Headless WordPress
WordPress as the content hub. The frontend is yours to choose.
Headless describes an architecture in which the backend and the frontend are separated. WordPress manages the content and delivers it through an API, while a standalone web app takes care of the presentation. On a classic WordPress website, the theme does both jobs: even with modern block themes, the output comes straight from WordPress.
Headless WordPress brings together two things that long seemed mutually exclusive: the proven editorial system with the block editor your team already knows, and a frontend with the full power of modern frameworks like React or Next.js. The result: platforms and web apps that can evolve independently of each other. New channels, new features, new markets, without replacing the foundation.
Good to know: you don’t have to switch to Strapi, Craft, Statamic or Payload for this. WordPress does headless. Whether headless is the right path for your project in the first place is something we clarify before anything else. Sometimes our answer is “no”, and we’ll tell you so.
What we offer
Headless consulting & architecture
Does your project need headless, or will a well-built block theme do? We settle that before the first line of code is written: requirements, channels, editorial workflows, budget. What you get is a recommendation with the reasoning behind it. Even when that recommendation is “classic”.
Headless platforms & web apps
We build the frontend as a standalone web app with React, Next.js or Vite, using server-side rendering so that neither search engines nor load times suffer. WordPress stays the content hub, connected through cleanly defined REST or GraphQL APIs.
Progressive web apps
Offline mode, push notifications, install to home screen: we build web applications that feel like native apps but run in the browser. One codebase for every device, and no app store in between.
Content hub & integrations
WordPress as the data source for more than one website: we connect it to apps, third-party systems and, if you like, AI assistants that access your content through open standards such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Maintain once, use everywhere. How we go a step further and connect workflows and AI is on our “Automation & AI” page.
How data from five APIs comes together in one app, using LàCast, our own hiking side project, as an example: map, route, elevation profile, weather and place names are combined for each waypoint with the estimated arrival time. WordPress isn’t part of it today, but it could plug in as another source, providing editorial content for every waypoint, say about the mountain hut or the view, maintained in the block editor (dashed).
What we’ve built
Four projects, four degrees of decoupling. Two are headless through and through, two show the middle way.
Progressive web app for the Career Choice Portal of the Canton of Zurich
For the Department of Education of the Canton of Zurich, we built a progressive web app on headless WordPress: young people take an interests test to find suitable careers and trial apprenticeships, teachers guide their classes, and companies present themselves. Content from several sources flows together automatically, and the editorial team works in the block editor it already knows.
Headless progressive web app for the Career Choice Portal of the Canton of St.Gallen
Same platform, a second canton, considerably more functionality: for St.Gallen we added class management, apprenticeship applications, a middle-school check and company profiles with application management, live for the 2026/27 school year. Because backend and frontend are separate, a second canton with its own requirements grows on the same foundation instead of starting from scratch.
React app inside WordPress for Ringier Advertising
73 brands, over 100 ad formats, one filter for all of it: for Ringier Advertising we embedded a React app in the WordPress website that pulls its data from the REST API. Agencies filter by medium, language and audience, save shortlists and export rates to Excel, while the editorial team keeps managing its content in the block editor.
Live data from APIs for hostettler moto
Over 400 motorcycle models, eight locations, two languages: the new hostettler moto website pulls vehicle data daily via API, fetches opening hours live from the Google Business Profile and filters the range without a page reload using the WordPress Interactivity API. Classic WordPress at the core, decoupled exactly where speed matters.
Wondering whether headless is right for your project? Let’s take a look together.
Headless or classic: when is it worth it?
Headless sounds modern and flexible, and it is. But whether the approach pays off depends on your project’s requirements, not on the trend. We’ve built both often enough to know where the line runs.
That’s why we look at the whole picture first: content, channels, team and budget. The architecture follows from that, not the other way round.
The advantages
- Free frontend development with modern frameworks, independent of the WordPress release cycle
- One content hub for several channels: website, app, screens, third-party systems
- Progressive web apps with offline mode and push notifications
- A clean separation of content, design and functionality, which allows separate teams and separate deployments
- Long-term extensibility, for new features, tenants or markets
- A smaller attack surface: the WordPress backend doesn’t need to be publicly accessible
The challenges
- Higher initial effort for concept and setup
- Two systems to run: backend and frontend each need maintenance, monitoring and updates
- Editor-friendliness has to be built in deliberately: preview, block rendering, menus, forms
- SEO requires server-side rendering or static generation; a pure client-side app isn’t enough
- WordPress plugins that hook into the frontend (SEO, forms, cookie banners) no longer work out of the box
There’s a lot in between
Headless isn’t an all-or-nothing decision. Often the best route is a middle route: a block theme that uses React components or the WordPress Interactivity API for specific areas. Or a classic website from which only the app pulls its content via an API. We look at where decoupling actually adds value, and decouple only there.
