Why Monolithic Platforms Are Making a Comeback

Welcome back to the 125th edition of Nord Media

A few years ago, “going headless” became the cool thing to do.

Everyone was talking about API-first infrastructure, modular builds, and full composability like it was the future of eCommerce.

And on paper, it made sense.

• You get the flexibility to build anything you want.

• Best-in-class tools for every part of your stack.

• Freedom from the limitations of Shopify, Magento, or BigCommerce.

But what most brands don’t realize until it's too late:

The same flexibility that sounds exciting in a sales deck quickly turns into developer chaos, skyrocketing maintenance costs, and a never-ending backlog of tech debt.

In fact:

 67% of brands that switch to composable report 40% higher operational expenses in the first year.

And it’s not because they made bad decisions. It’s because the entire composable model creates complexity that most scaling teams aren’t equipped to handle.

In this email, we’re breaking down:

• Why headless builds introduce more hidden costs than you think

• A simple cost analysis framework to evaluate your true TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

• When a traditional monolithic platform will actually outperform composable solutions (and save your margins)
  

Let’s dive in.

The Hidden Costs of Going Headless (That No One Talks About)

On the surface, composable commerce sounds like a performance unlock.

But under the hood, most brands experience:

• Developer resource overload:

Every integration, feature, and update now requires internal engineering time or expensive external dev agencies.

• Integration maintenance spiraling out of control:

You’re now responsible for stitching together your CMS, PIM, checkout, analytics, personalization tools, and more.

When one API breaks, everything downstream gets affected.

• Slower time to market:

Rolling out even simple site changes (like a new landing page or cart promo) requires cross-functional coordination between frontend, backend, and DevOps teams.

• Stack sprawl:

What starts as a “best-in-class tech stack” turns into a Frankenstein build with 15+ different platforms to manage.

The Cost Analysis Framework: What Headless Actually Costs You

If you’re considering composable, or already on it but questioning the decision, here’s a simple way to evaluate your real costs.

Break your expenses into four categories:

1. Platform Fees:

• With monolithic platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce, you pay a predictable monthly fee that covers hosting, updates, and core features.

• With composable, you’re often paying less on the surface… but taking on full responsibility for hosting, infrastructure, and security.

2. Development Costs:

• Monolithic: Most changes can be handled by a freelance developer or small agency on an as-needed basis.

• Composable: Expect an ongoing monthly retainer (anywhere from $15K–$30K/month) just to keep things running smoothly.

3. Maintenance and QA:

• Monolithic: The platform handles most QA, uptime monitoring, and performance updates.

• Composable: Your team (or agency) becomes responsible for every bug fix, API update, and performance optimization.

4. Speed of Iteration:

• Monolithic: Days from idea to deployment.

• Composable: Weeks, because even small changes require cross-team coordination and regression testing across multiple services.

Whatever you’re saving on platform fees with composable, you’re spending 3x to 5x more on engineering overhead and maintenance.

When Monolithic Actually Wins (And When Composable Makes Sense)

If you’re doing under $100M in revenue and don’t have an internal engineering team with deep eCommerce infrastructure experience, composable will likely hurt more than help.

Stick with a monolithic platform if:

• You want a faster time to market

• You need predictable monthly costs

• Your marketing and ops teams want more control over site updates without engineering bottlenecks

• You care more about conversion rate and margin efficiency than technical flexibility

Composable makes sense if:

• You’ve outgrown platform limitations (like needing extreme backend customization or multi-region infrastructure)

• You have a full in-house engineering team

• You’re running multiple storefronts or marketplaces where modularity justifies the cost

• You’re doing true enterprise volume and need full control over performance and infrastructure.

Final Thoughts

Composable sounds like the future, but for most scaling brands, it’s just a very expensive distraction.

Before making the switch or sticking with a bloated composable build, step back and run the numbers.

What looks like flexibility often comes at the expense of your bottom line.

Want to learn more? Connect with me on social 👇
LinkedIn • Instagram • Twitter 

Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.

Sincerely,
Kody

Disclaimer: Special thanks to QCK and Goodo Studios for sponsoring today’s newsletter.