From Contentful to Craft CMS

We are the Contentful to Craft CMS migration experts

Challenges with Contentful

Key pain points

With all good things, there’s a “depends on how you use it and who is using it” clause. Contentful usage-based pricing can quietly snowball, especially for smaller teams or projects running on lean budgets. Its API-first approach might make developers grin, but the non-technical users might find themselves staring at setup screens, wondering, “Wait… where’s the editor?”

More often than not, the main reason Contentful sucks is that the developer has built it incorrectly, as it has a whole host of opinionation that isn't widely known. E.g.

You need to be extremely careful with the number of documents you build, as you could very easily push yourself into enterprise from an early stage.

We'd always recommend speaking to us first, before completely writing it off.

Potentially high costs

Contentful isn’t a cheap CMS. As your traffic, models, or team grows, pricing can climb faster than expected.

Complex for non-technical users

Marketers and editors may need a small learning curve before they feel at home. It’s powerful but not always plug-and-play.

Integration dependency

A lot of magic happens through third-party tools. Great for flexibility, but it does mean extra setup instead of getting everything out-of-the-box.

Limited native features

Contentful keeps the core CMS clean and minimal, but that also means more building and configuring to get advanced functionality.

Learning curve for new teams

If your team is moving from a traditional CMS, expect some onboarding time. Structured content is amazing but new for many.

Requires careful management

Because it’s so flexible, projects need good governance. Without it, content models can get messy and harder to maintain over time.

Benefits of Craft CMS

Key advantages

Craft CMS is one of those platforms we genuinely respect from a developer standpoint. The content modelling is best-in-class for a traditional CMS. You define sections, entry types, and fields with real precision, and the authoring experience maps cleanly to the underlying data structure. If your content team needs a CMS that actually reflects how the site is built, Craft delivers that better than most. The Twig templating layer is clean and predictable, and the admin UI is fast and intuitive once editors get past the initial learning curve.

Where Craft really shines is in the middle ground between simple marketing sites and full-blown enterprise builds. It's flexible enough to handle complex content architectures without the bloat of something like WordPress, and the built-in GraphQL API means you can use it headless if you want to pair it with a modern frontend. The plugin ecosystem is smaller but noticeably higher quality than what you'd find in WordPress, and the Composer-based workflow means your whole project can live in version control properly.

We've seen agencies build genuinely impressive work on Craft, especially for content-heavy sites where editorial workflows matter. If your team includes developers and you want a CMS that rewards careful architecture, Craft is a solid choice. It's not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus shows.

That said, we'd typically recommend a headless CMS like Sanity for most of the projects we take on. Craft is at its best when you're comfortable with PHP and want a tightly integrated traditional or hybrid setup. If you're building on Next.js or a modern JavaScript stack, you'll find more natural fits elsewhere.

Exceptional content modelling

Craft's field and section system gives you precise control over your content structure. You can model complex relationships between content types without fighting the CMS.

Clean authoring experience

The admin panel is fast, well-organized, and maps directly to how content is structured. Editors can work efficiently once they understand the layout.

Built-in GraphQL API

Craft ships with a native GraphQL API, so you can use it headless without plugins or workarounds. It's deeply integrated and well-documented.

Composer-based modern workflow

Everything is managed through Composer, so your project, plugins, and dependencies all live in version control. Deployments through CI/CD pipelines work smoothly.

Higher quality plugin ecosystem

The plugin store is smaller than WordPress but the quality bar is noticeably higher. Plugins are better maintained and less likely to break your site on update.

Granular user permissions

Built-in role and permission management is detailed and flexible. You can lock down exactly what each editor can see and do without needing third-party plugins.