Top Self-Hosted Headless CMS Platforms

Explore the best headless CMS for modern web development

Choose from the best headless CMS platforms to power your Jamstack applications

Headless CMS Solutions

A comprehensive list of headless content management systems for modern web development

Choose from the best headless CMS platforms to power your Jamstack applications

84 CMS systems

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68886 stars

8724 forks

970 issues

Maximise your content management potential with Alpina Tech, a leading development company offering custom Strapi development services. We provide tailored solutions, seamless API integrations, and comprehensive support to create scalable, flexible, and secure CMS platforms.

Best works with:

#react #vue #nextjs #api #nodejs #graphql

API Driven Self Hosted Node.js

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 Self Hosted

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 Self Hosted

31848 stars

4291 forks

279 issues

Optimize content management with Directus, an open-source headless CMS. Alpina Tech provides expert integration, custom solutions, and full-cycle support to ensure seamless and efficient content delivery. Contact us today to enhance your digital assets management!

API Driven Self Hosted

20354 stars

12587 forks

The WordPress CMS enables headless development through a built-in REST API and offers extensions to enable methods like GraphQL via a rich plugin ecosystem.

API Driven Self Hosted

19461 stars

4075 forks

850 issues

Wagtail is the leading open-source Python CMS. Based on Django, it supports both traditional and headless sites via REST and GraphQL APIs.

API Driven Self Hosted

18507 stars

3014 forks

528 issues

A different kind of CMS. It's a single page app written in React. It's an npm package. It's a script running on a static page that lives in your repo. Built for static site generators.

Git-based Self Hosted

12662 stars

651 forks

290 issues

TinaCMS is a free and open-source headless CMS focused on providing the best developer experience for building web sites and applications.

Git + API Self Hosted

9639 stars

1186 forks

98 issues

The programmable backend that allows you to create a highly customised CMS and API in minutes.

API Driven Self Hosted

8310 stars

1066 forks

52 issues

BuilderIO where designs become live websites and apps. Cut your build time in half. Ideal for developers and marketing teams.

API Driven

7778 stars

2449 forks

902 issues

Orchard Core is an open-source modular and multi-tenant application framework built with ASP.NET Core, and a content management system (CMS) built on top of that framework.

API Driven Self Hosted

7636 stars

633 forks

313 issues

Webiny is an highly customizable, scalable, serverless CMS that you can host on your own AWS account. It offers you enterprise-grade functionality while keeping your data within the secure perimeter of your own infrastructure.

API Driven Self Hosted

6830 stars

447 forks

246 issues

Publii is a desktop-based CMS for Windows, Mac and Linux that makes creating static websites fast and hassle-free, even for beginners.

Git-based Self Hosted

5904 stars

556 forks

As a trusted development company, Alpina Tech leverages Plasmic CMS to provide efficient, dynamic content management solutions. We ensure seamless integration and optimization for omnichannel delivery, elevating your digital presence.

API Driven

5753 stars

387 forks

32 issues

Headless CMS with automatic JSON API. Featuring auto-HTTPS from Let's Encrypt, HTTP/2 Server Push, and flexible server framework written in Go.

API Driven Self Hosted

5743 stars

483 forks

404 issues

Enhance your content strategy with Sanity CMS. Alpina Tech offers tailored solutions for high-performance, scalable content management across platforms.

API Driven

5404 stars

506 forks

260 issues

Cockpit is a self-hosted headless and api-driven CMS

API Driven Self Hosted

4908 stars

2756 forks

471 issues

Umbraco Heartcore is a headless CMS with an editor experience like no other. On top of a managed RESTful and graphQL API and CDN, you'll get a powerful backoffice to structure, organize and create content in a fast and efficient manner.

API Driven

4769 stars

705 forks

180 issues

A simple content authoring environment for CMS-free websites.

Git-based Self Hosted

4475 stars

579 forks

229 issues

A Laravel-powered, flat-first CMS that can run headless, as a full PHP stack, or generate and deploy static sites.

Git-based Self Hosted

4474 stars

607 forks

119 issues

As a full-featured JavaScript CMS with both headless capabilities and in-context editing, our tools appeal to both developers and content editors, not only because of how flexible they are, but because they feel good to use.

API Driven Self Hosted

3462 stars

669 forks

449 issues

Craft is a hybrid PHP CMS featuring flexible content modeling, a beautiful, accessible control panel, and a full GraphQL API.

API Driven Self Hosted

3012 stars

119 forks

27 issues

TerminusCMS is a dev-first headless content management system for discovering and using data and content across complex use cases like supply chains, compliance, and enterprise content infrastructure.

