diff --git a/src/Headless/Avalonia.Headless/AvaloniaHeadlessPlatform.cs b/src/Headless/Avalonia.Headless/AvaloniaHeadlessPlatform.cs
index 8e44942d32..838301a6b5 100644
--- a/src/Headless/Avalonia.Headless/AvaloniaHeadlessPlatform.cs
+++ b/src/Headless/Avalonia.Headless/AvaloniaHeadlessPlatform.cs
@@ -1,64 +1,22 @@
 using System;
-using System.Diagnostics;
-using Avalonia.Controls.Platform;
-using Avalonia.Reactive;
 using Avalonia.Input;
 using Avalonia.Input.Platform;
 using Avalonia.Platform;
 using Avalonia.Rendering;
 using Avalonia.Rendering.Composition;
-using Avalonia.Threading;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using Avalonia.Threading;
 
 namespace Avalonia.Headless
 {
     public static class AvaloniaHeadlessPlatform
     {
         internal static Compositor? Compositor { get; private set; }
-        private static RenderTimer? s_renderTimer;
-
-        private class RenderTimer : DefaultRenderTimer
-        {
-            private readonly int _framesPerSecond;
-            private Action? _forceTick; 
-            protected override IDisposable StartCore(Action<TimeSpan> tick)
-            {
-                var st = Stopwatch.StartNew();
-                _forceTick = () => tick(st.Elapsed);
-
-                var timer = new DispatcherTimer(DispatcherPriority.UiThreadRender)
-                {
-                    Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1.0 / _framesPerSecond),
-                    Tag = "HeadlessRenderTimer"
-                };
-                timer.Tick += (s, e) => tick(st.Elapsed);
-                timer.Start();
-
-                return Disposable.Create(() =>
-                {
-                    _forceTick = null;
-                    timer.Stop();
-                });
-            }
+        private static IRenderTimer? s_renderTimer;
 
-            public RenderTimer(int framesPerSecond) : base(framesPerSecond)
-            {
-                _framesPerSecond = framesPerSecond;
-            }
-
-            public override bool RunsInBackground => false;
-
-            public void ForceTick() => _forceTick?.Invoke();
-        }
-
-        private class HeadlessWindowingPlatform : IWindowingPlatform
+        private class HeadlessWindowingPlatform(PixelFormat frameBufferFormat) : IWindowingPlatform
         {
-            readonly PixelFormat _frameBufferFormat;
-            public HeadlessWindowingPlatform(PixelFormat frameBufferFormat)
-            {
-                _frameBufferFormat = frameBufferFormat;
-            }
-            public IWindowImpl CreateWindow() => new HeadlessWindowImpl(false, _frameBufferFormat);
+            public IWindowImpl CreateWindow() => new HeadlessWindowImpl(false, frameBufferFormat);
             public ITopLevelImpl CreateEmbeddableTopLevel() => CreateEmbeddableWindow();
 
             public IWindowImpl CreateEmbeddableWindow() => throw new PlatformNotSupportedException();
@@ -73,12 +31,16 @@ namespace Avalonia.Headless
                 }
             }
         }
-        
+
         internal static void Initialize(AvaloniaHeadlessPlatformOptions opts)
         {
             var clipboardImpl = new HeadlessClipboardImplStub();
             var clipboard = new Clipboard(clipboardImpl);
 
