Best Self-Hosted Headless CMS Platforms

Enterprise-grade solutions for complete control

Discover the best self-hosted headless CMS platforms that give you full control over your infrastructure, data, and compliance requirements.

119 Self Hosted CMS systems

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Strapi

68886 stars
8724 forks
970 issues

Strapi is the leading open-source headless CMS. It's 100% Javascript, fully customizable, support TypeScript and developer-first. It saves API development time through a beautiful admin panel anyone can use.

API Driven Open Source Self Hosted +9

Ghost

50059 stars
10675 forks
51 issues

A fiercely independent platform for professional publishers. Headless Node.js REST API for developers, beautiful Ember.js admin client for editors. Used by Apple, NASA, Sky News, OpenAI & many more.

API Driven Open Source Self Hosted +4

Payload CMS

36650 stars
2733 forks
381 issues

Payload is a free and open-source headless CMS aimed sharply at providing the best, developer-first experience possible to build out APIs and admin UI.

API Driven Open Source Self Hosted +3

A headless CMS stores content in a back-end repository and delivers it through APIs, freeing front-end teams to build blazing-fast websites, mobile apps and even voice skills without being shackled to rigid templates. For many UK organisations, self-hosting brings extra control over infrastructure expenditure and, crucially, GDPR compliance—vital when personally identifiable information must stay within British or EU borders. Below you’ll find the key factors to weigh up and a run-down of the strongest self-hosted options available in 2025.

Flexibility in Development
A headless CMS decouples content from the frontend, allowing developers to build interfaces using any modern technology like React, Vue, or Next.js — without being locked into traditional templates.

  • Scalable Architecture
    Since content is managed and delivered via APIs, it becomes easy to scale across platforms — websites, mobile apps, or even smart devices — from a single CMS.
  • Performance and Security
    Content is served through APIs, resulting in faster page loads and reduced security risks compared to traditional CMS platforms.
  • Content Without Limits
    Content editors get a user-friendly interface, while developers enjoy complete freedom to build custom frontends that don’t rely on rigid themes or plugins.

How We Use Headless CMS at Alpina Tech

At Alpina Tech, we build fast, scalable, and SEO-optimized websites and applications using modern headless CMS solutions.

  • Integration with Strapi, Sanity, DecapCMS
    We help you choose and configure the best headless CMS for your needs — open-source or enterprise.
  • Custom Frontend Development
    Using frameworks like Next.js or Astro, we build fast, flexible frontends tailored to your brand.
  • SEO & Speed Optimization
    We structure content delivery for top performance in search engines and Core Web Vitals scores.

When to Consider a Headless CMS?

KeystoneJS 2025 – A schema-first GraphQL engine with a tiny runtime footprint—perfect for serverless or edge deployments. Developers appreciate its code-centric approach, custom field views and flexible authentication. Consideration: no built-in media library, so you’ll integrate S3, Azure Blob or Cloudinary yourself.

Apostrophe CMS 4 – Marries traditional visual editing with a fully headless JSON API. Multisite support and a widget toolkit help agencies roll out related brands quickly. Consideration: teams still on v3 face a mandatory migration before end-of-life later this year.

Ghost 6 – Best known as a blogging platform, Ghost now exposes a robust headless Content API and can be self-hosted on Docker or bare-metal. Writers adore its minimalist editor; developers value the clean REST endpoints. Consideration: core feature set centres on publishing rather than complex content models.

Netlify CMS – A Git-based CMS that stores content as Markdown/YAML directly in your repository. Perfect for Jamstack sites where developers prefer pull-request workflows and editors need a simple interface. Being completely open-source, it can be deployed anywhere from an on-prem server to an EC2 instance. Consideration: lacks granular role permissions and relies on external services for media storage.

Practical UK-Centric Use Cases

  • Local government portal, Bristol – Directus fronts a bilingual information hub; consent management hooks into GOV.UK Notify, ensuring all data remains on-shore.
  • Specialist e-commerce retailer, Leeds – Strapi powers product content while feeding a separate Gatsby storefront; custom plug-ins trigger VAT-specific pricing logic for Northern Irish customers.
  • Med-tech start-up, Cambridge Science Park – Payload serves regulatory docs and in-app alerts from a single repo, with Docker Swarm nodes sitting inside an ISO 27001-certified data centre.
  • Digital agency collective, Brighton – Keystone drives a fleet of static sites; GitHub Actions sync schema changes to Vercel previews, giving creatives instant feedback.
  • Publishing cooperative, Glasgow – Ghost delivers newsletters, podcasts and editorial features, with backups sent nightly to a UK Fast object-storage bucket.

Implementation Tips & Next Steps

Self-hosting a headless CMS lets you fine-tune performance, enforce GDPR compliance and avoid vendor lock-in, but ownership also means you’re responsible for patching, monitoring and scaling. Build a CI/CD pipeline early, containerise your services and invest in automated security scans. For UK teams handling sensitive data, consider a managed Kubernetes cluster in an availability zone such as London (UK South) or Cardiff (UK West) to keep latency low and data sovereignty intact.

Conclusion

Choosing the right self-hosted headless CMS isn’t merely a tech decision—it’s a strategic investment in agility, compliance and editorial efficiency. Use the criteria above to shortlist platforms that align with your existing stack and growth plans, pilot them in a sandbox, then roll out incrementally. Ready to future-proof your content architecture? Assemble your cross-functional team, set up a proof of concept and start delivering lightning-fast, GDPR-ready experiences to your UK audience today.

We’ll help you migrate from WordPress or any legacy CMS to a modern headless setup. Reach out — we’ll show a live demo and walk you through the benefits.

Publisher
Dmytro Antonyuk

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