Next.js front end
Statically generated pages refreshed on publish, so the site is fast without a caching plugin in the way.
Headless
Next.js and Payload, when speed is the point
Headless is the right answer less often than the industry suggests, and exactly right when it is. If your site needs to be genuinely fast under load, if it has behaviour no plugin covers, or if it feeds content to more than one place, then a traditional CMS starts fighting you and a headless build stops the fight.
We build with Next.js on the front and Payload as the CMS — the same stack this site runs on. Pages are generated as static files and refreshed when an editor publishes, so visitors get a file from a CDN rather than a page being assembled on request. Editors still get a proper admin with drafts and previews. The trade-off is honest: it costs more to build than WordPress and needs a developer for structural change, so we only recommend it when the speed or the behaviour justifies that.
from £3,450
Start a project ↗What you get
What’s included
Payload CMS
A content model shaped around your business, with drafts, previews and roles for your team.
Custom behaviour
Calculators, filtered catalogues, gated content, integrations — the things plugins do badly.
Performance budget
Agreed limits on page weight and Core Web Vitals, enforced through the build rather than checked at the end.
Deployment
Hosting on Vercel with preview deployments, so every change can be reviewed before it is live.
How it works
Three steps, and you see the work at each one.
Model
Design the content model and the integrations first — in a headless build that decides everything after.
Build in slices
Template by template, each one deployed to a preview URL you can click through as it lands.
Launch and hand over
Migration, redirects and tracking, then training for the editors on the new admin.
FAQ
Questions before you call
Do we actually need headless?
Probably not, and we will say so. It earns its cost when speed is a competitive issue, when you need behaviour plugins do badly, or when content feeds several places. Otherwise WordPress is the better value.
Can our team still edit it?
Yes. Payload gives editors a proper admin with drafts and previews. What needs a developer is adding new content types or changing structure.
What does hosting cost?
Usually more than shared WordPress hosting and less than most people expect. We size it with you before the build so there are no surprises.
Is it harder to do SEO on?
No — it is generally easier, because the pages are static and fast, and the metadata and structured data are part of the build rather than a plugin.
Have a project in mind?
Let’s build something
worth visiting.
Tell us what is not working and we will tell you what we would do about it. No pitch deck, no pressure.