Best Headless eCommerce and CMS Platforms to Consider in 2024

The trend of headless eCommerce is on the rise and gaining more popularity compared to conventional eCommerce, as indicated by the Google Trends graph below.

Source: Headless Commerce vs. Traditional eCommerce

How Does It Help?

Well, the distributed assets are pulled to the front-end (mobile, web, smartwatch, etc.) through API, making the experience significantly faster because the process requires only the assets required to render the front-end.

Headless eCommerce is a perfect choice if you:

• Have a marketing strategy driven by content
• Want the ability to implement personalization, AI, or AR
• Have multiple touchpoints and devices, and you want to create seamless digital experiences
• Have multi-site or global selling requirements, serving multiple front-end experiences powered by the same back-end
• Are already using a CMS in which you have invested, and you want to add eCommerce capabilities
• Are already selling content online and have a different website, but you want to be able to merge the two

What to Look For in a Headless eCommerce Platform

Headless eCommerce platforms have become increasingly popular among businesses looking for more flexibility and customization. However, with numerous options available in the market, selecting the right one can be challenging.

We’ll now discuss what to look for in a headless eCommerce platform to help businesses make informed decisions.

Integration Capabilities

Integration is a crucial aspect of headless eCommerce, enabling a seamless and efficient experience for customers and businesses. By ensuring that APIs work properly and efficiently, integration helps to create a smooth front-end user experience, while the back-end can accurately process orders and manage inventory. This synergy between the front-end and back-end ensures a better overall experience for all involved parties.

Headless CMS also allows integration with various analytics and reporting tools, such as Google Analytics and Mixpanel. This integration allows businesses to track website traffic, monitor customer behavior, and analyze sales data, providing valuable insights for making data-driven decisions.

Content Modeling Capabilities

Content modeling involves defining the structure and organization of the content, including product descriptions, images, videos, and other multimedia elements. The content model ensures that the content is consistent across all channels and devices, making it easier for users to navigate and find what they need.

Businesses can create a consistent and engaging user experience across all channels and devices by investing in content modeling, design, and approval. This can lead to better SEO, increased customer engagement, higher conversion rates, and improved customer loyalty.

Payment Gateway Integration

Payment gateways are important in any eCommerce site to ensure secure and seamless payment transactions between the customer and the store.

Moreover, Payment gateways also provide a variety of features that can benefit eCommerce businesses, such as fraud detection and prevention, currency conversion, recurring payments, and support for multiple payment methods.

So, choose a platform that can integrate various payment gateways like Square, Stripe, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and more.

Workflow Enhancements Architecture

Headless workflow enhancements architecture is important in building a store as it improves the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of various eCommerce workflows.

Workflow enhancements can help to streamline and automate these workflows, reducing the manual effort required and minimizing errors and delays.

Customer Support

Support is an essential component of headless eCommerce because it can help businesses to resolve technical issues, improve operational efficiency, and provide a better customer experience.

Support can come in various forms: phone, email, chat, and self-service knowledge bases.

When choosing a headless eCommerce platform, prioritize a provider that offers 24/7 support or quick, responsive help channels. Technical issues can arise anytime, and you don’t want prolonged downtime. A responsive support team can resolve issues quickly, ensuring smooth eCommerce operations.

Security

When evaluating headless eCommerce platforms, it’s crucial to ensure that they offer strong security measures to protect customer data and financial transactions. Robust security measures are essential to maintain customer trust and ensure your eCommerce operations are safe from potential cyber threats.

API-First Approach

API-first approach is essential in headless eCommerce because it enables businesses to build flexible and scalable eCommerce systems that can easily integrate with other systems and services

API-first approach offers several benefits, such as:

• Allows businesses to scale their eCommerce systems independently by adding new API endpoints or increasing server capacity.
• APIs can easily integrate with other systems and services, such as third-party software.
• APIs can be customized to meet the unique needs of each business.

Finally, Cost

When considering headless eCommerce platforms, pricing is an important factor to consider. The cost of these platforms can vary significantly, and it’s essential to find a solution that fits your budget while also helping you achieve higher profits. Carefully evaluate the pricing structures of different platform providers and choose the one that offers the best value for your money.

eCommerce Platforms that Support Headless Approach

Here are a few popular platforms that support headless eCommerce:

1. Shopify Plus

Source: Shopify

Shopify Plus offers robust headless commerce capabilities, integrating with various CMS and front-end solutions to create virtual storefronts for web, mobile, and more. The Storefront API enables fast, engaging storefront design while seamlessly integrating with ERP, PIM, CRM, and CMS. It is easy to use with pre-built solutions, but skilled developers can customize it further. Ideal for mid-market and enterprise businesses.

