The way we manage and deliver digital content is rapidly evolving. Today, one of the most crucial decisions businesses must make is selecting the right content management system (CMS). At the centre of this crucial decision is a growing debate that can no longer be overlooked: headless CMS vs traditional CMS.
Traditional CMSs, particularly WordPress, have long been the go-to for developers and content teams, but the emergence of headless has provided a broader range of options and the freedom to choose based on the specific needs of your business.
This guide explores the key differences between traditional and headless CMSs, the unique benefits of each, and how to decide which approach is best for you.
What is a traditional CMS?
A traditional CMS allows users to create, manage and publish content via an all-in-one platform. With a traditional CMS, content is typically published for a website, combining both the backend, where content is created and stored, and the frontend, which is what users see when they visit the website.
One of the key differences traditional CMS and headless CMS is that traditional CMS utilises set themes and templates, generally meaning websites can be built quicker and with less effort.
Ease of use, particularly for non-technical users, has made traditional CMSs like WordPress immensely popular.
Whilst alternatives like headless are becoming increasingly popular, around 533 million websites are still built on WordPress, which accounts for 43.5% of all global websites.
What is a headless CMS?
A headless CMS, unlike a traditional CMS, is a backend-only system that manages and stores content without a built-in presentation layer (a website). Instead of combining content management and website display, it delivers content via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to any platform, not exclusively websites. However, many headless CMSs still have a visual editor that connects to the backend via APIs, allowing you to visually edit content that's stored separately, with changes sent back to the backend for independent display on any platform.
With headless, content can also be delivered to mobile apps, smart devices, and other digital displays.
The lack of set themes and templates means developers have more freedom to create custom frontends designed around the business’s needs.
This opens the door to a wealth of creative possibilities and advantages, with headless CMS being a more adaptable and future-proof approach to web projects.
These advantages have contributed to headless CMSs rapidly growing in popularity.
A survey of 1,015 IT and marketing professionals found 73% of all businesses surveyed are currently using headless website architecture, representing a 14% increase from 2021 and a nearly 40% increase from 2019.
Traditional vs Headless CMS. What’s best?
Choosing between a headless or traditional CMS depends entirely on your organisation’s specific needs. A traditional CMS may be suitable for relatively simple websites where ease of setup and an entirely unified system can be prioritised. Alternatively, if you require more flexibility, content delivery across multiple channels, and custom frontends to meet your complex requirements, a headless CMS will often be the best solution.
If you’re still unsure what would be best for you, take a closer look at the advantages of both approaches.
Advantages of a traditional CMS
The popularity of traditional CMS shows it provides a practical and streamlined way of managing a website. Here are some of the key advantages:
- All-in-One Solution – A traditional CMS handles both content management and website presentation, allowing you to manage everything from one location.
- User-Friendly – Designed with non-developers in mind, traditional CMSs often feature visual editors, drag-and-drop functionality, enabling content creation without the need for extensive technical expertise.
- Quick Setup – It’s easy to launch a website quickly without needing to build everything from scratch thanks to the availability of set themes, templates, and plugins.
- Cost-Effective – Less web development time naturally leads to lower costs, making traditional CMS a budget-friendly option.
Strong Community Support – Popular platforms like WordPress have large user communities, leading to a wealth of documentation, tutorials, plugins, and forums that provide inspiration and help you resolve common issues. - Large Choice of Agencies – Due to CMSs such as WordPress being so popular, there are a large number of WordPress web design agencies to choose from. A market with high competition often means higher-quality services.
Advantages of a headless CMS
By separating content management from presentation, headless CMSs offer a wealth of advantages over traditional CMSs, such as:
- Flexibility – Content is delivered via APIs, allowing it to be displayed on any frontend, whether it’s a website, mobile app, or even a smart device. This way, content can be delivered to the user via the most suitable channel and in the way that best meets their needs.
Multi-channel Publishing – Content is still managed from a central location and can be reused seamlessly across multiple platforms. Content can be delivered and updated cohesively, ensuring consistency across multiple channels. WP Engine's 2024 "State of Headless" report found 82% of respondents confirmed it simplifies consistent content experiences and 80% agreed it allows for efficient content reuse across channels. - Competitive Edge from Developer Freedom – Developers are free to harness the full extent of their technical expertise using any framework or technology stack, enabling more customised and modern user experiences that offer an edge over competitors. 80% of surveyed companies feel they're ahead of competitors in delivering new digital experiences, with nearly 70% citing competitiveness as a top benefit of using headless.
- Better Performance – With the frontend and backend being separated, the entire system is more lightweight, potentially resulting in faster load times and more optimised websites and apps. This is a result of limiting unnecessary server requests and streamlining content delivery.
