Content & CMS
Umbraco
The flexible, open-source .NET CMS — editor-friendly, enterprise-ready, and headless when you need it.
Umbraco is a free, open-source content management system built on Microsoft .NET (ASP.NET Core). It pairs a clean, approachable backoffice with the full power of the .NET ecosystem — and ships a native Content Delivery API plus the managed Heartcore SaaS for headless builds.
- 01Open-source core with no licence fee — predictable total cost of ownership
- 02Built on .NET: pen-tested regularly and far less plugin-reliant than PHP CMSs
- 03An editor-friendly backoffice your marketing team actually enjoys using
- 04Headless-ready without re-platforming — add a Next.js front end when you're ready
- 05First-class multilingual support for English/Arabic and the wider GCC
Why teams choose Umbraco
Umbraco sits in a sweet spot most CMS platforms miss: it is genuinely open-source with no licence fee, yet it runs on the hardened Microsoft .NET stack that enterprise and government IT teams already trust. Because it leans on .NET rather than a sprawl of third-party plugins, it carries a smaller attack surface than PHP-based systems and is independently penetration-tested on a regular cadence.
Editors get a fast, uncluttered backoffice with granular roles, workflows and audit trails; developers get C#, strong typing and the whole NuGet ecosystem. It is the CMS we reach for when a client needs editorial control, long-term maintainability and real governance.
Headless Umbraco — Heartcore and the Content Delivery API
Umbraco is headless when you want it to be. The native Content Delivery API exposes structured content as REST and GraphQL JSON, and Umbraco Heartcore offers the same as a fully managed SaaS with a CDN. That lets us keep the friendly backoffice for editors while delivering content to a fast Next.js front end — the same composable pattern we cover in our guide to headless CMS and SEO.
Where it fits
Umbraco is a strong fit for content-rich corporate, enterprise and public-sector sites — especially bilingual English/Arabic builds across the GCC. If you are weighing a fully API-first SaaS instead, we also build on Sanity and Contentful; the right choice depends on your team and governance needs. See how we put it to work in Umbraco development.
What it does
Headless & Content Delivery API
Expose structured content as REST + GraphQL JSON to any front end — website, app, kiosk or digital signage — via the Content Delivery API or Heartcore.
Multilingual & RTL
Vary-by-culture and block-level variations make English–Arabic and GCC-wide sites first-class, with right-to-left layouts handled cleanly in the front end.
Enterprise governance
Granular user roles, content workflows and audit trails on a hardened .NET runtime — the controls enterprise and government teams require.
Umbraco Cloud & DevOps
Managed hosting, automated deployments and environment promotion through Umbraco Cloud, or a custom Azure pipeline where you need it.
About Umbraco
Is Umbraco a headless CMS?
Umbraco can run headless, traditional or hybrid. Its native Content Delivery API and the managed Heartcore SaaS expose content as REST and GraphQL JSON, so you can pair Umbraco with a Next.js or React front end while editors keep a familiar backoffice.
Is Umbraco suitable for enterprise and government?
Yes. Running on .NET, Umbraco offers strong security, granular roles, workflows and audit trails, with no licence lock-in. It is widely used by enterprises and public-sector organisations that need governance and long-term maintainability.
Can Umbraco run an Arabic and English website?
Yes. Umbraco's vary-by-culture and block-level variations are designed for multilingual sites, making bilingual English/Arabic and GCC-wide builds straightforward, with right-to-left handled in the front end.
How much does Umbraco cost?
The Umbraco CMS core is open-source and free. Optional paid services such as Umbraco Cloud (managed hosting and DevOps), Forms, Commerce and official support add cost only where you need them — which keeps total cost of ownership predictable.
Where Umbraco fits
Web Development in Dubai
Web development in Dubai built on Next.js, Sanity and Laravel — fast, SEO-optimised, mobile-first websites and headless ecommerce engineered to convert across the UAE.
The service