Decision guide
Headless is worth it when …
- your platform is set to grow in the medium term, adding tenants, languages or channels
- several audiences or channels are served from the same content
- complex frontend features or PWA capabilities are planned: login areas, filters, personalized content
- several teams develop the backend and frontend in parallel
- you’re pursuing a long-term digital strategy in which the website is just one channel
Classic is often the better choice when …
- it’s a website of manageable scope
- your editors need, and want, full visual control in the editor
- budget or time is tight
- much of the functionality is meant to come from proven WordPress plugins
- the website is the only channel and will stay that way for the foreseeable future
A selection of our clients.
Progressive web apps
A progressive web app (PWA) is a web application that behaves like a native app: it can be installed on the home screen, works offline and can send notifications. No app store, no duplicate code for iOS and Android, one base for every device.
- Offline mode: content stays available even without a stable connection, in the classroom or on the train
- Push notifications: targeted information for the people who’ve subscribed to it
- App experience: fast load times, smooth navigation, no page reloads
Because the frontend is decoupled, features can be added module by module: interactive checks for visitors, personal dashboards, or live filters across thousands of entries. That’s exactly how the Career Choice Portal of the Canton of Zurich came about.
Does this sound familiar?
- “Our website and our app show the same content. We still maintain it twice.”
- “We want a platform that can still take on new modules in three years without us rebuilding everything.”
- “Our editors love the block editor. But our product needs more than a theme can deliver.”
- “Someone recommended a headless CMS to us. We’re not sure we actually need one.”
In all four cases, a conversation is worth having. In the last one especially.
Why WordPress as a headless CMS?
WordPress is the most widely used CMS in the world, and in a headless setup it plays a card that systems like Strapi or Craft don’t hold: the block editor. Where other headless CMSs have editors fill in form fields, here they write and design visually, in an environment most of them already know. The blocks are available as structured data and rendered as components in the frontend, preview included.
Add to that a mature ecosystem of APIs. The REST API has been part of WordPress core for years, and WPGraphQL provides a mature GraphQL interface that is actively developed. And with the Abilities API (since WordPress 6.9) and the official MCP Adapter, WordPress also makes its capabilities available to AI agents. A headless backend therefore delivers not just a website, but structured content for whatever comes next.
Proven also means: a large community, regular security updates, a mature roles and permissions system, multilingual support, media management. All things a new system would first have to rebuild.
Our technical setup
- Backend: WordPress as the content hub with REST API or WPGraphQL, custom endpoints and role management
- Frontend: React with Next.js or Vite, TypeScript, component-based; server-side rendering or static generation for performance and SEO
- Editorial: block editor with live preview of the frontend; every block is rendered 1:1 as a component
- Operations: Docker, GitHub Actions for tests and deployment, monitoring through our own dashboard
- Quality: automated tests, accessibility checks, performance budgets
Off-the-shelf themes don’t come into it. What you get instead are platforms that scale, load fast and are a pleasure to maintain.
Our values
Whether it’s design, concept, interfaces, engineering, web development, WordPress, or indeed AI: our standard for quality stays high.
Honest advice as equals
We recommend what suits you. Even if it’s less than you expected.
Development & engineering in-house
Concept, design and development from one team. No handover to third parties, no friction.
Quality & craft
We build things we’ll still be happy to look at in five years. Tested, documented, traceable.
Sustainable technology
Open standards instead of lock-in. So you’re still free to decide tomorrow.
Frequently asked questions about headless WordPress
What is headless WordPress?
With headless WordPress, WordPress only manages the content and delivers it through an API (REST API or GraphQL). A separate frontend handles the presentation, usually a web app built with React, Next.js or a comparable framework. Backend and frontend can then be developed and operated independently of each other.
Is headless WordPress good for SEO?
Yes, provided the frontend is server-side rendered or statically generated. A pure client-side app makes it hard for search engines to pick up the content. That’s why we use server-side rendering by default and take care of metadata, sitemaps and structured data in the frontend, because the usual WordPress plugins don’t reach that far.
Does the block editor work in a headless setup?
Yes. Editors work in the block editor as usual, and the frontend renders each block as its own component. We build in a preview of the real frontend so nobody has to publish blind. It’s one of the main reasons we prefer WordPress over other headless CMSs.
What does headless WordPress cost compared to a classic website?
The initial effort is higher, because two systems are designed and built. In operation, frontend hosting and additional updates come on top. In return, the cost of each additional channel drops, because content is only maintained once. Honestly, a reliable figure only comes after a first conversation about your requirements.
REST API or GraphQL?
Both work. The REST API is part of WordPress core and is enough for many projects. WPGraphQL returns exactly the data a view needs in a single request, which saves round trips in complex frontends. We decide per project, based on the data structure and the frontend.
Do we need headless to add AI features?
Not necessarily. AI features such as intelligent search or an assistant can also be integrated into a classic WordPress website. A headless setup, however, already has the content available as structured data, which makes search, assistants and connections via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) easier.
Headless isn’t hype. It’s a strategic decision.
With headless WordPress, you combine the freedom of modern frontends with an editorial environment your team already knows. Whether that’s the right path for your project is something we’ll work out together. And if it isn’t, we’ll tell you.