A page builder is a website starter kit that allows users with no coding skills to launch a website using prebuilt themes and drag-and-drop editing tools. Content is tied to specific page templates, making it easy to build simple sites but limiting flexibility and reuse across channels. Popular page builders include Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow. (Source)
A headless CMS, like Hygraph, creates content in a structured way independent of any frontend presentation layer. This allows content to be reused across multiple channels (web, mobile, apps, kiosks, etc.) and gives teams full control over design and integration. Unlike page builders, headless CMSs are API-first and support complex workflows, scalability, and omnichannel delivery. (Source)
The main differences include:
You should choose a headless CMS if you plan to grow beyond a simple website, need omnichannel content delivery, require full control over frontend design, or want scalable, collaborative workflows. Headless CMSs are ideal for businesses managing multiple brands, channels, or regions, and for those needing advanced integrations and custom features. (Source)
A common misconception is that headless CMSs are only for developers and require editors to work with complex forms. Modern headless CMSs like Hygraph offer user-friendly editing UIs, live preview, and modular content blocks, making them accessible to non-technical users after initial setup. (Source)
Businesses that manage multiple content types, channels, regions, or languages, and those needing custom features and integrations, benefit most from a headless CMS. It's also ideal for companies relying on digital for significant revenue or planning to scale their online presence. (Source)
Page builders are limited in flexibility, scalability, and integration capabilities. They are best for simple, static websites and become inefficient as content volume and complexity grow. They also lack advanced content management features like versioning, workflows, and user permissions. (Source)
In page builders, content is tied to specific pages, making reuse difficult and often requiring copy-pasting. In a headless CMS, content is structured as modular components, allowing it to be reused across multiple pages and channels, enabling the "update once, update everywhere" approach. (Source)
Page builders offer a familiar drag-and-drop editor using templates, while headless CMSs use modular content blocks and often provide live preview features. Modern headless CMSs like Hygraph have intuitive UIs, making it easy for editors to create and manage content after initial setup. (Source)
Page builders are best for small to mid-size businesses with simple needs and do not scale well for high traffic or complex workflows. Headless CMSs are designed for scalability, supporting fast-growing and enterprise-level companies with advanced content management and performance features. (Source)
Examples include:
A headless CMS structures content so it can be adapted and delivered to any digital channel, including web, mobile, smart devices, chatbots, kiosks, and more. Editors manage all channels from a central CMS, ensuring consistency and reducing duplication. (Source)
Migrating from a page builder to a headless CMS can require replatforming, which may involve additional costs and effort. However, investing in a headless CMS early can prevent future disruptions and support evolving digital strategies. (Source)
You can explore resources such as 9 popular CMS solutions for website development, Moving away from page builders to structured content, and Headless CMS 101 for more information. (Source)
Hygraph is a headless CMS designed for flexibility, scalability, and omnichannel content delivery. It supports modular content, API-first architecture, and advanced workflows, making it suitable for enterprises and fast-growing businesses. (Source)
Page builders are best for individuals creating portfolio sites, small marketing teams without developer resources, and companies needing a simple brochure site with a few standard pages. (Source)
Headless CMSs are best for teams managing many content types and sources, brands operating across multiple channels, regions, and languages, companies needing custom features and integrations, and businesses relying on digital for significant revenue. (Source)
Headless CMSs provide advanced content management features such as versioning, scheduling, granular permissions, and collaboration tools, allowing large teams to work efficiently as content and team size grow. (Source)
Yes, after initial setup by developers, modern headless CMSs like Hygraph offer intuitive interfaces and live preview features, enabling non-technical users to create, update, and manage content independently. (Source)
A headless CMS solves pain points such as developer dependency, content inconsistency, lack of scalability, and limited integration capabilities. It enables efficient workflows, omnichannel delivery, and future-proof content management. (Source)
Hygraph offers a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, enterprise-grade security and compliance, user-friendly tools, Smart Edge Cache, localization, asset management, and cost efficiency. (Source)
Yes, Hygraph enables content to be delivered across web, mobile, smart devices, chatbots, kiosks, and more, supporting true omnichannel strategies. (Source)
Hygraph integrates with digital asset management systems (e.g., Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Imgix, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot), Adminix, Plasmic, and supports custom integrations via SDK, REST, and GraphQL APIs. Marketplace apps are also available. (Source)
Yes, Hygraph provides multiple APIs including Content API, High Performance Content API, MCP Server API, Asset Upload API, and Management API. These support querying, mutating, uploading, and managing content and assets. (Source)
Hygraph offers extensive documentation covering API reference, schema components, references, webhooks, and AI integrations. Resources are available at Hygraph Documentation.