Shopify is designed for small to medium-sized businesses, while the newer Shopify Plus is intended for large enterprises. While the core services are similar, Shopify Plus can handle far more load than a normal Shopify plan.

• User interface:

Source: Shopify UI kit

• Is it Customizable: Yes, Shopify is customizable through its app store, themes, and API.
• Pricing: Shopify costs from $29/month.
• Number of Users: 6,455,887 websites.

2. BigCommerce

Source: BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a popular eCommerce platform for building and maintaining online shopfronts. It helps you to set up your shop, add items, and make money through your eCommerce website. For large or fast-growing enterprises, BigCommerce is best with loads of built-in functionality, data resources, and more.

• User Interface:

Source: BigCommerce Support

• Is it Customizable: Many apps will allow you to customize your BigCommerce store.
• Pricing: BigCommerce offers a one-month free trial, and paid plans start at $29.95 monthly.
• Number of Users: 145,027 websites.

3. Magento

Source: Magento

Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform that provides online retailers with a dynamic shopping cart system and control over their online store’s look, content, and functionality. Magento offers powerful marketing, optimization of search engines, and tools for catalog management.

• User Interface:

• Is it Customizable: Yes, Magento is highly customizable due to its open-source architecture and modular design.
• Pricing: Magento Open Source is free and open-source. However, Magento Commerce is the paid version that starts at $2,000 per month.
• Number of Users: 713,931 websites.

4. CommerceTools

Source: CommerceTools

CommerceTools is a cloud-native tech company that offers a headless commerce platform, where the frontend and backend of an application are separated and communicate through an API. This flexible API allows businesses to engage with their customers on various platforms, such as mobile apps, websites, and social networks. CommerceTools’ approach empowers retailers to create innovative and engaging experiences that build brand awareness, giving them complete control over the implementation and hosting of their online store.

• User Interface:

Source: CommerceTools Documentation

• Is it Customizable: Yes! CommerceTools is customizable due to its API-first approach and modular architecture.
• Pricing: The pricing for CommerceTools starts at $500 per month and increases based on the number of API requests generated by your store.
• Number of Users: 249 websites.

5. ElasticPath

Source: Elastic Path

Elastic Path is an API-based headless eCommerce software that caters to various industries, including retail, manufacturing, automotive, and healthcare. Its Core Commerce module offers features such as catalog management, merchandising, and reporting, allowing marketers to personalize offers based on customer buying trends.

The platform can be operated on-premise or hosted on single and multi-tenant SaaS environments and provides an API for easy integration with third-party applications. Elastic Path enables businesses to manage physical and subscription-based services, build digital storefronts, and bundle products to streamline processes.

• User Interface:

Source: Elastic Path documentation

• Is it Customizable: Yes, users are free to build, customize, and extend the platform as per their requirements.
• Pricing: The pricing starts at $50000.00/month and can increase based on the volume of requests, products, and revenue.
• Number of Users: 1,330 websites.

6. Moltin

Source: Moltin

Moltin is a digital commerce solution that provides flexible APIs, developer toolkits, pre-built applications, and cloud infrastructure for retailers to create unique shopping experiences across any channel or device. Its powerful APIs are easy to use, enabling retailers to quickly test new channels and scale into new markets. Moltin has a growing community of over 17,000 developers worldwide who are pushing the boundaries of traditional commerce.

• User Interface:

Source: Moltin-community

• Is it Customizable: Yes! Moltin can be customized using APIs.
• Pricing: $20.00 /month.
• Number of Users: 52 websites.

7. SAP CX Commerce Cloud

Source: SAP CX Commerce Cloud

SAP Commerce Cloud is a market-leading solution for you to take charge of your communication, sales, and customer support practices across all platforms. All product data is centrally controlled and is prepared on a single platform in a media-neutral format.

The platform enables businesses to create and manage their online stores across multiple channels. Moreover, it enables business owners to deliver personalized experiences to their customers, based on their browsing and purchase history, preferences, and behavior.

SAP CX Commerce Cloud can be easily integrated with other SAP and third-party systems and offer real-time insights and analytics about sales, customer behavior, and engagement, enabling business owners to make data-driven decisions.

