Headless CMS
A headless CMS is a content management system that separates the content backend from the frontend presentation layer, delivering content via an API to any device or platform.
A headless CMS separates content management from content presentation. Unlike a traditional CMS where the backend (where you write content) and the frontend (what visitors see) are tightly coupled, a headless CMS only handles the backend. It stores and manages content, then delivers it through an API to whatever frontend you choose.
You write the content once, and it can appear anywhere. This is why headless CMSs are also called "API-first" content platforms. Popular headless CMS platforms include Contentful, Strapi, Sanity, Prismic, and Storyblok.
In practice
- A retail brand manages product descriptions in a headless CMS, which feeds content to their website, mobile app, and in-store digital displays simultaneously
- A media company uses a headless CMS to write articles once and publish them to their website, AMP pages, mobile app, and Apple News automatically
- A SaaS company uses Contentful as their headless CMS so their marketing team can update landing pages without needing to deploy code changes
- A global brand manages content in a headless CMS with built-in localization, translating and publishing content in 12 languages from a single interface
More in Web development
- Responsive Design
- Progressive Web App (PWA)
- Single-Page Application (SPA)
- Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
- Static Site Generation (SSG)
- API (Application Programming Interface)
- CMS (Content Management System)
- Version Control
- CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment)
- JavaScript Framework
- TypeScript
- REST API
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