Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Headless CMS

Strapi vs Contentful

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 6 checks side by side
Higher score Strapi #1 in Headless CMS 9.4/10 Free plan · 30-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 3 of 4 features Visit Strapi
Contentful #10 in Headless CMS 8.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Contentful

Strapi leads on 1 check, Contentful on 0, and 5 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 6 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreStrapi · 9.4/10
  • Lowest starting priceStrapi · $45/mo
  • Free planboth
  • Free trialonly Strapi
  • Most featuresContentful · 4 of 4

Strapi scores higher on our rubric for headless cms: 9.4 against 8.4 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #10.

Strapi is cheaper to start at $45/mo against $300/mo.

Strapi is the better fit for open-source teams needing deployment flexibility. Contentful is the better fit for mature teams needing a broad enterprise CMS.

  • Strapi fits best

    Open-source teams needing deployment flexibility

  • Contentful fits best

    Mature teams needing a broad enterprise CMS

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Strapi 9.4/10 Visit ↗ Contentful 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.4 8.4
Ranking #1 in Headless CMS #10 in Headless CMS
Best for Open-source teams needing deployment flexibility Mature teams needing a broad enterprise CMS
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $45/mo (best) $300/mo
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial 30 days —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud
Platforms Web Web
Support Community, Docs Tickets, Docs, Community · 24/7
Compliance SOC 2, GDPR SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, SSO/SAML
Integrations 198+ integrations 100+ integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Strapi 3/4 · Contentful 4/4
Content localization ✓ ✓
Webhooks ✓ ✓
Content preview ✓ ✓
Asset transformations Not checked yet ✓ (best)
Specs
API types Both Both
Role permissions Custom Custom
Our review
Pros
  • Self-hosted or managed cloud deployment
  • REST and GraphQL APIs with localization
  • Granular permissions, previews, and workflows
  • REST and GraphQL APIs support structured, omnichannel delivery.
  • Custom roles, permissions, and fine-grained policies support governance.
  • Localization, previews, webhooks, image transformations, and apps cover core workflows.
Cons
  • Advanced governance features require Enterprise
  • Cloud hosting and CMS plans are priced separately
  • API and storage limits vary by hosting tier
  • The Lite plan costs $300 per month, raising the paid-entry cost.
  • Enterprise pricing and some advanced capabilities vary by plan and contract.
  • Its broad feature set is better suited to mature teams than narrow projects.
Our verdict

Strapi is an open-source headless CMS and content framework for developers, content teams, agencies, and enterprises. It provides visual content modeling with components and dynamic zones, an administrative interface, automatically…

Read the review →

Contentful is a cloud-native, API-first headless CMS for teams creating, managing, localizing, and distributing structured content across websites, mobile apps, and other digital channels. It supports REST and GraphQL APIs, content…

Read the review →
  1. StrapiHeadless CMS 9.4Free plan · 30-day trial
  2. ContentfulHeadless CMS 8.4Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Strapi — where it wins

    • Self-hosted or managed cloud deployment
    • REST and GraphQL APIs with localization
    • Granular permissions, previews, and workflows

    Where it doesn't

    • Advanced governance features require Enterprise
    • Cloud hosting and CMS plans are priced separately
    • API and storage limits vary by hosting tier

  • Contentful — where it wins

    • REST and GraphQL APIs support structured, omnichannel delivery.
    • Custom roles, permissions, and fine-grained policies support governance.
    • Localization, previews, webhooks, image transformations, and apps cover core workflows.

    Where it doesn't

    • The Lite plan costs $300 per month, raising the paid-entry cost.
    • Enterprise pricing and some advanced capabilities vary by plan and contract.
    • Its broad feature set is better suited to mature teams than narrow projects.

More comparisons

All headless CMS comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update