Contentful Technology Intelligence

What is Contentful?

Contentful is a headless content management system (CMS) that stores and delivers content via API. Founded in 2013 in Berlin, Contentful pioneered the API-first approach to content management.

Unlike WordPress or Drupal, Contentful separates content from presentation. Content teams manage structured data through Contentful's web app; developers fetch content via REST or GraphQL APIs to render on any platform.

Platform Features

Content Modeling

• Content Types: Define custom schemas
• Fields: Text, rich text, media, references
• Validation: Required, patterns, ranges
• Localization: Multi-language content

Editing Experience

• Web App: Intuitive content editor
• Rich Text: WYSIWYG with embedded assets
• Preview: See changes before publish
• Scheduling: Timed publishing

Developer Tools

• REST API: Content Delivery API
• GraphQL: Query content efficiently
• SDKs: JavaScript, iOS, Android, more
• Webhooks: Event-driven integrations

Omnichannel Content

Marketing Websites

Marketing teams manage landing pages, blogs, and campaigns. Developers build with React, Next.js, or Gatsby while marketers update content independently.

Mobile Apps

Apps fetch content via API instead of hardcoding. Update app text, images, and configurations without App Store releases.

E-commerce

Product descriptions, category pages, and promotional content live in Contentful. Shopify or custom storefronts pull enriched content at runtime.

Digital Signage

Retail displays fetch content from Contentful. Central content management pushes updates to screens across thousands of locations.

API Examples

JavaScript SDK

import { createClient } from 'contentful';

const client = createClient({
    space: 'SPACE_ID',
    accessToken: 'ACCESS_TOKEN'
});

// Fetch entries
const entries = await client.getEntries({
    content_type: 'blogPost',
    order: '-fields.publishDate',
    limit: 10
});

entries.items.forEach(post => {
    console.log(post.fields.title);
});

GraphQL Query

query {
  blogPostCollection(limit: 10, order: publishDate_DESC) {
    items {
      title
      slug
      publishDate
      featuredImage {
        url
        width
        height
      }
      body {
        json
      }
    }
  }
}

Ecosystem & Comparison

Contentful Compose

Visual page builder for assembling pages from components. Marketers build landing pages without developer involvement.

Integrations

• Vercel: Auto-deploy on publish
• Netlify: Build hook triggers
• Algolia: Search indexing
• Commercetools: Commerce integration

vs Sanity

• Editor: Contentful simpler, Sanity customizable
• Pricing: Contentful per-user, Sanity per-usage
• Real-time: Sanity collaborative editing

vs Strapi

• Hosting: Contentful SaaS, Strapi self-hosted
• Cost: Strapi free open-source
• Scale: Contentful enterprise-ready CDN