How much does a headless WordPress site cost?

A mid-size headless WordPress build usually costs $25,000 to $100,000, against $5,000 to $25,000 for a comparable standard WordPress site, according to Codeable. After launch you pay two hosting bills, roughly $31 to $500+ a month on a split backend-plus-frontend setup (ACF). And maintenance now covers two codebases, a WordPress backend and a JavaScript frontend, which Progression Agency prices at $150 to $800 a month.

I build headless WordPress sites: a Next.js or React frontend sitting on a WordPress backend. I've already written about when headless is the right choice. This post is about the money. I'll go through the build, hosting, preview and editor setup, and running costs, and set each one against a standard WordPress build.

How much does a headless WordPress build cost?

Published ranges start at about $18,000 for a simpler site in one agency's estimate and go up to $150,000 for a mid-market one. Enterprise builds can pass $400,000. The sources don't agree on the exact numbers, but they all land in the same place: headless costs several times what a standard WordPress build does.

Most of these are US agency figures. Rates vary by country, and freelancers and agencies price differently. But the gap comes from extra hours, and those hours don't go away when you hire somewhere cheaper.

Why does headless WordPress cost more than a standard build?

Because the frontend has to rebuild things a WordPress theme and plugins give you out of the box. Templates, menus, forms, SEO tags, redirects, draft preview and cache revalidation all turn into developer hours.

On a normal WordPress site the theme renders every page, and plugins drop in their own output: forms, SEO tags, sliders, cookie banners. A headless frontend is a separate app. It only sees the data the WordPress API hands it, as DevDiggers explains. So anything a plugin used to print on the page has to be rebuilt or reconnected.

In practice, that list looks like this:

• Page templates as React components, one for each content type and layout.
• Menus, footers and global settings fetched from WordPress.
• Forms, either through an API or a service like HubSpot.
• SEO output: title tags, meta descriptions, canonicals, Open Graph tags, schema and sitemaps.
• Redirects and 404s, which a WordPress plugin used to handle.
• Draft preview, so editors can check a post before it goes live.
• Cache revalidation, so published changes actually show up on the live site.

Codeable puts the higher price down to rebuilding core features WordPress normally provides, and in my experience building Next.js frontends, the frontend itself is rarely the hard bit. The hours go into replacing everything WordPress was quietly doing for you.

What does it cost to host two systems?

You get two bills: one for the WordPress backend and one for the frontend. On a split setup that's roughly $31 to $500+ a month. Integrated platforms like WP Engine Headless Platform or Pantheon are quote-based or start at about $610 a month.

ACF's worked example pairs a $100-a-month SiteGround cloud plan with Vercel Pro. That comes to about $120 a month before domains, plugins, monitoring and extra usage.

You'll also read that headless hosting can be cheaper than standard WordPress. There's some logic to it: visitors never hit the WordPress backend, so it can sit on a smaller plan. One developer's estimate in a DEV Community post puts headless at $10–$70 a month against $35–$165 for traditional WordPress, though it also flags the higher development cost. I'd treat hosting as the small line either way, and ACF says the same thing: implementation is usually the bigger expense. For the frontend I use Vercel or Cloudflare, and I compare the two in Should you deploy Next.js on Vercel or Cloudflare?

What does preview and editor setup add to the cost?

It usually sits inside the build price rather than as its own line, but it's real work. A headless frontend can't see WordPress drafts until someone builds a secure preview route, and it's the cost most often left out of a first quote.

In standard WordPress you click Preview and it just works. In a headless build, as Pantheon notes, the frontend has no idea a draft exists until you build that connection.

A working editor setup usually includes:

• A secure preview route on the frontend. Vercel's Next.js and WordPress template uses Next.js Draft Mode with WPGraphQL JWT authentication.
• On-demand revalidation, so a published change appears in seconds instead of waiting for the next rebuild.
• A content model: ACF fields and custom post types that map cleanly to frontend components.
• If editors use Gutenberg, a React component for every block they're allowed to use.

Progression includes content modeling and previews in its build range. Check that yours does too. Progression also makes a point a lot of clients miss: in a headless setup, marketers edit content, not layouts. A new section layout is a developer ticket, not a drag-and-drop job.

