Best headless CMS solutions, types, and use cases
If you are struggling to balance great content with great performance for Next.js applications, then a headless CMS will likely solve many of your problems. You need a CMS platform that empowers your content marketing team while giving your developers the freedom to work on more important tasks than updating the website for basic personalization or AB testing every week.
Over time, content marketing and frontend development needs have evolved, but CMS solutions have not always kept up with the demand. Marketers are looking for a solution that will be easy and encourage them to be as creative as they want or need. At the end of the day, a CMS that simply allows them to place static content on their website isn't helpful. It makes AB testing difficult, so they can't know what works best for their intended clients. They want to test every possibility while being able to tailor their content for each user segment.
On the other hand, developers and designers want to know that no one will break their code or their design every time someone else makes a change. They need something that allows marketers to test content without causing errors on the website. Developers crave constraints on content marketers while still giving them the flexibility to create and test as needed.
If this is also your reality, what you need is a headless CMS that allows all of these different practices and tasks without breaking anything unnecessarily.
Make everyone happy with the tools the growth team loves: dynamic content, personalization, AB testing, and analytics.
What is a headless CMS?
A content management system (CMS) is software that allows users to create and maintain content on websites without the need for any coding work on a daily basis.
A headless CMS is a CMS where the content repository is detached from the presentation layer (the HTML structure and the CSS styles). Content stored in it is delivered via APIs to ensure that it is shown consistently across devices. We call it "headless" because the "body" is disconnected from the presentation layer. Some CMS tools are headless, while others act as a central holding of the whole block for content, structure, and style distribution.
A headless CMS option can often circumvent some of the annoyances caused by "non-headless" CMS platforms that hold content in one location or distribute it to only one specific marketing channel (like a traditional web CMS, for example). A headless CMS gives you the choice of providing content across your digital platforms and displaying it in different channels and layouts since the structure and style of components stay in the source code.
However, different approaches to a headless CMS tool bring us advantages and disadvantages, depending on precisely what you are looking for.
Git-based CMS vs. API-first CMS
Git-based content management systems are based on the git version control system (VCS). It keeps track of your files and their modifications in a repository. It also enables you to branch out, merge, clone, respond to changes, and handle your content with ease. There are all great parts of a functional CMS.
However, when you manage your components in a git-based CMS, it processes (in technical terms, builds) the new or updated content. It creates and refreshes your frontend based on your specific changes. Usually, tech teams manage these applications with git providers such as GitHub and GitLab.
On the other hand, an API-first CMS functions as a single piece of software that serves content via an API. Developers can use the API to create the appropriate frontend, integrate other tools (like AB testing software or personalization engines), or directly manage reactions to make individual updates. In this case, the CMS is in charge of content storage, editing, and overall management, giving you complete control over your content marketing and management process.
In most cases, businesses will benefit more from an API-based headless CMS because it provides everything they need in a more centralized location and has ease-of-use features to match.
Best use cases for a headless CMS
A headless CMS offers flexibility and scalability that makes it ideal for a wide range of use cases across various industries. Here are some of the best scenarios where a headless CMS shines:
E-commerce
In online retail, where product catalogs and marketing content need to be managed across multiple platforms like websites, mobile apps, and even smart devices, a headless CMS provides the ability to push content everywhere at once. Personalizing content for different user segments becomes more accessible with the CMS acting as the central hub.
News and articles
Media outlets and publishers must manage a large volume of content with frequent updates, and this requires a system that can deliver content to multiple channels simultaneously. A headless CMS helps streamline publication across websites, mobile apps, and even social media with minimal friction.
Software with component-based architecture
Development teams working on component-based projects, such as software products or modular websites, benefit from a headless component CMS. This approach stores content separately from the code, making managing and updating individual components easier without affecting the overall structure.
Mobile applications
Content-driven mobile apps can leverage a headless CMS to deliver a seamless and consistent experience across platforms. By separating the content from the frontend, updates can be pushed to both iOS and Android simultaneously without requiring separate builds.
Personalized applications
For companies focused on delivering personalized experiences, a headless CMS integrates well with personalization engines. It allows for real-time, dynamic content tailored to individual users, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.
Headless CMS is widely adopted in cases where managing large-scale, multi-channel content delivery is critical for user experience and operational efficiency. Its flexibility streamlines workflows and offers the adaptability needed for modern digital experiences.
Open-source headless CMS
Open-source CMS platforms provide businesses and developers with complete control over their content management systems. The codebase is freely accessible, allowing for customization, scalability, and community-driven improvements. This flexibility makes these solutions ideal for organizations looking to tailor their digital experiences without the limitations of proprietary systems.