User Interface:

Source: G2

• Is it Customizable: With API first approach, SAP Commerce Cloud makes it easy for users to extend and customize their websites as per their requirements.
• Pricing: $100k per year per license.
• Number of Users: 21,190 websites.

8. OroCommerce

Source: OroCommerce

OroCommerce is a B2B eCommerce software that caters to medium and large-sized companies, offering built-in CRM and integrations with third-party applications. Its out-of-the-box features can be tailored to fit any B2B, B2B2B, B2B2C, or B2B & B2C commerce need. The platform provides tools for corporate account management, access controls, permissions, content management, and more, making it suitable for all businesses looking to streamline their eCommerce management. OroCommerce is an open-source solution that offers flexibility and scalability for businesses to adapt to changing market needs.

• User Interface:

Source: OroCommerce Documentation

• Is it Customizable: Yes, you can create a fully customized eCommerce website.
• Pricing: Pricing starts at $45000.00/year.
• Number of Users: 558 websites.

9. Snipcart

Source: Snipcart

Snipcart is an e-commerce solution that lets businesses add shopping cart features to their existing websites. It includes a merchant and customer dashboard, payment gateways, inventory management, and more. Users can upload product data, create catalogs, and generate promo codes. The platform also supports shipping solutions, account creation, and individual customer dashboards. What’s more, Snipcart offers a simple integration process that takes developers minutes, not hours, for a basic setup.

• User Interface:

Source: Snipcart Documentation

• Is it Customizable: API-based architecture and integrations make Snipcart highly customizable.
• Pricing: $10/month.
• Number of Users: 9,628 websites.

10. FoxyCart

Source: FoxyCart

FoxyCart is an eCommerce platform designed for web developers and designers to create fully customizable online shopping carts. It offers flexibility in store, cart, and checkout design that can be tailored to fit the business model of any user. FoxyCart prioritizes quick and easy shopping experiences with its fast checkout flow, and it can be integrated easily with just a link or form. While it doesn’t include integrated CMS and marketing systems, more advanced users can use their preferred tools for added convenience.

• User Interface:

Source: FoxyCart

• Is it Customizable: headless APIs available make FoxyCart highly customizable.
• Pricing: $21.25/month.
• Number of Users: 8,982 websites.

CMSs That Support Headless eCommerce Integrations

1. Contentful

Source: Contentful

Developed in 2013 in Germany, Contentful is a cloud-based headless CMS. It is a next-generation content-focused platform. Unlike traditional CMSs, Contentful provides a cloud-based platform for managing digital content. This makes it ideal for teams that need to unify content-related activities at a single hub.

Contentful uses special features and tools such as content creation and management, content modeling, API-first approach, collaboration, and workflow management. This allows developers to use any programming language and framework to deliver content to any device or channel.

• Number of Users: 72,273 live websites.
• Pricing: Contentful offers a free plan for developers to explore its features. However, for organizations looking to build scaled experiences, the Basic package starts at $300 per month. Additionally, the premium package is available at a custom price per year, which includes two Intro space licenses.

2. Adobe Experience Manager

Source: Adobe Experience Manager

The Adobe Experience Manager headless CMS is a highly adaptable content management system that enables teams to rapidly create and distribute customer experiences across various channels and devices, such as web, mobile, and social media. This is the reason AEM is widely used by large enterprises and organizations to manage their digital content.

• Number of Users: 129,152 websites.
• Pricing: AEM offers 2 packages for their users:
  • Departmental package that is Ready-to-use for easy collaboration across teams.
  • Enterprise package that is Purpose-built for performance and scale for enterprise-wide workflows.

3. Amplience

Source: Amplience

Amplience is a cloud-based, API-first headless platform for content management that offers B2C and B2B business operations the freedom to do more.

Amplience provides a suite of tools such as dynamic imaging, multi-channel publishing, personalization, and digital asset management for creating and managing the digital space of companies. Amplience is a popular choice for business owners looking to create and deliver engaging digital experiences across multiple channels.

Amplience serves more than 350 world’s leading brands, including Crate & Barrel, Tumi, Traeger Grills, Argos, OTTO Group, Primark, and Very Group.

• Number of Users: 10,670 websites.
• Pricing: Offers Free Trials, and monthly payment start from around $10-50 a month.

4. Acquia

Source: Acquia

Designed for decoupled projects and microservice environments, Acquia CMS Headless is a Drupal-based CMS that emphasizes robust data modeling and content management features within a headless framework. It allows you to create, manage, and optimize all your digital experiences from a single platform.

