Headless CMS or website builder?
What each one is, when each is the right answer for a small business, and what going headless costs you.
Checked 22 October 2026 About 3 minutes View as Markdown
The short answer
A builder, if nobody is going to write code for you. A headless CMS, when somebody builds the site and you want to change the words yourself afterwards.
- A builder is the design, the hosting and the editing in one place.
- A headless CMS keeps the content, and your website reads it through an API.
- Headless needs somebody to build the website, once.
Two ways to run a website
A website builder is the design, the hosting and the editing in one place. You choose a template, change it on the page itself, and press publish.
A headless CMS keeps only the content: the headlines, the prices, the opening times, the paragraphs. The website is built separately, usually by a developer, and reads the content through an API. "Headless" means the content comes without a website attached to it.
When a builder is the right answer
- Nobody is going to write code for you, now or later.
- A template close to what you want exists, and the rest is words and pictures.
- You want one bill, one login and nothing to look after.
If that is you, a builder is quicker, and a headless CMS is more than you need.
When a headless CMS is
- Somebody builds the site: a developer, an agency, or you.
- The design has to be exactly yours, and stay that way when the words change.
- The site does more than show pages: bookings and payments on the same website, read from the same backend.
- The site lives wherever its developer likes, built with whatever they like, because the content does not care what shows it.
What going headless costs
- Somebody has to build the website, once, and look after it. Changing the words afterwards takes no code.
- The design's own pictures stay with the website. A photo the owner changes goes in the website's image library, and an image field on a page picks it. A background or an icon drawn into the layout is part of the design, kept wherever its developer keeps files.
- Seeing a draft takes a second copy of the website. A live key reads only what is published, so the live site shows a change once it is published. A copy built with a test key reads every page as its draft was last saved, and shows the change in the real design first. Publishing keeps a version, and the last 100 of each page can be brought back.
How BackendFree does it
Pages are made of typed sections, read through one API with one key per
website. A new project starts with 10
section types (Hero, Text, Services, How it works, Figures, Testimonials, Pricing, FAQ, Call to action, Contact), and they are yours
to change. Publishing sends a signed page.published webhook, so a site that is
built ahead of time can rebuild itself.
Content has the rest, and How to edit a site without breaking the design is about what the person editing can and cannot change.
Questions people ask next
Do I need a developer for a headless CMS?
For the website, yes. Somebody builds it once, against the sections it will show. After that the words are changed in the dashboard, with no code.
Where do the pictures go?
In the website's image library. The owner uploads them on the Media screen, and an image field on a page picks one. A background or an icon drawn into the design stays with the website.
Can I see a draft on the website before publishing it?
On a staging copy, yes. A copy of the website built with a test key reads every page as its draft was last saved, while the live one shows only what is published. The last 100 versions are kept, so a mistake can be undone.
Can I move from a builder later?
Yes, as a rebuild. The words can be carried across, but the design has to be built again as a website that reads them.