Why go headless at all
73% of US and UK businesses are already on headless (Swell, 2025). In the CIS — 10–15%. The driver is simple: on a monolith (Bitrix Enterprise, Magento 1, WooCommerce) you're capped by PHP and MySQL at mobile LCP 3.5–4s, while competitors on headless ship 1.4s and take the mobile traffic. Every 100ms costs ~1% of revenue (Google, 2025).
But "headless" isn't a single product — it's an architectural pattern with dozens of implementations. The wrong pick means an 8‑month project instead of 3, and 3 years of supporting the wrong thing.
Six selection criteria
Ignore marketing feature lists. Six things actually drive platform choice:
- Backend constraints. Got 1C, Bitrix, SAP, ERP, EDI you can't replace? Then you need a platform with a flexible data layer, not a rigid own‑backend.
- Compliance. GDPR, 152‑FZ, on‑prem, FSTEC — can the platform be deployed in your jurisdiction, with your constraints?
- Local payments. Kaspi Pay, Stripe, SEPA, SBP, Klarna — are the connectors ready, or will you write them from scratch?
- Year‑one budget. License + dev + SaaS subscription + CDN. Realistic ceiling for mid‑market — $100–150K.
- Team that will maintain it. Does your team (or the regional market) know Next.js, Node, Go, PHP? Without that, the platform dies within a year.
- Vendor lock‑in. Open‑source / open‑core / closed SaaS? Can you take the code with you if you fall out of love with the company in 2 years?
Shopify Hydrogen
Headless on Shopify. Frontend — Remix/React, backend — Shopify. Great if you're already on Shopify Plus and only need the frontend to be faster. Bad if you need 1C exchange without a $99/month plugin, Kaspi Pay, or custom business logic deeper than Shopify Flow.
commercetools
Enterprise headless for large retail (H&M, Audi). API‑first, MACH‑certified. Very powerful, but the platform is paid ($100K+/year), plus you need a team of 10+ engineers who know composable architecture. Almost no certified partners in the CIS.
Medusa
Open‑source headless on Node.js. Free, modular, active community. Good for startups and projects with a strong dev team. Downside — its own backend (data migration), weak local‑payments support, no 1C.
Saleor
Open‑source on Python / Django, GraphQL API. Popular with European startups. Architecturally mature, but requires backend replacement — doesn't run on top of Bitrix or 1C exchange.
Frontbox (our platform)
Open‑core headless on Next.js + Elasticsearch, designed to sit on top of 1C‑Bitrix, 1C or any REST/SOAP backend. A natural pick for CIS, where Bitrix is the mid‑market standard, and for UAE, where you need Russian / Kazakh / Arabic localization and Kaspi / Stripe in one checkout.
- Backend stays intact — 1C, EDI, marketplaces, ERP.
- Ready connectors: Stripe, ЮKassa, Tinkoff, SBP, Dolyame, Kaspi, WB, Ozon.
- Core — MIT, handed over to the client at handoff. No vendor lock‑in.
- Deployment: Vercel, Yandex Cloud, SberCloud, on‑prem (RHEL, Astra Linux).
- DPA and 152‑FZ / GDPR signed out of the box, no upsell.
Selection matrix
| Scenario | Platform |
|---|---|
| Shopify Plus in place, only need faster frontend | Shopify Hydrogen |
| Enterprise ($50M+ GMV), in‑house team 10+ | commercetools |
| Startup with no legacy, strong Node dev team | Medusa |
| Mid‑market CIS e‑commerce on 1C‑Bitrix | Frontbox |
| DTC in Kazakhstan / UAE with Kaspi / Arabic locale | Frontbox |
| Gov or fintech, needs on‑prem and FSTEC | Frontbox (on‑prem) |
FAQ
Can we use multiple platforms at once?
Technically yes — Shopify for US, Frontbox for RU. But it doubles the cost of support and data engineering (single source of truth via ETL). Only do this if markets are very different from a compliance perspective.
Does headless deliver conversion growth by itself?
No. Headless is an infrastructure upgrade: LCP, INP, SEO. Conversion growth comes from UX work on top of a fast storefront. Plan A/B tests from month one.
How long until migration pays back?
Median — 6–9 months for mid‑market. Driver — mobile CR growth of 15–30% from speed, plus lower support cost because your stack is standard Next.js instead of custom Bitrix frontend.