Contentful: The Pioneer Among Headless CMSs

Many companies already use a headless CMS without their website getting the full benefit. The content sits in the cloud, neatly structured, but the front end is showing its age, or there is no app that uses the same content. One system comes up particularly often in these situations: Contentful.

In this post, I explain what Contentful is, why it is considered the pioneer among SaaS headless CMSs, what it costs and when it is the right choice. And I show you how I can help if your company already uses Contentful.

In short: Contentful is a fully managed headless CMS. There is no server of your own and no installation you have to keep up to date. Content reaches your website, your app or any other channel through APIs.

What is Contentful?

Contentful is considered the pioneer among SaaS headless CMSs. “Headless” means that the system manages content only: text, images, product data, blog posts or case studies. How and where that content appears is decided by a separate front end. That can be a website, an app, a customer portal or all of them at once.

“SaaS” stands for software as a service. Contentful runs entirely in the vendor's cloud. You don't install anything, you don't run a server, and you don't install updates. Editors work in the browser, and developers access the content through APIs.

Why a headless CMS from the cloud?

The problem with self-hosted CMSs

Many SME websites run on a CMS such as WordPress, TYPO3 or Drupal, installed on their own server or with a hosting provider. Running it involves the CMS itself, extensions, the PHP version, the web server and the database. Each of these layers needs regular updates, and each can become a vulnerability if an update is left undone.

In practice, that is exactly what often happens. The website runs, but nobody feels clearly responsible. I explain why this is an underestimated risk in my post “Who Actually Takes Care of Your Website's Security?”.

What is different with Contentful

With Contentful, the vendor operates the entire infrastructure. Scaling, backups and security patches run in the background, without you or your team having to do anything. According to its security page, Contentful has been ISO/IEC 27001 certified since 2019 and has SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 reports. That is enterprise-grade security an SME could hardly build on its own.

By default, data is stored in the US. For companies with stricter requirements on data location, Contentful offers EU data residency: content is then stored in an AWS data center in Ireland, with backups in Frankfurt. This option is available as an add-on to Premium plans.

What makes Contentful stand out

API-first: content for every channel

Contentful is built for APIs from the ground up. There are separate APIs for delivering published content, for previewing drafts and for managing content, plus a GraphQL API. A website, an app and a newsletter tool can access the same content without anything being maintained twice.

A content model that fits your data

In Contentful, you define content types with their own fields, such as “product”, “location” or “job posting”. This keeps content structured and makes it easy to query precisely. With environments, you can test changes to the content model in a copy before they go live.

Localization and roles

Every field can be maintained per language, and roles let you define who can edit and publish what. For companies with several languages and larger editorial teams, that is an important point.

Structured content for SEO, AEO and GEO

Because the content is cleanly structured, it can be prepared specifically for search engines and AI search, for example as structured data or FAQ sections. That supports SEO, AEO and GEO: visibility in Google and in AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

Pricing: what does Contentful cost?

Contentful offers a free plan. According to Contentful, it includes 10 users, 2 roles, 2 locales, 100,000 API calls and 50 GB of bandwidth per month, and one space with 25 content types and 10,000 records, among other things. When you reach the limits, there are no automatic overage charges, just hard caps.

According to Contentful's pricing page, the Lite plan costs USD 300 per month. Larger plans are quoted individually. Contentful is therefore clearly aimed at companies that run more than a simple website.

Which plan you need depends on the number of people, languages, entries and requests. I estimate this with you before the project starts, so there are no surprises later.

When Contentful makes sense

• Your content appears in several channels, such as your website, an app and a customer portal.
• Several teams or locations maintain content in several languages.
• You need clear roles, approvals and enterprise-grade security.
• Your company already uses Contentful, and the content is well structured.

For a classic SME website with a few pages, case studies and a blog, on the other hand, Contentful is often more system than you need. In those cases, a lean solution with a built-in CMS is quicker to build, cheaper to run and easier to maintain.

Contentful, Hygraph or Sanity?

Contentful shaped the category, but it is not the only SaaS headless CMS. For new projects, I usually work with Hygraph or Sanity. All three run entirely in the cloud and take operations and security off your hands. The differences:

• Contentful is a good fit for larger organizations with many channels, languages and teams, or when Contentful is already in use.
• Hygraph is a good fit when GraphQL is at the center and data comes together from several sources.
• Sanity is a good fit when the editing interface should be tailored to your team.

For many SMEs, Hygraph and Sanity are more accessible to get started with, both in setup and in cost.

Already using Contentful? Here is how I can help

If your company already uses Contentful, you don't have to switch CMSs to get a new website or an app. I am happy to take on these projects and build on your existing content:

• New website or new front end: I develop the front end with Webstudio or Next.js, for example, and connect the content directly through Contentful's APIs.
• An app using the same content: I build web apps with React and Next.js, and mobile apps with Flutter. You can find out more on my Apps page.
• Content model review: If needed, I review your existing content model and suggest improvements before the new front end is built.

On request, design and copy are created together with Katja and Tina in das kreativkollektiv.

For new projects: my standard setup

If you are planning a new website without an existing CMS, I usually recommend my standard setup. For most SME websites, that is Webflow, a professional development tool with a built-in CMS and very simple content editing. For projects with a lot of content, or complex content, I combine Webstudio with Hygraph or Sanity. We decide together which solution fits your requirements.

Conclusion

Contentful showed how a CMS can work without a server of your own: fully managed, maintenance-free, connected through APIs and with enterprise-grade security. For larger organizations with many channels, it is a strong choice. For new SME websites, I usually rely on Webflow, or on Webstudio with Hygraph or Sanity. And if Contentful is already running at your company, I build the right website or app for it.

Do you use Contentful and need a new website or an app? Or are you planning a new project and unsure which system fits? Get in touch. Websites for SMEs start at CHF 3,000, and I quote larger projects individually, with an itemized quote that lists every item separately.