Building a Headless CMS: A Case Study on Decoupling Content with Contentful, Strapi, and Sanity.io

The future of content management is headless—and for good reason. As a developer who’s built dozens of CMS-driven sites, I’ve seen traditional platforms like WordPress struggle with speed, scaling, and the simple need to reach more than just the web. When your content needs to show up on a phone, smart display, AR app, or even a digital kiosk, monolithic CMSs become bottlenecks fast.

That’s why I’ve spent the last few years building **headless CMS** solutions using **Contentful**, **Strapi**, and **Sanity.io**—paired with **Jamstack** frameworks like **Next.js** and **Gatsby**. This isn’t just about cool tech. It’s about real outcomes: faster sites, easier scaling, and content that works everywhere.

In this guide, I’ll share what I’ve learned—from architecture choices to actual code—while building high-traffic, content-rich sites that editors love and users actually enjoy loading. No fluff. Just what works.

Why Headless? Breaking Free from the Monolith

Old-school CMSs (think WordPress, Drupal) bundle everything: content, templates, logic, and rendering. That sounds simple—until you need to:

• Load pages in under a second
• Push content to mobile apps or smart speakers
• Let editors collaborate on rich, structured content
• Keep things secure as traffic spikes

That tight coupling causes real pain:

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• Slow loads from server-side rendering

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• Rigid templates that lock you into one frontend

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• Hard-to-maintain codebases with security risks
• Multi-platform publishing becomes a nightmare

A **headless CMS** flips this. It separates the *content* (the “body”) from the *presentation* (the “head”). You manage content in a clean, API-powered backend. Then deliver it to any frontend—web, native app, voice, IoT—via **REST** or **GraphQL**.

API-First Content: What It Really Means

In a headless setup, content isn’t HTML. It’s structured data—clean, organized, and ready for anything.

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• Stored as JSON, Markdown, or rich text with metadata
• Created, edited, and deleted via HTTP endpoints
• Edited in a browser, but consumed by any client: web, mobile, app, or API
• Versioned, localized, and managed with editorial workflows

Here’s a real example: a blog post in **Contentful** looks like structured data, not a rendered page.

{
  "title": "1950-1964 Proofs: A Collector's Journey",
  "slug": "1950-1964-proofs",
  "body": "# My First Proof Set...",
  "author": "{sys: {id: 'user123'}}",
  "tags": ["proof", "toning", "1950s"],
  "publishedAt": "1956-01-01T00:00:00Z"
}

That format? It’s what powers fast, flexible content experiences.

Headless CMS Showdown: Contentful vs. Strapi vs. Sanity.io

I’ve tested all three in production. Here’s how they stack up—based on real projects, not marketing slides.

Contentful: For When Scale and Reliability Matter

Best for: Enterprise teams, global brands, complex workflows.

• Pros: Reliable APIs (REST + GraphQL), built-in image resizing, SSO, audit trails, multi-env support
• Cons: Cost climbs fast with traffic and editors; less flexible than self-hosted options
• Good fit: A media outlet publishing hundreds of articles daily across 10+ languages

Contentful excels at **content orchestration**. Its **Content Delivery API** and **Preview API** make staging and previews a breeze. For example, here’s how to enable preview in a Next.js site:

// pages/api/preview.js
export default function handler(req, res) {
  res.setPreviewData({});
  res.redirect('/blog/' + req.query.slug);
}

Strapi: Full Control, Your Infrastructure

Best for: Developers, startups, agencies who want ownership.

• Pros: 100% open-source, self-hosted, custom plugins, granular user roles
• Cons: Needs DevOps work; no built-in CDN or global edge caching
• Good fit: A fintech company storing sensitive content under HIPAA rules

Strapi’s admin panel is built in React—so you can tweak fields, add webhooks, or even write custom APIs. Need a “Proof Coin” content type? Define it in seconds:

// api/proof-coin/content-types/ProofCoin/schema.json
{
  "kind": "collectionType",
  "collectionName": "proof_coins",
  "attributes": {
    "year": { "type": "integer" },
    "grade": { "type": "string" },
    "image": { "type": "media", "multiple": false },
    "toning": { "type": "enumeration", "enum": ["tone", "cam", "dcam"] },
    "variety": { "type": "string" }
  }
}

Sanity.io: Real-Time Editing, Total Customization

Best for: Creative teams, live collaboration, custom editorial interfaces.

• Pros: Live co-editing, GROQ query language, custom input widgets, webhooks on every change
• Cons: Smaller plugin ecosystem; GROQ has a learning curve
• Good fit: A museum building an interactive archive with live annotations

Sanity’s **GROQ** is powerful. It’s like GraphQL, but built for content. Need all proof coins from 1950–1964 with a CAM finish? One query:

*[_type == "proofCoin" && year >= 1950 && year <= 1964 && finish == "cam"] {
  title, year, grade, image{asset->{url}}
}

Jamstack + SSGs: The Frontend That Just Works

A headless CMS shines when paired with **Jamstack**—static sites generated at build time and served from a CDN.

