Feature
The Gist
- Multiple choices. Sitecore offers various pathways for adopting headless CMS, catering to different technical and business needs.
- Licensing options. Understanding the licensing terms for each Sitecore product is crucial for cost-effective deployment.
- Technical complexity. Implementing headless architectures involves navigating significant complexities and requires robust technical expertise.
Headless CMS and composable digital experience architectures have become commonplace in the digital experience platform world, and many of the newer DXP vendors have entered the market as native headless.
Not to be left out, the more mature DXPs, such as Sitecore, Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) and Optimizely, have adjusted course to offer a range of methodologies and APIs that support headless presentation tiers and a more composed digital experience stack.
In the Sitecore case, there’s just one tricky thing. As longtime Sitecore developers know, the company is famous for providing enterprise architects with a range of options for solving the same problem.
Why provide one road to Rome when four roads is better?
This pattern continues with Sitecore’s many ways to skin the headless CMS cat. Sitecore customers have options, with a variety of pros and cons, and the various pathways can be a bit confusing for long-term Sitecore customers.
Along with the technical and budgetary pathway choices, it’s worth reflecting on your current team composition and how moving to a headless architecture by definition means your organization is taking on new kinds of complexity and more software ownership. These are non-trivial factors that business leaders must think through.
Table of Contents
- What Are Sitecore’s Current Digital Experience Products?
- How to Build Headless Sitecore?
- What’s the Best Way to Build Headless Sitecore?
What Are Sitecore’s Current Digital Experience Products?
Following the many acquisitions and investments that Sitecore has made, it’s become a bit of a sport to figure out the company’s current product landscape. So a quick review provides an important foundation.
Sitecore Experience Platform (XP)
Sitecore XP is the company’s original platform — a full-featured DXP with advanced content management features, sophisticated personalization, marketing functionality such as automation and analytics and a range of experience testing and optimization capabilities.
Sitecore XP is typically a multiple-system solution consisting of one or more Content Management (CM) servers for business users, editors and administrators as well as one or more Content Delivery (CD) servers, responsible for content delivery to end users.
Deployment options:
- On-premise (physical servers, virtual machines in the cloud, etc.): Sitecore XP can be installed on-premise on physical or virtual machines using the Sitecore Installation Framework software.
- Azure App Platform as a Service (PaaS): Sitecore XP can be deployed as a PaaS application via the Azure Marketplace, with the Sitecore Azure Toolkit or via Sitecore Managed Cloud, a managed service offering run by Sitecore on Azure.
Key licensing components include:
- Subscription: A recurring fee is determined based on number of Sitecore installations, site visits, concurrent users and add-on options.
- Perpetual: A one-time fee for each instance of Sitecore XP plus annual maintenance fees for support and product updates. This is a legacy licensing model that some customers may be grandfathered into.
Sitecore Experience Manager (XM) Cloud
Sitecore XM Cloud is a cloud-native, headless DXP that shares the core codebase of Sitecore XP, starting with version 10.3. Sitecore XM Cloud is managed entirely by Sitecore in their cloud. Installation, configuration, upgrades, security and performance are handled by Sitecore, eliminating a great deal of work and headaches for customers.
Deployment options:
- Cloud-native (SaaS): Sitecore XM Cloud is a fully cloud-based application managed by Sitecore.
Key licensing components include:
- Subscription: A recurring fee is determined based on number of Sitecore installations, site visits, concurrent users and add-on options. Your license options can be customized or you can select from predefined tiers with specific traffic and performance levels.
Sitecore Content Hub (DAM)
Sitecore Content Hub, unlike the other products in this list, is a digital asset management (DAM) platform not a CMS/DXP. It is a cloud-native comprehensive DAM platform designed to centralize and streamline the creation, management and distribution of digital assets across various channels. Sitecore Content Hub is a fully headless solution.
Deployment options:
- Cloud-native (SaaS): Sitecore Content Hub is a fully cloud-based application managed by Sitecore.
