Choosing a headless CMS

This is an excerpt of a post that I wrote for my employer, Originate.

One of our recent projects called for a feature to allow editors to manage and publish content. In other words, we needed a CMS. We already had a React-based web app, and a React Native mobile app in the works where we wanted to present that content. So we needed a Headless CMS. Unlike Wordpress or other traditional CMS solutions, a headless CMS does not come with a web interface where readers will see published content. Instead, a headless system acts more like a database: it hosts content, and your app uses an API to fetch content to display. As a result, your choice of app architecture is not tied to your choice of CMS. This can be especially helpful if you want to incorporate managed content into an app that is not primarily a publishing platform, or if you want to present the same content differently in different contexts as was the case with our web vs mobile apps.

One of the biggest challenges with headless CMS systems is choosing one. The field is wide open, and headless systems have not been around long enough for a clear leader to stand out.

» Read the rest on the Originate blog.