Top 10: Headless CMS platforms

Updated: July 31, 2023

Headless CMS (Content Management System) is a modern approach to managing and delivering digital content. Unlike traditional CMS platforms, a headless CMS decouples the content management backend from the front-end presentation layer. This means that content creators can create and organize content in the CMS, while developers have the freedom to build custom front-end applications or websites that consume the content via APIs. The headless architecture allows for greater flexibility, as it enables content to be reused and presented across various devices and channels, such as websites, mobile apps, smart devices, and more. Headless CMS solutions offer seamless content updates without requiring changes to the presentation layer, providing a more agile and efficient content delivery process for businesses seeking to deliver a consistent and engaging digital experience across multiple platforms. Whereas a traditional CMS typically combines the content and presentation layers of a website, a headless CMS is just the content component and focuses entirely on the administrative interface for content creators, the facilitation of content workflows and collaboration, and the organization of content into taxonomies.

See also: Top 10 Website CMS systems

2022. Payload raises $4.7M for its developer-first headless CMS



Payload, a company specializing in the development of a headless open-source content management system (CMS), has recently secured $4.7 million in seed funding. What sets Payload apart from most CMS tools is its strong focus on developers. The team behind the platform recognizes that while app frameworks provide developers with the necessary tools to build their backends, they often lack CMS-style user interfaces for effectively managing apps and their content. To address this gap, Payload offers a developer-centric approach, enabling developers to create powerful backends with intuitive CMS capabilities. As part of its monetization strategy, the company plans to launch Payload Cloud, a managed service that serves as a central hub for deploying Payload apps and supports the company's growth. By combining open-source innovation with a managed service offering, Payload aims to empower developers and provide them with a seamless CMS solution for their applications.


2022. Storyblok raises $47M to build out its headless CMS



Storyblok, a startup, has successfully raised $47 million in funding. Storyblok has developed a headless CMS that caters to both technical and non-technical users, such as marketers. It enables them to effectively manage content across various digital interfaces, including websites, apps, and other platforms utilized by publishers in education, commerce, gaming, and more. The newly secured funding will be utilized to further enhance the functionality of Storyblok's CMS platform. The company's tools are already employed by over 74,000 companies, including prominent names such as Netflix, Adidas, T-Mobile, Happy Socks, and Deliveroo. Collectively, these companies have implemented approximately 120,000 projects utilizing Storyblok, encompassing tasks such as regularly updating website content, creating side-quests in games, implementing advertising features in apps, and much more.


2021. Shopistry bags $2M to provide headless commerce without the headaches



Shopistry, a pioneering startup aiming to revolutionize the concept of headless commerce, has secured $2 million in seed funding. Shopistry empowers customers to build personalized commerce experiences that are inclusive and easily accessible to all. The company anticipates that headless architecture, also known as modular architecture, will emerge as the dominant approach within the next five years. Shopistry is already collaborating with retailers like Honed and Oura Ring, enabling them to efficiently manage their e-commerce platforms without incurring significant costs, dealing with complexity, or relying on extensive technical expertise.


2021. Prismic raises $20M for its headless CMS



Prismic, a company building a content management system, has raised a $20 million Series A funding round. Headless content management systems are a bit different from traditional content management systems. The backend and the frontend of your website operate totally separately. You write content in the backend where it is safely stored. The frontend of your application fetches content from the backend using an API and displays it to your customers and readers. Dissociating those two key parts of your content management system provides many advantages. It is more secure, it scales much better and it gives you a ton of flexibility when it comes to frontend framework and hosting. In addition to iterating on its CMS, Prismic manages the infrastructure for you. When you sign up, you don’t have to deploy the backend on your own server. You can connect to the admin interface and start building.


2021. Headless commerce startup Swell raises $3.4M



Most headless platforms, which separate the back-end infrastructure from the front-end shopping experience, enable businesses to create a faster shopping experience. However, they are mainly tailored for marketplaces with traditional product catalogs where you can search, browse, and make purchases. Swell, a startup that has secured $3.4 million in seed funding, aims to provide greater flexibility in terms of underlying business models. It is positioned as the "future-proof backend" for e-commerce companies, capable of growing and adapting alongside their evolving business models. Swell achieves this flexibility by offering API access to every component, native subscription support, and an unlimited number of product attributes.


2021. Chord, a headless commerce startup, raises $18M



The e-commerce startup Arfa has undergone a rebranding and is now known as Chord. Along with this rebranding, the company has secured $18 million in funding. Chord offers a unique concept known as "commerce as a service" to brands. As businesses transition into the realm of headless commerce, where they acquire e-commerce infrastructure separate from the front-end experience, Chord aims to fulfill all their requirements across various products and features. This includes content management, a customer data platform, and order management. Chord differentiates itself from other headless platforms by providing a customer database with a unified analytical layer that collects data from across the platform.


2021. Saleor scores $2.5M seed round for its ‘headless’ e-commerce platform



Saleor, a startup with operations in Poland and the U.S., has secured $2.5 million in seed funding for its innovative "headless" e-commerce platform. The primary objective of Saleor is to provide developers with an easier way to create superior online shopping experiences. It adopts an "API-first" approach, emphasizing the separation of the front-end and back-end aspects of the platform. By handling the heavy back-end tasks, Saleor allows developers to dedicate their efforts to the front-end development, where they can add the most value for users. Saleor's vision revolves around prioritizing developers and offering an open-source, GraphQL-based platform that is complemented by a reasonably priced cloud solution.


