Our serviceStatic siteRebuilds itself

Headless WordPress with a Static Front End

Headless WordPress + Static Front End

The back end stays the WordPress your team already knows. The front end becomes static files that load fast and are hard to hack. Hit save and the site rebuilds itself in about 30 seconds, with draft preview before anything is published.

Starting price

5,000 THB/ small single-language site

We check your hosting before we quote

Free hosting check on LINE Hosting requirements ↓

Headless WordPress with a static front end, built by the Southern Whale development team

5,000 THB

Starting price

~30 sec

From save to live

Databases on the public side

Yes

Draft preview

A site where visitors never touch WordPress

What this service is

A normal WordPress site assembles every page from scratch each time someone opens it: query the database, run the plugins, then send the HTML. That is where both the slowdown under traffic and the stream of security holes you have to patch every month come from.

Going headless separates those two jobs. WordPress stays, and your team keeps editing in the same admin they already know, but the pages customers see are generated ahead of time and simply sit there as files. Visitors get something that is already finished, with nothing for the server to work out.

What we add is the machinery that makes all of that automatic. Press save and the system rebuilds the site, validates the result and publishes it, without the site owner ever needing to learn the word "build". If something goes wrong, nothing is published and the existing site stays intact.

How it works, from save to live page

How it works

Your team edits in WordPress

Open the familiar WordPress admin, change text, swap images, add pages, reorder sections. Day to day it feels exactly like editing any WordPress site.

Save queues the job

WordPress only stores the change and raises a flag that something is new. It never runs the build itself, because shared hosting usually caps PHP memory low enough to kill a build halfway through.

A server-side runner rebuilds the site

A watcher picks up the flag, pulls the content out of WordPress into local data files, regenerates every page, and validates the output before anything goes live.

The new pages are live in ~30 seconds

Fresh files replace the old ones, and pages that were deleted are cleaned up against the real page list. Visitors see the new version straight away with no downtime window.

What you gain

Why this setup stands out

Fast because nothing is computed on request

Visitors receive HTML that was generated ahead of time. No database queries, no PHP running while the page loads, so it stays fast and steady even under heavy concurrent traffic.

A much smaller attack surface

What the public sees is a set of static files: no login form, no plugins to exploit. The WordPress back end sits somewhere outsiders cannot reach.

You still edit everything yourself

Every heading, paragraph, image, menu item, label and section order is editable in the back end. The goal is that nothing is hardcoded to the point where you need a developer for a copy change.

Draft preview before publishing

Hit preview and you get a link to the real page rendered from the draft, identical to the live site, while visitors still see the current version. Ideal when a manager has to sign off first.

Broken content does not take the site down

The data layer is written to survive empty fields, missing images and wrong value types. If a build fails validation, nothing is published and the current site stays exactly as it is.

Cheap hosting that handles traffic spikes

Static files use very little server resource. Sites with tens of thousands of daily visits usually stay on ordinary hosting, and putting a CDN in front is straightforward.

Hosting requirements

Always checked before we take the job

If your current hosting fails any of these, we tell you before quoting, along with the options: change plan, change host, or run the build elsewhere and ship the files back.

Node.js for the build

Generating static pages needs Node.js 20 or newer. It can run on the same host as WordPress if the host allows SSH and a Node install, or the build can move to a VPS or a CI service that ships the files back.

SSH and scheduled jobs

We install a queue watcher that runs every minute to check for new work, so the host must allow cron. If your current host cannot do that, we help you find a plan that can, or move the build to CI.

Enough disk space to build and store files

You need room for the code, the packages and the generated output. A typical site uses around 1 to 3 GB. We check this before we start and adjust the approach if space is tight.

WordPress REST API enabled

The generator reads content through the WordPress REST API. If your host or a security plugin blocks it, the routes we use have to be opened, which is something we configure for you.

A separate domain or path for the back end

The WordPress admin lives apart from the public site, for example on an internal subdomain, and is kept out of search engines so it never competes with the real site for content.

Room for large uploads

If your team uploads very large images, the host needs PHP upload and memory limits to match. We resize images automatically, but the file has to reach the server first.

The front end does not have to be Astro

Pick what suits your team

The way everything works is identical. Only the tool that generates the pages changes.

Astro

Our default recommendation, because it ships pages with almost no extra JavaScript and the project structure is easy for the next developer to read.

Next.js static export

A good fit if your team already writes React and wants to keep using existing components.

Nuxt static

Suits teams who work in Vue or already have a design system built on Vue.

Eleventy and Hugo

Best for content-heavy sites that need very fast build times even with thousands of pages.

Headless compared with plain WordPress

Choose what fits the business

We build both, and we recommend the one that actually fits you rather than the one with the bigger invoice.

Topic	Headless + Static	Plain WordPress
Time for content to go live	About 30 seconds after save	Immediately on save
Page speed	Fastest, because pages are static files	Can be fast with good caching
Security on the public side	No database or plugins exposed to attack	Needs continuous updates and monitoring
Hosting requirements	Node, SSH and cron, or a CI service	Ordinary PHP hosting is enough
Long-term maintenance	A background system to look after as well	Routine plugin and theme updates
Membership and carts	Needs external services	Built in
Hosting cost under heavy traffic	Low, because it serves static files	Server has to be upgraded with load

If reading that tells you the business really needs edits live instantly, look at our WordPress development service instead.

