Headless content management systems (CMSs) and page builders are both tools that can be used to quickly launch websites and publish digital content. They are both lightweight alternatives to the traditional types of CMS platforms that can often take months of implementation effort to get up and running.
Other than that, they are pretty fundamentally different solutions. Page builders are designed for no-code website creation, so that it's possible to spin up simple sites without the need for a developer. Headless CMSs are designed for flexibility, and let teams fully customize how content is created, presented, and scaled.
If digital needs are sitting on one end of the simple-to-complex spectrum, the choice between the two is usually clear. Someone setting up a personal blog is going to use a page builder, and a global team managing multiple brands is going to pick a headless CMS.
However, there are plenty of companies in the middle that, at present, could meet most of their needs with a page builder but also aim to grow their online business over the next few years. The decision for these teams can often be whether to start with a page builder and replace it when needed or to put in a bit more effort now to go headless and have a flexible system in place that can be evolved to support more complex needs.
This article covers the key differences between headless CMSs and page builders, common misconceptions about how they work, and the best use cases for each. Hygraph is a headless CMS, so this article does lean heavily toward #teamheadless, but it also aims to show that page builders do have their benefits and can be a great fit for specific use cases.
#What is a page builder?
A page builder is a website starter kit that allows someone with no coding skills to launch a website. They provide a selection of prebuilt website themes, which handle the technical aspects of design and content delivery, and a simple set of editing tools that let users add content to page templates. Popular page builders include Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow.
When building websites with a page builder, content lives on a specific page and is tied to a specific page template. The main benefit of this is that it allows for a drag-and-drop style of editing that's familiar to a lot of people. The major drawbacks are that using (and updating) the same content on different pages requires a lot of copy-pasting and that you're limited to the content types and channels that there are templates for.
Image: Working with page templates in Wix
Page builders are all about making it as easy as possible to build simple websites. Keeping things simple and standardized is what allows them to work out of the box. So they are typically very light on backend content management features (versioning, workflows, user permissions, etc) and aren't intended to be customized or integrated with other business systems.
Page builders are commonly used by:
Individuals creating portfolio sites.
Small marketing teams that don't have access to developer resources.
Companies that just need a brochure site with a few standard pages.
Page builders are rarely used by:
Brands that want full control over frontend design.
Companies that frequently publish and update content.
Global teams with complex workflows.
#What is a headless CMS?
With a headless CMS, content is created in a very structured way that's independent of any frontend presentation layer (the ”head”). This structure allows the same underlying content to be reused in many different ways across multiple webpages, as well as any other digital channel, such as mobile apps, smart devices, chatbots, kiosks, and more. Instead of being locked into prebuilt themes and page templates, a headless CMS gives companies full frontend flexibility over the channels they use and how the experience is designed on each channel.
Instead of thinking of content as belonging to a specific page, headless content is structured as repeating blocks of content data, or “components”, like a hero banner, customer testimonial, blog entry, product attributes, SEO metadata, etc. This allows headless content to adapt to any frontend design and be reused across channels, letting editors “update once, update everywhere".
Setting up this content structure does take some development effort, but it doesn't mean that content teams have to sit side-by-side with a developer every time they build a new page. Once the components have been defined, editors can mix-and-match these modular blocks to create and publish unique pages quickly.
A headless CMS is going to be more complex to implement than a page builder, but it's also able to handle much more complex use cases. Headless platforms typically have an API-first design, sharing all content and logic via APIs, which gives companies a lot of flexibility to customize the content creation process, add unique features, and integrate the CMS with other business systems.
Headless CMS is commonly used by:
Teams that work with many content, content types, and content sources.
Brands that manage multiple channels, regions, and languages.
Companies that need custom features and integrations.
Businesses that rely on digital for significant revenue.
Headless CMS is rarely used by:
Small businesses with no developers.
Companies with no plans to use digital beyond a simple website.
#Key differences: headless CMS vs page builder
Ease-of-use
Page builders make it easy to set up simple websites, but the ease-of-use sharply drops as the business grows. Managing content on a page-by-page basis is fine for small sites, but the more pages you add, the more tedious it becomes to keep information consistent between them. The limited ability to customize the platform makes it difficult, if not impossible, to get a page builder to support new use cases once the business is ready to move beyond a brochure site.
A headless CMS does require more effort to set up and learn, but once in place, the system can easily be adapted to meet more complex needs. New channels, data sources, eCommerce elements, personalization tools, and more can be added with minimal disruption to working methods. The rich set up content management features that come with an enterprise-level CMS, meaning that collaboration remains easy as the amount of content, and the amount of people creating it, continues to grow.
Editor experience
The drag-and-drop editor of a page builder is what makes them popular. Many people are familiar with the idea of using page templates, especially non-technical users.
A common misconception about working with a headless CMS is that content is created by filling out a bunch of gray forms. Which, to be fair, is because this was the case with a lot of early headless tools that were very developer-focused. Vendors quickly realized that a content management system also needs to be intuitive for the people creating content and, today, the leading headless CMSs have very user-friendly editing UIs with some type of live preview.
Even with a visual editor, thinking of content as modular components instead of full-page templates will be new to many people and can take some time to learn. Typically, editors get the hang of headless within a few training sessions, even sooner if there's strong collaboration between the content team and developers during the content modeling process.
