing
The main players
Which headless CMS for which situation.
Sanity
Customisable studio, dev-first
Strengths
Portable Text for structured content, real-time collaboration, flexible schemas
Best fit
Content-heavy sites, editorial workflows, teams with dev resource
Free tier generous · Growth €99/mo
Contentful
Enterprise SaaS, mature
Strengths
Robust API, good team permissions, wide integration ecosystem, battle-tested
Best fit
Large enterprise content teams, compliance-heavy industries
Basic tier limited · Team from €300/mo
Strapi
Open-source, self-hostable
Strengths
No vendor lock-in, Node-based, customisable admin UI, you own the database
Best fit
Teams preferring self-hosting, dev teams with infra capacity
Free self-hosted · Cloud from €20/mo
Storyblok
Visual editor, marketing-friendly
Strengths
Visual preview in editor, component-based content, non-dev editor experience
Best fit
Marketing teams wanting drag-drop without a static site builder
Free starter · Entry from €99/mo
We also work with Prismic, Hygraph, Payload CMS, and Directus. The right pick depends more on your team and content patterns than on absolute platform features.
The genuine use cases
When headless moves from "interesting" to "essential".
Headless has become a bit of a trend. The honest test — you actually need it when one or more of these is true, not just because it sounds modern.
Content lives across multiple channels
Website + mobile app + email system + digital signage + partner API all need the same content. Headless is the one-source-many-endpoints answer.
You publish in multiple languages at scale
5+ locales with localised content per market. Headless CMSes handle translations workflow meaningfully better than WordPress plugins.
Your frontend tech is modern (Next.js, Nuxt, etc.)
If you've committed to Next.js/Nuxt for performance or developer experience, headless lets the CMS fit that architecture natively.
Editorial team ≥ 5 with defined workflows
Multiple editors, reviewers, translators, schedulers. Real versioning, real approval chains, real team capabilities.
Content is structured, not just articles
Products, events, case studies, FAQs, staff — each with defined fields and relationships. WordPress's free-form post pattern doesn't fit.
Performance targets are aggressive
You need static-generated pages with CDN delivery and sub-second loads. Headless + Next.js ISR is this architecture's sweet spot.
Typical architecture
The stack we most commonly ship.
Not the only pattern but a proven one: Sanity + Next.js + Vercel hosting for content-heavy business sites. Everything after that is decoration.
Content hub
Sanity (or Contentful / Strapi)
Editor studio, structured content schemas, API delivery, real-time collaboration
API & middleware
Sanity GROQ / REST / GraphQL
Content delivery API · webhook triggers on publish · edge caching
Frontend framework
Next.js (app router, React 19)
Static generation (ISR), server components, edge runtime where needed
Hosting & CDN
Vercel / Netlify / Cloudflare Pages
Global CDN · auto deploy on git push · preview branches per PR
Analytics & SEO
GA4 + Vercel Analytics + Schema
Server-rendered meta tags, structured data, Core Web Vitals monitoring
Auth (if needed)
Clerk / NextAuth.js / Supabase Auth
User accounts, gated content, role-based dashboards, Stripe subscriptions
Don't chase the trend
When headless is overkill.
Small brochure site
Under 20 pages, single language, no mobile app, no third-party integrations. WordPress or Webflow ships faster and cheaper.
Editorial team of 1-2
The infrastructure cost (dev team, hosting, auth, preview environments) doesn't pay back at small editorial scale.
You don't have dev resource
Headless needs someone to maintain the Next.js/Nuxt frontend. WordPress is forgiving of non-dev maintenance; headless isn't.
Content doesn't need to fan out
If content only ever lives on one website, the multi-channel benefit of headless is moot. You're paying for complexity you don't use.
Frequently asked
Headless CMS questions.
CMS fees vary: Sanity free tier often fits small teams, growth plans €99/mo; Contentful enterprise-scale from €300/mo. Our build cost typically €25,000–€75,000 depending on content model complexity, frontend design scope, and integrations. Quoted per project after scoping.
Related
Related platforms & services
Does headless genuinely fit your content?
Free scoping call — we'll listen to your content shape, channel needs, and team structure, and give a straight answer. If it's not headless, we'll tell you what fits better.
