Teams look past Contentful when the jump from the small paid tier to a quoted Enterprise contract is steep, when a headless setup needs more developer time than the team has, or when the new Salesforce ownership changes the vendor picture. Most go to Sanity or Strapi for developer-led headless, or to Umbraco and Drupal for a fuller CMS.
Visibility in our rankings can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within
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What each alternative does differently
1. Sanity
Customizable, open-source headless CMS studio with real-time editing · Norway
The closest headless peer. A free plan with 20 seats, then Growth at $15 per seat per month with usage overages billed separately, where Contentful prices by plan and space. Content lives in a hosted store. It expects developers to configure the editing studio in code.
Switch from Contentful if you want developer-defined editing and seat-based pricing instead of a plan-and-space ladder.
Pricing: A free plan covers up to 20 seats with document, API and bandwidth quotas; Growth is billed per paid seat on a published table with pay-as-you-go overages, and Enterprise is quoted. (free plan)
Full review: #5 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Sanity →
2. Strapi
Open-source, self-hostable headless CMS with a Node.js core · France
Self-hosting is the main difference: the Community edition is open source under the MIT license, with unlimited content types, locales and roles. Paid Growth and Enterprise self-hosted plans exist, and Strapi Cloud starts at $35 a month. You run the database and upgrades yourself.
Switch from Contentful if you want to host the content API on your own infrastructure and avoid per-call fees.
Pricing: The core is free and open source under MIT license to self-host; paid self-hosted Growth and Enterprise plans add features, and Strapi Cloud sells managed hosting per project on a published table. (open source)
Full review: #3 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Strapi →
3. Umbraco
Open-source .NET CMS with a friendly editing experience · Denmark
A .NET CMS, free to self-host, with Umbraco Cloud hosting on Azure from 45 euros a month and unlimited team members on every cloud plan. It mixes page editing with headless delivery. Better for .NET shops than for teams on a JavaScript-only stack.
Switch from Contentful if your developers work in .NET and you want hosted editing without per-user fees.
Pricing: The core CMS is free and open source under MIT license to self-host; Umbraco Cloud adds managed hosting, and paid support and training are available separately. (open source)
Full review: #7 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Umbraco →
4. Drupal
Open-source CMS built for complex, high-governance sites · United States
Free open source software under the GPL, governed by the Drupal Association, with no license fee. It is a full CMS with thousands of modules, so editorial and permission needs are met inside the system. You pay for hosting and developers, and the effort is far higher than a hosted API.
Switch from Contentful if you need deep permission models and want to avoid a license fee, with developers in-house.
Pricing: The core software is free and open source to self-host; Acquia, its main commercial backer, sells managed cloud hosting and enterprise support on quoted contracts, alongside other Drupal hosting providers. (open source)
Full review: #6 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Drupal →
5. WordPress
Open-source CMS powering a large share of the entire web · United States
GPL software that powers over 43% of sites by the project's own count. It is a page-first CMS rather than a content API, and you pay separately for hosting, themes and plugins. Cheap to start and easy to staff, but structured multi-channel content takes more work.
Switch from Contentful if your main output is a marketing website and you want a CMS that is easy to hire for.
Pricing: The core software is free and open source to self-host; hosting, premium themes and plugins are paid separately, and WordPress.com offers a separate managed hosting product with its own free and paid tiers. (open source)
Full review: #4 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit WordPress →
6. Ghost
Open-source publishing platform with built-in newsletters and memberships · Singapore
A publishing platform for newsletters, memberships and paid subscriptions, not a general content hub. Ghost(Pro) is priced by members and staff users, from 18 dollars a month, with no transaction fees. It has no structured content modeling comparable to Contentful's content types.
Switch from Contentful if your content is articles and newsletters and you want memberships built in.
Pricing: The core software is free and open source under MIT license to self-host; Ghost(Pro) managed hosting is priced by number of members and staff users on a published table, from the Starter plan billed yearly, and takes no transaction fee. (open source)
Full review: #8 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Ghost →
7. Webflow
Visual, no-code web design with a full CMS underneath · United States
Visual site building with a CMS beneath it, billed per site. The CMS needs the Premium site plan, at 25 dollars a month billed yearly, while the Basic plan has none. Designers can ship pages without developers, but it is built for websites, not for feeding apps and devices.
Switch from Contentful if designers rather than developers own the website and you want visual building plus a CMS.
