Case Study
View Case StudyTray.ai
Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
From WordPress to Contentful
We are the WordPress to Contentful migration experts
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Challenges with WordPress
Key pain points
Talking trash about WordPress is therapy at this point. We've had to build it for years, and it's consistently awful. I guarantee that if you have used it for long enough, you've experienced a site-breaking PHP error or been locked out of your admin panel due to a faulty plugin. We know the world of horrors, and we regret adding to that 40% of the web. Yes, it really makes up 40% of the web.
Potential security vulnerabilities
When you power half the internet, the hackers notice. WordPress stays safe, but only if someone is constantly updating, patching, and watching it like a hawk, which, trust us, you don't want to.
Heavy reliance on plugins
If you want any new feature, install a new plugin. Before you know it, your site is held together by 27 plugins and a prayer that none of those plugins are removed from the market.
Compatibility issues
Themes, plugins, and core updates sometimes play nicely together, leading to surprise breakages and debugging sessions you didn’t plan for.
Maintenance takes time
WordPress doesn’t run itself. You have to run backups, security patches, plugin conflicts, and random errors. Someone has to tuck it in at night.
Performance needs tuning
WordPress sites need caching, CDN, and database optimization to stay fast, especially if you plan to scale.
Customization has limits
You think you can do a lot with themes and plugins, but when it comes to custom experiences, it means custom dev work (or going headless entirely).
Benefits of Contentful
Key advantages
Contentful is one of the most established headless CMS choices, and we still see plenty of customers land on it after a shortlist.
It's built around structured content, so you model fields once and pull them into any front end you like. That means no copy-pasted components scattered across pages. It also has first-party support for A/B testing and personalization through its Studio add-on, which most competitors don't match natively. The app ecosystem covers SEO, translation, validation, and asset management, and editors get live side-by-side preview for content they're working on.
If your team has the budget and the developer resources to model content properly, it's a solid pick.
API-first design
Contentful was built for APIs from day one, which means your content plugs cleanly into apps, websites, and mobile.
Developer-friendly flexibility
Schemas, content models, and references can be tuned however you like. If your stack is anything beyond “cookie-cutter,” Contentful won’t get in your way.
User-friendly interface
Editors enjoy using it. Clean UI, quick search, structured fields, and no “where does this go again?” confusion.
Extensive integration capabilities
Plug in analytics, eCommerce, automation, and translation. Contentful plays nicely with almost anything. And if something isn’t supported yet, you can wire it up yourself without hacking the platform apart.
Scales under traffic
Contentful's global CDN holds up under heavy load. We've run it on sites pushing millions of monthly requests without needing bespoke infrastructure to handle spikes.
Cloud-based architecture
You don't have to install, patch, or maintain anything. It’s fast, globally distributed, and always up to date. Your content team can ship from anywhere without a DevOps babysitter.
Common questions
WordPress to Contentful migration FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about WordPress to Contentful migration
What are the best WordPress alternatives?
It depends on what you're building. For marketing sites, Webflow or Framer will get you further with less pain. For content-heavy projects that need a headless CMS, Sanity is our go-to recommendation. It gives developers full control over the frontend while editors get a clean, modern interface. If you're a developer looking for alternatives specifically, Next.js paired with Sanity or even a static site generator will outperform WordPress on speed, security, and developer experience.
How much does WordPress cost per month?
WordPress.org itself is free, but hosting, themes, premium plugins, and maintenance add up quickly. A basic setup on SiteGround runs about $3-15/month for hosting. Add a premium theme ($50-200 one-time), a few paid plugins ($100-500/year), and a security solution. Realistically, you're looking at $30-100/month for a properly maintained small business site. WordPress.com's managed plans run $4/month (Personal) to $45/month (Commerce) on annual billing, and plugin installs only unlock on the Business plan and above at $25/month. WordPress.com Enterprise starts at $25,000/year.
How do I migrate from WordPress to a headless CMS?
We start by exporting your WordPress content using WP's REST API or a database export, then restructure it for the target CMS. Posts, pages, categories, tags, media, and custom fields all get mapped to the new schema. The frontend gets rebuilt in a modern framework like Next.js. The whole process usually takes 3-6 weeks depending on how many custom post types and plugins you have. We've done this migration enough times to have solid tooling for it.
What are the best WordPress alternatives for developers?
If you're a developer tired of PHP and plugin conflicts, look at headless CMS options paired with a frontend framework. Sanity with Next.js is our top pick. You get TypeScript, version control for your content schema, and a frontend you actually enjoy working with. Strapi is another option if you want self-hosted and open-source. For simple sites, Astro with markdown content is surprisingly powerful and deploys anywhere.
Is it worth migrating away from WordPress?
For most teams we work with, yes. The maintenance burden alone costs more than people realize. Between plugin updates, security patches, performance tuning, and the occasional site-breaking PHP error, WordPress demands constant attention. Modern alternatives give you better performance, stronger security by default, and a developer experience that doesn't feel like 2010. The migration itself is an investment, but the reduced ongoing costs and improved site speed usually pay for it within 6-12 months.
How much does Contentful cost?
Contentful has a Free tier with 10 users, 100K API calls per month, 25 content types, and 10,000 records. The Lite plan is $300/month for 20 users, 1M API calls, and 100GB CDN bandwidth. Premium is custom pricing with unlimited API calls and a 99.99% uptime SLA. We've seen teams hit the free tier's API ceiling or content type cap fast, and the jump to Lite is often forced by a single limit rather than a feature need.
What are some alternatives to Contentful?
Sanity is the alternative we recommend most. It gives you real-time collaboration, a customizable studio, and pay-as-you-go pricing that doesn't punish you for scaling. Storyblok is worth considering if your editors want a visual builder. We've migrated teams off Contentful to both, and Sanity consistently gets the best feedback from developers and content editors alike.
How does Contentful compare to Sanity on pricing?
Contentful charges $300/month for its Lite plan with hard caps on API calls, seats, and content types. Sanity's pricing is usage-based, starting free and scaling with actual consumption. For most mid-size projects, Sanity ends up significantly cheaper. The real difference is that Sanity doesn't gate core features behind premium tiers the way Contentful does with roles, SSO, and content modelling limits.
Can I migrate from Contentful to Sanity?
Yes. We've migrated dozens of Contentful projects to Sanity. The structured content model in Contentful maps well to Sanity's schema, so most migrations are straightforward. Content, assets, references, and localized fields all transfer. Our typical migration takes 2-4 weeks depending on the number of content types and the complexity of your references. We handle frontend rewiring too if you're on Next.js or a similar framework.
Is Contentful good for large enterprise websites?
It can be, but the costs get steep. Enterprise plans are custom-priced and often land in the $50,000-$100,000+ per year range. If you have deep pockets and your team already knows the platform, it works. If you're evaluating from scratch, we'd push you toward Sanity for enterprise use. You get equivalent API performance, better real-time editing, and a pricing model that doesn't penalize growth.
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