Headless (Next.js)
What it is
The site is code in a repository, generated ahead of time and served as static files. There is no server and no admin panel unless you add one.
What it’s good at
Speed, because nothing is computed per visit; the visitor gets finished files. Control, because every line ships through review and version history. And a small attack surface: no plugin layer, no admin login in production.
What it costs to own
Every change is a code change. A new case study means a developer edits a file and a build ships it; that developer is the standing cost, in-house or on call. This site runs on exactly this model. I wrote it and I am the only person who edits it: the speed this page loaded at is half the trade; every word waiting for me is the other half. If the author leaves, the site freezes until another developer reads their way in.
When it’s a poor fit
It is a poor fit when no one on the payroll writes code and the developer who built the site answers next week. The same goes when your content plan says several posts a week; a publishing model with a developer in the loop turns that plan into a queue.
What it sits beside
It replaces WordPress or Webflow as the site layer. Forms and tracking arrive alongside, since static files collect nothing themselves. Pair it with a headless CMS for the marketers, and you have reintroduced a second system to maintain, and the preview between them is its own small product.
My experience
bucca.dk runs this way, and in practice that means the site loads fast and every single edit goes through me.