CMS comparison Contentful vs Contentstack

Contentful vs Contentstack

Contentful is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Contentstack is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 6.

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Contentful Headless · Closed source · 14 of 28 built in
Contentstack Headless · Closed source · 17 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentful on 29 Sept 2026, Contentstack on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.

WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.

Feature comparison

Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available

Contentful vs Contentstack feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentful Headless	Contentstack Headless
Overview
What it is	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentful. Contentful stores content in its cloud and delivers it over REST and GraphQL APIs.	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentstack, sold alongside its AI agent and customer data products. It delivers content over REST and GraphQL APIs.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	Contentstack Content Cloud headless CMS, Free, Growth and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated
Vendor	Salesforce (acquired Contentful in September 2026) contentful.com	Contentstack contentstack.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud Runs only in Contentful's cloud. The local MCP server and SDKs are open source.	No self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, SDKs for JavaScript and other languages	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, CLI and SDKs
Database	Managed by Contentful	Managed by Contentstack
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Free plan. Lite $300 per month. Extra Lite Space $850 per month. Enterprise on request.	Free to start Free plan. Growth $299 per month, extra users $25 per user per month. Enterprise on request.
Content modelling
Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited.	Limited Migration scripts run by the Contentful CLI change the model. No declarative schema files. 3	Limited Migration scripts run by the Contentstack CLI. No declarative schema files. 2
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in 1	Built in 1
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Reorderable reference fields to typed entries. Studio page building is Enterprise. 1	Built in Modular Blocks fields, plus the Visual Editor for page layout. 12
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in 2 locales on Free, 3 on Lite, custom on Enterprise. 1	Built in Entry-level localization in over 200 languages. 15
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Images API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 4	Built in Image Delivery API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 3
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in 1	Built in 5
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in 5	Built in 4
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in 1	Built in
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Not available	Not available
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 1	Built in
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Paid tier Scheduled publishing on Lite and Enterprise. 1	Built in 6
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in 1	Built in
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 6	Built in 12
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Live preview inspector mode opens the field next to the page. Needs the live preview SDK. 6	Built in Visual Editor on every plan. 1 12
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Paid tier Not on the Starter Space. Up to 5 on a Lite Space at $850 a month, custom on Enterprise. 1	Paid tier Custom workflows on Growth and Enterprise. 1 7
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Plugin or add-on Launch is available on Lite and Enterprise plan families, but requires Contentful admin support to purchase and install. 7 8	Built in Releases deploy grouped entries and assets to an environment. 6
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Paid tier Live collaboration on Lite and Enterprise, with per-field presence avatars. 1 13	Limited Field-level locks and presence. Rolling out in phases with Drafts and Auto Save. 8
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Paid tier Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. Free has 2 fixed roles, Lite 3. 1 9	Paid tier 2 custom roles on Growth, 500 on Enterprise. None on Free. 1
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Paid tier Field and locale rules in custom roles. Premium plans only, sold as Enterprise. 10	Paid tier Field rules inside custom roles, from Growth. 1 9
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier SAML 2.0 SSO on Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. 11	Limited SAML 2.0 documented; baseline availability unconfirmed. Eligible tiers are not public. Confirm access in the contract. 10
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Paid tier Audit logs on selected Enterprise plans, by sales agreement. 12	Limited Stack and organization logs documented; baseline availability unconfirmed. Confirm access and retention in the contract. 11
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Paid tier One Starter Space on Free and Lite, plus one paid Lite Space. Multiple spaces on Enterprise. 1	Built in Separate stacks in one organization. Scaling stacks is a Growth and Enterprise option. 1
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in App Framework for custom field, sidebar, entry and page apps. 14	Built in Developer Hub apps in field, sidebar and dashboard UI locations. 13
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Contentful Marketplace. 15	Built in Contentstack Marketplace. 13
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Not available
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Not available
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Plugin or add-on Official AI Content Generator app with your own OpenAI key. AI Actions need Enterprise. 1 15	Plugin or add-on Official AI Assistant app with Contentstack-managed or your own model keys. 1 13
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in Hosted beta server at mcp.contentful.com and an open-source local server. 16	Built in Official server run locally with npx @contentstack/mcp. 14

Contentful sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans.

Contentstack sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Contentstack Content Cloud headless CMS, Free, Growth and Enterprise plans.

Considering more platforms? Compare Contentful and Contentstack with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.

Where they differ

Contentful and Contentstack get a different status on 6 of the 28 features and the same status on 22. Contentful has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Contentstack has 17. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Built in on Contentstack, a different answer on Contentful 3

Scheduled publishing Contentful: Paid tier. Contentstack: Built in.
Content releases Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Contentstack: Built in.
Multiple sites Contentful: Paid tier. Contentstack: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 3

Real-time co-editing Contentful: Paid tier. Contentstack: Limited.
Single sign-on Contentful: Paid tier. Contentstack: Limited.
Audit log Contentful: Paid tier. Contentstack: Limited.

More comparisons

Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Contentful vs Payload.

Contentful against other platforms

Contentstack against other platforms

Open the CMS comparison tool to put up to six platforms in one table.

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