Key licensing components include:
- Subscription: Yearly or monthly subscription pricing based on a number of factors that can be bundled in a tiered approach or customized based on your needs. Factors determining pricing include:
- Users: Number of named or concurrent users.
- Modules: Content Hub is a modular product with well-defined modules determining product functionality. Customers can adjust their pricing based on the modules they select.
- Volume of digital assets: Customers choose the volume of storage for the installation.
Sitecore Content Hub ONE
Sitecore Content Hub One, announced in Fall of 2022, is a simplified cloud-native headless content management system designed to be competitive with other mid-market cloud-based headless content management systems.
Note: The future of this product is uncertain. Despite being a relatively new product that is receiving frequent feature updates from Sitecore’s developers, it is not listed in the company’s corporate website’s product section nor does it seem to be getting promoted in any other way. For those unfamiliar with the product, discovering information about it can be challenging due to its low visibility. Approach with caution.
Deployment options:
- Cloud-native (SaaS): Content Hub ONE is a fully cloud-based application managed by Sitecore.
Key licensing components include:
- Subscription: Yearly or monthly subscription pricing, simplified compared to other Sitecore products, in keeping with the simplified nature of the product. Pricing is based primarily on the number of users, either concurrent or named.
How to Build Headless Sitecore?
Given the range of products and licensing types, your pathway to headless Sitecore is primarily a factor of what product you’re starting with.
If you’re a legacy customer, using some version of on-premise Sitecore XP/XM, your Sitecore account manager is probably rather busy trying to convince you to move to Sitecore XM Cloud.
For many legacy customers the question is not just what pathways are best, but what pathways align you with Sitecore’s product roadmap, if you are intending to be a long-term Sitecore customer, what your current team composition and roadmap look like and what the budget implications of each pathway are.
The following options provide a foundation for broad consideration.
Option 1: Sitecore Headless Services
Sitecore Headless Services, formerly known as JSS Server Components, is a Sitecore Experience Platform module for Sitecore XP/XM and Sitecore XM Cloud.
For Sitecore XM Cloud, this is integrated into the SaaS product.
Sitecore Headless Services provides a set of services and APIs allowing developers to decouple user interface rendering from the rest of the Sitecore application, while retaining existing personalization and testing functionality.
Headless Services is a complex system involving a range of setup and configuration options — and hurdles — but it’s full of features and provides tight integration with the underlying DXP, whether Sitecore XP/XM or Sitecore XM Cloud.
Sitecore Headless Services consist of the following:
- App Configuration API: Enables developers to configure the necessary settings to customize and manage Headless Services.
- Layout Service: Endpoint that delivers Sitecore layout information as JSON data.
- Dictionary Service: Endpoint for retrieving application-specific Dictionary data and delivering as JSON data.
- Media Handler: Configures how media requests are handled by the service.
- GraphQL API: Hosts GraphQL APIs, allowing developers to access the Sitecore backoffice via a set of GraphQL endpoints.
- Tracking Service: A REST API for pushing analytics events from the UI layer into the Sitecore backend.
- Rendering Engines: Render content and layout data returned by the Sitecore Layout Service. Engines include the HTML rendering engine and Node.js rendering engine.
- Import Service: An endpoint enabling the creation of code-first headless applications using Sitecore’s JSS application API.
Pros:
- Feature Set: Leverages the power of Sitecore XM and Sitecore XP, including personalization, analytics and marketing automation.
- Flexibility: Supports a wide range of front-end frameworks and deployment options, including popular options like React, Angular and Vue.
- Control: Offers granular control over content delivery and presentation.
Cons:
- Complexity: It’s a complex offering with a number of sophisticated moving parts, new services, etc. This is less of an issue with Sitecore XM Cloud, where Sitecore handles setup and management complexity, but for Sitecore XP/XM customers this complexity and the related security attack surface expansion may be a consideration.
- Resource Intensive: Requires significant technical expertise and resources to implement and maintain, again, for Sitecore XP/XM, but less so for XM Cloud.
Sitecore Headless Services is essentially the default option for legacy Sitecore customers looking to move towards a headless Sitecore architecture.