Pricing: Site plans are billed per site on a published table: a free Starter on a webflow.io domain, Basic without the CMS and Premium with it; ecommerce plans and Workspace seats are priced separately. (free plan)
Full review: #1 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Webflow →
8. HubSpot CMS (Content Hub)
CMS built into the HubSpot CRM and marketing platform · United States
Content Hub sits inside the HubSpot CRM, with a free plan for two users and paid seats from 7 dollars a month on Starter. It suits marketing teams already in HubSpot. It is a site and blog builder first, so it is a weaker base for multi-channel content delivery.
Switch from Contentful if marketing owns the site and you already run HubSpot CRM and want content tied to contacts.
Pricing: A free plan covers up to two users; paid Starter, Professional and Enterprise tiers on Content Hub are billed per seat or per core seat on a published table, with included HubSpot Credits. (free plan)
Full review: #12 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit HubSpot CMS (Content Hub) →
9. Adobe Experience Manager
Enterprise digital experience platform inside Adobe Experience Cloud · United States
Adobe's enterprise platform, which offers an AEM Headless service with GraphQL delivery of Content Fragments. Its page-based authoring runs beside the headless features. Contracts are quote-only and projects usually need an integrator, so it is a larger commitment than Contentful.
Switch from Contentful if you run a large Adobe estate and want headless and page authoring in one enterprise product.
Pricing: Quote-only annual contracts, typically implemented alongside other Adobe Experience Cloud products through a certified systems integrator. (none)
Full review: #13 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Adobe Experience Manager →
10. Sitecore
Enterprise DXP with a long history in personalization and marketing automation · United Kingdom
Now sold mainly as SitecoreAI, with XM Cloud, Experience Platform and digital asset management in the same family. It targets enterprise marketing teams with personalization needs. Pricing is not published, and implementation normally goes through a partner, which is heavier than a Contentful rollout.
Switch from Contentful if you need a large marketing suite with personalization and have a partner and budget.
Pricing: Quote-only annual contracts, typically bundled with SitecoreAI's CMS, personalization and commerce modules and implemented through a certified partner. (none)
Full review: #14 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Sitecore →
11. Joomla
Open-source, community-governed CMS between WordPress and Drupal · United States
Free GPL software with a model-view-controller framework behind it, aimed at publishing sites and custom applications. Hosting and extensions cost extra. Joomla's own overview does not describe a headless or API-first focus, so check the web services you need before treating it as a Contentful substitute.
Switch from Contentful if you want a free traditional CMS with a long history and are not building multi-channel delivery.
Pricing: The core software is free and open source under GPL to self-host; hosting, extensions and templates are paid separately through a marketplace of third-party developers. (open source)
Full review: #9 of 14 in our ranking ·
Visit Joomla →
Questions and answers
Can I export all my Contentful content?
Yes. The Contentful CLI export command writes the content model, entries, assets, tags, webhooks, roles and editor interfaces to a JSON file. By default it covers published content only, so add the flags for drafts and archived entries, and a flag to download the actual asset files.
What does Contentful cost at the paid tier?
The Lite plan is listed at 300 euros a month, with 20 users, 3 roles, 3 locales and 1 million API calls a month. Overage is $5 per extra million API calls and $0.15 per extra GB of bandwidth. Enterprise pricing is custom.
Who owns Contentful now?
Salesforce. Contentful's site announces it is officially part of Salesforce, and Salesforce says the acquisition, announced June 1, 2026, closed on September 1, 2026. Contentful's privacy notice still names Contentful GmbH in Germany and Contentful Inc. in the United States as group companies.
Is there a free option if I leave?
Yes, in several forms. Sanity has a free plan for up to 20 seats, Strapi's Community edition is free under the MIT license, and Drupal, WordPress and Joomla are free GPL software. You pay for hosting and developer time, which the free plans do not cover.
What breaks when I move to a different CMS?
Front-end queries and the content model. Entries reference each other and rich text is stored in Contentful's format, so each is rewritten for the new system. Webhooks and roles are exported, but recreating them in another tool is manual work.
What are the hard limits on the Free plan?
Contentful lists 10 users, 2 roles, 2 locales, 100,000 API calls and 50 GB of CDN bandwidth a month. The Free plan uses hard caps instead of overage billing. Its Starter Space allows 25 content types, two environments and 10,000 records.
