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Contentful vs Strapi

Contentful is a paid headless CMS with a free plan [S1]. Strapi is a headless CMS with its code on GitHub, and its Community Edition is offered under the MIT Expat license [S2]. We checked every figure on this page against the vendors' own pages on 17 Oct 2026. Prices are list prices as of that date.

Contentful vs Strapi at a glance

Contentful and Strapi compared, from the vendors' own pages and the GitHub API
ContentfulStrapi
LicenseNot documented on the pages we read"MIT Expat" for the Community Edition, with conditions [S2]; recorded on Forkshelf as MIT [S3]
Free optionFree plan, US$0, with 100K API calls a month [S1]Community Edition code under MIT Expat [S2]
Paid planLite, US$300 a month [S1]Not documented on the pages we read
GitHub starsNot applicable in our reading73,443 on 8 Nov 2026 [S4]
Last code pushNot applicable in our reading8 Nov 2026 [S4]
Server memoryNot applicable in our reading2GB minimum, 4GB+ recommended [S5]

What is Strapi?

Strapi's code is on GitHub at strapi/strapi. Its LICENSE file offers the software under the "MIT Expat" license on two conditions [S2]. Those terms apply only if you don't use the code under the "ee/" directory and have no registered account on Strapi's cloud offering [S2]. Forkshelf records it as MIT [S3]. The repo had 73,443 stars on 8 Nov 2026 [S4]. It is not archived, and the last push was on 8 Nov 2026 [S4].

Contentful vs Strapi pricing

Contentful's Free plan costs US$0 and is "For learning and exploring the Contentful Platform." [S1]. It includes 100K API calls a month and 50 GB a month of CDN bandwidth [S1]. Contentful says the Free plan uses "hard caps so your usage stays within the included limits." [S1]. The Lite plan costs US$300 a month [S1].

Strapi's Community Edition code costs nothing to download under MIT Expat [S2]. A Strapi paid plan is not documented on the pages we read. In our reading, a self-hosted Strapi costs you the server and the time to run it.

Self-hosting Strapi

Strapi's deployment guide sets a minimum of 1 CPU core, 2GB of memory and 8GB of disk [S5]. For production it recommends at least 2 cores, 4GB and 32GB [S5]. On Node.js, "Only Active LTS or Maintenance LTS versions are supported" [S5].

License and code

In our reading, the license is the main difference for a team that needs control of its CMS. Strapi's MIT Expat terms depend on the two conditions in its LICENSE file [S2]. A source license for Contentful is not documented on the pages we read. Read the Strapi LICENSE before you use code from the "ee/" directory.

Contentful is the better fit when

  • You want a hosted free plan with fixed limits. The Free plan uses hard caps [S1].
  • You can work within 100K API calls a month on the free plan [S1].

Strapi is the better fit when

  • You want the Community Edition code under MIT Expat [S2].
  • You want a project with recent activity. The repo had a push on 8 Nov 2026 [S4].

Run Strapi on Railway

Railway lists a template by Milo for Strapi (railway.com/deploy/strapi) [S6]. Its source repo is railwayapp-templates/strapi [S6]. Railway shows it as unverified [S6]. Railway verifies a template only when the maker of the technology "becomes a partner and reviews the template" [S9].
It was created on 10 Jan 2023 and had 7,698 projects on 17 Oct 2026 [S6]. It runs Postgres from the image ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:17 [S6]. Read the template page and its source before you deploy.

Strapi lists 2GB as its minimum memory [S5]. Railway's Free plan allows up to 0.5 GB RAM per service [S7]. In our reading, a Strapi deploy on Railway needs a paid plan.

Affiliate disclosure: Forkshelf earns a commission if you sign up for Railway through the links marked "Paid link" on this page. This does not change the order or content of any comparison here.

To get started, create a Railway account (Paid link). The Free plan allows up to 1 vCPU and 0.5 GB RAM per service [S7]. The Hobby plan has a US$5 minimum usage per month, with US$5 of monthly usage credits included [S7][S10]. It allows up to 48 GB RAM per service [S7].

Railway is one option. Pricing on Railway is as of 17 Oct 2026.

Other Contentful alternatives

Forkshelf also lists Payload and Ghost, both under MIT and both with a code push on 17 Oct 2026 [S8]. See the Contentful alternatives page for the full list.

FAQ

Is Strapi open source?
Its Community Edition is offered under the MIT Expat license, on the conditions in its LICENSE file [S2]. Forkshelf records it as MIT [S3].

Is Contentful free?
The Free plan costs US$0, with 100K API calls a month and hard caps [S1].

How much does Contentful Lite cost?
US$300 a month, as of 17 Oct 2026 [S1].

How much memory does Strapi need?
2GB minimum, with 4GB or more recommended [S5].

Self-host guides

Sources (all fetched 17 Oct 2026)