We are the Contentful to Dato CMS migration experts

Challenges with Contentful

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.

Key pain points

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.

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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 Dato CMS

DatoCMS has a low learning curve, clean UI, and a drag-and-drop schema builder that lets teams shape content without a single existential crisis. Editors love it. Developers tolerate it. Everyone gets to ship faster.

The APIs are solid, the media pipeline is excellent, and the multilingual tooling is actually usable. But lto be honest, it’s expensive, and the drag-and-drop approach means it’s not exactly winning awards for flexibility. Still, if you want something that feels polished out of the box and integrates nicely with Next.js, Shopify, and friends, DatoCMS delivers a pretty smooth experience.

Key advantages

User-friendly interface

DatoCMS has a clean, approachable UI that editors can pick up instantly. Little training needed, and teams can publish content without tripping over the system.