Umbraco Site Development: .NET 8, Headless, Multisite

A .NET team gets a task to build a corporate portal with multisite structure, role-based access, and headless API for mobile apps. The choice falls on Umbraco — an open-source CMS on ASP.NET Core. But without proper architecture and performance tuning, the project turns into a swamp with constant N+1 queries and response times over 2 seconds. We've encountered this many times and developed an approach that yields TTFB <200 ms on Umbraco 13.

For example, a company with a multisite structure (5 domains) and headless integrations for mobile apps approached us. After an audit, we found that N+1 queries on the old solution caused lag. We redesigned the architecture, implemented NuCache and the Repository pattern — TTFB dropped from 1.2 s to 180 ms, and database load decreased fourfold.

Why Umbraco for Corporate Sites?

Umbraco is a CMS on .NET 8 with an open-source MIT license. It runs on SQL Server or SQLite and supports clustering. It's well-suited for corporate sites, portals, and multisite infrastructures — especially where the client is tied to the Microsoft stack or needs a headless CMS with enterprise capabilities. Unlike WordPress, Umbraco provides strongly-typed models and a built-in headless Delivery API. License savings compared to proprietary CMS can reach 70%. For instance, Sitecore costs from $100,000 per year, while Umbraco is free (MIT license).

In tests, Umbraco with NuCache delivers TTFB <200 ms, whereas a typical WordPress installation hits 500–800 ms. This is achieved through built-in caching and model generation at compile time.

Comparison of Umbraco with Other CMS: WordPress, Sitecore, Drupal

Umbraco is 2-3 times faster than WordPress on standard hosting and requires no license fees unlike Sitecore.

Architecture and Setup

Typical solution structure:

MyProject/ ├── MyProject.Web/ ├── MyProject.Core/ └── MyProject.Tests/ 

The key configuration file is Program.cs, where all components are wired up:

// Program.cs
WebApplicationBuilder builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.CreateUmbracoBuilder()
    .AddBackOffice()
    .AddWebsite()
    .AddDeliveryApi()
    .AddComposers()
    .Build();

WebApplication app = builder.Build();
await app.BootUmbracoAsync();

app.UseUmbraco()
    .WithMiddleware(u =>
    {
        // ...
    })
    .WithEndpoints(u =>
    {
        // ...
    });

await app.RunAsync();

For adding services, we use Composers. Example service registration and handlers:

public class SiteComposer : IComposer
{
    public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
    {
        builder.Services.AddScoped<IArticleService, ArticleService>();
        builder.Services.AddScoped<ISitemapService, SitemapService>();
        builder.AddNotificationHandler<ContentPublishedNotification, SearchIndexHandler>();
    }
}

Strongly-typed Models and Headless API

Umbraco generates models via ModelsBuilder. Usage in a controller:

public class ArticleController : RenderController
{
    [HttpGet]
    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        if (CurrentPage is not ContentModels.Article article)
            return NotFound();

        var viewModel = new ArticleViewModel
        {
            Title = article.Title,
            Body = article.Body,
        };

        return CurrentTemplate(viewModel);
    }
}

For headless, we use the Delivery API, enabled in appsettings.json:

{ "Umbraco": {
  "CMS": {
    "DeliveryApi": {
      "Enabled": true,
      "PublicAccess": true,
      "ApiKey": "your-api-key"
    }
  }
} }

API calls: GET /umbraco/delivery/api/v2/content?contentType=article.

How to Set Up Headless Delivery API? Step-by-Step

1. Enable Delivery API in appsettings.json.
2. Set an API key if authorization is required.
3. In the admin panel, mark content types available through the API.
4. Configure CORS for external clients.
5. (Optional) Enable caching at the CDN level.

Development Process for an Umbraco Site

Timelines and Scope

Cost is calculated individually based on the scope and complexity of integrations. Contact us for a consultation to get an accurate estimate.

What is Included in the Result

• Fully configured Umbraco on your hosting or in the cloud.
• Source code (Git repository) with an architecture ready for scaling.
• Documentation on content types and API.
• Editor training (up to 4 hours).
• 3-month warranty on identified bugs.
• Recommendations for caching and performance optimization.

Our experience: over 5 years of Umbraco development, 15+ projects delivered, average client rating 4.9/5. We use only licensed software and follow best practices. Contact us for a consultation — we'll help you find the optimal solution.

Official Umbraco documentation: Umbraco CMS Documentation