Web Development

Headless CMS Development

Headless CMS development, Sanity, Contentful and Strapi builds with Astro/Next.js frontends. One content source, every channel, sub-second pages.

Get your free audit See timeline & price ranges

The short answer

HandsOnTech builds headless CMS platforms, structured content in Sanity, Contentful or Strapi feeding Astro or Next.js frontends, for teams that need editorial freedom, multi-channel publishing and performance a monolith can't reach.

Headless separates what editors touch from what users load: content lives as structured data, the frontend is hand-optimized code, and the same source feeds your site, app and anything that comes next. The craft is in modeling content so editors feel empowered, not caged.

Separate what editors touch from what users load

A headless build splits the CMS into what it should have been all along: structured content in a clean editing interface (Sanity, Contentful or Strapi), delivered through a hand-optimized Astro or Next.js frontend. Editors get real workflows (drafts, roles, scheduled publishing) while users get pages with nothing between them and the content: no theme bloat, no plugin scripts, no render-blocking anything. The same content source can feed your site, your app and whatever channel comes next, written once and published everywhere.

Content modeling is where headless succeeds or fails

The technology is the easy half. The hard half is modeling your content so editors feel empowered instead of caged: fields granular enough to power design without becoming a form with forty inputs, references that map how your content actually relates, and governance that scales past the second team. We model a real slice of your content in the leading candidate CMS before you commit, because discovering the model is wrong after migration is the expensive version of that lesson. And if headless is overkill for your case, the scoping call will say so plainly.

What you get

What’s included in every web build

SEO architecture, performance and conversion, not just pixels and code.

SEO-native architecture

Keyword-mapped URLs, hub-and-spoke internal links, Service and FAQ schema, XML sitemap and breadcrumb structure planned before build.

Core Web Vitals performance

Lighthouse 90+ targets, image optimization, lazy loading and green LCP/CLS/INP on mobile.

Marketing & e-commerce

WordPress, Shopify, Webflow or Astro/Next.js, chosen for your team and search goals.

Launch & handoff

GA4, Search Console, CMS training, 30-day bug warranty and full code ownership.

Methodology

Discovery → architecture → build → launch

Staging demos every two weeks, SEO and CWV checked each sprint.

Discovery

Free audit, competitor SERP review, metric agreement and written fixed quote.

Architecture

URL map, wireframes, schema plan and internal linking before production code.

Build

Two-week sprints with staging links, CWV tuning and on-page SEO per page.

Launch

Go-live, indexation checks, analytics and 30-day warranty.

Ways to work with us

Three ways to engage

Every model starts with a free consultation and a written quote, the price you sign is the price you pay.

Most popularWebsites · Apps · AI products

Fixed-Price Project

A scoped build with a written price and a launch date, agreed before design begins.

Written scope and fixed quote within 48 hours
Two-week sprints with staging demos every other Friday
Milestone payments tied to shipped work
30-day bug warranty in the contract
Code, designs and content transfer on final payment

Scope my project

SEO · AEO · Paid media · Content

Growth Retainer

Monthly compounding work on organic and paid visibility, reported against pipeline.

Monthly sprint plan agreed in advance
Live dashboard, the same numbers we see
AI visibility report: which prompts name you
No long lock-in, cancel with 30 days notice
Same team as your build, no handoff loss

Plan my growth

Designers · Engineers · Marketers

Dedicated Team

Senior specialists embedded in your Slack, repo and standups, capacity without recruiting.

Start within 1–2 weeks of the intro call
Your tools, your process, your time zone
Scale seats up or down with two weeks notice
NDA and full IP assignment from day one
Direct access, no account-manager relay

Build my team

Scope and pricing

What we build, and what it costs

Published ranges and timelines, the same figures that appear in your written scope. Client work is covered by NDA; references are shared during scoping for qualified projects.

Websites and e-commerce

Marketing sites, storefronts and headless builds on WordPress, Shopify, Next.js or Astro, with green Core Web Vitals and SEO architecture as launch requirements.

$15k–$75k published range · 4–10 wk typical build

Website development services

Mobile apps

Native iOS and Android or React Native and Flutter, carried through App Store and Google Play review, with crash monitoring and post-launch releases included.

$45k–$180k published range · 10–20 wk typical build

Mobile app development services

AI products and automation

One workflow piloted before anything scales, then production agents, chatbots and dashboards with retrieval, evaluation sets, guardrails and cost monitoring.

$25k–$200k published range · 6–20 wk typical build

AI development services

Compare

HandsOnTech vs. typical dev shops

HandsOnTechTypical agency

PriceFixed before startScope creep change orders

DemosStaging every 2 weeksBig reveal at the end

SEOBuilt into architectureAdd-on after launch

OwnershipCode is yoursOngoing license fees

Tools & platforms

The stack we ship with

Chosen per project for your team and roadmap, never by our habits.

