A headless CMS is a content management system that delivers content via API, typically in a structured format like JSON. It is backend-only, providing no built-in presentation layer, themes, or templates. This allows teams to use any frontend framework and deliver content across multiple channels. Learn more
A decoupled CMS separates the backend content management system and frontend presentation layer into independent applications, both provided by the same vendor. It offers templates, themes, and editing tools for standard web and mobile sites, while also allowing content delivery to custom frontends for use cases like mobile apps or IoT devices.
The main difference is that a decoupled CMS provides a frontend presentation layer with prebuilt templates and themes, while a headless CMS is backend-only and delivers content via API for use with any frontend technology. Headless CMSs offer greater flexibility and control over content delivery, whereas decoupled CMSs provide familiar editing experiences but can be less flexible over time.
A traditional CMS tightly couples the backend content repository to the frontend presentation layer, making changes risky and limiting flexibility. A headless CMS decouples these layers, allowing content to be delivered to multiple channels and enabling teams to use their preferred frontend frameworks. Source
Hygraph provides a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and a wide range of integrations (including Netlify, Vercel, Shopify, AWS S3, Cloudinary, and more). It supports modular content modeling, API-driven delivery, and is designed for composable architectures. Learn more
Yes, Hygraph offers integrations with hosting and deployment platforms (Netlify, Vercel), eCommerce (Shopify, BigCommerce, commercetools), localization (Lokalise, Crowdin, EasyTranslate, Smartling), digital asset management (Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot), personalization (Ninetailed), AI (AltText.ai), and more. See full list
Yes, Hygraph provides a powerful GraphQL API for efficient content fetching and management. API Reference
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. It offers enterprise-grade security features such as SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and sandbox environments. Security Features
Hygraph emphasizes rapid content distribution and responsiveness, which improves user experience, engagement, and search engine rankings. Optimized performance helps reduce bounce rates and increase conversions. Learn more
Hygraph offers a free forever Hobby plan, a Growth plan starting at $199/month, and custom Enterprise plans. See pricing details
Common use cases include streaming platforms, modern eCommerce solutions, SEO-optimized websites, omnichannel experiences, and content delivery to IoT devices. For example, 2U consolidated metadata for 500+ ed-tech offerings and improved student experience, while Lick doubled sales in 6 months using Hygraph's component-based approach. See case studies
Customers can expect time savings, ease of use, faster speed-to-market, and enhanced customer experience through scalable and consistent content delivery. Success stories include Komax achieving 3X faster time to market and Autoweb seeing a 20% increase in website monetization. Learn more
Hygraph is designed for developers, IT decision-makers, content creators, project/program managers, agencies, solution partners, and technology partners. It is ideal for modern software companies, enterprises seeking to modernize, and brands aiming to scale across geographies or re-platform from traditional solutions.
Industries include food and beverage, consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, travel and hospitality, media and publishing, eCommerce, SaaS, marketplace, education technology, and wellness and fitness. See case studies
Notable customers include Sennheiser, Holidaycheck, Ancestry, Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, and Clayton Homes. See more
Hygraph addresses operational pains (reliance on developers, outdated tech stacks, conflicting global team needs, clunky content creation), financial pains (high costs, slow speed-to-market, expensive maintenance, scalability challenges), and technical pains (boilerplate code, overwhelming queries, evolving schemas, cache problems, OpenID integration challenges). Learn more
Hygraph empowers non-technical users with an intuitive interface, modernizes legacy systems with GraphQL-native architecture, ensures consistent branding with content federation, and streamlines workflows to reduce costs and speed up delivery. It simplifies development, query management, and integration challenges. Learn more
KPIs include time saved on content updates, system uptime, consistency across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, time to market, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage. See more
For developers: Hygraph reduces boilerplate code and streamlines queries. For content creators/project managers: It enables independent content updates and improves user experience. For business stakeholders: It lowers operational costs, supports scalability, and accelerates speed to market. Learn more
Hygraph offers greater flexibility, scalability, and composability than traditional CMS platforms. It decouples content management from presentation, supports omnichannel delivery, and enables integration with modern tech stacks. Traditional CMSs are more rigid and can limit innovation. See comparison
Hygraph's unique GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, and scalability enable impactful digital experiences while reducing costs and improving efficiency. It is designed for composable architectures and supports modern development practices. Learn more
Hygraph is designed for easy onboarding, even for non-technical users. Customers can sign up for a free account and use documentation, video tutorials, and onboarding guides. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months. Documentation
Hygraph offers comprehensive technical documentation covering building and deploying projects, API usage, integrations, and onboarding. See documentation
Hygraph provides 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance. All users have access to documentation, video tutorials, and a community Slack channel. Contact support
Hygraph offers onboarding sessions for enterprise customers, training resources such as video tutorials, documentation, webinars, and access to Customer Success Managers for expert guidance. Learn more
Customers praise Hygraph for its intuitive interface and ease of use, noting that even non-technical users can start using it right away. The UI is described as logical and user-friendly for both technical and non-technical teams. See feedback
Yes. Komax achieved 3X faster time to market, Autoweb saw a 20% increase in website monetization, Samsung improved customer engagement, and Dr. Oetker enhanced their digital experience using MACH architecture. See more success stories
Headless CMS
Decoupled CMS, headless CMS, traditional CMS - all terms used when teams seek a new system to house their growing content needs. However, the differences between them aren't always clear. We covered the difference between a headless CMS and a traditional CMS in a previous chapter. In this post, let’s look into how a decoupled CMS and a headless CMS differ.
