WordPress as a headless CMS: wp-admin stays.
Moving WordPress to a headless CMS setup keeps wp-admin, Gutenberg and the media library for your editors. What gets replaced is the public front end, which Astro builds from the same content as static HTML.
Editorial routine survives
Login, editor, media library, categories and roles stay unchanged. What changes is the path to the live page.
Static HTML by default
Astro prerenders the pages. The delivery path carries neither a theme nor PHP nor a database query.
WordPress leaves the public web
With no public traffic, the instance can sit behind access control. It still needs updating.
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Headless WordPress in four points.
Headless means WordPress stays and the theme goes.
- Your editors keep working in wp-admin.
- What visitors see is built by Astro and shipped as static HTML.
Two routes to the content.
- The WP REST API already sits in the WordPress core.
- WPGraphQL arrives as a plugin and fetches nested data in one typed query.
Draft preview is the hard part.
- It stops working on its own and has to be built.
- Hiding that in a quote sells a project your editors will reject later.
Front-end plugins stop taking effect.
- Page builders, sliders, forms and cookie banners are no longer rendered.
- Every plugin gets a decision: rebuild, replace or drop.
Is headless right for your WordPress?
Describe in three sentences how many pages you have, who publishes, and which plugins do front-end work.
WP REST API, WPGraphQL or leaving WordPress.
Two established integration routes, with the third option in the last column.
| Dimension | WP REST API | WPGraphQL | Leaving WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prerequisite | Part of the WordPress core, the endpoints under /wp-json/ are already there. | An extra plugin provides the GraphQL endpoint. | No WordPress in operation. Content lives as files in the project. |
| Query style | Fixed resources per endpoint: several requests or oversized responses. | One query across relations, smaller responses, less post-processing. | getCollection() reads at build time, with built-in caching. |
| Type safety | The response shape is documented, never typed. We validate on read. | The schema is queryable and types can be generated from it. | A Zod schema with automatically derived TypeScript types. |
| Custom fields | Have to be exposed or registered for the REST output. | Need registering in the schema, usually via an add-on extension. | Are simply fields in the Zod schema, with no exposure step. |
| Fits when | The content model is manageable and the standard types are enough. | Many content types, relations and fields come together. | The editorial team is small and technical: WordPress to Astro. |
How the switch to an Astro front end runs.
Five steps, with the uncomfortable decisions deliberately placed first.
Take stock
Count content types, custom fields, active plugins, templates, languages and URLs.
Decide the interface
REST API or WPGraphQL, which fields are exposed, validation on read, wrapped in one data layer.
Build the front end in Astro
Layouts, components and page templates are built new, interactive parts become single islands.
Solve the edge cases
Preview, forms, search, comments, metadata from the SEO plugin, sitemap and feeds.
Switch over and measure
The URL structure stays. We measure Core Web Vitals before and after the switch.
Frequently asked questions about WordPress as a headless CMS.
What does WordPress as a headless CMS mean?
WordPress keeps managing the content and stops producing the public website. A separate front end, here Astro, fetches the content through the interface and builds the pages from it. Astro documents this route in its own CMS guide for WordPress.
Does anything change for our editors?
Daily work barely changes: same login, same wp-admin, same Gutenberg editor, same roles. After publishing it takes minutes instead of seconds. On request, editing by chat comes on top, and we run a WhatsApp AI agent ourselves.
Does draft preview still work?
Yes, when it gets built. We set up a server-rendered preview route that fetches the draft from WordPress with authentication and renders it through the same components the build uses. A rewired preview link in wp-admin and access control come with it.
What happens to our plugins?
Back-end plugins keep running and deliver their data through the interface: custom fields, workflows, SEO metadata, translation management. Anything producing front-end output stops taking effect and gets a decision: rebuild, replace or drop.
How long does a headless switch take, and what does it cost?
With a manageable content model, 4 to 6 weeks; for a typical company website, 7 to 11; with several languages, from 12. Cost follows the same drivers, see Astro development cost and support and maintenance.
When should we simply stay on classic WordPress?
When the site is small, when the team builds layouts with a page builder, or when nobody will look after the build pipeline. If you want one system fewer and your editorial team is small and technical, the cleaner route is WordPress to Astro.
More from the Astro cluster.
Build, cost and operation around the new front end:
Keep WordPress, rebuild the front end.
Send us the URL of your WordPress site and a few sentences about your editorial team. You get an assessment including the plugin list.
Request headless WordPress with Astro.
Briefly describe how many pages and content types you have, who publishes, and which plugins do front-end work.
We usually reply within 24 hours.
Remote and on site in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. International projects on request.
Related pages.
WordPress to Astro migration
The other route: leave WordPress entirely and move content into Astro content collections.
Learn moreAstro CMS
Every CMS family side by side, from no CMS at all to an API-based system.
Learn moreHeadless CMS agency
Content modelling, integration and operation behind the headless decision.
Learn moreAstro agency
The overview: what we build with Astro, for whom, and how we work.
Learn moreWebflow agency
When a visual tool with its own CMS fits better than a code project.
Learn moreCustom software development
When the website is turning into an application with logins and business logic.
Learn more