Top headless CMS for the Composable Web in 2024

By Aatu Väisänen

May 17th, 2022

*This post was written over two years ago, and while it reflects the best information available at that time, some details may have changed.

*Updated in September 2024

Picking the "right" Headless CMS for your web project isn't easy. There are many factors to consider when choosing one, and with all of the options available right now –there are A LOT of them, it can be very daunting to choose one.

For example, should you choose Contentful, Agility CMS, or maybe Sanity? Or is it Dato?

But what about Prismic and Kontent?

I only mentioned a few, and it's already too much, isn’t it?

So, how can you choose the right one for your unique use case if the current Headless CMS market is so saturated?

Luckily for you, we’ve tested most of the headless CMS platforms in the market and can list the pros and cons of each one. So we know what works, what doesn't, and, most importantly, what works for you.

To help you in your search, we’ve curated a list of five enterprise-grade headless content management systems.

Below you can find a list of the best Headless content management system to use for the Composable Web in 2024. Tested and proven by Ikius in real-world projects.

In this post:

Sanity.io

Sanity is a unique Headless CMS and one of the most customizable options. I'd call it a blank canvas or an API-based CMS to describe it briefly.

Sanity doesn't provide any boilerplate fields by default, so you'll have to define everything in code. This is great, but this means you'll have to define your requirements in great detail – if you have an in-house developer, this is not a huge deal. On the other hand, Sanity Studio allows you to configure anything just the way you need it - the downside is you'll have to create absolutely everything from scratch, which is time-consuming and might cost you $$$ if you're not hiring a custom web development agency.

• Good for: For small to enterprise companies that need granular and high-level customizability and have access to frontend developers

• Price range: $0-949 and up / month. Scales by usage so you can start small and pay as you scale

• Goes well with: Next.js and Vercel

Sanity is the most technologically advanced CMS we have used. It's also quick to set up and use if you're a developer or have access to developers. However, there's little that can be done without any developer input. However, this creates a platform where you can build anything imaginable just for you and you only. So, for example, in addition to reading data, you can write data and structured content into Sanity's database. Using this setup, creating a commenting engine with Sanity is easy, for example, where you can store and view user-submitted data straight on Sanity Studio.

With Sanity, real-time previews are a thing, albeit you'll need to do a manual configuration to achieve this.

Why choose Sanity as your Headless CMS?

• You need a true Headless CMS where even the interface is optional; however, Sanity offers a standard interface, "Sanity Studio," which is essentially just a highly customizable React app hooked to Sanity's reusable API.

• You need a composable website with a super high level of customizability and low-level integrations - this is a double-edged sword; you'll have to create absolutely everything from scratch.

• You have enough developer resources when setting up the CMS – it can run independently when set up.

• You know what you're doing – you've defined your requirements in great detail in advance. However, as Sanity is a blank canvas, creating a messy CMS structure is easy if you don't have precise requirements for your project.

DatoCMS

DatoCMS is an excellent choice for smaller projects where you need a high level of modularity while still having many features built-in. Like Agility, Dato provides some SEO fields built-in but not as extensively (You can only configure basic SEO + Open Graph data out of the box).

Dato doesn't have a built-in sitemap and doesn’t allow for structured content, so it's up to you how you'll output your content and which presentation layer you use. It's simple enough to iterate quickly but lets you build more complex layouts thanks to its modularity.

• Good for: Small to medium static sites where you need a high level of modularity and solid customer experience

• Price range: $0-300

• Goes well with: Next.js and Vercel

• We are Dato CMS implementation partners

Based on our experience Dato is excellent for smaller marketing sites that require dynamic content. Thanks to Dato's highly configurable block library and modular structure, you can basically build any layout you can imagine with ease.

Dato is very user-friendly, so it's not as intimidating as a heavy-duty enterprise Headless CMS like Sitecore – this is a pro if you're primarily building for non-technical content editors. Also, you can configure Dato's colors and add your preferred logo to Dato in case you're handing over the site to a client. Or why not have your own logo there?

On the technical side of things, Dato CMS fits the composable architecture and ecosystem well, making it a great alternative if you’re building a composable website. Connecting to Vercel is as simple as clicking a button. There's a lot more that's configurable out of the box, and it's worth considering over other providers if you're not a fan of configuring things manually.

Why choose DatoCMS?

• Great for iterating, getting up and running quickly

• Great for building a static site

• Solid developer experience

• Highly customizable with modular blocks and settings if you choose to use them

• Not intimidating for non-technical users and easy for content editors

• Good for small to medium marketing sites

• Not as expensive as other providers with similar features

Storyblok

Storyblok is a great headless option for companies that need a marketer-oriented visual editor. Storyblok empowers marketers and content editors to build performant digital experiences, and its API-first architecture ensures that developers have a blank slate to work with. Plus, the ability to drag, drop, and reuse content blocks is a huge time-saver for everyone.

• Good for: Non-technical users

• Price range: $0-$2,999 and up/month

• Goes well with: Vercel, Next.js, and React

All in all, Storyblok is a very robust CMS for non-technical people. Its visual editor gives novice developers and marketers a solid set of tools they can use to build digital experiences. However, its price makes it prohibitive for budding startups and small eCommerce stores, and its documentation is not up to par with other CMS on this list like Sanity. However, if you want a no-nonsense headless CMS, Storyblok is a great option for you.

Why choose Storyblok as your Headless CMS?

• Easy to use starters and support for frontend frameworks

• Drag-and-drop interface

• Beginner-friendly

• Visual editor

• Clean UI

Hygraph

Hygraph is a solid CMS option for complex projects where you need flexibility and power. The platform makes it easy to set up content schemas, edit markdown files, and handle different content types. Also, Hygraph comes with a native GraphQL playground to help you visualize the structure of your schemas. However, despite being technically advanced, it doesn’t hang content editors out to dry, giving them easy-to-use tools to edit schemas and content models.

