From Strapi to Contentful

We are the Strapi to Contentful migration experts

Challenges with Strapi

Key pain points

Strapi has a fan club because it’s self-hosted, which sounds great until you realise that means you are now responsible for every update, every backup, every scaling issue, and every “why is the server down again?” moment.

Wouldn’t it be easier to use a cloud infrastructure that just… scales, instead of babysitting infra at midnight? And having to maintain a Node.js environment for your content editors is completely unnecessary pain, in our opinion.

It also isn’t exactly friendly for non-technical teams. If you don’t have solid developer talent, the learning curve hits hard, and even simple customisations can turn into “let’s build this from scratch” moments. Plugins help, but not always, and you’ll quickly run into gaps that require custom development. Add the lack of traditional CMS features out of the box, and setup time (and costs) spiral fast.

If you're set on Strapi, fine! Just let us look at it first so we can tell you whether it's actually doable or whether you're about to become a full-time system admin by accident.

Steep learning curve

Strapi looks simple at first, then politely reminds you it’s a developer-first tool. Non-technical teams usually hit a wall long before they hit publish.

Node.js knowledge required

If your team, especially your content team, doesn’t speak Node.js, prepare for a few “so… what does this error mean?” moments. Strapi assumes you’re comfortable under the hood.

Limited traditional CMS features

Things that come out-of-the-box in classic CMSs often need custom setup here. If you’re expecting plug-and-play page building, Strapi is not for you.

Custom development needs

If you need anything slightly beyond the basics, it quickly drifts into “can we ask a developer to build this?” territory. Great for flexibility, not so great for speed.

Plugin limitations

The plugin ecosystem is growing, but not everything works flawlessly, and some gaps still require hand-rolled solutions, which means more dev time than you planned.

Cost-efficiency concerns

Sure, Strapi is free… until you factor in hosting, DevOps, scaling, and ongoing maintenance. “Open-source” doesn’t always mean “cheap.”

Benefits of Contentful

Key advantages

With over 42.9% market share and more than 14,000 companies using it, Contentful is one of the most popular headless CMS choices among our customers. And why not?

It's built for structured freedom, which lets you create once and reuse forever from its huge repository. Meaning, no more copy-paste déjà vu or hunting through a maze of components. It's also one of the only CMS with first-party support for A/B testing and personalization. The plugin ecosystem is vast, and it keeps developers happy and content teams nimble with SEO, internationalisation, validation, and more.

And for the editors who like to see it as they build it, the live side-by-side preview makes every change visible in real time.

API-first design

Contentful was built for APIs from day one, which means your content plugs cleanly into apps, websites, and mobile.

Developer-friendly flexibility

Schemas, content models, and references can be tuned however you like. If your stack is anything beyond “cookie-cutter,” Contentful won’t get in your way.

User-friendly interface

Editors enjoy using it. Clean UI, quick search, structured fields, and no “where does this go again?” confusion.

Extensive integration capabilities

Plug in analytics, eCommerce, automation, and translation. Contentful plays nicely with almost anything. And if something isn’t supported yet, you can wire it up yourself without hacking the platform apart.

High scalability

From a tiny blog to a fire-hose of global traffic, Contentful easily scales. You can completely avoid surprise outages, or “please hold while the CMS catches up.”

Cloud-based architecture

You don't have to install, patch, or maintain anything. It’s fast, globally distributed, and always up to date. Your content team can ship from anywhere without a DevOps babysitter.