Acquia today announced a technology alliance with Vercel that pairs Drupal's governed content backend with modern JavaScript frontends
Boston, MA, September 28, 2026 - Acquia today announced a technology alliance with Vercel that pairs Drupal's governed content backend with modern JavaScript frontends. Through the open source Drupal Canvas project, joint customers can build and deploy headless Drupal experiences on Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, or TanStack Start, hosted on Vercel.
Drupal Canvas is an open source project built by the Drupal community, and it is what connects Drupal's structured content to a headless frontend. Acquia makes Drupal Canvas available through Acquia Source, its agentic content platform, in two ways: Acquia Source CMS, delivered as a service (SaaS), and Acquia Cloud Platform, a platform-as-a-service (PaaS). The integration is available starting today on Acquia Source CMS and Acquia Cloud Platform.
Enterprises that want both governed content management and a modern frontend framework have typically had to choose one over the other. A traditional Drupal implementation gives content teams visual editing, structured content, and enterprise governance, but leaves front-end developers working against a backend-driven stack. A headless, developer-first CMS enables engineering teams to own the frontend, but content teams give up governance and structure they depend on. The alliance removes that trade-off, so a single Drupal instance can serve as the system of record for both a traditional coupled site and a headless frontend, without duplicating the content model.
"Agencies running Drupal and JavaScript practices should not have to choose between governance and developer experience," said Ryan Studer, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Acquia. "This partnership brings options to agencies to use Drupal Canvas, on infrastructure they already trust, without asking developers to abandon the frameworks they build in every day."
In the new architecture, Acquia Cloud Platform hosts and manages the Drupal backend, and Vercel hosts the headless frontend. Developers scaffold a working frontend with a single command, npx @drupal-canvas/create, connect it to Canvas for live preview, and deploy it to Vercel. Because Drupal Canvas ships as an open source project, there is no separate license fee for the integration. It requires an active Acquia Source CMS or Cloud Platform instance with Canvas enabled and a Node.js environment.
This alliance reflects a strong existing ecosystem of delivery partners already building across both platforms. JAKALA, a longtime Acquia partner known for its Drupal depth, is such a partner.
"Our clients kept asking for Drupal's governance with the frameworks their developers already use. JAKALA pushed to bring Drupal back into the headless conversation and helped bring the Acquia and Vercel teams together to make that possible. Now Drupal is a first-class option for headless delivery, and we can offer clients best-of-breed solutions on both sides of the stack," said Ray Saltini, Senior Director, CX Solutions and Partnerships at JAKALA.
Acquia is the agentic content platform that marketers love and IT trusts. Marketers, developers, and AI agents build sites, manage assets, and optimize content together on a platform that takes security and compliance as seriously as IT does. Built on the open flexibility of Drupal, Acquia Source unites content, digital asset management, and optimization in a single digital command center. Governments, universities, and Fortune 500 brands choose Acquia to scale AI without adding risk.
Founded in 2007 by Drupal creator Dries Buytaert, Acquia remains the project's leading corporate contributor. Drupal powers about a quarter of the Fortune 100, and its open foundation lets organizations consolidate sprawling multi-site portfolios, avoid single-vendor lock-in, and adopt new AI capabilities as they emerge. Acquia is headquartered in Boston.
For more information, visit acquia.com.
Vercel is an agentic infrastructure for every app and agent. We’re the platform where humans and agents build software together.
JAKALA is a global data, AI, and experiences company that helps enterprises turn technology choices into measurable growth. Headquartered in Milan with offices in 20 countries, JAKALA combines strategy, technology, creativity, and operations, and operates as a benefit company. A 19-year Acquia partner, eight-time Acquia Engage Site of the Year winner, and Vercel Gold Solutions Partner since 2021, JAKALA builds composable digital experiences that serve both marketers and developers. Learn more at jakala.com.