Additionally, the large communities surrounding popular open-source CMS platforms contribute to continuous innovation, security improvements, and feature expansion, giving users access to a wealth of plugins, themes, and integrations. With no licensing fees and full transparency, open-source CMS options like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla empower users to build robust, dynamic websites at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.
Here is a complete list of the best open-source CMS solutions on the market.
Composable headless CMS
That's another common term associated with headless CMS. A composable CMS is a modular system that allows businesses to select and integrate best-of-breed services to build their own tailored digital experience platform.
Instead of relying on a single monolithic CMS that controls everything, a composable CMS breaks down the content management process into individual components—such as content creation, personalization, e-commerce, and analytics—that can be assembled and customized based on specific needs.
This approach offers good flexibility, enabling teams to choose the tools that best fit their workflows, scale their content operations more efficiently, and adapt to changing business requirements without being locked into a single vendor's ecosystem, but is has it's drawbacks when it comes to costs and resources.
How a headless CMS improves collaboration between marketers and developers
Using an API-first headless CMS gives you access to features git doesn't provide. It's considerably more scalable, capable of powering various frontends, and even integrating with unique consumer products like smart speakers. If you have the time and the correct tools, you can achieve almost anything using APIs.
An API-based headless CMS saves time and decreases friction to get content created, optimized, and pushed out without messing with any code. For marketers, it means getting the right content in the right place at the right time, taking less time, and far less work. As for developers, it means not spending time on not-challenging adjustments that some changes may imply.
Big news for Next.js users! Our new SDK simplifies integration, supports server-side & client-side rendering, and more.
Headless CMS for Next.js applications
Next.js is a React framework that prides itself on flexibility and provides the building blocks for creating fast web applications.
It takes care of the React tools and settings and content structure, functionality, and optimizations for your website. You can start with React to create your user interface and use Next.js functionalities to handle typical application needs. It includes routing, data fetching, and integrations while enhancing the SEO performance and end-user experience.
Next.js enables you to create and use functionalities such as generating static websites and server-side rendering for React-based web applications. This makes it a perfect pairing for a headless CMS.
Traditional React applications are Single Pages, which means that just a single HTML file exists. Each different page is rendered in the browser, simulating page navigation client-side at exploring time. In other words, the website pages are dynamically rendered by the client while the user is browsing. Consequently, web crawlers cannot index them easily because they technically do not exist. This is a huge problem in terms of SEO.
Unlike client-side rendered applications, server-side rendered applications have one file per page, which means that each page exists before being rendered on the client side. Therefore, web crawlers can effortlessly index them by considering their original content. So, Next.js is naturally an excellent tool for achieving great SEO performance.
You can find an entire guide about SEO on their official website.
Main headless CMS platforms for Next.js
Several API-first headless CMS platforms and tools are on the market, each with its pros and cons. In this article, you'll find a complete updated list of the best headless CMS solutions in the market for Next.js applications.
Main drawbacks of a traditional headless CMS
Even with all the advantages of a headless CMS, most platforms still lack one key feature: neither provides an easy way to personalize or AB test content for different segments simultaneously. Ultimately, you have one unique piece of content and a static website that serves all your users non-exclusively.
When content speaks specifically to certain user segments, it is far more likely to drive up engagement and increase sales. That is the power of personalizing your content. The ability to AB test your hypothesis means you will always be able to generate and show only the highest-performing content on your website, which will significantly boost your positioning.
This is where Croct comes in.
We offer many of these same features while still focusing on both personalization for various user segments and AB testing to push the best content for your marketing. We call it a personalization management system (PMS).
What is a personalization management system?
A personalization management system is an integrated software solution that enables marketers to manage and deliver personalized messages, campaigns, and interactive experiences to consumers across different communications channels and devices.
The term PMS is derived from CMS and is the key component in personalized marketing. It offers an empowering way for digital marketers to tailor customer preferences and behaviors in the digital age. Advanced personalization involves highly intelligent, real-time systems that automatically use customer data to provide interactions consistent with the person’s previous actions. These intelligent real-time systems make it possible to dynamically tailor communications content to meet an individual's particular needs.
Wrapping up
There are plenty of great headless CMS platforms on the market. It can be challenging to decide which one will work for your marketing and development needs. We hope this guide has given you some more information on what to look for and helped you understand a bit about what Croct does to help you face your challenges.
If you are looking for a complete and easy-to-use platform, create your free account and explore Croct by yourself.