12 Best Headless CMS Software Platforms - Choose The Top Solution

To mark their online presence, companies have to find solutions to publish their content. One common approach is using a Content Management System (CMS), which may also serve as an integral part of the Jamstack approach to web development. The latest research shows the dynamic growth of this technology, as there are already 50% more Jamstack websites in 2021 than there were in 2020.

Top Headless CMS Solutions - Go Popular or Niche Way?

To understand the meaning of headless architecture, you need to consider the pros and cons of different headless CMS options. Finding the right one for your business can be tricky. Do you go for the most popular tools, or do you opt for the niche ones? In this article, we will explore this topic in depth and see which solutions suit different types of businesses.

More attractive price

As some tools are getting popular, usually their rates go higher. Moreover, their trial plans are typically less generous than the ones offered by less-known tools.

Higher engagement

While it is true that more experienced companies tend to provide better customer care, there’s still the risk of low engagement in their customer queries.

The headless architecture industry has been growing very fast and, therefore, the more popular companies didn’t have much time to prepare for the increased number of users.

While this is not a rule, there’s a chance their response to your queries might be unsatisfactory. Not-so-popular headless CMS tend to cherish each cooperation with their users more and therefore might be much more willing to help, not to mention potentially quicker reaction times.

Ideal for non-standard projects

The most popular headless CMS provides a lot of freedom and allows you to achieve a wide variety of results.

However, sometimes you will want a much more customized solution when, due to business needs, the necessity to use a niche technology or the desire to provide a really distinctive user experience is critical. This is where less popular headless CMS comes to the rescue.

Openness to feedback

Last but not least, the lesser-known companies are much more open to any feedback you give them. Their goal is, in the end, to reach the popularity of the competition, and the best way to achieve it is the customer satisfaction rate.

Factors to Consider Choosing The Best Headless CMS For E-commerce

Selecting the right headless CMS for your business involves considering several key factors that ensure it meets your needs today and as your business scales.

Here's a concise guide:

• Scalability - Look for a CMS capable of adapting to your business growth, enabling the addition of functionalities, and handling increased traffic without compromising on performance.

• Customization - Choose a content management system compatible with powerful JavaScript frameworks like Next.js or Gatsby.js. This ensures the ability to create a highly customizable front end that resonates with your brand identity and user engagement strategies.

• Security - Prioritize a CMS that enhances security through the separation of the front and back ends. Features such as role-based access control, data encryption, and regular updates are essential for protecting your content and user data.

• Functionality - Ensure the CMS offers comprehensive features for content management, including content modeling, versioning, workflow management, and media handling, to streamline your content processes efficiently.

• Integration - The content management solution should facilitate easy integration with third-party services and tools, enabling you to leverage existing technologies and enhance your digital ecosystem effectively.

• Pricing - Evaluate the pricing structure carefully. It should align with your budget and business objectives, offering a balance between cost and the value provided, considering licensing, hosting, and support services.

Incorporating these will guide you to a headless CMS solution that not only fits your current requirements but also supports your long-term digital strategy.

12 Most Popular Headless CMS Software Platforms To Check Out

Now that you know what a headless CMS is and why it might be beneficial to choose less popular ones, let’s take a deeper look at what are the advantages and disadvantages of several options on the following list.

1. Storyblok

Storyblok is the world's first interface-free headless CMS that works for developers and business users. On their site, we can find that over 68,000 developers and marketers use Storyblok's CMS to deliver content experiences on any platform: corporate websites, e-commerce sites, mobile applications, and screens.

Benefits

• It offers a free trial that is relatively generous

• It is a SaaS service that comes with advantages specific to this type of product (accessibility, convenient management, scalability, increased security)

• Very accessible prices for their plans

Disadvantages

• Cloud-only solution

• It needs some development when it comes to customization

2. ButterCMS

Butter CMS charms both web developers and content creators with its ease of use. The software developers have taken care not to overload the headless CMS with functions, which is why it acts relatively quickly.

In addition, Butter CMS comes with more useful functions. For example, support for search engine optimization (SEO) is part of the scope of delivery. Butter CMS is only available in a cloud version and thus under a SaaS model. A free version is offered, but this may only be used for non-commercial projects. It's also an example of an API-driven headless CMS.

