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Best Free WordPress Plugins for Headless

15 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Headless

All 15 Free only Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for headless comes down to a few things: whether it is still actively maintained, whether real users rate it well, and whether it does the specific job you need without dragging the rest of the site down.

We ranked 15 plugins using our WPScore, which weighs the user rating (adjusted for how many people actually rated it), how many sites run it, how recently it was updated, and which WordPress version it is tested against. 15 of them have enough public data to be scored; the rest are listed below the ranked block, clearly marked, rather than being given a number we cannot justify.

How this list is funded. Some links here earn us a commission if you buy. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not move anything up the list — the order comes from the WPScore, which is calculated from public ratings, install counts and update history. See the method.

At a glance

  1. 1. WPGraphQL Best overall 87/100
  2. 2. WPGraphQL for ACF 83/100
  3. 3. CoCart 81/100
  4. 4. Faust.js 80/100
  5. 5. LLM Markdown 79/100
  6. 6. Frontend View For Headless CMS 77/100
  7. 7. BabyLoveGrowth Integration 73/100
  8. 8. WPGraphQL IDE 72/100
  9. 9. Sticklight 69/100
  10. 10. CoCart JWT Authentication 66/100
  11. 11. Headless Mode 57/100
  12. 12. CoCart 57/100
  13. 13. WPGraphQL Blocks 53/100
  14. 14. WP Headless 48/100
  15. 15. CoCart CORS Support 46/100
1 WPGraphQL
Best overall Free by Jason Bahl

WPGraphQL

WPGraphQL adds a flexible and powerful GraphQL API to WordPress, enabling efficient querying and interaction with your site's data.

4.9★
from 48 ratings
30k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
87

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
3 CoCart
Free by CoCart Headless

CoCart

Ship your headless WooCommerce storefront faster. CoCart is the REST API built for Next.js, React, Vue, and any modern frontend — developer-first.

4.9★
from 21 ratings
900+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
81

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Faust.js
Free by WP Engine

Faust.js

Faust.js™ transforms your traditional WordPress installation into a flexible headless CMS.

5★
from 7 ratings
1k+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
80

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
5 LLM Markdown
Free by Michael Sablone

LLM Markdown

Expose WordPress posts and pages as real .md URLs with YAML front matter for LLMs, AI ingestion, and headless workflows.

5★
from 5 ratings
500+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
79

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
6 Frontend View For Headless CMS
Free by Dropndot Solutions

Frontend View For Headless CMS

Frontend View For Headless CMS links backend WordPress articles, pages, custom post types, taxonomies, and categories to the headless CMS site.

5★
from 5 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
77

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
8 WPGraphQL IDE
Free by Joe Fusco

WPGraphQL IDE

Modern GraphQL IDE for WPGraphQL — schema-aware editor, execution history, saved queries, and a public endpoint mode.

1k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
72

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
9 Sticklight
Free by Elementor

Sticklight

Use WordPress authentication and permissions in external React applications via secure REST API endpoints.

200+
active installs
Updated
Jun 2026
Tested to
WP 7.0.4
69

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
11 Headless Mode
Free by Ben Meredith

Headless Mode

Once you take the head off of WordPress, nobody needs to see it. This plugin hides the front end by redirecting to the shiny static (etc) site.

5★
from 6 ratings
2k+
active installs
Updated
Jul 2024
Tested to
WP 6.6.7
57

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
12 CoCart
Free by CoCart Headless

CoCart

Enhances CoCart's cart REST API response.

5★
from 1 ratings
200+
active installs
Updated
Sep 2024
Tested to
WP 6.6.7
57

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
14 WP Headless
Free by Joe Bailey-Roberts

WP Headless

A lightweight plugin to disable the WP frontend experience.

5★
from 2 ratings
300+
active installs
Updated
Apr 2019
Tested to
WP 5.1.24
48

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org