Design

FigmaDesign tokensStorybookFramerPrototypingWCAG 2.2

Frontend

ReactNext.jsAstroTypeScriptTailwind CSSVue

Backend

Node.jsPythonPostgreSQLLaravelGraphQLRedis

Platforms

WordPressShopifyWebflowSanityContentfulVercel & AWS

Mobile

Swift / SwiftUIKotlin / ComposeReact NativeFlutterTestFlightPlay Console

AI

Anthropic ClaudeOpenAIRAG pipelinesVector DBsEval suitesVoice AI

Our commitments

What you can hold us to

Not adjectives, terms. Each of these is written into the engagement before you sign.

Fixed price, in writing, before work starts

You receive a written scope with milestones, deliverables and a delivery date within 48 hours of the free audit. No hourly creep, and no change order three weeks before launch.

You own everything on final payment

Source code, Figma files, content and analytics access transfer to you when the final invoice clears. No license fees, no vendor lock-in, and no platform you can only edit by paying us.

A 30-day bug warranty, in the contract

Bugs found in the first month after go-live are fixed free. It is a contractual term rather than a sales promise, and it is the reason we would rather ship correctly than ship early.

GreenCore Web Vitals at launch

4–6 wkTypical marketing site

30 daysPost-launch bug warranty

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30-day warranty

Bugs found in the first month get fixed free, in the contract.

🔓

You own everything

Code, designs and content transfer on final payment.

🇺🇸

U.S. hours overlap

Standups and demos on ET, CT, MT or PT, your pick.

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Fixed price, fixed date

Quoted in writing before work starts. No surprise change orders.

FAQs

Common questions

Is headless CMS overkill for our marketing site?

Sometimes, a small brochure site rarely repays the setup. Headless earns its cost when you publish across channels, run multiple sites from one content source, need frontend performance a monolith can't hit, or your dev team wants a modern stack. Scoping settles it with your actual requirements.

Which headless CMS do you recommend?

Sanity for editorial flexibility and real-time collaboration, Contentful for enterprise governance and multi-team scale, Strapi when self-hosting or budget control matters. The honest answer depends on your team's workflow, we model a slice of your actual content in the leading candidate before you commit.

What is Headless CMS Development?

Headless CMS Development is a scoped, fixed-price engagement from HandsOnTech, a U.S. design, development and growth studio headquartered in Sacramento, California. We map URL architecture, internal links and schema before build, tie web development work to one business metric you name, and deliver in two-week sprints with staging demos on U.S. business hours.

How much does headless CMS development cost?

Marketing sites run $15k–$35k, e-commerce and headless builds $25k–$75k, and web apps or customer portals $35k–$85k. Your exact number comes back as a fixed-price written proposal within 48 hours of the free audit, with milestones attached, so there is no hourly creep and no change order three weeks before launch.

How long does headless CMS development take?

Marketing sites ship in 4–6 weeks, e-commerce and headless builds in 6–10 weeks, and web apps or portals in 8–12 weeks. Work runs in two-week sprints with a staging link and a Friday demo, so you see progress every other week instead of waiting for one reveal at the end.

Do you work with businesses across the United States?

Yes. We are headquartered at 2108 N ST STE N, Sacramento, CA 95816 and serve clients in all 50 states, remote-first, with daily overlap on Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time. Contracts and IP assignment run through a U.S. entity, and on-site working sessions in major metros are available by arrangement.

What platform or stack do you build on?

WordPress, Webflow, Shopify, Next.js or Astro, chosen for what your team can maintain rather than what we prefer. Whatever the platform, the build ships with semantic HTML, Service and FAQ schema, an XML sitemap, a redirect map and green Core Web Vitals as launch requirements, not post-launch tickets.

How is this different from an agency or an offshore team?

One team covers design, development and growth, so there is no handoff tax and nobody to blame. You talk to the designer and engineer doing the work instead of an account manager relaying messages. And it is contractual, not a pitch: fixed price, U.S. hours, a 30-day bug warranty and full ownership transfer on final payment.

Get a timeline, a price range and a next step.

Send your URL and the metric this project has to move. A free 48-hour audit comes back with a prioritized fix list, and qualified projects get a written fixed-price scope within two business days.

Get a free 48-hour audit Email the team directly

Let's talk

Tell us what you're building.

You'll get a timeline, a price range and the next step, usually within two business days. A technical lead reads every message, not a sales development rep. No deck, no discovery-call maze.

✉️sales@handsontech.ioWe reply within one business day
📞(866) 965-8749Mon–Fri, 9am–6pm ET
📍2108 N ST STE NSacramento, CA 95816 — serving all 50 states
⚡Free 48-hour auditRecorded walkthrough plus a prioritized fix list
🔒NDA on requestSigned before you share anything sensitive