API Driven Self Hosted

2903 stars

118 forks

8 issues

Manifest is an open-source, self-hosted headless CMS that provides a complete backend with just a single YAML file. It integrates seamlessly into your codebase, allowing you to manage content effortlessly while maintaining full control over your data.

API Driven Self Hosted

2896 stars

353 forks

41 issues

A Jekyll plugin that provides users with a traditional CMS-style graphical interface.

Git-based Self Hosted

2754 stars

339 forks

56 issues

Pages CMS is an Open Source CMS built on top of GitHub you can start using with a single click. It is ideal to manage static websites: Next.js, Astro, Nuxt, Hugo, Jekyll, 11ty, Zod, etc.

Git-based Self Hosted

2424 stars

493 forks

Scalable open source headless cms for developers and content authors.

API Driven Self Hosted

1865 stars

113 forks

13 issues

The headless cms with JSON API, GraphQL, Actions, SMTP, IMAP, FTP, Cloud services sync and more.

API Driven Self Hosted

1788 stars

258 forks

67 issues

An Admin Interface for Hexo

Git-based Self Hosted

1593 stars

86 forks

46 issues

Sveltia CMS is a Git-based lightweight headless CMS under active development as a modern, quick replacement for Netlify/Decap CMS. Open source. Lightweight. UX-driven development. Made with Svelte.

Git-based Self Hosted

1332 stars

62 forks

340 issues

Extremely fast open source headless CMS with GraphQL API, built-in authentication, and large scale deployments.

API Driven Self Hosted

Headless CMS to power content for any website or app.

API Driven

Harness the power of DatoCMS for flexible, API-driven content management. Partner with Alpina Tech, a leading development company, to optimize your content delivery with tailored DatoCMS solutions.

API Driven

Content intelligently delivered to create engaging digital experiences.

API Driven

An API-first cloud-native service with intuitive content authoring based on Google Drive, Docs and Sheets built to power the future of Web Experiences.

API Driven

Flamelink is an easy to use, headless CMS specifically developed to add & manage content in Firebase

API Driven

FlyCode helps product teams work like software engineers - to ship better products, faster with no-code

Git-based

Custom dashboard and API for managing all of your content.

API Driven

FrontAid is a free CMS for JSON files in Git.

Git-based

Garchi CMS is a developer friendly headless CMS that bridges the gap between developers and content teams.

API Driven

GatherContent is a headless Content Operations Platform, helping thousands of organisations around the world to create quality content, in less time, and at scale.

API Driven

GitCMS is a Chrome extension which turns GitHub into a headless CMS with a Notion-like editor, custom frontmatter schemas, and seamless GitHub integration.

Git-based

A GraphQL API-based backend builder with built-in CMS capabilities for your Websites & Apps

API Driven

The spreadsheet for multi-language content tailor-made for games and digital products. Gridly connects teams, tools, and assets within a familiar spreadsheet view as a single source of truth.

API Driven

A purpose built Headless CMS that can help yop integrate your blog seamlessly on any custom domain including sub-paths like/blog for complete branding control.

API Driven

Headless is a CMS designed specifically for static websites.

API Driven

New for 2023! Headlesshost is a redefined headless interface putting user experience as the top priority.

API Driven

A robust, headless content management system with both the editor and developer in mind

API Driven

Hygraph is the original GraphQL-native Headless CMS. In addition, low-code approach to configure multiple external systems with your Hygraph project, with support for both GraphQL or REST APIs

API Driven

JekyllPad is a headless CMS for any GitHub repository offering a modern visual WYSIWYG markdown editor, frontmatter editor, media integration, and seamless GitHub sync.

Git-based

Kontent.ai is the headless CMS that enables organizations to govern all things content to deliver standout experiences, now and in the future.

API Driven

An API-based CMS that combines powerful content scheduling capabilities with a clean and modern content editing experience.

API Driven

A headless CMS that's as great for content authors as it is for developers. The Visual SPA Editor gives authors creative control, fully headlessly, for React, Angular & Vue.

API Driven Self Hosted

An API-based CMS that specialized for Japanese.

API Driven

Headless content management system supporting multitenancy and white-label workspaces.

API Driven

Pimcore is an API-first, headless open-source content management platform based on PHP/Symfony. It also includes a digital commerce framework.

API Driven Self Hosted

An innovative API driven approach to building webpages. Build your website with a visual editor and deploy it as a static site.

API Driven

PMKIN makes content creation effortless with an intuitive editor that lets your team focus on writing. Centralize all your content, seamlessly integrate with Next.js, and publish updates faster—without bottlenecks or code.