Acquia is used by businesses of all sizes across a range of industries, including government, healthcare, and education. Its expertise in Drupal, cloud hosting features, and security and compliance make it a popular choice for businesses looking to create and manage secure and scalable digital experiences.

• Number of Users: 12,807 websites.
• Pricing: It offers 3 packages:
  • For Personal Drupal sites and blogs, $148 USD/MO.
  • Small business Drupal sites and one-person operations, $296 USD/MO.
  • Advanced Enterprise, high-traffic websites, and managed Drupal sites, pricing depends on the services you are using.

5. Kentico

Source: Kentico

Kentico is a versatile content management system that offers content marketing and eCommerce tools, customizable forms, and page templates. It integrates with various back-end systems, payment gateways, and shipping providers. With a headless approach to content using a robust headless API, Kentico enables precise delivery exactly where it’s needed.
This approach provides added flexibility for businesses to integrate with their existing systems and devices seamlessly. The platform provides real-time customer-centric marketing, lead scoring, web analytics, and social media marketing. With responsive design capabilities, Kentico ensures a consistent experience across all devices and multiple languages.

• Number of Users: 92,071 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 2 plans:
  • For business users: $11,100 / year.
  • For Enterprise users: $19,900 / year.

6. Vue Storefront

Source: Vue Storefront

Vue Storefront, written in Vue.js, is a headless and back-end-agnostic Progressive Web App (PWA) for eCommerce. Its headless architecture makes it possible for Vue Storefront to connect to any eCommerce platform so that it can be a PWA front-end for Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

Vue Storefront is designed to be a Progressive web app (PWA), thus providing a fast and engaging user experience for online customers, and provides an app-like experience, including offline support, and push notifications.

Vue Storefront offers the benefit of a large and growing community of developers contributing to its development and offering support to others using the platform.

• Number of Users: 3,410 websites.
• Pricing: *Not Specified.

7. Directus

Source: Directus

Directus is a headless CMS built on NodeJS, which connects your website or applications to a SQL database through its REST API or GraphQL. It provides an intuitive admin app to manage content seamlessly. Directus CMS uses Vue.js and Node.js to create a modern responsive user interface, providing a range of features and tools for building web applications

Directus CMS is designed to be a flexible and customizable solution for managing content and data. By using modern web technologies and standards, it provides developers with a powerful and scalable platform for building applications and websites.

• Number of Users: 5,189 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 2 plans:
  • Standard Cloud: $99/month.
  • Enterprise Cloud: From$599/month.

8. Strapi

Source: Strapi

Strapi is an open-source, headless platform based on Node.js. The best feature of the CMS is that it makes content accessible via a fully customizable API. It is designed to build practical, production-ready Node.js APIs for real-world projects.

Strapi CMS offers a plugin system that allows developers to extend its core functionalities, integrate with other services and technologies, and customize the platform according to their specific needs.

Strapi CMS is used by businesses of all sizes and industries, including media, e-commerce, education, and healthcare.

• Number of Users: 30,558 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 2 plans:
  • COMMUNITY – Free: Unlimited Seats.
  • ENTERPRISE – Custom: 10+ Seats.

9. Sanity

Source: Sanity Studio

Sanity Studio is a real-time, open-source, headless platform built on modern web technologies and follows a “content-as-data” approach, which allows developers to use any programming language or technology to build applications and websites.

Sanity CMS allows developers to extend its core functionalities, integrate with other services and technologies, and customize the platform according to their specific needs. It provides developers with a flexible and scalable platform for building applications and websites that use Sanity CMS as a content back-end.

• Number of Users: 28,838 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 3 plans:
  • Team: From $99 per project / month.
  • Business: From $949 per project / month.
  • Enterprise: Custom.

10. ButterCMS

Source: ButterCMS

ButterCMS is a headless platform that minimizes/eliminates the requirements for CMS back-end setup, configuration, and hosting. It provides an easy-to-use REST API along with a clean and convenient UI for content editors.

ButterCMS uses Markdown as its content format. Markdown is a simple and lightweight markup language that enables developers to write content in a structured and standardized way.

Here is a guide on how to integrate ButterCMS on Cloudways.

• Number of Users: 1,266 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 4 plans:
  • Micro: $83 /mo.
  • Startup: $166 /mo.
  • Small Business: $333 /mo.
  • Enterprise + Agency: Custom

11. Craft CMS

Source: Craft

Craft is a flexible, user-friendly CMS for building custom digital experiences on the web and beyond. It features a user-friendly, intuitive control panel for content creation and administrative tasks. Craft CMS also has its own eCommerce module called CraftCommerce that offers custom eCommerce functionality.