What you receive

Deliverables

A static front end built from your design, working on phones and large screens, with speed scores you can verify yourself
WordPress configured as the editing tool, with field groups, site-wide settings and every label on the page exposed
Automatic rebuilds after save, with validation before publishing and a status page showing how far the build has got
Draft preview, so a real page can be reviewed through a private link before it goes live
A back end styled close to the live site, colours and fonts included, so editors see what they are actually producing
A full SEO setup: titles, descriptions, canonicals, structured data, sitemap, robots and your existing redirects
Multilingual support if you need it, with a correct URL structure and hreflang
A written handbook, one live training session, and developer documentation for whoever maintains it next

Drawbacks you should know before deciding

Written honestly

This is not the right answer for every site. If your business matches any of the points below, we will point you somewhere else.

1. Content goes live slower than on plain WordPress

After save you wait for the rebuild, normally around 30 seconds for a mid-sized site, longer for sites with several hundred pages. If your business needs edits to appear the instant they are saved, plain WordPress is the better choice.

2. More moving parts to maintain

There is a queue watcher, a scheduled job and a Node runtime that all need occasional updates. If nobody on your team looks after the server side, budget for ongoing maintenance or pick a setup with no background system at all.

3. Not for pages that change per user

Membership areas, shopping carts, prices that depend on who is logged in, or anything that must be fresh by the second do not belong in static files. Forms and booking can be handled with external services instead.

4. The host has to give you enough access

If your current host offers no SSH and no cron, this cannot run on that machine. You either change plan or build elsewhere, which adds cost. We always check before accepting the project.

5. It costs more than converting to plain WordPress

We are building the front end, the data layer, the build system, the preview system and the quality checks, so the starting point is 5,000 THB and moves with page count and number of languages.

Suitable for

Company or project sites where speed and security matter most
Sites that have been compromised through a plugin and should not expose an admin login again
Multilingual sites that need a clean URL structure and full control over SEO
Teams who want marketing to edit content without giving up performance scores
Sites with traffic spikes, such as a launch period or a campaign
Owners who want to see a real page preview before anything is published

Not suitable for

Sites where an edit has to appear that same second
Online stores with a full cart and membership system
Sites that show different content to each user after login
Hosting with no SSH and no cron, where moving host is not an option

From 5,000 THB

Pricing

Small single-language site

5,000 THB

Starting price · automatic rebuilds and draft preview included

What moves the price up

Number of pages and number of languages
Repeatable item types you need to manage yourself, such as projects, products or team members
Design complexity and interactive components
Migrating a large amount of existing content
Setting up new hosting, or moving domains and email

Have us check your hosting first

PromptPay / bank transfer · Invoice available

What to prepare

Checklist

Your current hosting details

The provider and the plan you are on, so we can check for SSH, cron and Node. Read access to the control panel lets us check more accurately.

The existing site or the design

The URL of your current site, or the design files for a new build, plus a note on which pages matter most to the business.

Who will edit the content

How many people, how often they edit, and whether anything needs approval before publishing, so we can set up permissions and preview accordingly.

Languages and growth plans

How many languages now, whether more are coming, and what kinds of items you will keep adding, such as projects or products.

Related services

Work we do in house

Hand-coded site to WordPress 100%

If edits must go live the moment you hit save, and you want no background system to maintain. From 2,500 THB.

Custom WordPress plugin development

For a specific back-office function, such as extra fields or an API connection. From 999 THB.

WordPress development

If you want edits to appear instantly and no background system to maintain, a plain WordPress build is the simpler answer.

Web development

Custom front-end and back-end work, from a new site design through to features your business needs built from scratch.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

What is headless WordPress, in plain terms?

WordPress becomes a back office used only for editing content, while the pages your customers see are files generated in advance. Visitors never touch WordPress at all. The result is a much faster site that is much harder to attack, in exchange for waiting roughly half a minute after save for the rebuild.

Does it have to be Astro?

No. Astro is our default because it produces the lightest pages and is the easiest to hand over, but we also build with Next.js static export, Nuxt static, Eleventy or Hugo. If your team already works in one of those, tell us and we will use it.

Can this run on shared hosting?

Yes, as long as the host allows SSH, lets you schedule cron jobs, and can run Node.js 20 or newer. We deliberately keep the build out of WordPress, because PHP on shared hosting is usually memory-limited enough to fail mid-build. If your host does not grant enough access, the options are changing plan or building elsewhere and shipping the files back.

Why is this better than a normal WordPress site?

Three things: speed, because there is no database query when a page opens; security, because the public site has no plugins and no login page to attack; and stability under load, because it serves static files. But if your business needs edits live instantly, or needs a membership system, plain WordPress is the better fit.

Do contact forms and booking still work?

Yes, but they run through services that receive form submissions directly rather than posting into your site's PHP. We can route submissions to your email, LINE or a spreadsheet. More complex booking systems are usually embedded from an external provider, which we also set up for you.

If someone enters bad content, will the site break?

No. We test the data layer with deliberately broken input: empty fields, wrong value types, missing images, unknown values, so pages can always be generated. If the output fails validation, nothing is published and the existing site stays live until the problem is fixed.

What does the 5,000 THB starting price cover?

A small single-language site with a handful of pages, including the automatic rebuild system, draft preview and a basic SEO setup. The real price moves with page count, number of languages, how many repeatable item types you need to manage yourself, and design complexity. We check your hosting and itemise the work before quoting.

What if we want to stop using this setup one day?

All your content already lives in your own WordPress install, so you can move back to a plain WordPress site by rendering it through a theme instead, which is another service we offer. We hand over the whole front-end codebase as well. Nothing is locked to us.

Let us check your hosting first, then decide

Tell us your hosting provider and the plan you are on. We can say straight away whether a headless build is possible, or whether plain WordPress would serve you better.

Message us on LINE View other services and plugins