Features

• Complex & professional support for SEO

• Cloud management

• Its interface is administration-targeted

Benefits

• It is a SaaS headless CMS that comes with advantages specific to this type of product (accessibility, convenient management, scalability, increased security)

• Quick setting up & integration

• Easy to use

• Supports SEO

Disadvantages

• The free plan isn’t very generous and might be reduced further in the future

3. Magnolia

Programmed in Java, this headless Content Management System focuses on scalability. In general, however, Magnolia is aimed at large companies that want to realize an extensive web presence. The headless CMS is therefore only one of the solutions offered. An open-source version is available, but its range of functions is severely limited compared to the paid version. On their official website, we can find that 400+ market leaders have already built their digital experiences with Magnolia.

Features

• Allows you to publish content without being tied to a specific visual template or frontend structure

• Offers backend content management capabilities through advanced visual editing tools, for a simplified content management and editing process, as well as a better creation experience

Benefits

• Allows scalability & extensibility, which is much appreciated by the users

• It is a SaaS headless CMS that comes with advantages specific to this type of product (accessibility, convenient management, scalability, increased security)

Disadvantages

• It’s an advanced tool that can seem complicated to use at times. Therefore, it demands an experienced team of developers

• As a result of its extensity, there are some concerns about how the price might increase in the future

4. Directus

Directus is one of the particularly simple Content Management Systems. Due to the intuitive interface, beginners can work well with this system. This open-source tool scores particularly well with its comment and note function, which proves to be very useful. In addition, files can be uploaded and managed via Directus. Users do not have to worry about data loss either, as the tool tracks all activities, with rollbacks possible at any time. On their official website, we can read that more than 4,600 users are now in their community.

Features

• User-defined SQL databases in connection with a dynamic API (Application Programming Interface)

• Open-source & free self-hosting or, alternatively, its own on-demand cloud service

• Comment & note function (very intuitive, according to developers)

• File upload & management

Benefits

• Not many other CMS allow uploading and managing files

• Free community cloud service; no artificial limitations or paywalls (e.g. Standard Cloud starts at $25 a month with no quotas, and there's a completely free Cloud Tier available)

• No risk of losing data, as Directus always tracks all activities

Disadvantages

• Some issues with the pre-uploading of big video files

5. Gather Content

GatherContent CMS is designed for large teams that produce a lot of content for web projects. Thousands of design agencies and large internal development teams use it worldwide. On their website, we can find that over 100,000 websites launched with the use of these services.

Features:

• Access Controls and Permissions

• Version management

• Document management

• Workflow Management

• Text formatting

• Customizable templates

• Collaboration tools

Benefits

• Designed to be an easy & intuitive tool for companies working with a huge amount of content

• As it’s fairly new to the market, its pricing is very accessible

Disadvantages

• Not suitable for teams that don’t manage big amount of projects

• Because of the little experience this company has, the customer care might be a little sloppy sometimes

6. Pimcore

Pimcore is the leading open-source digital experience management platform used more than 80,000 times by leading companies around the world (Pimcore, 2022). It is a consolidated platform of content, community, and commerce applications across every customer interaction.

It integrates Product Information Management (PIM)/Master Data Management (MDM), Digital Asset Management (DAM), Web Content Management System (CMS), and e-commerce capabilities into a single open-source suite. It’s not a CMS at its core, however, it can be transformed into one with developers’ work.

Features

• Content library with cataloging and categorization

• Data quality control

• Many options for managing content

• Third-party integrations

• Collaboration Tools

Benefits

• The possibility of choosing a free plan

• It has quite a big community of users, which can share useful knowledge and support on some issues

• Pimcore is appreciated for its quick and reliable customer care

Disadvantages

• It’s quite pricey for a solution that is not popular yet, however, you can modify your plan

7. Statamic

Statamic is a flat-file CMS powered by Laravel. Contrary to its most direct competitor, October, Statamic seems to be more accomplished as a full product. What’s most interesting, however, is that even though Statamic is a three-person team, there are nearly 30,000 registered Statamic developers (Statamic, 2022).

Features

• Access Controls/Permissions

• Electronic forms

• Versioning

• Text formatting

• Customizable templates

• Content publishing options

• Full-text search

Benefits

• Very accessible pricing

• Easy installation and integration with other tools

• A sleek, modern interface

Disadvantages

• The communication style of this company is sometimes questionable: not every team will like it

• Functionalities could still be developed and improved

8. Dato CMS

This is an open-source web content management for businesses and professionals. This software package is commonly used by small and medium-sized businesses, as well as by companies in the Services and Tertiary sectors.

