Headless Is Trendy. It's Not Always Right.
React/Next.js frontend. WordPress REST API backend. Sounds modern. Often overkill.
Go Headless When
- Multiple frontends (web + mobile app + kiosk)
- Complex real-time features (WebSockets, collaborative editing)
- Team split: WP devs + React devs, independent deploy cycles
- Static site generation at scale (100K+ pages)
Stay Coupled When
- Content-driven marketing site + blog
- Team is 1-3 full-stack WordPress devs
- Budget under 0K
- Speed to market matters
- SEO is primary acquisition channel
The Middle Ground
WordPress + ACF Blocks + Alpine.js sprinkles. You get 80% of the interactivity with 20% of the complexity. Full block editor experience. Git-deployed. No separate frontend repo.
We build this stack daily. It scales to 10M pageviews/month.
Not sure which path? We'll map it out.
