10 Most Popular Headless CMS Platforms to Use in 2023

With each passing year, digital technology has been in demand for decoupled frameworks and deft work processes intended to decrease time to create and advertise a digital product. And the solution to this need is the best headless CMS platform that empowers organizations to dream and design for any advanced channel via Headless eCommerce CMS.

What is Headless CMS?

A Headless Content Management System is the one that keeps the design of the website or app separate from its content, for easy modification at any point in time. A headless CMS has no presentation layers. Rather, the content is created within the CMS. Later, while designing a website or app development, the front-end developers retrieve this content through APIs, as per whichever front-end technology suits the platform and the client the best. 

How does headless CMS work? Let’s understand this in a simpler way by understanding the comparison between headless CMS vs traditional CMS.

With digital platforms evolving very fast, the need for extremely flexible solutions has emerged. And in this race against time, anything that is traditional has always failed to keep pace. This includes the traditional CMS. As a result of this approach, it suggests that you put the complete content management into one single bucket – that’s having the text content, image, HTML code, CSS, etc. All in one place.

And this factor though had the ease of finding it all in one place but makes it impossible to reuse them as they are co-mingled with codes. In short, the same content cannot adapt to other digital platforms.

But in the case of the headless CMS, the architecture is a decoupled subset that pushes your data or content to any type of platform (mobile sites, apps, digital displays, websites, etc) through APIs. Why is it called a Headless Content Management System? Because its presentation layer is separate from the CMS body, that makes it suitable for any kind of device or platform.

What Are The Benefits of Using Headless CMS Platforms?

1. Fast Editing & Content Delivery

The headless CMS is not a code-based approach. Thus, no time or resources are wasted in content editing and content rendering. Moreover, it requires no reworking, thereby no time-consuming delays. Thereby a very cost-effective content solution in the modern days.

2. Secure Third-party Integrations

In any computer network, business frameworks ought to be pretty much as discrete as conceivable with finely tuned admittance control records (ACLs) to restrict access from different frameworks or clients. Since headless CMS platforms are isolated from the show layer it’s quite secure from cyber assault. Unlike E-commerce platforms, Headless CMS innately depends on various API- based frameworks, which wipes out the chance of a compromised account unleashing total destruction.

3. Flexible API-driven Approach

An adaptable, API-driven CMS permits designers to change innovations and stay future-evidence all the more without any problem. Since most headless CMSs don’t drive engineers into explicit structures, you can utilize whichever will offer the best insight for your clients.

APIs additionally empower a microservices design, which can make parts or administrations simpler to supplant or redesign as vital. This seclusion likewise diminishes the reliance front-end engineers have on back-end engineers with regards to changing subjects or other show prerequisites that can make bottlenecks in the conventional CMS stage.

10 Most Popular Headless CMS Platforms to Use in 2023:

1. Contentful:

Experts assert that Contentful is the best headless eCommerce platform for agile workflows. How? Because it has an instinctive UI and backing for numerous spaces. This can be useful for associations that need separate activities for improvement, arranging, or creation. It additionally gives coordinated, adaptable information models with help for an assortment of information types and content editors like structure fields, a WYSIWYG manager and crude content regions.

Contentful has the ability to coordinate with applications like Dropbox, Jira, Commercetools, Google Analytics and other comparable business instruments. As add ons, Contentful has broad documentation, client guides, and a steady local area to help you discover your path.

2. Strapi:

It is a France-based headless CMS that is free to download. Technically Strapi is an open-source headless CMS built on Node.js that not just builds but also manages multiple APIs. The Strapi admin panel, plugins and asset management are extensible as well as customizable. Additionally, it comes with several security layers including CSRF, CORS, P3P, and XSS.

Strapi Features:

• Cloud Backups
• Cloud Templates
• Content Blocks
• New Theme Picker

3. ButterCMS:

Chicago-based Butter CMS is an API-first CMS that was created in 2014. This headless CMS platform comes with custom page types, social media display, certain necessary webhooks, CDN support, multi-web page support, a testing zone climate as well an administrator interface that can be effectively tweaked.