+            s_renderTimer = opts.ShouldRenderOnUIThread
+                ? new HeadlessRenderTimer(opts.Fps)
+                : new SleepLoopRenderTimer(opts.Fps);
+
             AvaloniaLocator.CurrentMutable
                 .Bind<IClipboardImpl>().ToConstant(clipboardImpl)
                 .Bind<IClipboard>().ToConstant(clipboard)
@@ -86,7 +48,7 @@ namespace Avalonia.Headless
                 .Bind<IPlatformSettings>().ToSingleton<DefaultPlatformSettings>()
                 .Bind<IPlatformIconLoader>().ToSingleton<HeadlessIconLoaderStub>()
                 .Bind<IKeyboardDevice>().ToConstant(new KeyboardDevice())
-                .Bind<IRenderLoop>().ToConstant(Rendering.RenderLoop.FromTimer(s_renderTimer = new RenderTimer(60)))
+                .Bind<IRenderLoop>().ToConstant(Rendering.RenderLoop.FromTimer(s_renderTimer))
                 .Bind<IWindowingPlatform>().ToConstant(new HeadlessWindowingPlatform(opts.FrameBufferFormat))
                 .Bind<PlatformHotkeyConfiguration>().ToSingleton<PlatformHotkeyConfiguration>()
                 .Bind<KeyGestureFormatInfo>().ToConstant(new KeyGestureFormatInfo(new Dictionary<Key, string>() { }));
@@ -100,15 +62,58 @@ namespace Avalonia.Headless
         /// <param name="count">Count of frames to be ticked on the timer.</param>
         public static void ForceRenderTimerTick(int count = 1)
         {
-            for (var c = 0; c < count; c++)
-                s_renderTimer?.ForceTick();
+            if (s_renderTimer is HeadlessRenderTimer timer)
+            {
+                for (var c = 0; c < count; c++)
+                {
+                    timer.ForceTick();
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                if (Compositor is not { } compositor)
+                {
+                    throw new InvalidOperationException("Compositor is not initialized.");
+                }
 
+                var frame = new DispatcherFrame();
+                var task = compositor.RequestCommitAsync();
+                task.ContinueWith(static (_, s) => ((DispatcherFrame)s!).Continue = false, frame);
+                Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.PushFrame(frame);
+                task.GetAwaiter().GetResult();
+            }
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Options for configuring the Avalonia headless platform.
+    /// </summary>
     public class AvaloniaHeadlessPlatformOptions
     {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets or sets the number of frames per second at which the renderer should run.
+        /// Default 60.
+        /// </summary>
+        public int Fps { get; set; } = 60;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Render directly on the UI thread instead of using a dedicated render thread.
+        /// This can be usable if your device doesn't have multiple cores to begin with.
+        /// This setting is false by default.
+        /// </summary>
+        public bool ShouldRenderOnUIThread { get; set; } = true;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether to use headless drawing mode, which allows rendering without creating an actual window.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <remarks>
+        /// Disable this option if you are using Avalonia.Skia or another drawing backend.
+        /// </remarks>
         public bool UseHeadlessDrawing { get; set; } = true;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets or sets the pixel format to be used for the headless Window framebuffers.
+        /// </summary>
         public PixelFormat FrameBufferFormat { get; set; } = PixelFormat.Rgba8888;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Headless/Avalonia.Headless/HeadlessRenderTimer.cs b/src/Headless/Avalonia.Headless/HeadlessRenderTimer.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6cbbd3d425
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Headless/Avalonia.Headless/HeadlessRenderTimer.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+using System;
+using System.Diagnostics;
+using Avalonia.Reactive;
+using Avalonia.Rendering;
+using Avalonia.Threading;
+
+namespace Avalonia.Headless;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A render timer implementation for headless environments that uses a DispatcherTimer to schedule ticks on the UI thread.
+/// Can be controlled with <see cref="ForceTick"/> method. 
+/// </summary>
+internal class HeadlessRenderTimer(int framesPerSecond) : DefaultRenderTimer(framesPerSecond)
+{
+    private readonly int _framesPerSecond = framesPerSecond;
+    private Action? _forceTick; 
+    protected override IDisposable StartCore(Action<TimeSpan> tick)
+    {
+        var st = Stopwatch.StartNew();
+        _forceTick = () => tick(st.Elapsed);
+
+        var timer = new DispatcherTimer(DispatcherPriority.UiThreadRender)
+        {
+            Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1.0 / _framesPerSecond),
+            Tag = "HeadlessRenderTimer"
+        };
+        timer.Tick += (s, e) => tick(st.Elapsed);
+        timer.Start();
+
+        return Disposable.Create(() =>
+        {
+            _forceTick = null;
+            timer.Stop();
+        });
+    }
+
+    public override bool RunsInBackground => false;
+
+    public void ForceTick() => _forceTick?.Invoke();
+}