CraftCommerce is highly user-friendly and can be used to build eCommerce sites customized accurately to your business needs and specifications.

If you’re interested in leveraging the power of this headless CMS, here’s our guide on how to install Craft CMS on Cloudways. Our Craft CMS hosting offers excellent eCommerce capabilities and facilitates easy app deployment, making it an ideal choice for businesses looking to improve their online presence.

• Number of Users: 90,844 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 3 plans:
  • Solo: Free Forever.
  • Pro: $299/project.
  • Enterprise: For projects that need specific licenses.

12. Cockpit

Source: Cockpit CMS

Cockpit CMS is a self-hosted, open-source content management system that operates solely through APIs. It utilizes SQLite or MongoDB as a database backend, with the latter being highly recommended for production purposes. The platform offers a user-friendly interface and is an excellent option for those requiring a flexible content structure without any limitations on its usage. If you require a content management UI for static site constructors or need to support multiple devices, Cockpit is an ideal choice.

If you’re interested in Cockpit CMS, learn how to install cockpit on Cloudways – create unique apps, and let Cockpit feed content to them.

• Number of Users: Over 15,000 technology products.
• Pricing: Cockpit CMS is a free platform.

13. DatoCMS

Source: DatoCMS

DatoCMS is a headless, cloud-based CMS designed to work with all kinds of static websites, mobile apps, and server-side applications. It allows non-technical consumers and team members to control the content of their digital products within a web-based CMS.

DatoCMS is also designed to be developer-friendly. It offers a range of features for integrating with other services and technologies, including a robust API, webhooks, and SDKs for popular programming languages, such as JavaScript, Ruby, and Python.

It is a popular platform that is utilized by over 25,000 businesses to efficiently generate online content from a single central location and subsequently distribute it through APIs.

• Number of Users: 8,153 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 3 plans:
  • Free for developers.
  • PROFESSIONAL package Start at €149/month if paying annually, or €199/month.
  • ENTERPRISE package Custom payable by credit card or wire transfer.

14. GraphCMS

Source: GraphCMS

GraphCMS is the first native GraphQL API-First Headless Content Management System (CMS)

GraphCMS is a versatile API-First Headless Content Management System (CMS) that empowers teams to manage content for any channel, from high-traffic websites to mobile apps and voice apps.

With its API-first approach, users can build and customize their GraphQL API to define content structures, relations, and permissions. Content creators can then manage their content using familiar tools, with no need for pull requests. GraphCMS enables true multi-platform development and provides advanced filters, type safety, and automatic documentation for a seamless experience.

GraphCMS is a reliable content infrastructure that is trusted by reputable organizations such as Discovery, Tchibo, and Shure.

• Number of Users: 642 websites.
• Pricing: Offers 3 plans:
  • Free for developers.
  • Professional $299 to $799 per project per month (billed yearly).
  • ENTERPRISE Custom.

15. Zesty

Source: Zesty

Zesty.io is a flexible headless content management solution designed to provide optimal digital experiences on every device and channel. It offers a variety of content management features, such as a visual editor for content creation and editing, a content modeling system for custom content types, and a workflow engine for managing the content approval process.

In addition, Zesty provides website management tools like a site builder for creating and managing websites and a theme editor for customizing visibility and user experience.

• Number of Users: *Not specified
• Pricing: Offers 4 plans:
  • Free Community Plan.
  • Community Plus For small businesses or individual projects. $99/mo.
  • For small businesses or startups with bigger content needs. $475/mo.
  • For Large Businesses, for marketing websites(hybrid or headless), or other headless applications. $3,500/mo.

Summary

To remain competitive online, it is crucial for companies to generate high-quality content and adopt the appropriate headless commerce platform to enhance the digital experience for their customers.

In this regard, we have highlighted 10 of the best headless eCommerce platforms and 15 CMSs that support headless functionalities in this blog. They all offer exceptional value, eCommerce functionality, and optimization opportunities for small and large eCommerce stores.

Regardless of whether a business requires B2C or B2B eCommerce, there is a headless commerce solution that can cater to their specific requirements. By using these CMS hosting services, businesses can create customized front-end and back-end solutions to meet the changing needs of their customers while maintaining relevance through a headless approach.

Let me know in the comments section below if I’ve missed any CMS or headless enabled eCommerce platform.

Go Headless. 🙂