“We were using Contentful, but we're using DatoCMS more and more... is just a better fit for agency/marketing work.”
DatoCMS vs. Contentful:
How we're different
DatoCMS is the headless option designed for SMEs, agencies, and lean teams in larger companies, seeking a cost-effective alternative to Contentful.
Contentful is focused on larger organizations that need extensive professional services, and are not limited by budget when considering a switch to headless.
What our customers say
At a glance comparison
DatoCMS
Contentful
Who Is It For
DatoCMS...
Designed to help SMBs and agencies and provide the tools and flexibility that small and medium-sized projects need to succeed.
...vs Contentful
Designed to support enterprise companies with complex needs, including extensive professional services.
Pricing
DatoCMS...
Flexible pricing that respects your budget, without the pressure to upgrade to an Enterprise-level plan too soon.
...vs Contentful
Small and medium-sized applications are quickly pushed into costly Enterprise tiers with steep price jumps - expect to engage in frequent sales negotiations.
Developer Experience
DatoCMS...
Tap into DatoCMS's full potential with native GraphQL APIs that can handle even the most complex queries and return only the essential data for your front-end
...vs Contentful
The API range is somewhat restrictive, often resulting in unoptimized responses that are harder to manage on the front-end.
DatoCMS...
The Images API comes out-of-the-box with automatically optimized outputs and 150+ powerful transformation options.
...vs Contentful
Simple Images API with 10 basic transformation options and no automatic optimization.
DatoCMS...
Native video streaming that's easy on the wallet, with adaptive outputs for any device.
...vs Contentful
You'll have to build video streaming from scratch, or wrangle by integrating a 3rd-party provider.
Content Modeling
DatoCMS...
With a flexible content modeling, you can establish models and reuse content with ease, resulting in clean content collections and easier editorial work.
...vs Contentful
Limited content organization options lead to simpler, less hierarchical collections and increase the likelihood of errors during the editing process.
DatoCMS...
Handle localization with ease thanks to native capabilities like per-field localization settings, locale-based publishing, and translator roles.
...vs Contentful
Localization is far from perfect due to an awkward interface that complicates the process, especially when there's multiple locales.
Governance
DatoCMS...
One central hub and app to handle every aspect of your content.
...vs Contentful
Juggle multiple specialized applications like Launch, Compose, and the default UI to manage different content areas.
DatoCMS...
A rich permissions system, designed to fit the majority of projects, with the added flexibility of custom roles on all paid plans.
...vs Contentful
High-grade permission and workflow management that cover any scenario; however, the ability to create custom roles is reserved to custom enterprise plans.
Extensibility
DatoCMS...
While the range of technical partnerships and third-party integrations may be select, anyone can develop and share custom plugins in the marketplace.
...vs Contentful
Wide array of technical partnerships and integrations, along with a framework for creating custom apps. However, only Contentful can publish apps on the marketplace.
Support
DatoCMS...
Small but tight team of friendly experts to help every customer get the most out of the product.
...vs Contentful
A clear divide in service levels, as higher-paying customers receive enhanced support and SLAs, whereas smaller clients end up being neglected.
Ready to migrate from Contentful to DatoCMS?
We've got your back - the Contentful importer does all the heavy lifting, so you can transition your Contentful space to a fresh DatoCMS project in minutes.
Three reasons to consider DatoCMS
- Lightning-fast performance
With a global CDN and optimized media delivery, your projects get an impressive boost in speed, plus improved SEO rankings and user engagement. It’s what your projects need to match the swift pace of today’s web.
- Delightful developer experience
We’ve designed DatoCMS as a flexible platform to build precisely what you need. Our native GraphQL API and visual content modeling give you the freedom to build a content infrastructure that adapts to any scenario.
- A perfect blend of easy and powerful
Our editing interface feels like a friendly wave from Wordpress, but with more power under the hood. Get creative with features like Blocks and Modular Content for a no-fuss, no-code page building experience that still packs a serious punch.