API Driven

The Headless CMS with Personalization

API Driven

Quintype is the new age, mobile first publishing platform for digital publishers seeking to amplify audiences & revenues.

API Driven

CMS with inline Visual editing based on React components. Easy for editors, flexible for devs, enterprise-ready.

Visual, API Driven

Build Instant APIs from Google Sheets as CMS

API Driven

Siteleaf is a content management system designed for a better web.

Git-based

Sitepins is a Git-based headless CMS designed for developers, marketers, and digital agencies building modern static websites.

Git-based

Spearly CMS is a headless CMS easy to embed and easy to use. You can embed content into your site for few steps.

API Driven

A minimal and beautiful git-based CMS for content marketing teams.

Git-based

CMS for Jekyll built on top of GitHub and GitHub pages, for your clients to edit the content of Jekyll websites.

Git-based

Suncel is a headless CMS for Next.js, with a powerful no-code visual builder to rapidly create pages and publish your content.

API Driven

TakeShape is a GraphQL API-first Content-as-a-Service platform with an integrated Static Content Generator.

API Driven

Turn Trello into a CMS

Git-based

Typewriter is a simple yet flexible headless CMS that works with any platform you want to use.

API Driven

A Git-based CMS for the Hugo Static Site Generator. Manage your site's content with zero config.

Git-based

Versioned is an open source CMS API and admin UI based on Node.js/MongoDB/Vue.js

API Driven Self Hosted

Zesty.io is a hybrid CMS that allows you to generate content APIs, custom endpoints, and more!

API Driven

Experience flexible and scalable content management with Contentful. Alpina Tech offers expert integration, custom solutions, and full-cycle support to optimize your content delivery.

Data Driven

Enhance your content strategy with Storyblok CMS. Alpina Tech offers tailored solutions for high-performance, scalable content management across all platforms.

Data Driven

Kentico Kontent is a cloud-based headless CMS that enables you to manage content across multiple channels.

Data Driven

Leverage Contentstack for flexible, scalable content management. Alpina Tech provides expert implementation and support for seamless cross-platform delivery.

Data Driven

ButterCMS is a headless CMS that enables you to manage content across multiple channels and platforms.

Data Driven

68886 stars

8724 forks

970 issues

Enterprise edition with built-in analytics plug-in, custom dashboard widgets and role-based access. Features page performance reports, content-reuse metrics and SEO health checks. UK fit: Deploy on AWS London or Azure UK South with enterprise support for ISO 27001 and SOC 2.

Data Driven Self Hosted

Mature ecosystem with marketplace apps for Google Analytics, Segment and Optimizely. Features live content preview with performance overlays and webhook-driven events feed BI pipelines. UK fit: EU-resident data storage, out-of-the-box GDPR tools for consent and data export.

Data Driven

31848 stars

4291 forks

279 issues

Database-first architecture that captures every API call with real-time dashboards in the admin UI. Features customisable charts, user-journey tracers and A/B experiment trackers. UK fit: Self-host on Postgres in UK data centres with fine-grained permissions for public-sector use.

Data Driven Self Hosted Self Hosted

Fully managed SaaS with integrated content intelligence and editorial scoring. Features content gap analysis, audience segmentation and predictive recommendations. UK fit: GDPR-ready compliance centre with British hosting options via partner networks.

Data Driven

5743 stars

483 forks

404 issues

Highly extensible Studio UI where you can embed custom analytics components. Features combine real-time metrics from BigQuery or Elasticsearch directly into editorial workflows. UK fit: Deploy self-hosted Sanity in Kubernetes clusters on UK soil with enterprise support for data audits.

Data Driven Self Hosted

Use Agility CMS for flexible, high-performance content management. Rely on Alpina Tech, a leading development company, for expertise in optimizing your content delivery.

Self Hosted

Leverage Atlas Headless CMS, powered by WP Engine, for flexible, high-performance content management. Partner with Alpina Tech, a leading development company, to optimize your headless WordPress solutions for seamless content delivery.

Self Hosted

As a trusted development company, Alpina Tech leverages Builder.io CMS to provide efficient, dynamic content management solutions. We ensure seamless integration and optimization for omnichannel delivery, elevating your digital presence.

Self Hosted

Streamline content management with Butter CMS. Alpina Tech provides expert implementation and support for scalable, cross-platform content solutions.

Self Hosted

Empower your website management with CloudCannon. Build, host, and edit static websites effortlessly with user-friendly tools and powerful integrations.

