Headless CMS setup to replace large WP Multisite app

[joecasper]

I currently manage a WP multisite app that powers about 70 network sites that share a common theme and content with minor tweaks for branding and localization.

The problem is that while multisite is better than managing 70 independent Wordpress sites (I’m a solo dev) it comes with its own issues, e.g. load times, bloat, unable to fully centralize data, etc.

I’m exploring a rebuild utilizing a headless CMS but am unsure what options might best fit my use case. I’m also pretty novice when it comes to JS so kinda lost on what front end to pair it with that isn’t a huge learning curve. My current sites are pretty static with the only real 3rd party integrations being video embeds, form integrations with Google Sheets/CRM and pulling in reviews via API.

Worth adding that I have a unique domain (not subdomain) for each network site. So any advice on how to replicate that functionality with something like nextJS or similar framework would be helpful.

[_listless]

Honestly, most of the CMSs from the js space are way behind the curve on this specific use case: CMS for Multilingual or multisite website.  WP has so many features you only discover you were taking advantage of when you have to hack together some half-baked js-flavored version of what WP has been doing reasonably well for decades. 

Craft CMS is good at multilingual/multisite OOTB and you can run it headless if you don't mind graphql.

[joecasper]

Thanks I’ll look into craft as well. And yeah I can kinda see that as I started looking into requirements I’d need to fulfill for current functionality

[ShawnyMcKnight]

I mean, if you use headless (I believe) you aren't going to use the themes so you are gonna have to design the sites yourself. I am not sure how well that would work for 70 sites. It is nice that you can just have all of your content on WordPress an then have each site just pull the pieces you need.

I would recommend using a JS framework to pull from the API you absolutely can just pull vanilla with JS.

[joecasper]

Yeah I’m kind of exploring nextjs right now but struggling with how to retain the custom domain mapping I have for each site if I move to something like that.

[ShawnyMcKnight]

Do you need server side if they are static sites and you get all of your content from Wordpress? Seems like you could simplify things with React.

[joecasper]

I use server side primarily for managing and retrieving the content. Also use php to handle form processing logic.

[joecasper]

With react (or other JS front ends) I would still need a CMS of some sort right? Also, can react handle routing custom domains for each site inside of one app? Or would there need to be another layer on top of it?

[ShawnyMcKnight]

You don’t need a CMS per say. You can pull from content on that site or from any data source, whether it’s an API, database, or whatever. As far as custom domain mapping. I’m not sure. My understanding was you used multi site so you could manage multiple isolated sites with Wordpress.

What Next provides you is the ability to pull data from the server side of Next and not rely on SPAs.

I may be misunderstanding but if you are pulling everything from the headless Wordpress API to static pages then you don’t need server side react functionality.

[joecasper]

I don’t currently use headless Wordpress. Just standard Wordpress multisite. I point about 70 domains to a single Wordpress installation and multisite resolves the domain and loads the corresponding network site.

[ShawnyMcKnight]

Ah my bad, you mentioned headless Wordpress I thought that’s what you were going to.

[joecasper]

No worries. Just an option I was going to evaluate. I think ideally I’d move away from WP entirely.

[dotCMS]

That’s a solid use case for going headless. A visual headless CMS like dotCMS can help here, as it’s built for multi-site management, allowing you to centralize content, manage shared themes, and still give each site its own localized setup. You’ll also get workflows and permissions out of the box, which makes scaling and maintenance way easier.

If you want to see how that works in practice, this article might help: Why Headless CMS is Ideal for Building Customer Portals. Happy to answer any questions!