What does headless WordPress cost to maintain?

For a business site, expect $150 to $800 a month. At higher traffic and complexity, hosting plus maintenance can run $600 to $4,000 a month. It's more than standard WordPress maintenance because there are two systems to keep updated.

WordPress core and plugins still need updating. On top of that, the frontend needs Next.js, Node and dependency updates, and someone has to keep an eye on the build pipeline and webhooks. There's also a catch people don't expect: a WordPress plugin update can change the API data the frontend relies on, and break a page nobody touched.

Market ranges:

• Progression puts maintenance at $150–$800 a month for a business site.
• Redefine Web puts hosting plus maintenance at $600–$4,000 a month, depending on traffic and complexity.

The standard WordPress retainers I run, like the one for IPL Biologicals, are mostly plugin updates, content and price changes, and store support. A headless retainer is all of that, plus a second codebase.

Headless vs standard WordPress: how do the costs compare?

Headless costs more on almost every line. Here they are side by side.

If you're weighing a plain Next.js site (no WordPress at all) against WordPress, that's a different question. I cover it in how much a Next.js website costs vs WordPress.

What pushes a headless quote up or down?

The big drivers are the number of templates, the content model, the rendering mode, integrations, migration work, and whether there's a store or more than one language. Here's how each one moves the number.

• Number of unique templates. Ten page types cost more than four. Lots of pages built from the same template are cheap.
• Content model. Structured ACF fields are quicker to render than free-form Gutenberg content, because every block type needs its own component.
• Rendering mode. Static and incrementally rebuilt (ISR) pages keep hosting low. Rendering every request on the server adds usage costs.
• Integrations. Forms, HubSpot or another CRM, search, analytics and consent tools each need wiring up on the frontend.
• Migration. Moving an existing site means matching URLs, meta tags and redirects. My free Redirect Map Builder turns old WordPress URLs into a Next.js redirects file, which helps you hold on to your rankings. The full process is in how to move from WordPress to Next.js without losing SEO.
• Commerce and languages. A headless WooCommerce store means rebuilding the cart, checkout and accounts on the frontend. That's a far bigger job than a content site. Multilingual sites add similar work.
• Hosting model. Split hosting is cheaper to start. Integrated platforms cost more but put both systems under one vendor.

When is the extra cost worth paying?

If speed is your only reason, usually it isn't. Codeable makes the same point: most slow WordPress sites just haven't been optimized, and fixing Core Web Vitals on WordPress costs a fraction of a rebuild. It's part of my technical SEO and Core Web Vitals work. Headless earns its price when one content source feeds several frontends or the frontend behaves like an app, and I go through those cases in Headless WordPress with Next.js: when is it worth it?

What should you ask before accepting a headless quote?

Ask how they'll handle draft preview, plugins, rendering, SEO, account ownership and maintenance. If the answers are vague, some of those costs probably aren't in the price.

1. How will draft preview work, and can I see a demo?
2. Which of our current plugins will stop working, and what replaces each one?
3. REST API or WPGraphQL, and why for this project?
4. Will pages be static, incrementally rebuilt or server-rendered? What does that mean for the hosting bill?
5. After I click Publish, how long until the change is live?
6. How are meta tags, sitemaps, schema and redirects handled?
7. Who owns the hosting accounts and code repositories?
8. What does maintenance cover on each side, and who upgrades the framework?

Don't skip question 7. With two hosts and two repos, there are twice as many accounts to lose track of. They should be in your name, not your developer's.

How do I scope a headless WordPress project?

Before I quote, I need the template list, the content model and the preview requirements in writing. Those decide most of the hours.

My headless builds use a Next.js or React frontend on a WordPress backend. Content comes through the REST API or WPGraphQL, and the frontend runs on Vercel or Cloudflare.

If you're still deciding on architecture, put your project through my free Tech Stack Advisor. It recommends a stack with reasons, an alternative and the trade-offs. If a standard WordPress build fits your project better, I'll tell you. My free Project Scope Generator can also turn your idea into a page list you can bring along.

Want a number for your project? Send me your page list and tell me who edits the content through my contact page, or book a 20-minute call. There's more on how I run these builds on my headless WordPress service page.