Sitecore Headless Services Licensing & Compatibility
Sitecore Headless Services is compatible with Sitecore XP/XM and Sitecore XM Cloud. It’s compatible with Sitecore XM/XP 9.0 Update-1 or later. For Sitecore XP/XM 10.2 and later, it’s included in the subscription license.
Sitecore clients with a perpetual Sitecore XP/XM license will need to obtain an additional license, but clients with an annual XP/XM or XM Cloud subscription typically are entitled to use this service. Formerly, when Sitecore Headless Services was JSS Server Components it was a purchasable license, but now it is part of any subscription license free of charge, which has been a boon for Sitecore customers looking to explore headless.
Webinar
Sep
25
CMS Briefing: A Live Look at What’s Next in AI-Driven Platforms
Learn how leading organizations are using AI‑driven tools to publish faster, personalize smarter and stay secure.
Register
Webinar
Sep
25
Call Spoofing Trends Financial Institutions Can't Afford to Ignore
Don't let robocalls sabotage your customer relationships. Learn how to secure your voice channel.
Register
Webinar
On demand
Ready or Not: How Data-First Organizations Are Unlocking Agentforce Potential
Learn how to cut through the noise, activate Agentforce and build a Salesforce AI strategy that actually delivers.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
CX Reality Check: What Your Customers Are Really Thinking
Register now and get the insights you need to not just meet rising expectations, but exceed them.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Content Leaders Collective: What a Good CCMS Actually Looks Like
Discover how content leaders transform clunky systems into growth engines — and why your competitors are ahead.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
From Hype to High-Impact CX Strategies That Actually Scale
Turn buzzworthy AI and outsourcing trends into measurable CX wins with fresh 2025 data.
Watch Now
Note that Sitecore’s licensing rules and price change often. Check with your account manager for the latest details.
Option 2: Sitecore Experience Edge
Sitecore Experience Edge is a cloud-native headless content delivery platform that ensures fast and scalable delivery of digital content through GraphQL. It allows developers to efficiently query and deliver content across various channels. It provides efficient, scalable and fast content distribution, ideal for multi-channel strategies.
Experience Edge consists of two primary elements:
1. Experience Edge Delivery Platform
This is the SaaS platform that lives in the Sitecore cloud, and hosts the various APIs, receives, manages, caches and delivers the back office content to the presentation tier and generally does the operational work for Experience Edge.
Note that although Experience Edge supports both REST and GraphQL APIs, the APIs for accessing and managing content are all GraphQL. This may be an important consideration depending on your knowledge of or your organization’s infosec policy on GraphQL APIs.
2. Experience Edge Connector
A Sitecore module that is deployed to the Content Management (CM) system. It is deployed as a Sitecore Publishing Target that, when published to, delivers the selected content to the Experience Edge Delivery Platform for headless delivery. This mechanism provides seamless integration for editors, using methods they’re already familiar with.
Experience Edge includes a global content delivery network as part of the service, to deliver content quickly, efficiently and at high volume anywhere in the world. It also includes a number of APIs allowing developers to fetch and present content across all channels and using any framework.
Pros
- Scalability: Experience Edge can easily scale to meet the demands of large, global audiences.
- Performance: With its global CDN and optimized content delivery mechanisms, Experience Edge ensures fast loading times and high availability, providing a seamless user experience.
- Flexibility: The APIs and headless architecture allow for integration with various front-end frameworks and platforms.
- Reduced Infrastructure: Experience Edge is a SaaS offering. All infrastructure is in the cloud.
Cons
- Cost: As a premium service, Experience Edge may have higher costs compared to other content delivery options.
- Technical Expertise: Implementing and managing a headless architecture with Experience Edge requires a certain level of technical expertise.
- Limited Client API Options: Currently, the APIs for accessing and managing content are all GraphQL. If your expertise with GraphQL is limited or you prefer other APIs, this may be an issue.
- Setup Complexity: Setting up and configuring Experience Edge can be complex, especially for organizations new to headless content delivery. This is not an issue for Sitecore XM Cloud, where setup is handled by Sitecore.