Developer involvement
A page builder requires minimal, if any, coding effort to set up. Which is great for getting started when you don't have access to developer resources. However, these platforms also aren't very developer-friendly if you do end up needing customizations down the road. As it's tough, and in some cases impossible, to access and extend the code of a page builder.
A headless CMS does require development during implementation, but non-technical users can then create and manage content on their own. Working with a developer-friendly platform also means teams have a lot of freedom to adapt content to future needs. New channels, new features, and new integrations can be implemented quickly without upending the content creation process.
Flexibility
In order to work out of the box, page builders must be standardized for all users. They aren't intended to be heavily customized and limit teams to a predefined set of templates, features, and workflows.
A headless CMS lets teams fully customize how they create and use content. The separation of backend content management from frontend presentation gives teams complete freedom when designing the customer experience. The API-first architecture offers complete control over the content creation process, including the content structure, production stages, user roles & permissions, and how content is sourced from and sent to other business systems.
Omnichannel
Omnichannel brands not only use multiple digital channels to reach customers, but they provide a consistent experience as customers move between them.
These “channels” are often talked about as a list of devices (web, mobile, smartwatch, car display, kiosks). Still, channels can also be different online touchpoints with separate UIs (chatbots, third-party marketplaces, and customer portals). As well as different versions of a website, such as when managing content across multiple brands, regions, and languages.
Omnichannel is where headless CMS really shines. Structured content can be adapted to all different devices, UIs, and frontend designs. Editors can manage all channels from one central CMS and easily keep content consistent across touchpoints.
Page builders, on the other hand, aren't designed for omnichannel and typically only support web and mobile sites. Keeping content consistent is also a challenge, as updates have to be made to individual pages and can require a lot of copy-pasting as the site grows.
Scalability
A scalable system maintains performance as it grows. Looking through a technical lens, a scalable CMS is able to deliver content quickly as traffic increases and spikes. Through a usability lens, a scalable CMS is one that lets teams work efficiently as they handle more content, more channels, and more team members.
Page builders don't scale well. Content delivery isn't optimized for high peaks of traffic, and page-based website creation isn't an efficient way to manage a high volume of content. This isn't necessarily a problem, as plenty of small and medium businesses only need a couple of webpages and don't expect to ever have a big number of people visiting their site all at once.
Companies that intend to grow their online business, however, are going to want a more scalable solution.
With a headless CMS, developers are free to work with the latest frontend frameworks and best practices to build high-performing sites and apps. Leading platforms also provide enterprise-ready content management features like versioning, scheduling, and collaboration tools to keep workflows smooth as teams grow.
| page builder | Headless CMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease-of-use | Very easy to set up a simple, static website. | Takes effort to set up but can easily manage a wide range of complex use cases. |
| Editor experience | Drag-and-drop editing using page templates. | Content is created as modular blocks with a live preview that lets you see how content appears on a page. |
| Developer involvement | No-code website creation. | Requires development effort to set up, then content editors can work without assistance. |
| Flexibility | Limited to predefined templates and features, with little ability for custom development. | API-first architecture allows for full customization of backend processes and frontend design. |
| Omnichannel | Only supports web and mobile sites. | Content can be adapted to any, and any number of, digital channels. |
| Scalability | Best for small to mid-size businesses that need a web presence. | Best for fast-growing and enterprise-level companies that do significant online business. |
#When should you choose a headless CMS over a page builder?
Page builders are like training wheels for building a website. They make it less intimidating to get started and set up guardrails that make it really hard to break anything. The problem, for companies that want to eventually do more interesting things with digital, is that you can't simply take off the training wheels. Leveling up digital requires a replatform, and the cost of having to rip-and-replace the page builder can easily outweigh the early benefits of these “starter kit” solutions.
So, if teams plan on moving beyond a simple website in the next few years, it makes more sense to choose a solution that is able to support an evolving, more complex strategy. Making headless the best option for companies with needs such as:
A single source of truth for content data. BioCentury aggregates daily updates of industry news, data, analysis, and custom research to help its subscribers make informed decisions. A headless CMS allows editors to access data from all these remote sources directly in the CMS and has cut down the time it takes to get content live by 81%. Read case study.
Full flexibility over frontend design. HolidayCheck wanted to launch a digital magazine to drive more traffic to their travel booking site, and needed editors to be able to quickly create great looking, interactive articles without being limited to a strict set of templates. Using modular content, editors can now publish unique pages in 20 minutes and have seen website clicks increase by 125%. Read case study.
Fast load times at peak traffic. gamescom, the world's largest gaming event, decided to host their annual trade fair virtually in 2021 and successfully delivered headless content to 3.5M simultaneous sessions without any interruptions or drops in performance. Read case study.
Omnichannel content delivery. Dr. Oetker uses a headless CMS to manage websites, web-apps, and portals for multiple food and beverage brands in over 40 markets. Read case study.
Highly collaborative and scalable workflows. Statistics Finland relies on the advanced, granular permissions of a flexible headless CMS to let 250+ users efficiently and securely work with government data. Read case study.
#What's next?
For more information to help decide which type of content solution is right for you, check out:
If you'd like to see how a headless CMS could support your specific needs, Hygraph's solution experts would be happy to chat. Request a demo.
Blog Author
Katie Lawson
Content Writer
Katie is a freelance writer based in Amsterdam who talks a lot about B2B SaaS and MACH technologies. She’s always looking for good book recommendations.