Headless WordPress and Next.js development
SoftVolt AI is a headless WordPress development agency that works white-label for other agencies. Your client keeps the WordPress admin their team knows, and visitors get a fast Next.js front end. We build it under your brand and never contact your client.
- ToolingNext.js · React · TypeScript
- Best forBranding & design agencies
- Scope & quoteWithin 2 business days
Headless WordPress + Next.js, run the way agencies need it run.
Websites, stores and apps your clients will put their name on.
Send the brief and a named producer turns it into a written scope: 6 deliverables, each priced, with the assumptions and the tools listed — Next.js, React, TypeScript, WPGraphQL, ACF, Vercel. Nothing is built until you have agreed that document, and the price on it is the price you pay.
It is the brief we see most often from branding & design agencies, SEO agencies, full-service agencies. Everything ships under your agency's name — the staging link, the commits, the checklist and the handover — and your client never learns we were involved.
- Pillar
- Build — Websites, stores and apps your clients will put their name on.
- Tooling
- Next.js · React · TypeScript · WPGraphQL · ACF · Vercel
- Most often for
- Branding & design agencies
- Scope & quote
- Within 2 business days — scope
Headless WordPress + Next.js: what you get.
Every item here appears in the scope document with a price against it. Nothing starts until you approve it.
- 01WordPress configured as a headless CMS with WPGraphQL or REST, ACF and preview support
- 02Next.js App Router front end with server components, next/image and next/font
- 03Draft preview, on-demand revalidation and a webhook from publish to deploy
- 04SEO parity: metadata, sitemaps, structured data and redirects carried over
- 05Forms and integrations proxied through route handlers, never exposing the CMS
- 06Deployment on Vercel or your chosen host, with a runbook
As a headless WordPress development agency, we split your client’s site in two. WordPress stays where editors write and publish, and a Next.js front end renders what visitors see. You sell the build, and we deliver it under your brand.
What a headless WordPress development agency builds for you
WordPress becomes the content source and Next.js becomes the website. The two talk through the REST API or WPGraphQL, and visitors never touch the WordPress install.
- ACF field groups designed per template, so each page type has the fields it needs and nothing more.
- Menus, settings and custom post types exposed to the front end, with only public data leaving WordPress.
- Draft preview links that show unpublished changes on the real Next.js front end.
- On-demand revalidation, so a published edit replaces the cached page without a full deploy.
- Forms and integrations sent through Next.js route handlers, so the browser never calls WordPress.
Headless WordPress is one of several stacks we offer under white-label Next.js development, alongside Payload, Sanity and Postgres apps.
When headless is the right call, and when it is not
Headless suits a client whose WordPress site keeps failing Core Web Vitals or needs interactions a page builder cannot deliver. It is the wrong choice for some briefs, and the scope will say so.
Good fit: marketing teams happy in the WordPress admin, sites with heavy custom design, and clients who care about speed on mobile.
Poor fit: clients who expect drag-and-drop layouts, or who rely on plugins that output front-end HTML, such as page builders and sliders.
If a client only needs a faster WordPress site, a performance pass may solve it for less. We will tell you that before you sell a rebuild.
Builds you can inspect
The Bulk Bag Man runs on this pattern. A WordPress child theme exposes ACF fields, menus and a Supplies post type through the REST API. A Next.js App Router front end renders it on Vercel.
Contact form submissions pass through a route handler, so the browser never talks to WordPress directly. The client still edits everything in the WordPress admin they already know.
This website, softvoltai.com, works the same way: headless WordPress with a Next.js front end on Vercel. The page you are reading is managed in WordPress.
Pricing and how a project runs
Headless Next.js builds are included from the Growth plan (from £1,200/month). It covers up to 3 active projects, up to 10 pages per project and priority turnaround of 7 to 10 business days. Larger rebuilds get their own fixed-price scope, and every plan is listed on our rates page.
Each build runs on a password-protected staging URL under your brand, with a named producer in your shared channel. On a rebuild, we carry over metadata, sitemaps, structured data and redirects, and can work alongside your technical SEO specialist.
Headless WordPress + Next.js: when to send it.
- A client site fails Core Web Vitals no matter how many caching plugins are added
- The design needs interactions a page builder cannot deliver
- The client wants WordPress editing but a modern, secure front end
- 01
Send the brief
Reply within 1 business day
- 02
Scope & quote
Within 2 business days
- 03
Production
Timeline fixed in the scope
- 04
QA & review
Published checklist, every build
- 05
Agency delivery
Handover doc with every launch
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- WPGraphQL
- ACF
- Vercel
Headless WordPress + Next.js: who briefs it most.
Branding & design agencies
Pixel-faithful Figma to WordPress, Webflow, Shopify or Next.js, reviewed against your file.
How we work with you →SEO agencies
Developers who implement the technical SEO fixes, landing pages and schema you specify.
How we work with you →Full-service agencies
One partner across development, SEO, paid media and support — one contract, one channel.
How we work with you →
Questions agencies ask about headless WordPress
01Will the client’s editors notice a difference?
Mostly in speed. They log in to the same WordPress admin and edit fields set up for each template. Page-builder layouts no longer apply, because Next.js renders the front end. We include an editing guide in your brand that shows where each field appears on the site.
02Which plugins still work on a headless site?
Plugins that work in the admin or on data keep working, including ACF, SEO plugins that store metadata, and custom post type plugins. Plugins that output front-end HTML, such as page builders and sliders, do not. We list every plugin in the scope and say what replaces each one.
03Is headless WordPress good for SEO?
It can be. Next.js renders pages on the server, so search engines receive complete HTML. We set metadata, canonical tags, XML sitemaps and structured data in the front end, and carry over redirects on a rebuild. We cannot promise rankings, but a fast, well-structured front end removes technical problems that hold a site back.
04Where is the site hosted?
The Next.js front end runs on Vercel by default, or on your client’s own infrastructure. WordPress stays on its existing host or moves to a new one, and it no longer serves visitors directly. Hosting is billed at cost or held in your accounts, and we never mark it up.
05Can you convert an existing WordPress site to headless?
Yes. We audit the current theme, plugins and URLs first, then scope the rebuild at a fixed price. Content usually stays where it is, so editors keep their posts and pages. We map every old URL to the new front end and set redirects wherever anything moves.
Send the brief — get a fixed price within two business days.
Tell us what the Headless WordPress + Next.js project needs and when. Client names can wait until the NDA is signed; a named producer replies within one business day.