Why Jamstack?

• HTML pre-rendered, so time-to-first-byte is near zero
• No servers to maintain or scale
• SEO-friendly: content loads instantly, even without JavaScript
• Hosting costs stay low (S3, Netlify, Vercel)

Next.js vs. Gatsby: Pick the Right Tool

Fetching Proof Coins in Gatsby

Using `gatsby-source-contentful` to pull data at build time:

// gatsby-config.js
module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    {
      resolve: 'gatsby-source-contentful',
      options: {
        spaceId: process.env.CONTENTFUL_SPACE_ID,
        accessToken: process.env.CONTENTFUL_ACCESS_TOKEN,
        host: 'preview.contentful.com'
      }
    }
  ]
}

// gatsby-node.js
exports.createPages = async ({ actions, graphql }) => {
  const { data } = await graphql(`
    query {
      allContentfulProofCoin(filter: {year: {gte: 1950, lte: 1964}}) {
        edges {
          node {
            slug
            year
          }
        }
      }
    }
  `)
  data.allContentfulProofCoin.edges.forEach(edge => {
    actions.createPage({
      path: `/coins/${edge.node.slug}`,
      component: require.resolve('./src/templates/coin.js'),
      context: { slug: edge.node.slug }
    })
  })
}

Next.js ISR: Fresh Content Without Full Rebuilds

When new coins are added, you don’t need to rebuild the whole site. Use **Incremental Static Regeneration** to update pages every 60 seconds:

// pages/coins/[slug].js
export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  const coin = await fetch(`https://cdn.contentful.com/...`).then(res => res.json())
  return {
    props: { coin },
    revalidate: 60 // seconds
  }
}

Building a Real Project: The Proof Coin Archive

Let’s build something real. I recently built a collector’s archive for 1950–1964 proof coins. Here’s the stack that worked:

1. CMS: Sanity.io (for live editing, image tagging, custom fields)
2. Frontend: Next.js (SSG + ISR)
3. Hosting: Vercel (auto-deploys on content change)
4. CDN: Vercel Edge Network (serves files globally)
5. Images: Sanity’s image() for responsive, optimized versions
6. Search: Algolia (indexed at build time)

Custom Sanity Input: A Smarter Grade Selector

Make grading easier with a dropdown and tooltips:

// schemas/coin.js
import { GradingGuide } from '../components/GradingGuide'

export default {
  name: 'proofCoin',
  title: 'Proof Coin',
  type: 'document',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'grade',
      title: 'Grade',
      type: 'string',
      inputComponent: GradingGuide // Custom React component
    },
    {
      name: 'toning',
      title: 'Toning',
      type: 'string',
      options: {
        list: [
          { title: 'Toned', value: 'tone' },
          { title: 'Cameo (CAM)', value: 'cam' },
          { title: 'Deep Cameo (DCAM)', value: 'dcam' }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Image Optimization with Sanity

Serve crisp, fast images—no matter the device:

// components/CoinImage.js
import imageUrlBuilder from '@sanity/image-url'

function urlFor(source) {
  return imageUrlBuilder(client).image(source)
    .auto('format')
    .width(800)
    .fit('max')
}

// In template

Security, Scaling, and Cost: Real Talk

Headless + Jamstack isn’t just fast—it’s smart for security and budget.

Security

• No server-side code in production = tiny attack surface
• CMS APIs use keys, not open admin panels
• Use preview environments to test before going live
• WAF (Web Application Firewall) at the CDN edge blocks threats

Scaling

• Static files scale globally via CDN—no servers to manage
• ISR lets you handle thousands of pages with near-instant updates
• For user-submitted content (like collector entries), use serverless functions to validate and push to CMS

Cost

• Hosting: Free (Vercel free tier for small sites)
• CMS: Strapi (free, self-hosted), Sanity (free for small teams), Contentful ($49+/mo)
• Bandwidth: Minimal (CDN caches everything)

The Bottom Line: Speed, Flexibility, and Peace of Mind

Headless CMS isn’t a buzzword. It’s how modern sites are built. By using **Contentful**, **Strapi**, or **Sanity.io** for content and pairing them with **Jamstack** and **SSGs**, you get:

• Speed: Pages load instantly, thanks to pre-rendered HTML and CDN delivery
• Flexibility: Push content to web, mobile, voice, AR—without rewriting
• Scalability: Handle traffic spikes with zero panic
• Security: No servers, fewer vulnerabilities
• Cost: Pay only for what you actually use

I’ve used this stack for collector archives, news sites, and e-commerce platforms. It works. Editors get a clean interface. Developers keep their sanity. Users get fast, reliable experiences.

Start small. Pick a free CMS tier. Build a prototype in Gatsby or Next.js. See how it feels. Then grow from there. The best part? You’re not locked in. The future of content management is already here. And yes—it’s headless.

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