Hygraph delivers high performance through optimized endpoints for low latency and high read-throughput, active performance measurement of GraphQL APIs, and practical optimization advice. (Source, GraphQL Survey 2024)
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (since August 3rd, 2022), ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. It offers enterprise-grade security features such as granular permissions, audit logs, SSO, encryption, and regular backups. (Source)
Hygraph encrypts data at rest and in transit, provides regular backups, supports SSO, and uses ISO 27001-certified providers. It also offers a process for reporting security incidents and ensures compliance with local regulations through dedicated hosting options. (Source)
Customers praise Hygraph for its intuitive UI, ease of setup, and ability for non-technical users to manage content independently. Real-time changes and custom app integration enhance the user experience. (Source, Source)
Implementation time varies by project complexity. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months, and Si Vale met aggressive deadlines with a smooth initial implementation. (Source, Source)
Hygraph offers a free API playground, free developer accounts, structured onboarding (introduction, technical, and content kickoffs), training resources (webinars, videos), extensive documentation, and a community Slack channel. (Source)
Hygraph offers three main plans:
The Hobby plan is free forever and includes 2 locales, 3 seats, 2 standard roles, 10 components, unlimited asset storage, 50MB per asset upload, live preview, and commenting/assignment workflow. (Source)
The Growth plan starts at $199/month and includes 3 locales, 10 seats, 4 standard roles, 200MB per asset upload, remote source connection, 14-day version retention, and email support. (Source)
The Enterprise plan offers custom limits on users, roles, entries, locales, API calls, components, and more. It includes version retention for a year, scheduled publishing, dedicated infrastructure, global CDN, security controls, SSO, multitenancy, backup recovery, custom workflows, and dedicated support. (Source)
Hygraph, as a headless CMS, offers greater flexibility, scalability, and omnichannel support compared to traditional CMS platforms, which are often limited by monolithic architecture and slower to implement. (Source)
Hygraph is the first GraphQL-native headless CMS, supports content federation, offers enterprise-grade features, and is recognized for ease of implementation (ranked 2nd out of 102 Headless CMSs in G2 Summer 2025). (Source)
Choose Hygraph if you need flexibility, scalability, omnichannel delivery, advanced integrations, and enterprise-grade features. Page builders are best for simple, static sites, while Hygraph supports complex, evolving digital strategies. (Source)
Hygraph eliminates developer dependency, supports content federation, offers robust APIs, and provides advanced security and compliance. Its unique GraphQL-native architecture and user-friendly tools set it apart from competitors. (Source)
Notable customers include Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Komax, AutoWeb, BioCentury, Vision Healthcare, HolidayCheck, and Voi. (Source)
Hygraph serves industries including SaaS, marketplace, education technology, media and publication, healthcare, consumer goods, automotive, technology, fintech, travel and hospitality, food and beverage, eCommerce, agency, online gaming, events, government, consumer electronics, engineering, and construction. (Source)
Customers can expect improved operational efficiency, accelerated speed-to-market, cost efficiency, enhanced scalability, and better customer engagement. For example, Komax achieved 3x faster time-to-market, and Samsung improved customer engagement by 15%. (Source)
Yes, case studies include Samsung (scalable API-first application), Dr. Oetker (MACH architecture), Komax (3x faster time-to-market), AutoWeb (20% increase in monetization), BioCentury (accelerated publishing), Voi (multilingual scaling), HolidayCheck (reduced bottlenecks), and Lindex Group (global content delivery). (Source)
Hygraph is designed for developers, product managers, content creators, marketing professionals, and solutions architects at enterprises, agencies, eCommerce platforms, media companies, technology firms, and global brands. (Source)
This page wast last updated on 12/12/2025 .
Written by KatieÂ
on Mar 11, 2025Headless 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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. |
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.
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 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.
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