Headless CMS Development
A headless CMS is a content management system that stores content once and serves it through an API to whatever needs it — a website, a mobile app, a customer portal. We build headless setups in Payload CMS, Laravel, Python and JavaScript, and scorchsoft.com is one of them.
A headless CMS is a content management system that stores content as structured data and serves it through an API, leaving the front end to a separate application. The editing tools and the website are decoupled, so the same content can feed a website, a mobile app, a customer portal or a partner system without being copied into each one.
Scorchsoft works as a headless CMS agency for organisations whose website is also, in part, an application: logins, workflows, data and integrations sitting behind the pages. We build those setups in Payload CMS, Laravel, Python and JavaScript and TypeScript, and we serve content from existing MODX and WordPress installs where replacing them is not worth it. The underlying projects are open source — Payload, Laravel and Django among them — so nothing here depends on one vendor's pricing.
The page you are reading is a worked example. Scorchsoft.com runs on Payload CMS, with Next.js on the front end and PostgreSQL behind it, so what follows is how we work rather than a summary of a market. We are a UK app development team based in Birmingham with over 16 years' experience building functionally complex web apps. If you are weighing platforms before committing, our guide on how to choose a headless CMS sets out the questions to work through. Browse every technology we build with, or book a free consultation.
What Going Headless Changes
Content becomes an API, not a page
In a traditional CMS a page and its content are the same object: the article lives inside the template that displays it. A headless CMS separates the two. Content is stored as structured data and handed out over an API, and the front end is a separate application that asks for what it needs.
The practical effect is that one set of content can serve several places at once — a website, a mobile app, a portal, a partner's system — while being edited in one. A price, an opening time or a safety notice changes once rather than three times.
It also means the front end is yours. It can be built in Next.js or React, hosted separately from the CMS, and redesigned without migrating the content again.
A site your team runs, with an application behind it
Most businesses that ask us about headless are not really asking about content. They have a marketing site that also needs logins, a quoting tool, a booking flow or data from another system, and the platform they are on cannot carry that without a stack of plugins.
A headless CMS built on an application framework handles both jobs. Editors get structured fields and a page builder; developers get authentication, roles, hooks and APIs over the same data. The marketing site and the application share one codebase and one database instead of being stitched together.
That is how this site is built. The application side of it is covered on our portal and web application page.
When a simpler setup is enough
Headless is not automatically better. It adds a front-end application to build and maintain, and on a site that is mostly pages and posts that cost has to buy something.
So we start from what the site has to do. Where there is an application behind the content — logins, a quoting tool, a booking flow, data from another system — headless pays for itself quickly. Where there is not, a well-configured WordPress or MODX build is often the better use of the budget, and we build those too. Editors also want the "type it and see the page" feel, so a proper draft preview is work worth pricing rather than assuming.
Tell us what you are trying to build and we will recommend the setup that fits, including when that is the simpler one.
Not sure whether headless is right for your project?
Scorchsoft are UK app and portal developers with over 16 years' experience building functionally complex web apps. Tell us what you are trying to build and we will give you a straight answer on whether a headless CMS fits, and which one.
Choose The Stack, Not Just The CMS
Buyers increasingly arrive knowing the tool they want. Here is where each one earns its place, and the page that goes into detail.
Payload CMS: our default for new builds
Payload is an open-source, TypeScript-native headless CMS that runs inside a Next.js application. The content model is code in your repository, so changes go through review and ship as database migrations rather than being clicked into a hosted dashboard.
We chose it for scorchsoft.com after weighing WordPress, MODX and the hosted headless services, and it is what we reach for first on a new build that mixes content with application behaviour. It is self-hosted, so there are no per-seat or per-record platform fees and you keep the database.
Payload CMS development covers how we build with it, and why we love Payload CMS is the honest write-up of the decision.
Laravel for PHP back ends
When the content API sits alongside an existing PHP estate, or the team that will maintain it works in PHP, Laravel is the sensible home for it. It brings an MVC structure, queues, caching, authentication and a large library of maintained packages.
We use it to serve content and business logic to a separate front end, and to put an API in front of systems that never had one. It pairs well with a React or Next.js website, and with mobile apps reading the same endpoints.
Laravel development covers the framework and the kinds of back ends we build with it.
Python where data and AI are involved
Python earns its place when content is the smaller half of the problem. Django, Flask and FastAPI give us an API layer that sits comfortably next to data processing, document handling, scheduled jobs and machine-learning work.
A common shape is a Python service holding the data and the logic, a headless CMS holding the editorial content, and one front end reading both. Keeping them apart means the marketing team is never blocked by a data pipeline, and the pipeline is never at risk from a content edit.