However, it’s worth noting that Hygraph doesn’t allow you to add custom fields and data types in the Hygraph dashboard. Also, it makes it hard to convert one object into another, so you have to create generic content blocks for different content types manually – Also, Hygraph, if you’re listening, could you implement a dark mode option?

• Good for: Complex web apps where flexibility is a must

• Price range: $0-$799 and up/month. Scales by usage

• Goes well with: Vercel, Next.js, and React

• We are Hygraph implementation partners.

But if we can say something about Hygraph, it excels at providing a great developer experience. If you have a strong team of developers who know their way around the Composable Web ecosystem and GraphQL APIs, there’s nothing you can’t build with Hygraph.

Why choose Hygraph as your Headless CMS?

• Robust SEO capabilities

• Responsive support team

• Easy-to-use content schemas

• Support for GraphQL and REST APIs

• Can be used by technical and non-technical teams

Agility

If you're planning on migrating from WordPress to the Composable Web, Agility CMS is a no-brainer. Agility is best suited for larger enterprise websites with a lot of content that requires a robust content editor.

Due to Agility CMS' "agility," it's very easy to migrate old content from WordPress, headless WordPress, or Drupal –any traditional CMS, really– and preserve your sitemap, asset URLs, all with a minimal negative impact on your website’s SEO and user experience when migrating.

• Good for: Larger web applications and enterprise single web applications. Great when migrating from WordPress since Agility offers easy data import

• Price range: $900-1800 and up / month.

• Goes well with: Next.js, Vercel, and Gatsby.

• We are Agility CMS implementation partners.

Agility is probably the only notable Headless CMS with built-in sitemap management (see the above video) – this is a huge pro because you can compose pages any way you like, which is essential if you're actively maintaining and updating content for SEO reasons.

Having a sitemap manager built-in is also immensely beneficial for developers since they don't have to worry about generating hard-coded page paths; in contrast, this allows content editors to compose pages in the sitemap wherever they like.

Agility is the only content platform in this list that offers all SEO fields built-in (kind of like Yoast with WordPress), which is great if you’re a content editor, content creator, or marketer. Surprisingly, other Headless CMS don't have SEO fields built-in. Combine this with sitemap and page management and the ability to add structured content to your website, and you're well set for SEO just by using one of the Next.js starters Agility CMS provides.

Agility allows you to work faster and automatically makes your content operations 100% more organized than any other Headless CMS. Frankly, it just makes sense.

With other Headless CMS, you'll constantly be doing tedious manual labor for sitemap management, API queries, and much more. With Agility CMS, all this comes out of the box. This is mostly because Agility's been around for so long that it's undoubtedly the most mature Headless CMS.

Why choose Agility as your headless platform?

• Built-in sitemap management

• Most SEO fields are built-in; no need to manually define fields for everything

• Generates SEO data automatically from page data (kind of like you can with Yoast for WordPress)

• Allows you to build a website using a static site generator

• It just makes sense since it's been around for so long

• Compared to other Headless CMS platforms, it can really cut your web development time in half since many features that others lack are built-in Agility

• Great support, community, and very quick response times on Slack

• Real-time previews work out of the box when using Agility's Next.js starters – a big plus for content editors

Contentful

Contentful is a Headless CMS giant that's mainly focused on larger web projects for enterprise needs. A good choice when you need a high level of reliability for larger projects and guaranteed SLAs or high-quality documentation.

• Price range: $0- $1995 and up / month.

• Good for: Enterprise web applications that need to integrate with a content delivery network and DevOps processes

• Goes well with: Next.js

There's really nothing special about Contentful – it's just good and very "standard," if that makes sense. It lacks some features that many other Headless CMS provide, such as easy data import and modular components. It can become quite messy if you're trying to create modular, composable pages with Contentful.

Since Contentful is a huge company, you can expect premium-level support, service, and features if you pay the premium price.

Why choose Contentful as your Headless CMS?

• Clean UI

• Built-in versioning

• Solid user experience

• Powerful media management

• Easy to use WYSIWYG editor

Prismic

Prismic is a straightforward Headless CMS for smaller website projects. While it's possible to create anything with Prismic, it does not excel in content-heavy digital experiences since it lacks a lot of basic features others provide.

However, this is sometimes a good thing because it's easy to iterate quickly, and small, simple marketing sites are quick to set up with Prismic.

• Price range: $0- 500 and everything in between. Scales well with usage.

• Good for: Small and quick sites which don't have heavy requirements for content management.

• Goes well with: Next.js over Gatsby. Does not integrate directly with Vercel or Netlify.

Prismic is OK if you're looking to build a simple composable website with a small budget – if you're building something content-heavy, I would not turn to Prismic and instead invest in something more resilient.

Why choose Prismic as your Headless CMS?

• Extremely easy-to-use platform

• Strong multilanguage capabilities

• No hassle approach to content management

TL;DR and closing words - the best Headless CMS

The best CMS for Composable Web, largely depends on your project requirements, specific needs, and budget.

The approach of Composable Web allows for a ton of flexibility, which is why there are many Headless CMS options for many situations. Ultimately, the best Headless CMS for your Composable website depends on your unique use case and needs

For bigger and more serious projects such as enterprise websites, I would go with Agility, but be prepared to pay a premium price. On the other hand, if you have a smaller budget and want to build a composable marketing website, go with something such as Dato or Prismic.

There's no single Headless CMS over the others. Pick your poison. Our insights are based on our experience on real-world projects where we have learned by trial and error what works and what doesn't, so you don't have to!