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A CMS export is complete only if it contains everything you need for its purpose—and that depends on the platform and export method. Before treating an export as a backup or migration package, inventory the data and system details you need, check the tool’s documented exclusions, and test the result by importing it into a safe destination.
What does “everything” mean for your CMS?
Start by defining the outcome: disaster recovery, an audit copy, or a move to another CMS may require different material. Build an inventory rather than assuming that an export includes the whole system. Depending on your platform and goal, check for:
- Published and draft content, locales, custom content types and fields, taxonomies, references, and metadata
- Assets and their binary files—not just links or references to them
- Revision or version history
- Users, ownership, roles, and permissions
- Workflows, scheduled items, integrations, webhooks, and site configuration
This is a planning checklist, not a promise that every CMS stores or exports each category in the same way.
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Which export method should you use?
Use the export route documented for your exact CMS, product, plan, API, and tool version. Compare mechanisms by what they include, how they handle assets and drafts, their authentication and technical limits, and whether the output can be imported into the destination unchanged.
#1 Best Overall
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| Platform and method | Documented output and coverage | Important distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Sanity dataset CLI | A gzipped tarball with data.ndjson, an asset URL map, and asset binary directories. Documents and asset binaries are exported by default. |
Flags include --no-assets, --raw, --no-drafts, and --types. Review the options before relying on the archive. Sanity CLI export documentation. |
| Sanity Export API | Streams accessible, non-deleted dataset documents as NDJSON, including drafts and asset documents. | It does not download asset binaries; the output represents document state at request time. Sanity Export API reference. |
| Contentful CLI export/import | Documents a JSON export structure that includes content types, entries, assets, locales, webhooks, roles, and editor interfaces. | The documented workflow also has exclusions and constraints, including draft handling, history, workflows, memberships, credentials, and locale requirements. Contentful CLI documentation. |
Contentful also documents exports through APIs and a CLI, with coverage and technical limits varying by resource and mechanism. Consult its data export guidance rather than treating any one route as a universal full-system backup. Its Content Management API can return localized and unpublished content, but Contentful cautions against using it to deliver large amounts of content; that behavior alone does not make it a backup recommendation. Content Management API overview.
How do you verify that assets made it out?
A content record that points to an asset does not prove that the asset’s binary file is in the export. Inspect the archive, confirm expected files are present, and note any failed downloads.
Rank #2
- Easily store and access 1TB to content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive.Specific uses: Personal
- Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop. Reformatting may be required for Mac
- To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
- This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
- The available storage capacity may vary.
- In Sanity, the dataset CLI downloads asset binaries by default, but
--no-assetsomits them. The Export API streams asset documents without downloading the binary files. The CLI may report and skip an asset when a download returns HTTP 401, 403, or 404. Sanity CLI export documentation Sanity Export API reference. - Contentful’s CLI documentation says assets migrate with content and describes special handling for embargoed assets: enable asset download during export and asset upload during import. Contentful CLI documentation.
What can a CMS export leave behind?
Exports are not necessarily full system clones. For the documented Contentful CLI workflow, drafts are not included by default; version history, scheduled releases, tasks, and workflows are not migrated; webhook credentials are omitted; memberships are unsupported; and apps and UI extensions are not exported. The destination’s default locale must match the source locale for that workflow. Imported entries are recreated under the importing token’s owner, so author history changes. These are Contentful-specific caveats; check the current documentation for the CMS and export route you use. Contentful CLI documentation.
Write down exclusions and decide how to handle each one: preserve it through another supported method, recreate it manually, or accept that it is outside the export’s scope. Do not assume that a content export includes users, permissions, credentials, integrations, or workflow state.
Rank #3
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- SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps)
How should you protect and test an export?
- Keep an untouched source copy. Before changing schemas or content, make a dataset export or copy. Sanity recommends this precaution for migrations. Sanity migration guidance.
- Review migration changes before applying them. Sanity’s migration command defaults to dry-run mode;
--no-dry-rundisables it. Inspect proposed changes before running a migration against production. Sanity migration guidance. - Check the export against your inventory. Compare expected and exported record counts where possible, inspect representative records, and verify locales, references, metadata, and asset files.
- Test the import away from production. Import into a safe destination, then check whether records and references resolve, media is present, locale behavior is correct, and rendered pages work as expected before cutover.
Sanity notes that dataset exports are billed against API quota, so include that consideration in your export plan. Sanity CLI export documentation.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What changes when you move to a different CMS?
A valid export file is not necessarily ready to import unchanged into another product. The source and destination may represent content types, fields, references, or blocks differently, so a move can require transformation and schema mapping.
Rank #4
- Plug-and-play expandability
- SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps)
Sanity’s WordPress migration material, for example, covers importing posts, pages, categories, tags, and assets; converting HTML and WordPress blocks; and restructuring content to fit the destination schema. Contentful distinguishes migrations that apply content-model changes from a direct export/import. Plan for mapping and transformation rather than assuming the two CMSs share a compatible format. Sanity WordPress migration course Contentful CLI documentation.
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