Features

• Online assistance, e.g. forum, tutorials

• Technical support via phone, mail, and chat

Benefits

• The DatoCMS software comes with a private cloud and custom SLAs

• Easy and efficient access to support and customer care

Disadvantages

• The interface could be more user-friendly

9. Amplience

Amplience is an API-driven headless CMS for B2C and B2B businesses. It allows the creation of dynamic content and experience at scale without developer intervention. Amplience serves over 350 of the world's leading brands including Crate & Barrel, Tumi, Traeger Grills, Argos, OTTO Group, Primark, and Very Group (Amplience, 2022).

Features

• Convenient access Controls/Permissions

• Electronic forms & customizable templates

• Version, workflow & document management

• Many accessible content publishing options

Benefits

• Allows the planning, creation, and delivery of content from one place with previews across multiple contexts and channels.

• No need to have experienced developers on the team to manage content

Disadvantages

• It’s mostly suited for bigger projects, and the plan rates indicate that as well

• Not suitable for projects that are not primarily focused on B2C or B2B cooperation

10. Plasmic

Being a slightly different product on this list, Plasmic allows developers to build websites with easy-to-grasp, visual tools and methods.

Features

• Visual toolset

• Has an optimization section that helps with the growth of the website

Benefits

• No need to work with experienced developers, as Plasmic is very intuitive and allows for projects to be created via an easy & visual toolset

• Greatly helps with improving optimization and page visibility

Disadvantages

• It’s unique and therefore not every team will like it, as it’s a very visual tool that is less focused on the extensive functionality of a website

11. Enonic

Enonic is a modern content platform and headless CMS navigating the high wire between developer freedom and editorial power usage. With Enonic, there are many ways to reach Rome. Use it as a digital experience platform with templates and landing pages, use it as a purely headless CMS to create, curate, and distribute structured content to any channel, or use it as a mixture wholly dependent on your requirements.

Due to its decoupled nature, developers can use Enonic with their favorite front-end frameworks and tools – like the Next.js integration that showcases server-side rendering with React. On the other side, content editors can work in a familiar and efficient environment, complete with tree structure, visual page editing, and in-context previews.

Features

• Open source

• Can be hosted by Enonic, in any cloud or on-premise

• Flexible schema system

• GraphQL API

Benefits

• User-friendly editorial environment

• SEO support

• Use any front-end

• SDK and CLI get developers started quickly

Disadvantages

• The Enonic platform does not offer any out-of-the-box functionality for eCommerce, AB testing, or personalization – instead encourages integration with “best of breed” vendors

• There is no free alternative in the Enonic Cloud (besides a trial)

12. Sanity

Sanity is an open-source headless CMS used by over 100,000 people around the world. It’s a common, frequent choice of companies that want to benefit especially from data-driven content solutions and, thus, the creation of dynamic, interactive, and highly customizable websites, platforms and apps.

Sanity is used by Nike, Figma, Remarkable, Cloudflare, or Sonos.

Features

• A tool designed to be highly flexible and extensible

• Highly customizable either by using plugins or by writing your own React components

• Content treated structurally, as data

• WYSIWYG rich text editor

• Real-time collaboration for content teams

• Group posting

• The Sanity Studio is an open-source React app

Benefits:

• Ultra-friendly for users

• The workflow is nice and steady

• Great documentation and data model

• Easy to integrate with

• Gives great freedom to developers

• Schemas are easy to write and they’re included in the code

Disadvantages:

• Not very great for developers working simultaneously (independent work on code isn’t time-efficient)

• Requires advanced skillset to organize the CMS

• The priority to use GROQ, a Sanity-specific language, instead of industry-standard GraphQL (can be seen as an advantage, though)

Expert Insights on Choosing the Best Headless CMS For Your E-commerce Business

Whichever headless CMS you choose, do it thoroughly and comprehensively - it will pay off.

The above list isn't exhaustive - you're free to choose from over 100 headless content management systems present on the market.

At Naturaily, we happily make things easier for you by doing an analysis of your business needs and requirements. On this basis, we present you with recommended options, tailored to the goals you determined or pain points you'd like to tackle.

Just drop us a line and we'll do the magic!