CMS comparison Contentful vs Sitecore

Contentful vs Sitecore

Contentful is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Sitecore is a closed-source enterprise DXP that runs on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 12.

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Contentful Headless · Closed source · 14 of 28 built in
Sitecore Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 22 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentful on 29 Sept 2026, Sitecore 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 Sitecore feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentful Headless	Sitecore Enterprise DXP
Overview
What it is	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentful. Contentful stores content in its cloud and delivers it over REST and GraphQL APIs.	Sitecore's SaaS digital experience platform, formerly XM Cloud. Sitecore hosts the CMS. Sites render in a separate front-end app.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	SitecoreAI, formerly XM Cloud, Sitecore's current flagship SaaS platform SaaS, continuously updated
Vendor	Salesforce (acquired Contentful in September 2026) contentful.com	Sitecore sitecore.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 SitecoreAI is SaaS only. Self-hosting needs Sitecore XP 10.5, a separate product.
Built with	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, SDKs for JavaScript and other languages	.NET, Next.js Content SDK
Database	Managed by Contentful	Managed by Sitecore
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.	No free option Pricing 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	Built in Templates serialize to files in the repo with Sitecore Content Serialization. 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 Templates are items edited in the Content Editor.
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 Page builder with reusable components.
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 Language versions per item.
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 Experience Edge media CDN resizes images with query string parameters. 3
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in 1	Built in Content Items REST API since September 2026. Delivery through Experience Edge is GraphQL. 4
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in 5	Built in Experience Edge delivery API. 5
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in 1	Built in Authoring webhooks and Experience Edge publish webhooks. 6 5
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 Headless. Sites render in a separate app, with built-in Vercel and Netlify integrations. 7
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 Saved changes stay unpublished until pushed to Experience Edge. 11
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	Limited Publishing restrictions set availability dates. A publish must still run on the date. 8 9
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in 1	Built in Numbered item versions.
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 6	Built in
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 Page builder.
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	Built in Item workflows with states and commands. 6
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	Not available No release bundles. Publishing jobs cover items, subitems and related items. 11
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 Page builder saves concurrent edits per field. Others get a reload prompt. No live updates. 10
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	Built in Roles with item access rights. 12
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	Built in Field read and field write access rights. 12
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	Built in SAML or OIDC through the Sitecore Cloud Portal. 13
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 Common Audit Log covers only the Cloud Portal and leaves out SitecoreAI content. Item actions show in CM logs. 14 15
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 Site collections with shared content.
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 Marketplace apps add custom fields, panels and dashboard widgets. 17
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Contentful Marketplace. 15	Built in Sitecore Marketplace. 16
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Built in Built-in Forms with webhook submission handling. 18
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Not available Developers have to build visitor login in the front-end app.
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	Built in Content, variant and translation assistants. Brand kits need Stream Premium. 19
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 Sitecore Marketer MCP server. 20

Contentful sources

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

Sitecore sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. SitecoreAI, formerly XM Cloud, Sitecore's current flagship SaaS platform.

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

Where they differ

Contentful and Sitecore get a different status on 12 of the 28 features and the same status on 16. Contentful has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Sitecore has 22. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Free option: Contentful has a free option. Sitecore has no free option.

Built in on Sitecore, a different answer on Contentful 8

Content model in code Contentful: Limited. Sitecore: Built in.
Approval workflows Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Built in.
Custom roles Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Built in.
Field-level permissions Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Built in.
Single sign-on Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Built in.
Multiple sites Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Built in.
Form builder Contentful: Not available. Sitecore: Built in.
AI writing assistant Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Sitecore: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 4

Scheduled publishing Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Limited.
Content releases Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Sitecore: Not available.
Real-time co-editing Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Limited.
Audit log Contentful: Paid tier. Sitecore: Limited.

More comparisons

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

Contentful against other platforms

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