Decoupled architecture is a software design strategy where the backend and frontend are separate, independent applications. Changes can be made to one without disrupting the other, allowing teams to develop them in parallel and push out updates quickly and with minimal risk.
While the terms “headless” and “decoupled” are often used interchangeably, there are some key differences in platforms that are considered one or the other. In short, while both types of software have a decoupled architecture, headless solutions are backend-only and decoupled solutions offer both backend and frontend components. This difference has a big impact on the capabilities and flexibility of the platforms.
In a decoupled CMS the backend content management system and frontend presentation layer are separate applications, but they are provided by the same vendor.
The frontend layer has templates, themes, and pre-configurations for standard web and mobile sites, allowing users to build pages just like with a traditional CMS. Unlike a traditional CMS, the backend can also send content to custom frontend solutions built for use cases that fall outside of the standard page templates, like mobile apps or internet of things (IoT) devices.
Decoupled CMSs are most often the result of a traditional CMS being split into backend and frontend components, catering to users that want a bit more flexibility without having to say goodbye to out-of-the-box starter sites. The option to use both traditional templates and custom frontends is why decoupled CMSs are sometimes referred to as “hybrid” solutions. WordPress, Drupal, and Magnolia are popular traditional CMSs that now also have a decoupled version available.
By separating the content management and presentation layers, but providing both, a decoupled CMS offers more flexibility than a traditional CMS while still giving teams familiar templates and editing tools. Making them well-suited for businesses that are starting to explore use cases beyond a standard website, including:
For some teams, a decoupled CMS is the right balance between a traditional and headless CMS. It provides familiar templates, themes, and editing previews out-of-the box which can help get standard websites up and running quickly, especially for teams with limited frontend resources. The separation of the backend and frontend makes it possible to also deliver content to digital channels beyond a website, and to develop and update each channel independently.
While generally more customizable than a traditional Web CMS, decoupled CMSs are less flexible than headless CMS and can become cumbersome over time.
The main drawback of decoupled CMSs is that they make assumptions about your frontend. While technically separate, the backend content management system is designed around the provided presentation layer. So as you start creating custom frontends for different applications, devices, or unique site elements you’re still stuck using the limited content models and workflows designed specifically for the preconfigured web templates.
The more you move away from the templates, the harder it is to manage and scale your content, and the more you lose out on the key value of a decoupled CMS - its ready-to-go frontend.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Teams have presentation layer out of the box for simple use cases | Teams have to build frontends for custom, more complex use cases where existing templates may become deadweight |
| Teams with limited resources can get up and running quickly | Less flexible than headless CMS |
| Teams familiar with the page builder approach will find the editing experience similar | Templates can become limiting over time |
A headless CMS is a content management system that only focuses on delivering content via API, usually in a structured JSON format. A headless CMS is backend-only, it provides no built-in presentation layer and it does not offer any themes or templates out of the box. This means that a headless CMS is not tied to a specific frontend framework, making it a highly flexible solution.
With a headless CMS, teams can create their own structured content models, and content schema, that enables them to deliver and reuse content across multiple channels, without the restrictions of a template-based CMS.
Headless CMSs enable teams to build a flexible, data-rich content repository that can be used for a wide range of use cases, including:
The structured content approach of headless CMS helps teams future-proof their tech stacks and makes it easy to take advantage of UX innovations of evolving frontend frameworks.