- Scalability – Headless systems make it easier to scale content delivery and integrate with other tools and services, giving you a system that adapts as your needs grow. 79% of headless users rated their ability to scale as good, versus 62% of those who haven’t converted to headless. Additionally, 90% of headless adopters effectively manage change, compared to 76% who haven't switched. Such adaptability is crucial, as over 83% of respondents deem digital experiences essential for their success.
- Future-Proof – New developments are constantly emerging and headless CMSs are better suited to accommodating them, helping ensure your system doesn’t fall behind in the future. This is supported by survey respondents, with over 70% citing enhanced technology and innovation as top benefits, including over 20% specifically for AI integrations. Other key tools like analytics (43%), security (42%), and CRM (41%) can also be seamlessly integrated.
- Robust Security – Separating the CMS from the presentation layer (often the website) offers several security benefits. The system is less vulnerable, limiting the risk posed by malicious attackers. Security measures can be more granular, helping to protect sensitive data regardless of platform. 42% of respondents integrate security software with their headless architecture setups.
- Improved Customer Experience and Efficiency – Scalability, optimal performance, bespoke experiences, creative freedom, and consistent content delivery all enhance both user experience and efficiency, as supported by 49% of report respondents. Likewise, 30% emphasise time-saving and increased efficiency, empowering teams to innovate more effectively.
Headless CMS examples.
With so many headless CMSs to choose from, identifying the right one depends on your organisation’s unique needs and goals. Take a look at some of the popular choices:
Storyblok
Storyblok combines a visual editor with a component-based structure, making it easy for marketers to manage content without relying on developers. Its intuitive interface and AI tools streamline content creation across platforms
Key benefits: Visual editor, marketer-friendly, component-based, AI-powered
Sanity
Sanity is a developer-first platform known for its high level of customisability and features that allow for collaboration in real time.
Key benefits: Developer-centric, highly customisable
Hygraph
Hygraph is a GraphQL-native CMS built for handling complex data and relationships. It's particularly well-suited to enterprises needing scalable solutions with strong compliance.
Key benefits: GraphQL-native, complex data, enterprise-level compliance.
Contentful
Contentful offers a powerful CMS ideal for enterprises, with a focus on efficient content production and collaboration. Its integrations and AI-driven features make it suitable for businesses managing content at a large scale and across multiple channels.
Key benefits: Enterprise-grade, content production-focused, AI-driven, integration-rich.
How to make the right choice between headless or traditional CMS.
Ultimately, the headless CMS Vs traditional CMS matchup is decided by the unique needs of your organisation.
Both are viable options under particular circumstances, but it’s important you thoroughly assess which is best suited to your requirements.
To determine the best option, you should consider the following questions:
- Budget: Do you have the financial resources to fund a complex system?
- Timescale: Will your business suffer significantly if it takes a relatively long time to create your platform?
Your team’s technical ability: Which type of CMS is your internal team most familiar with, assess your team's CMS familiarity and adaptability to new systems. While some headless platforms like Sanity are developer-centric, others, such as Storyblok, offer intuitive visual editors for marketers. However, our agency provides comprehensive onboarding and ongoing support to ensure all users can effectively utilise Hygraph's capabilities. - Future growth: Have you planned for significant changes later down the line, or is it likely you’ll need to adapt to unforeseen developments? You must determine what your priorities are. A headless CMS is designed for flexibility and adaptation thanks to the decoupled architecture, making it suitable if you expect to make major updates in the future.
- Audience needs: Do you have more than one type of target audience, with each requiring different types of content across various channels?
Once you’ve answered those questions, you’ll have strong idea of whether headless or traditional CMS is best for you, but that’s only half the debate.
You’ll then need to determine which individual CMS is best for you. There’s a huge range of both headless and traditional CMSs available.
We’ve assessed which is the best headless CMS in another article, but start by taking a look at these comparative tables, outlining some of the most popular headless and traditional CMSs.