Sitecore Experience Edge Licensing & Compatibility
Sitecore Experience Edge is a premium Sitecore product. It’s most suitable for projects that operate at high volume, have global operations or require seamless omnichannel delivery.
Sitecore Experience Edge is compatible with Sitecore XM and Sitecore XP 10.1 and higher. Experience Edge is also integrated directly with Sitecore XM Cloud.
Licensing is subscription-based with organizations paying an annual or monthly fee to access the service. Pricing is often tiered based on the volume of content delivered and the number of API calls. Different tiers cater to small, medium and large enterprises, offering flexibility to the client.
Key licensing components include:
- Content Delivery Volume: Higher service tiers offer increased data volumes through the CDN.
- API Call Limits: Higher subscription tiers permit more API calls per month, ensuring that large-scale operations can run smoothly without hitting limits.
- Environment Access: Subscription levels determine the number of environments that can use the service.
- Support and SLA: Higher-tier licenses typically come with enhanced support options and more stringent Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
For Sitecore XM Cloud: Licensing for Sitecore Experience Edge may be part of the overall licensing bundle for Sitecore XM Cloud.
Option 3: Sitecore XM Cloud
Sitecore XM Cloud is Sitecore’s cloud-native headless digital experience platform. Being a headless-only platform, Sitecore XM Cloud relies on the features and APIs of Sitecore Headless Services, which are included in the Sitecore XM Cloud SaaS product bundle, to deliver headless content.
In addition, the features of Sitecore Experience Edge are included with Sitecore XM Cloud. In essence, Sitecore XM Cloud utilizes the headless methods described above natively and without installation, setup or configuration hassles.
There is a supported upgrade path from earlier Sitecore products to Sitecore XM Cloud, but it’s not a simple process if you’re not already utilizing a headless CMS architecture of some kind. The decision to migrate to Sitecore XM Cloud is a complex one and should be decided on only after extensive analysis. For those planning a move to XM Cloud eventually but not immediately, one option is to first migrate to headless on your existing Sitecore implementation using Sitecore Headless Services and, later, when you’re ready to move to XM Cloud, the migration process will be significantly simpler.
Sitecore XM Cloud has many benefits, aside from headless.
As a fully SaaS platform it eliminates most maintenance and infrastructure ownership costs and issues. It provides many performance, scalability and security benefits. Upgrades and feature updates are automatic and handled by Sitecore, eliminating a major pain point for Sitecore customers.
There are many other advantages to Sitecore XM Cloud that are outside the scope of this article but, for teams looking to move to the cloud and/or are new to Sitecore or looking to make significant change outside of just headless it may make sense to move to Sitecore XM Cloud and reap the many benefits, including headless.
Pros
- Sitecore Headless Services: XM Cloud uses Sitecore Headless Services as the default headless delivery mechanism. All the Pros of that option apply here as well.
- Access to Experience Edge: XM Cloud can utilize Experience Edge. If you leverage that product you’ll get all the Pros of that option.
- The Advantages of XM Cloud: XM Cloud has many advantages over the non-cloud Sitecore offerings. You’re not just getting the flexibility of headless, but the many other elements as well.
- Improved Content Editing Experience: Sitecore users have been waiting for a more user friendly content editing experience, which XM Cloud provides with a new WYSIWYG drag-and-drop editor.
- Supported Upgrade Path: There is a supported upgrade path from earlier Sitecore products to Sitecore XM Cloud.
- Simplicity of Setup, Configuration and Management: All of your headless features are pre-configured and managed by Sitecore. You can start headless development on day one.
Cons
- Migration Complexity: Moving to Sitecore XM Cloud from non-cloud Sitecore platforms is a complex undertaking that involves porting functionality to this new software architecture, your organization making front end architecture decisions and your team taking ownership of the front-end software, from soup to nuts. It may not be the right choice for everyone. It’s certainly not a decision to take lightly.
- Cost: Depending on your current licensing model and your negotiation skills, there may be additional costs in moving to XM Cloud.
