To build a new website, modern developers may apply multiple tools and solutions. Headless SMS and visual website builders are the most popular and regularly used options, providing a multitude of technical possibilities. It’s rather meaningful to make a thorough decision weighing all the pros and cons of both approaches, especially when developing a .NET project.
You should note that any app or website built with .NET imposes strict requirements for scalability, content processing convenience, and architectural flexibility.
Headless CMS: Pros and Cons
Headless CMS features a purpose-built backend tool, enabling strict structure and content handling. The absence of frontend options is its essential notable trait. It utilizes an API that allows data requests from any resource, including websites, mobile apps, or other sources. Strapi, Contentful, Sanity, and Storyblok are among the most trendy and well-liked solutions.
Benefits of Headless CMS for working with .NET projects include:
- Perfect scalability. Scale backend and frontend independently when the load increases.
- High-quality integration. Utilize the API to integrate your Headless CMS with ERP, CRM, or any other popular cloud service.
- High level of flexibility and control. Gain complete mastery over the frontend’s architecture, utilizing Blazor, Angular, ASP.NET Core, or other similar solutions.
- Top-tier security thanks to managing the content via an access-limited API.
- Multichannel support and the possibility to publish duplicate content on the various platforms of one project (website, mobile app, smartwatch app, and others).
However, the Headless CMS still has some limits:
- Needs to be managed by competent programmers.
- Difficulties for editors working with the content. The headless CMS interfaces significantly differ from standard CMS.
- Provides no preconfigured templates, like website visual builders. You need to develop the whole frontend separately.
Visual Website Builders: Pros and Cons
Modern visual website builders feature platforms complemented with an easy and convenient drag-and-drop interface. WordPress, Tilda, Framer, Nicepage, Bubble, and Carrd are among the most consistent, feature-rich, and easy-to-adjust tools. They allow you to structure websites on any topic you like, even without coding knowledge. Such platforms offer a diverse collection of ready-made templates, facilitating the easy and quick creation of new websites.
If your backend is NET-based, website builders provide multiple advantages:
- Easy and quick editing process.
- Perfect for fast landing, prototype, or even MVP development.
- Ideal to work with if you are not an expert in coding or don’t want to hire programmers.
- Hosting and SEO support options.
- An easy-to-use interface based on the drag-and-drop method.
- An easy-to-understand visual interface (all changes are immediately demonstrated in the editor).
Technical limits of website builders for working with .NET projects:
- No scalability options. It may be quite challenging to integrate with your own .NET API.
- Low flexibility resulting from a closed system architecture.
- No code interactions (no monitoring and managing).
What Is Better to Сhoose for .NET Backend?
Experts advise choosing a Headless CMS in cases where your project has a .NET backend. Although visual website builders provide easy and quick website creation, Headless CMS offers more flexibility and scalability, especially for serious and significant websites. This solution unlocks unlimited possibilities for creating reliable, safe, high-performance, and scalable applications. Website builders let anyone design a site with ease — no coding is required. However, at the same time, they are constrained when it comes to huge, technically demanding platforms with high traffic and complex architecture.
Hybrid Approach: Combining the Best Features of Visual
The hybrid approach is a perfect solution for combining the best sides of the two approaches mentioned above. If your backend is. NET-based, try applying both the Headless CMS (Contentful, Ghost, Strapi, or DatoCMS) and any mainstream website-building tool (Wix, Nicepage, WordPress, or Framer). This helps to combine:
- Powerful and flexible backend.
- Easy and convenient visual interface development.
The backend in the application’s architecture handles the core processes and business logic. The headless CMS archives the content, which is then made available to the backend through API integration. Additionally, you can use a visual website builder to create stylish web designs without coding. The visual part of the website is created and adjusted in the builder, the content is managed in the Headless CMS, and the security parameters are maintained via .NET. Such an approach may be realized if you have the opportunity to organize separate work channels for developers and content editors.
As a Conclusion
Planning to build a large-scale project with a flexible and robust backend system, prefer the Headless CMS solution. It may provide all the necessary potential to create a vast, safe, and reliable web project. Though this approach has several pros and cons, some developers consider it more rational to use a hybrid method. It helps to separate logic and visual parts, keeping a high level of control over each side of the project.