Traditional CMS comparison table
| Criterion | WordPress | Drupal | Squarespace | Wix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Easiest for beginners, simple dashboard. | Very easy to use for marketers managing content but a steeper learning curve for developers, requires sophisticated tech skills. | Very easy, click-and-build, limited options. | Very easy, drag-and-drop, simple to start. |
| Flexibility & Customisation | Very flexible with add-ons, but they can become difficult to manage depending on the number used and their quality. | Most flexible, can build almost anything complex. | Less flexible, mostly stick | Good for looks, but harder to make significant changes because it prioritises ease of use over complete flexibility and developer control. |
| Speed & Performance | Can be fast, but heavily depends on how it's set up, maintained, and the choices made regarding themes, plugins, and hosting. | Can be very fast if set up well. | Usually fast. Squarespace's underlying infrastructure and automated processes are designed to deliver content quickly so you don’t have to focus as much on performance. | Okay speed, can slow down if you add too much. |
| Scalability | Can grow big, so needs good hosting and maintenance. | Best for larger, complex websites. | Good for small to medium sites, not huge ones. | Good for small to medium sites, not complex growth. |
| Community & Ecosystem | Huge help community, tons of add-ons. | Strong tech community, good for developers. | Help mainly from Squarespace, fewer add-ons. | Help from Wix, growing app store. |
| Cost | Software is free; pay for hosting and extras. | Software is free; often costs more for setup. | Monthly/yearly fee, includes everything. | Free to try; need to pay for a fully functional website. |
| Security | Needs care (updates, good plugins) to be secure. | Very secure, built for safety. | Squarespace handles security, generally safe. | Wix handles security, generally safe. |
| Future Proofing | Likely to be around for a long time, adapts. | Very future-proof, adapts to new tech. | Depends on Squarespace keeping up. | Depends on Wix keeping up; hard to move away. |
Headless CMS comparison table
| Criterion | Storyblok | Hygraph | Sanity | Contentful |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Top for visual page building ("what you see is what you get"). Marketer-friendly. | Intuitive UI, drag-and-drop schema. Initial learning curve for advanced features; less intuitive for non-technical users. | Developers praise ease of understanding. Initial learning curve. Customisation for non-developers requires dedication. | Incredibly easy to use, simple onboarding for editors. Multi-level nesting/navigation in traditional UI can be less intuitive. |
| Flexibility & Customisation | Component-based architecture, aligns with frontend. Highly flexible for omnichannel. | Robust content modelling, GraphQL-native for complex data. Seamless API integration. | Developer-centric, ultimate content editing customisation via React-based Studio ("schema-in-code"). Highly extensible. | API-first for seamless integrations, flexible, and composable. Limited third-party integrations/security plugins. |
| Speed & Performance | Reliable performance, fast visual content delivery. | Optimised for performance, especially with GraphQL for large-scale data. | Excellent scalability via its "Content Lake" for flexible data. Built to handle high volumes of content and traffic effortlessly. Optimised for performance. | Enterprise-grade performance, built for high-volume delivery. UI can be slow for very large content spaces. |
| Scalability | Reliable scalability, adheres to industry standards. Significant capacity leaps in paid plans. | Shines for large-scale data, GraphQL-native. Scalable for complex content needs. | Excellent scalability via "Content Lake" for flexible data. Handles increasing content/traffic. | Enterprise-grade scalability, built for high-volume delivery. |
| Community & Ecosystem | Strong developer freedom. Growing partner network. Comprehensive App Directory. | Strong support, robust plugin ecosystem, API extensibility via webhooks. | Supportive community, generous free tier. Vibrant Discord. Extensible via starters, plugins. | Vast marketplace of apps. API-first for seamless integrations. Extensive partner network. |
| Cost | Visual Editor offers exceptional value. Tiered: Free, Growth (€99/month), Growth Plus (€349/month), Enterprise (custom, from €3,300/month). | Flexible with billable add-ons. Tiered: Free, Professional (€299/month), Scale (€799/month), Enterprise (custom). Pricing can be a consideration. | Generous free tier. Tiered: Free, Growth (€15/seat/month), Enterprise (custom/user/month). Cost-effective prototyping. | Tiered: Free, Basic (€300/month), Premium (custom/year, average €81,000/year). Studio app may be extra. |
| Security | Reliable security; decoupled architecture. OWASP best practices, data encryption, RBAC, 2FA. GDPR/EU-U.S. DPF compliant. | Strong SOC 2 Type 2 & GDPR compliance. ISO 27001 certified infrastructure. Sandbox, audit logs, SSO. | Robust security, strong access control, data integrity. Reduces attack surface. Public/private datasets. | Enterprise-grade security. Extensive compliance (SOC 2, GDPR). RBAC, encryption, audit logs. |
| Future Proofing | Omnichannel consistency, adaptable, supports personalisation. Not locked into single frontend. | MACH certified, future-proof, composable. Easily integrates with preferred tools. Content Federation. | Future-proof architecture; easy integration of new tech. Unmatched flexibility for current/future channels. | Leverages AI/ML for personalisation. Content hubs, e-commerce integration, edge computing optimisation. |
Need a headless CMS agency?
As a specialist headless CMS agency, our expert web developers know how to get the very best out of emerging platforms like Storyblok, Hygraph, Sanity, and Contentful, helping to create a system designed around your unique needs.
Alternatively, if ease-of-use is a priority for you, we’re also vastly experienced in building beautiful, high-performing websites on traditional CMSs like WordPress and Drupal. Request a free consultation today.