Python development covers the frameworks and the systems we build with them.
Going headless with MODX
Scorchsoft started out building MODX sites, and plenty of clients still run one. You do not always have to replace it: MODX can serve its existing content through an API to a new front end, a mobile app or a portal, which spreads a replatform across a longer period.
The same approach suits a team committed to WordPress as its editing surface. Treat it as a reasonable middle step rather than a destination — the underlying platform still sets the limits.
MODX development covers the integration work, and our technology list shows everything else we build with.
Headless CMS Questions
A headless CMS is a content management system that stores content as structured data and serves it through an API, instead of rendering the pages itself. The "head" is the front end, and removing it means the same content can be read by a website, a mobile app, a portal or another system. Editors still work in an admin interface; what changes is what happens to the content afterwards.
A headless CMS agency designs the content model, builds the API layer and the front end that reads it, and hosts and maintains both. In practice most of the work is deciding what the content actually is, wiring it to the systems around it, and giving editors a way to compose pages without a developer. We do that in Payload CMS, Laravel, Python and JavaScript, and we set up the hosting and deployments to go with it.
For a new build we usually recommend Payload CMS, because the content model lives in the codebase and it doubles as an application framework. That is the reasoning behind our own site. Where a client already has a strong PHP or Python team, the API layer often belongs in Laravel or Django instead. See our Payload CMS development page for the detail.
Often, yes. Both can serve their existing content through an API to a new front end, an app or a portal, which lets you modernise the experience without a full content migration on day one. We do this regularly with MODX and it applies to WordPress too. The limits of the original platform still apply, so treat it as a step rather than the end state.
It does not have to be. The risk is a build that hands editors raw fields and no way to see the result. We avoid that by giving each site a library of designed sections that editors arrange into pages, with draft previews of the real front end. Every page on this site is assembled that way, without a developer involved.
It depends on how much of the build is content and how much is application, so we scope it rather than guess. Send us a short description of what you need and we will come back with an estimate and our reasoning — get a free quote.
Experience Delivering
Features we regularly build behind a headless CMS, from payments and single sign-on to cloud databases and systems integration. Explore the full list on our capabilities page.
Discover How Scorchsoft Can Help
We would love to hear about your project. Please contact us, and share your goals; we'll respond with our thoughts and a rough cost estimate. Scorchsoft is a UK-based team of web and mobile app developers and designers. We operate in-house from Birmingham, and our offices are located in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter.
Building for teams across healthcare, logistics, motorsport and manufacturing
What Our Clients Say
Scorchsoft helped us take our idea for an app and make it a reality. Everything from the planning meeting to decide what we really needed to the project management and execution was great. It was delivered on time - early in fact - and on budget. Highly recommend.
Rebecca PalserDragonfly IntelligenceScorchsoft is a brilliant company with fantastic knowledge of the mobile app industry. From the project management to the development team, they have been the perfect candidate for our project, and we can't thank them enough!
Lance ChorltonGapped OnlineWe're really pleased with the work Scorchsoft has done in developing our web portal! They have been accurate with timelines and budget, delivering a solid product that allows us to monitor and manage patients remotely while they use our novel medical device at-home. The "plan - design - build" approach has worked well and saved us time in the long-run by catching requirements and issues early.
Daniel GreenSensTrainI'm really pleased with how my app came out, it was exactly what I was looking for. The team at Scorchsoft are great at what they do and made the whole process as simple and easy as possible. Being someone who is not very tech savvy the set up and back end operations were done in a great easy to use manner even for myself which makes using my app stress free. Thanks to all the team!
Ruben CarrollMosaic MasterpiecesThe new Flourish Education website has already removed a lot of manual processes, freeing up both schools, candidates and internal employees time. We are delighted with the look and feel which is clean, professional and more engaging. We are also pleased with the decision to have an HD video background on the homepage, and building immediate trust with our clients by giving them a taste of what it looks like in the Flourish Education offices.
James HancocksMarketing Manager, Flourish Education I can't believe how quickly we started to see results with this project. Scorchsoft provided us with graphic-designed mockups of how the app would look once built, and we were able to sell the product for use by our first customer before the product was finished. Since launching in March, we have secured a major television network as a client who now uses Image Approvals to manage the talent approval process for their productions.
Aimee SpinksMD, ImageApprovals.com
Need help building your ideas?
Tell us where you're headed and we'll come back with our thoughts, a realistic plan and a rough cost estimate. Scorchsoft is a UK-based team of app, portal and AI developers, working in-house from Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter.