What is a 'Headless' CMS?
A headless Content Management System decouples content creation and storage from content presentation, providing content through APIs rather than rendering web pages directly. Unlike traditional CMS platforms like WordPress that tightly couple content management with themes and page rendering, headless CMS platforms focus solely on content infrastructure, leaving presentation entirely to developers. This architectural shift reflects modern web development's move toward separate frontend and backend systems.
Traditional CMS platforms bundle everything: content storage, administration interfaces, templating engines, and frontend delivery. This works well for simple websites but becomes limiting when you need to deliver content across multiple channels - web, mobile apps, IoT devices, or digital signage. Each platform might require different formatting, features, or interaction patterns that a traditional CMS struggles to accommodate.
Headless CMS platforms like Strapi, Contentful, or Sanity provide content through RESTful or GraphQL APIs. Content creators still get user-friendly interfaces for managing content, but developers gain complete freedom in how that content is consumed and displayed. You might build a React website, a Vue.js progressive web app, native mobile applications, and an Alexa skill all consuming the same content API. This flexibility extends to technology choices - you're not locked into PHP because you chose WordPress or Ruby because you chose a traditional Rails CMS.
The trade-off is increased complexity. Developers must build the entire presentation layer, handle routing, implement preview functionality, and manage deployments separately. There's no installing a theme and calling it done. However, for projects requiring multi-channel delivery, sophisticated user experiences, or specific technology stacks, headless CMS platforms provide the flexibility and scalability that traditional CMS platforms cannot match. They represent a shift from monolithic systems to modular architectures that better align with modern development practices.