2021. Headless e-commerce platform Fabric raises $43M



Fabric, a startup that empowers e-commerce for renowned companies such as GNC and ABC Carpet and Home, has successfully raised $43 million in Series A funding. Fabric distinguishes itself as a headless commerce platform that uniquely blends the ease of drag-and-drop configuration with the ability to craft immersive and contemporary customer experiences, all without the requirement of a sizable development team. Fabric has developed 32 distinct applications that seamlessly integrate with existing commerce tools, collectively encompassing a comprehensive range of functionalities ranging from customer experience to product information and order management.


2021. Headless CMS Storyblok raises $8.5M



Storyblok, a "headless" CMS designed for developers and marketers to efficiently deliver content, has secured $8.5 million in Series A funding. With its headquarters in Austria, the company's platform boasts an impressive clientele that includes Pizza Hut, Adidas, UPC, Greggs, Decathlon, and numerous independent developers who rely on its CMS. Currently powering over 60,000 projects, Storyblok offers highly customizable content blocks and intuitive visual editing tools. This sets it apart from other headless CMS solutions that primarily cater to developers but may not provide the same level of flexibility for editors to easily make edits. Storyblok's platform bridges the gap, ensuring both developers and editors can effectively collaborate to deliver exceptional content experiences.


2020. dotCMS Named FrontRunner for Digital Asset Management Software



dotCMS has recently been recognized as a FrontRunner for Digital Asset Management software by Software Advice. FrontRunners is a resource that assists businesses in evaluating suitable software products for their needs. dotCMS, a Hybrid Headless CMS, provides enterprises with a content foundation as a service, enabling the creation and management of connected, trustworthy, and highly personalized digital experiences. Digital Assets play a crucial role in establishing an emotional connection with a brand, and dotCMS is delighted to offer essential capabilities in the field of Digital Asset Management.


2020. Nacelle raises $4.8M for its headless e-commerce platform



Nacelle, the startup positioning itself as a JAMstack solution for e-commerce, has recently secured approximately $4.8 million in funding. Nacelle aims to simplify the transition for e-commerce brands to adopt a headless architecture. In the context of web applications, a headless approach involves decoupling the front-end presentation layer from the backend infrastructure, relying on dedicated frameworks for each to deliver content to users. Going headless offers several notable advantages, including enhanced performance, improved scalability, reduced hosting costs, and a more streamlined developer experience. However, e-commerce sites face particular complexities due to the operational aspects of storefronts and the need for headless content management systems (CMSs) to accommodate dynamic inventories and user shopping carts.


2020. Contentful raises $80M for its headless CMS



The headless CMS company, Contentful, has secured $80 million in Series E funding. Currently, Contentful is utilized by 28% of the Fortune 500 companies to effectively manage their content across various platforms. With a current customer base of 2,200 paying clients, notable organizations such as Spotify, ITV, the British Museum, Telus, and Urban Outfitters have chosen Contentful as their preferred CMS solution.


2020. Commerce Layer raises $6M for its headless e-commerce platform



Commerce Layer has secured a Series A funding round of $6 million. This company specializes in a "headless" e-commerce platform, designed to create online sales strategies that utilize APIs for seamless integration with various endpoints. These endpoints include marketplaces, your own website and app, different payment systems based on the target country, messaging services, social channels, and more. Commerce Layer's customers, such as Chilly's, Au Depart, Richard Ginori, and others, play a crucial role in shaping the startup's future developments. For instance, one of their customers expressed the need for integration with Farfetch, a luxury fashion marketplace. Consequently, Commerce Layer is actively working on building this integration to offer it as an option to other clients in the future.


2019. Headless CMS company Strapi raises $4 million



French startup Strapi, known for developing an open-source Node.js headless content management system, has successfully raised $4 million in funding. Strapi has gained significant popularity in the headless CMS arena, with over 500,000 downloads and the active participation of 250 contributors in the open-source project. The software can be easily downloaded and deployed on personal servers, allowing users to develop their own front end and retrieve content for their mobile applications using the Strapi API, among other functionalities. One of Strapi's standout features is the ability to customize the admin panel, displaying only the relevant fields needed when adding content. It also supports various databases, including SQLite, MongoDB, MySQL, and Postgres. In the future, the company plans to establish an ecosystem of plugins to enhance the features of their CMS installation. Additionally, there are potential plans to offer a hosted version of Strapi, alleviating the need for users to manage server infrastructure themselves.


2019. Contentstack raises $31.5M Series A round for its headless CMS platform



Contentstack, a startup that provides enterprises with a headless CMS platform, has recently secured a $31.5 million Series A funding. The company has experienced remarkable growth, with its revenue quadrupling in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year. While Contentstack has gained traction across various industries, it has seen particularly strong performance in retail, travel/hospitality, sports/entertainment, and technology sectors. Similar to many companies at the Series A stage, Contentstack plans to utilize the new funding to expand its sales and marketing team, enhance its partner ecosystem, and foster a thriving community around its product. Additionally, Contentstack aims to broaden its geographical reach beyond its primary regions of the United States, India, and Europe. The company has set its sights on the APAC region, specifically targeting Australia and New Zealand for expansion in the first half of 2020.


2016. Distributed content management system Contentstack launched of a set of mobile SDKs



The enterprise-focused headless content management service (CMS), Built.io Contentstack, is undergoing a significant upgrade today. The update introduces a set of mobile software development kits (SDKs) for Android and iOS, alongside a revamped interface designed for both developers and content editors. The concept behind a headless CMS is to address the fact that content is now distributed across various platforms. Rather than using a traditional CMS that manages both content creation and presentation, a headless CMS solely concentrates on content creation. Developers can then seamlessly integrate this data across diverse platforms. This update reinforces Built.io Contentstack's position as a competitor to established CMS platforms like WordPress and Drupal in the enterprise market.