Glossary Terms

Headless WordPress

Headless WordPress is a setup where WordPress is used only for editing and storing content, while the public site is built and served by a separate front-end application. Authors still get the familiar dashboard, editor, and media library, but visitors never see a WordPress-rendered page; they see a Next.js, Astro, or Nuxt app that pulls the content in through the REST API or WPGraphQL. The appeal is real: front-end developers get modern JavaScript tools, pages can be pre-rendered and served from a CDN for serious speed, and one WordPress install can feed a site, an app, and a screen at once. The cost is just as real: live preview, some plugins, and image handling all need rebuilding, so I reach for headless on heavy editorial or multi-channel projects and stick with a well-built traditional WordPress for brochure and service sites, where it's faster to build and cheaper to hand off.