The benefits of a headless CMS include greater flexibility, more agility, and better performance. Teams have full control over how content is stored, structured, enriched, and delivered so they can design the digital experience around the features and channels that make sense for their customers, not around a set of predefined templates.
A highly structured, modular approach to content management helps teams efficiently manage and scale content with a headless CMS. Editorial teams can use modular blocks to create new pages without technical help, and developers can reuse components to quickly spin up new features or channels. Helping teams create future-proof content that can be quickly adapted to different needs.
Headless CMSs are easy to integrate with other tools, making them well-suited for a composable approach, where instead of being locked into the capabilities of a single vendor suite teams can create their own tech stack of best-fit tools for each part of the digital experience. Some advanced headless CMSs even offer a way to bring together the content data from across your composable stack into a single source of truth, also known as content federation.
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Drawbacks of a headless CMS include the necessity of more developer resources to set up compared to a traditional or decoupled CMS, and that there can be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to working with structured content and creating your own content models. Quick start guides and resources on migrating from a traditional to headless CMS can help bridge the information gap in the early days of working with a headless CMS.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ability to build applications for multiple channels while drawing from a single data-rich content repository | Building initial infrastructure can take time for teams new to the headless approach |
| Flexible system that enables greater customization | Onboarding needed for teams to adjust to working with structured content, especially if coming from a page-builder CMS. |
| Reusability of content and models expedites the timeline of future projects | |
| Supports a composable architecture and helps federate content data from across your tech stack |
The main difference between a traditional CMS and a decoupled CMS is the separation of backend content management and frontend presentation.
In a traditional CMS the backend and frontend are part of one big application, or “monolith”. Content storage, UI features, and frontend templates are all part of the same code base and are highly dependent on each other, so making even a small change to the website can feel risky.
In a decoupled CMS the backend and frontend are separate applications that can be developed independently. Website templates and themes are available, but it’s also possible to use other frameworks to build custom frontends. Which allows a decoupled CMS to support channels that a traditional CMS struggles with like digital signage, IoT devices, and mobile apps.
The main difference between a headless CMS and a decoupled CMS is the availability of a frontend presentation layer, and the impact this has on how teams create and manage content.
A decoupled CMS comes with a frontend solution that includes prebuilt website templates and themes. While using them is optional, these templates are a big part of the value of a decoupled CMS and the backend application has to make some compromises on flexibility and customization to make sure they work out-of-the-box. To provide the same type of editing experience as with a traditional CMS, the content created with templates is often unstructured and tied to a particular page. So while a decoupled CMS is able to support different digital channels, keeping content consistent across them typically requires a lot of copy-pasting.
A headless CMS is backend-only and gives teams complete control over the channels, frameworks, and content models used to create the frontend experience. Headless content is shared as raw, structured data and each channel can choose how to present it. This Content as a Service (CaaS) delivery module allows content to be reused in multiple ways on multiple channels. Making it easy to keep content consistent and up-to-date across touchpoints.
A decoupled CMS can be a good choice for teams that:
A headless CMS can be a good choice for teams that:
2U, an education technology business, uses a headless CMS to consolidate metadata from over 500 ed-tech offerings and deliver up-to-date information to a global student audience of over 300,000. As a result, 2U improved the cross-platform student experience and increased enrollment rates with higher conversion rates and lower bounce rates.
Lick, a home decor eCommerce store, used a headless CMS’s component-based approach to double sales in just 6 months and increase the "Add to Bag'' conversion rate by 20%. The team can now efficiently manage over 600 product pages, and their variants, thanks to the flexible content modeling of a headless CMS.
Without Hygraph, we would not have been able to achieve the intuitively modeled content pages in the time frame that we did. After the launch of our new site, our “Add to Bag” conversions increased by 20%. It was easier to build the modular site that we imagined to improve user experience without workarounds.
Navigating the ever-evolving landscape of content management systems can be daunting, but understanding the key differences between decoupled and headless CMSs is helpful for making the best decision for your business.
Decoupled CMS is suitable for teams with limited resources, providing a flexible approach to managing content across disparate systems. On the flip side, headless CMSs enable scalable content delivery across multiple touchpoints, preventing vendor lock-in and aiding teams in future-proofing their tech stack.
To evaluate which system is more beneficial to your use case, reach out to us to learn more about the applications of a headless CMS in the real world.