Can Headless Drupal Be Fixed? Jay Callicott Proposes a Cloud CMS Solution

Staff Reporter

Jay Callicott critically examines the downsides of headless Drupal, citing three persistent pain points. He argues that integrating Drupal’s backend with modern frontends like Next.js introduces unnecessary complexity. Dual-stack deployments demand specialised teams and coordinated hosting, which adds overhead most projects don’t need. Maintenance is another issue—while core updates are increasingly automated, contributed module updates remain risky and labour-intensive.

Jay notes that even with tools like DrupalX, integrating Drupal and Next.js isn’t plug-and-play. Solutions exist, but setup and maintenance remain too burdensome for smaller teams or fast-moving projects. In contrast, cloud CMS platforms like Contentful offer developer-friendly APIs and hands-off maintenance. Inspired by this, Jay proposes a hosted, streamlined “Drupal Cloud” CMS.

This hypothetical platform would abstract away backend management, offer curated module sets, and simplify frontend integration. Jay sees this as a viable middle ground—retaining Drupal’s open-source power while delivering modern, cloud-based convenience. Whether this limited approach will appeal to the market remains an open question.

Reference: The Problem with Headless Drupal and How to Fix It by Jay Callicott (7 August 2025)

Headless Drupal

Next.js

Drupal Maintenance

Decoupled Drupal

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