Self Hosted

Elevate your digital experiences with Alpina Tech—your Craft CMS development partner. We design, build, and support headless Craft solutions: GraphQL & REST APIs, Nuxt/Next front-ends, and plugin-powered workflows that scale with your business.

Self Hosted

Build modern, headless CMS solutions with Decap for fast, scalable, and flexible content management. Simplify workflows and enhance digital experiences.

Self Hosted

As a trusted development company, Alpina Tech leverages Flotiq CMS to provide efficient, dynamic content management solutions. We ensure seamless integration and optimization for omnichannel delivery, elevating your digital presence.

Self Hosted

Maximise your content management potential with Alpina Tech. As a leading headless-CMS studio we craft custom Forestry (and TinaCMS) solutions – from tailored Git-based workflows to seamless CI/CD integrations – so you can publish faster, safer and at scale.

Self Hosted

Discover Graph CMS for efficient content management. Alpina Tech provides robust implementation and support for dynamic, multi-channel content delivery.

Self Hosted

Experience the flexibility and scalability of headless CMS with Alpina Tech. Our expert integration and custom solutions ensure high-performance, dynamic content management across all platforms. Contact us today to elevate your content strategy!

Self Hosted

Boost your digital strategy with Headless WordPress. Alpina Tech provides tailored solutions for flexible, scalable content management across multiple platforms.

Self Hosted

Discover the power of hybrid CMS for flexible, high-performance content management. Partner with Alpina Tech, a trusted development company, to optimize your content delivery with tailored hybrid CMS solutions.

Self Hosted

Enhance your digital strategy with Payload CMS. Alpina Tech offers tailored solutions for flexible, secure, and scalable content management across all devices.

Self Hosted

As a trusted development company, Alpina Tech leverages Prismic CMS to provide efficient, dynamic content management solutions. We ensure seamless integration and optimization for omnichannel delivery, elevating your digital presence.

Self Hosted

As a trusted development company, Alpina Tech leverages Scrivito CMS to provide efficient, dynamic content management solutions. We ensure seamless integration and optimization for omnichannel delivery, elevating your digital presence.

Self Hosted

Accelerate digital experiences with Alpina Tech, a Sitecore development partner delivering custom Sitecore XM Cloud and headless solutions. We build scalable architectures, integrate enterprise systems, and provide continuous support so you can deliver personalized, omnichannel content at speed.

Self Hosted

As a trusted development company, Alpina Tech leverages Slicknode CMS to provide efficient, dynamic content management solutions. We ensure seamless integration and optimization for omnichannel delivery, elevating your digital presence.

Self Hosted

Unlock enterprise-grade, open-source flexibility with Alpina Tech. Our TYPO3 specialists design, build and maintain headless TYPO3 solutions—JSON APIs, GraphQL endpoints and Nuxt/Vue front-ends—so you can deliver multilingual, omnichannel experiences at scale.

Self Hosted

Professional Umbraco CMS development services to build fast, secure, and scalable websites tailored to your business needs. Boost performance with expert support.

Self Hosted

As a trusted development company, Alpina Tech leverages Umbraco Heartcore CMS to provide efficient, dynamic content management solutions. We ensure seamless integration and optimization for omnichannel delivery, elevating your digital presence.

Self Hosted

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.

Dmytro Antonyuk

Page Updated:

(4.9/5)

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Top Self-Hosted Headless CMS Platforms

Explore the best headless CMS for modern web development

Headless CMS Solutions

Strapi

Ghost

Payload CMS

Directus

WordPress

Wagtail

Decap CMS

Tina

Keystone

Builder.io

OrchardCore

Webiny

Publii

Plasmic

Ponzu

Sanity

Cockpit

Umbraco Heartcore

Prose

Statamic

ApostropheCMS

Craft CMS

TerminusCMS

Manifest

Jekyll Admin

Pages CMS

Squidex

Daptin

Hexo Admin

Sveltia CMS

Atomic Server

Cosmic

DatoCMS

Dialoguewise

doc2.site

Flamelink

FlyCode

Fridge

FrontAid CMS

Garchi CMS

GatherContent

GitCMS

graphapi®

Gridly

Hashnode Headless CMS

Headless

Headlesshost

headly.io

Hygraph

JekyllPad

Kontent.ai

LexasCMS

Magnolia

microCMS

NodeWrite

Pimcore

Pixelesq

PMKIN

Prepr

Quintype

React Bricks

Sheetson

Siteleaf

Sitepins

Spearly CMS

Spinal

Stastic

Suncel

TakeShape

Troglio

Typewriter

Usecue CMS

Versioned

Zesty.io

Contentful

Storyblok

Kentico Kontent

Let’s just
{ Make it together! }