Like a glass hammer, headless WordPress is a bad idea

While WordPress is widely used as a traditional CMS, some developers attempt to adapt it into a headless CMS.  However, using WordPress as a headless CMS is a poor choice when compared to platforms specifically designed for headless architecture from the start.

by Dzenita Vejsilovic

Published: 17:49, 19 September 2024

As businesses grow and adapt to the digital world, many seek flexible, scalable content management solutions. Headless CMS platforms, which separate the content from the front-end presentation, are increasingly popular for this reason. 

While WordPress is widely used as a traditional CMS, some developers attempt to adapt it into a headless CMS. 

However, using WordPress as a headless CMS is a poor choice compared to platforms specifically designed for headless architecture from the start.

What is a headless CMS?

A headless CMS separates the content management backend (the "body") from the front-end presentation layer (the "head"). This allows developers to use APIs to deliver content to any device or platform, such as websites, mobile apps, first party data platforms such as Glide Nexa, third party ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, or even Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Headless CMS platforms are popular because they give businesses more flexibility to deliver content across multiple channels consistently but also more choice in how they build their front end applications, often using modern frameworks such as our partner Vercel's next.js.

The problem with headless WordPress

At its core, WordPress is not a headless CMS. It was originally designed as a traditional CMS, meaning the content management and presentation layers are closely tied together, "coupled". While it’s possible to decouple WordPress by using APIs (like REST APIs or GraphQL) to deliver content, this introduces several key issues that make it a poor choice as a headless CMS.

We will cover some of those issues here.

1. Not designed for headless from the outset

The biggest issue with WordPress as a headless CMS is that it was never architected with that usage in mind. WordPress was, and in most cases still is, a monolithic platform, where the content and front-end layers are tightly linked. Separating these layers requires significant effort, extra configuration, and ongoing maintenance. This workaround increases complexity and adds technical debt — problems which platforms conceived as headless CMS from the start don't face.

Platforms built from the ground up for headless architecture are optimised for managing content across multiple digital touchpoints. These platforms are designed with API-first principles, making it easy to distribute content without complex workarounds. From day one they are optimised for flexibility, scalability, and efficiency, all of which simplifies development and smooths content delivery.

2. Performance issues

Decoupling WordPress for headless use can create performance problems. WordPress wasn’t designed to handle headless configurations, and performance bottlenecks often arise. The system’s reliance on its themes, plugins, and databases, which are integral to its traditional setup, adds unnecessary overhead in a headless environment.

Platforms designed as headless CMS from the outset are optimised for speed and scalability. With fewer dependencies and a focus on API performance, they are faster, more responsive, and better equipped to handle high traffic loads. This makes native headless platforms a better choice for businesses that need to deliver fast, consistent content across multiple channels.

3. Plugin compatibility

WordPress is known for its vast ecosystem of plugins that add features and functionality. However, most are built for its traditional, coupled setup not for working in a headless environment. In many cases, developers have to customise or rewrite plugins to function with APIs, which adds complexity and increases the risk of errors.

In contrast, headless CMS platforms are designed with modular, API-driven components. They don't rely on external custom plugins for basic functionality. Everything is built to work seamlessly in a headless environment, reducing the need for customisation and ensuring a smoother development process.

4. Security risks

One of WordPress’s biggest drawbacks is its vulnerability to security breaches, primarily because of its combined popularity and reliance on third-party plugins. The more plugins you use, the higher the risk of security issues. Decoupling WordPress into a headless CMS adds complexity, potentially increasing security risks even further.

Headless CMS platforms designed from scratch often have stronger security frameworks without plugins or themes, which reduces the attack surface. Additionally, security is baked into the platform’s core architecture, with API security measures like authentication tokens, encryption, and rate limiting, ensuring your content and data are protected.

5. Increased maintenance and technical debt

If using WordPress as a headless CMS, developers typically have to make significant adjustments in order to decouple the system. Maintaining these customisations can be time-consuming and costly as each API configuration, plugin adjustment, and performance tweak requires ongoing attention — all unusual modifications on top of a system that already needs much maintenance. This leads to growing technical debt, where maintenance becomes a burden as the system grows.

Proper headless CMS platforms, on the other hand, are designed to require minimal maintenance. They are built to scale easily without the need for constant adjustments or retrofits, meaning fewer headaches for developers and a more streamlined process for maintaining the platform as it evolves.

6. Pre-cloud architecture

WordPress was designed and built before cloud technologies and services were a thing. This means when it comes to scale, robustness, and performance, WordPress doesn't fully leverage what cloud has to offer and is simply installed on some servers in a data centre. This negates all the cloud benefits.

Why a native headless CMS is the better option

Choosing a native headless CMS, like Glide, eliminates the problems of retrofitting a traditional CMS into a headless environment. Glide was built from the ground up with API-first principles in mind, meaning it’s optimised for seamless content distribution across any platform. With a native headless CMS, you don’t have to worry about custom configurations, plugin compatibility issues, or performance bottlenecks.

Moreover, Glide offers advanced AI tools under its Glide GAIA initiative, which go far beyond the capabilities of a headless WordPress setup. Features like AI-driven content summaries, drafting, preflights, translations into 75 languages, and text-to-voice functionality provide where it's needed in workflows. These tools help businesses streamline their content creation processes while ensuring that content is delivered accurately and efficiently across all platforms.

Choose platforms built for headless from day one

While it’s possible to turn WordPress into a headless CMS, it is far from optimal, let alone ideal. The performance issues, plugin problems, ongoing security flaws, and burdensome maintenance costs make WordPress a poor choice for businesses looking for a scalable, multi-channel content solution. Instead, platforms (like Glide we are obliged to add!) designed from the first concepts to be headless, offer superior versatility, performance, scalability, and ease of use.

For businesses that want to avoid the limitations and headaches of retrofitting a traditional CMS, choosing a native headless CMS is the only choice.