Compare 10 headless CMS offerings and their key differences

How do headless CMSes work?

A headless CMS decouples the back-end content management functionality -- the body -- and the front-end presentation layer, the head, to enable fast content creation and deployment across channels and devices. The back end stores content in a centralized repository, while the front end publishes and displays it to end users.

Due to its decoupled nature, a headless CMS can store and manage content irrespective of which front ends display it. Front ends include webpages, mobile apps or wearable devices, like smartwatches. The centralized back end stores the content, giving organizations flexibility as to how they want to deploy it.

Vendors design their headless CMS offerings to simplify how app developers build next-generation apps. Vendors also rely on RESTful and open APIs to interconnect related services accessed through cloud environments. At the same time, headless CMSes let business users maintain content needed for digital experiences. They also let users preview these experiences across devices and delivery channels. Yet, headless CMSes come with tradeoffs. Organizations may struggle to balance what developers want and what business users need.

Some organizations adopt digital experience platforms, which include headless capabilities and separate individual back-end repositories from how platforms generate front-end experiences. In addition, some vendors produce native headless CMS offerings and design the CMS's underlying repositories, APIs and services to support cloud architectures.

Top 10 headless CMS vendors

Organizations that want to create omnichannel experiences for their customers have many headless CMS options. The following tools received top marks from analyst firms, including Forrester and Gartner, as well as from user reviews on G2, plus additional research from TechTarget editors.

1. Acquia Digital Experience Platform

This platform is a complete suite of cloud-based products for digital asset management (DAM). Drupal, an open source CMS, powers Acquia's headless CMS, which means the platform can access content components through RESTful APIs.

The platform includes a starter kit for headless Drupal applications, a Next.JS starter kit to quickly build front-end applications and a 360-degree view of customer data. It also integrates with Acquia Campaign Studio, Adobe Stock and Google Translate for brand management capabilities. Additionally, Acquia acquired Monsido -- a website governance tool -- to help users create accessible digital experiences.

Pricing information is available upon request.

2. Adobe Experience Manager

Adobe Experience Manager is a cloud-native CMS that offers CMS and DAM capabilities. The platform's headless CMS offers programmatic access to text and rich media managed within its content repository.

Its features include Experience Fragments -- grouped sets of website components -- to enable marketers to reuse existing content. Other capabilities include template-driven authoring or GraphQL, and WYSIWYG authoring for single-page applications with JavaScript SDK. It supports lossless HEIC images for Apple iOS and iPadOS and offers compatibility with Windows 11 in Forms Designer.

Pricing and licensing information are available upon request.

3. Bloomreach

Bloomreach offers a suite of products for content personalization and delivery. Its headless content module, Content, lets users build pages with drag-and-drop capabilities, integrate with third-party systems, such as SAP and Salesforce, and use APIs and SDKs for development. It also offers AI-powered e-commerce recommendations for consumers.

Pricing information is available upon request.

4. Contentful

Contentful is a native headless CMS platform that offers an underlying repository and open APIs to help developers integrate existing content services and quickly build digital experiences.

Key features include collaboration tools, like live previews and preview-based publishing, a visual modeler to help users create and visualize content structures, and an AI tool that automates the creation of these structures. Additionally, its Contentful Studio feature offers a simple UI to let designers and marketers create digital experiences with minimal developer intervention.

Contentful offers three pricing tiers: Free, Basic and Premium. The Basic plan is $300 per month. Pricing information about the Premium plan is available upon request.

5. Contentstack

Contentstack is a native headless platform that offers APIs and prepackaged components to help users develop interactive digital experiences with low-code/no-code techniques.

It includes automation capabilities, modular content for content reuse, live previews to see how content appears on multiple channels before it publishes, and workflows to streamline content creation. The platform also offers a ChatGPT integration and Google Cloud hosting.

Contentstack has three pricing tiers: Foundation, Grow and Scale. It also offers users a free trial. Further pricing information is available upon request.

6. OpenText Experience Cloud

OpenText's Experience Cloud offers APIs to connect to content hubs for web content management, DAM and customer communications management.

Features include integration with Google, a customer data platform, insights and analytics, and an integrated web portal for B2B, B2C and business-to-employee applications. It also includes the Core Experience Insights feature to help users visualize the customer journey, along with AI-powered personalization features.

Organizations can deploy OpenText in the cloud or in a company's own data center or hyperscaler. Pricing information is available upon request.

7. Oracle Content Management

Oracle's headless CMS platform, Oracle Content Management, offers native headless capabilities that enable experience orchestration. The product serves as a centralized platform to organize and manage content and digital assets. It also includes collaboration features for activities like video storyboarding, smart tags to classify content and custom content forms to effectively target audiences.

Content Management is part of Oracle's suite of cloud products. Pricing information is available upon request. The vendor plans to end support for Oracle Content Management on December 31, 2025. As an alternative, Oracle recommends Oracle WebCenter.

8. Prismic

Prismic is a headless page builder for front-end development frameworks, such as Next.js, Nuxt and SvelteKit sites. Its main features include a visual page builder, live editing, drag-and-drop layouts, reusable page sections, SEO metadata controls and AI capabilities to help users quickly build pages. It also offers effective enterprise search functions in the media library and revision history in its page builder modules.

Prismic is cloud-based and offers four pricing tiers: Free, Medium, Platinum and Enterprise. The free plan lets developers build proofs of concept before rolling out full-scale headless sites. The Medium plan is $150 per month, Platinum is $675 per month and pricing information for the Enterprise plan is available upon request.

9. Sanity

Sanity is a headless CMS that offers customizable content workspaces, real-time collaboration tools and a built-in AI assistant. It integrates with Shopify, BigCommerce and other e-commerce platforms. Its generative AI tool, Sanity Create, helps users write, organize and outline content.

Sanity is cloud-based and offers three pricing tiers: Free, Growth and Enterprise. The free plan works for users who want to experiment or create small projects. The Growth plan is $15 per user monthly. Pricing information for the Enterprise plan is available upon request.

10. Sitecore Experience Platform

As part of a comprehensive digital experience platform, Sitecore's headless CMS offers a cloud-native content hub and APIs. The platform can manage rich media assets and help users structure the flow of content across various departments within organizations.

Its main features include a WYSIWYG editor, personalization, machine learning analytics and the ability to conduct multivariate and A/B testing. It also offers personalization tools, composable add-ons and security features, such as access controls.

Pricing and licensing information are available upon request.

Editor's note: This article was written by Geoff Bock and updated and expanded by Christine Campbell.

Geoffrey Bock is principal of Bock & Company and advises organizations on content technologies and the future of business in the digital age.

Christine Campbell is a freelance writer specializing in business and B2B technology.