TECH
Vol.118
Y.F
Top 10 Trending Headless CMS in 2021
What is a CMS?
Before diving into headless CMS, let’s first clarify what a CMS is.
CMS stands for “Content Management System,” which refers to a system used to manage and publish content and files.
One of the most well-known examples of a CMS is WordPress. It is an open-source software built with PHP, allowing users to manage content and freely edit collections of templates known as themes. With a CMS, both content and presentation can be managed in an integrated manner.
What is a headless CMS?
Traditional CMS platforms combine a “system” for managing content with a “view” for displaying it.
In the term “headless,” the “head” refers to this “view.” As the name suggests, a headless CMS is a CMS without a view layer.
It provides only backend functionality for managing content, without including themes or CSS that define the visual presentation. This separation allows greater flexibility in how content is delivered and displayed.
Advantages
For example, consider a corporate website where only the “News” section is managed like a blog, while pages such as “Company Overview” and “Services” are not updated frequently.
With WordPress, even content that does not change needs to be managed as “static pages” within the system.
With a headless CMS, you can use the CMS only where necessary, while building other pages without being restricted by it.
This enables full flexibility in choosing platforms and technologies.
In a headless CMS setup, views for desktop, mobile, and applications can each be developed using different technologies. Additionally, because the front end and back end are separated, development and performance optimization—such as handling traffic loads—can be managed independently, leading to improved efficiency.
Disadvantages
However, headless CMS also comes with its drawbacks.
While the high degree of freedom on the front end is an advantage, it also means that everything must be built from scratch. There is no built-in preview environment, so one must be created separately if needed.
Furthermore, since data exchange is API-based, careful attention must be paid to security considerations.
It is important to fully understand both the advantages and disadvantages when deciding to adopt a headless CMS.
10 Noteworthy Headless CMS Options
As you can see, there are a great many headless CMS platforms available today.
Each comes with its own set of characteristics. Here, we’ve selected ten recommended options—focusing on those with large user bases, abundant documentation, and rich functionality that enables a wide range of development possibilities.
Contentful The most widely recognized headless CMS, used by Spotify and WeWork
Contentful can arguably be called the most well-known headless CMS.
It is an API-based cloud service, eliminating the need for server management.
It offers a wide range of features, including automatic image resizing and Markdown support. Its flexibility in development has led to a large user base, which in turn means abundant resources and community-driven modules are available.
While content can be created in Japanese, the management interface itself is not yet fully localized. Additionally, its extensive functionality can make the admin interface somewhat challenging for non-engineers.
MicroCMS A Japan-born headless CMS
Like Contentful, MicroCMS is an API-based cloud service.
As a domestically developed platform, it offers a fully Japanese interface and an easy-to-use admin UI.
Frequent updates from the official team and creators make it easy to find information, and Japanese-language support for inquiries is another significant advantage.
Even the free plan provides a robust set of features.
While some aspects—such as features and official documentation—are still less comprehensive compared to other headless CMS platforms, it is a relatively new service with frequent updates and a publicly available roadmap.
Its responsiveness to user feedback suggests strong potential for continued improvement.
Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) A headless CMS optimized for GraphQL
Hygraph is a headless CMS specialized for leveraging GraphQL, a web API developed by Facebook. Unlike the previous two, it does not provide a RESTful API, but instead offers rich filtering options and batch processing capabilities that maximize GraphQL’s strengths.
It is often compared with REST-focused Contentful, and there are many case studies and articles available, making it easy to gather information.
On the other hand, GraphQL is not well-suited for handling binary data such as video, making it less ideal for complex data modeling.
The service was rebranded from GraphCMS to Hygraph in July 2022.
Strapi A highly extensible headless CMS
Unlike the cloud-based services above, Strapi is a headless CMS that runs on Node.js.
Its “Quick Start” feature allows you to set up a development environment and launch the admin interface with a single command.
It is based on RESTful APIs but can also support GraphQL via official plugins.
With only essential features included by default, additional functionality is added through plugins.
Its high degree of customization—even allowing locally developed plugins—makes it an increasingly popular choice.
However, this flexibility comes with higher complexity and learning costs, making it less suitable for smaller projects.
Netlify CMS A headless CMS integrated with Netlify
Netlify is a service that automatically builds, deploys, and hosts static sites based on source code stored in repositories such as GitHub.
Netlify CMS adds CMS functionality to this ecosystem.
It supports static site generators such as Gatsby and Hugo. When content is edited and saved through the Netlify CMS interface, the site is automatically rebuilt and deployed from the Git repository.
With ready-made templates available, it is possible to launch a site from scratch in just tens of minutes.
Flamelink A headless CMS integrated with Firebase
Flamelink is a headless CMS that uses Firebase—Google’s backend service—as its database.
Firebase offers a wide range of powerful features, including high-speed object-based databases such as Realtime Database and Cloud Firestore.
Flamelink provides a CMS layer that allows anyone to easily manage Firebase data.
It also integrates seamlessly with Google Cloud Platform, which is another major advantage.
Ghost A simple and fast CMS specialized for blogging
Like Strapi, Ghost is an open-source CMS built on Node.js.
It focuses on essential blogging features, resulting in fast performance and a clean, user-friendly admin interface.
Its editor resembles that of WordPress, making it particularly approachable for users familiar with WordPress.
It can be used for free by setting up your own server and database, while paid plans are also available for using hosted infrastructure.
Prismic.io A headless CMS with extensive features available for free
If only one user requires access to the admin panel, most features can be used for free, making it one of the best options for small-scale or personal projects.
The dashboard UI is highly polished and responsive.
However, it does not support Markdown (rich text only), and its tutorials may require slightly more technical understanding compared to other CMS platforms.
CosmicJS A developer-friendly headless CMS
CosmicJS positions itself as a CMS built by developers, for developers, emphasizing simplicity in web development so that creators can focus on content.
It supports both RESTful APIs and GraphQL.
With a powerful API and robust webhook integrations for connecting with other applications, it offers a highly developer-friendly experience.
Directus A CMS focused on database interaction
Directus is software that wraps SQL databases with a RESTful API.
It can be described as a PHP-based headless CMS that transforms database management tools like phpMyAdmin into an API-driven development environment.
Compared to traditional CMS platforms that often impose rigid database structures, Directus allows for more flexible data modeling.
Its database-centric approach enables more efficient development workflows.
Conclusion
Each headless CMS comes with its own strengths and characteristics. Why not explore and adopt the one that best fits your project requirements and environment?
We hope this article serves as a helpful reference in your technology selection process.
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