Open Source Headless CMSes for front end developers
There are plenty of headless CMS and CaaS services that allow front end developers to work without the limitations posed by a monolithic Content Management System. Some Content APIs even position themselves as a "CMS without the bad parts"
So far the JavaScript community has not been able to produce a credible and robust enough tool for content management requirements in the real world. Same stands for pure content platform players like Contentful and Prismic as they need quite a bit work to get many of the basic things right. And they're also limiting in terms of freedom, due to their proprietary nature.
Take a look at these options for robust Open Source headless CMS options for your Angular, React or Vue.js applications and content driven sites:
- Directus - A PHP powered new wave headless CMS
- GraphCMS - A CaaS platform in the process of being open sourced
- Gentics Mesh - A feature rich Headless CMS which uses a Graph Database for storage
For more traditional options, there are some interesting options with REST APIs and GraphQL APIs in the market. These are some contemporary options in 2018:
- Bolt CMS is a lightweight CMS built with the Silex Microframework. It is handy and a great alternative for developers looking for a modern PHP CMS to replace WordPress, for example.
- Drupal 8 is a partial modernisation of the legacy Drupal CMS with some parts of Symfony. It's a significant release, years in the making and finally available to the public.
- eZ Platform is a CMS built on the Symfony Framework. It is a total rewrite of the eZ Publish system in development from 1999. It's a completely new CMS with 15 years of heritage.
- Pagekit is a modern implementation of a CMS that uses the Vue.js JavaScript library for it's backend. It comes with an integrated extension market and is a compelling contender.
- Sulu is a new take on content management. It has been started from scratch using an existing content repository. The team is using existing components for the basics to focus on a fresh UX.
Static site generators like MetalSmith, Jekyll and Spress are interesting options too, if you prefer using a Content API, but rather not build a headless site using the latest JavaScript techniques.
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