Additional Considerations
Over recent years Sitecore has invested heavily in composable Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to offer greater speed, agility and flexibility, both in terms of acquisitions and with in-house products. At the same time they’ve been moving their customer base to variations of consumption-based pricing.
With Sitecore XM Cloud and other new and upcoming products, it’s clear that cloud-native SaaS products are core to the company’s roadmap moving forward.
Sitecore XM Cloud Licensing & Compatibility
As with many SaaS products, Sitecore XM Cloud operates on a subscription-based licensing model, with users paying an ongoing fee on a monthly or yearly basis.
Cost factors include the following:
- Site Visits and Traffic: Pricing can be influenced by the expected site traffic.
- Additional Environments: Additional environments may have additional costs.
- Concurrent Users: The number of concurrent users (such as content authors) might also impact pricing.
- Add-Ons and Integrations: Additional features, such as Sitecore Content Hub, Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC) or advanced analytics can be included at additional cost.
Speak to your account manager for specific pricing details and current incentives.
Option 4: Build a Custom Headless API
For Sitecore XP and Sitecore XM clients with straightforward or, conversely, highly specialized requirements, you may consider the option of building your own headless API layer on top of the Sitecore backoffice.
All Sitecore DXP platforms have native content APIs — such as the REST ItemService or the OData Item Service — built into the product.
It’s possible to use this native functionality to create your own API layer that supports any manner of UI layer, apps, etc., without using any of the Sitecore-provided headless options.
Given the present day situation and the rather reasonable options Sitecore has provided, this pathway is likely only something you’d want to pursue if your organization has specialized requirements or if you encounter licensing challenges that lean the economic calculus in this direction.
Pros
- Flexibility: Since you control the API you can do whatever you want. If there are specific API functions you need you can build them.
- No New Licensing Costs: Building it yourself means no additional licenses needed from Sitecore.
- Reduced Platform Complexity: As long as you have access to the native Sitecore content APIs, you can build your headless API with no changes to your existing Sitecore infrastructure.
Cons
- Current Loss of Features: All of Sitecore’s headless options include far more than just a headless content API. There are many APIs, features, performance and other options that you’d be giving up by building your own API.
- Future Loss of Features: You won’t just be missing out on the current features of the company’s productized headless options, you also will not have access to future features and improvements. So instead of inheriting improvements as they are released you’ll have to build them yourself.
- Infrastructure, Management, Maintenance and Support: Building your own API means you support that software layer and the related IT infrastructure entirely on your own.
Custom Headless API Licensing & Compatibility
A custom headless API will rely on the baseline Sitecore Item APIs, the REST ItemService or the OData Item Service. Both APIs are part of the core feature set for Sitecore XP/XM and require no licensing of their own.
What’s the Best Way to Build Headless Sitecore?
Sitecore offers a range of options for delivering headless content and, depending on your goals and infrastructure, some options may be more attractive than others.
For legacy customers looking for the tightest integration with Sitecore and the broadest set of features — and are willing to maintain the additional moving parts — then Sitecore Headless Services is likely the best choice. This retains a chunk of your present state, while moving you to headless delivery and leaving open an incremental path to Sitecore XM Cloud.
For Sitecore clients with a global footprint, a large end user community and critical performance requirements, Sitecore Experience Edge may be the right choice and it being cloud-native makes management a simple process.
Sitecore XM Cloud includes both Sitecore Headless Services and Sitecore Experience Edge. If you’re considering Sitecore for a greenfield project this makes the most sense.
If you’re a legacy customer and your team is ready to move to a fully cloud-native platform and is ready to tackle the significant effort and cost required to migrate to Sitecore XM Cloud, then migration to XM Cloud can be an ideal way to move to headless.
We would just caution embracing the whole hog approach here, and encourage you to consider the incremental path of XM/XP + Headless Services as phase one, and then XM/XP to XM Cloud as phase two, once the dust has settled.
Finally, for the scrappy Sitecore customers out there with existing in-house dev teams, it’s quite reasonable to build your own API. But, as noted in the earlier discussion, it’s the right option only in certain circumstances and after significant research.