Butter CMS allows autonomous publishing of the content into a blog stage that you can coordinate into any structure. 

4. Contentstack:

Contentstack is a headless CMS platform that allocates RESTful APIs. It has innovative features like time-to-time content previews, easy and a-click-away collaborations, regular asset management, faster and smooth workflow management, and very detailed versioning.

Contentstack was created by San Francisco-based Built.io. And it comes with easy turnkey integrations for Marketo, Salesforce and Eloqua.

5. GraphCMS:

Successor to REST, this product is based on GraphQL, a data query language. Being GraphQL based gives it the advantage of being able to define networking relations, digital structures, and highly secure permissions of your application data. GraphCMS is a Germany- based Headless CMS example and entered the markets in 2017.

Thus, it is among the latest Headless eCommerce CMS. It comes with customisable text editors, regular asset management, extremely structured workflows, clearly defined user roles, and multi-lingual support.

6. DotCMS:

DotCMS is one of the most sought- after open-source headless e-Commerce CMS developed in 2003 at Miami Florida. 

Being JAVA based iDotCMS has multilingual & multi-tenant capabilities. Its other key features are:

• WYSIWYG editor having the drag-and-drop facility 
• Easy and faster content modelling
• Faster workflow building
• Smoother page layout modification.
• Hosting can be both on-premise, or in the cloud
• Comes with the analytics dashboard
• Personalization, custom endpoint building give it an edge above others
• Secure and easy third-party integration possible with AWS, Docker & Salesforce like mar-tech tools.

DotCMS Features:

• Push Publishing
• Multi-Site Management
• Vanity URLs & URL Rewriting
• URL Maps (Slugs)
• Multilingual Content

7. Coredna:

As per its website, Coredna is the only all-in-one SaaS digital platform that fully integrates Web Content Management, eCommerce management, Intranet facilities as well as digital Marketing into one single headless eCommerce CMS. Its key features:

• Freedom to design any kind of device
• Launch the highly dynamic product in weeks not months
• Integrates marketing, eCommerce and other teams at one single login
• Offers personalised experience to customers
• Future proof, highly secure and seamless exchange of information.

Coredna Features:

• flexible and reusable layouts
• Flexible templates
• workflows and integrations

8. Sitecore:

One of the top Headless CMS examples, Sitecore, claims to integrate data science and marketing technology for shaping your business with an edge above others to give it a great number of new possibilities. Technically, it is a San Francisco-based enterprise suite of solutions. It comes with:

• A vast customizable Content Hub
• A very engaging user Experience Manager
• Easy to integrate Commercial network digital capabilities

9. NetlifyCMS:

It is an open-source headless CMS example for your Git workflow. It claims that it can be integrated with any static site generator for a quicker and more flexible digital project.

Netlify CMS works as a solitary page React application. Make exceptionally styled reviews, UI gadgets, and supervisor modules or add backends to help distinctive Git stage APIs.

10. Sanity.io:

On its website, Sanity.io claims that it is the most flexible Headless CMS Platform for building data-driven content solutions. It boasts of the three key features below:

• Uses structured content: This enables cross-platform, cross-organization integration, to create an all-rounder infrastructure from the best components assembled across the best resources.
• Customizable Collaboration: Sanity Studio claims that it is a real-time toolkit. And by these means, it means that it is highly efficient for creating efficient and secure data-driven applications.
• Developer friendly: Sanity uses known tools, no wonder you feel at home from day one, while developing any kind of digital solution.

The future of e-commerce is going to be decoupled with each passing hour because client requirements have expanded with respect to accessibility, frictionless shopping, speedy availability of products as well as administration quality. This has squeezed retailers and different organizations to convey labor and products as fast as conceivable; the reason why best headless eCommerce CMS and thus, the Best Headless CMS platforms are turning into a necessity.

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