Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Contentful VS GitBook

Compare Contentful VS GitBook and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Contentful logo Contentful

You don't need another CMS. You need a better way to manage content — unified, structured, and ready to deploy to any digital channel.

GitBook logo GitBook

Modern Publishing, Simply taking your books from ideas to finished, polished books.
  • Contentful Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-07
  • GitBook Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-27

Contentful

$ Details
-
Release Date
2013 January
Startup details
Country
Germany
State
Berlin
City
Berlin
Founder(s)
Paolo Negri
Employees
250 - 499

Contentful features and specs

  • Scalability
    Contentful is designed to handle high traffic and large volumes of content, making it a suitable choice for enterprise-level applications.
  • Flexibility
    Contentful provides a headless CMS solution that allows you to deliver content across multiple platforms including websites, mobile apps, and IoT devices.
  • API-first approach
    Contentful's robust API enables developers to easily fetch, manage, and deliver content programmatically.
  • Customizable content models
    Users can define their own content types and relationships, offering great flexibility in how content is structured and managed.
  • Multi-language support
    Contentful natively supports multiple languages, which is beneficial for global businesses needing localized content.
  • Extensive integrations
    Contentful can be easily integrated with various third-party services, enhancing its functionality and adaptability.
  • User-friendly interface
    The platform offers an intuitive admin interface that makes it easy for non-technical users to manage content.
  • Strong community and support
    Contentful has a large community of developers and provides extensive documentation and support resources.

Possible disadvantages of Contentful

  • Cost
    Contentful can be expensive, especially for small businesses or startups, as its pricing scales with the amount of content and API calls.
  • Complexity
    The initial setup and customization can be complex, requiring a good understanding of both the platform and RESTful APIs.
  • Dependence on developers
    While the platform is user-friendly, leveraging its full potential often requires significant developer input, particularly for custom integrations and advanced features.
  • Limited built-in features
    Contentful focuses on being a pure headless CMS, which means it lacks some built-in features like website themes or e-commerce functionalities that are present in other CMS platforms.
  • Performance issues
    Some users have reported performance issues when managing a very large number of content entries or making a high volume of API requests.
  • Learning curve
    There is a learning curve, particularly for users new to headless CMS architecture and API-centric content management.

GitBook features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    GitBook offers a clean and intuitive user interface, making it easy for users to write, edit, and organize documentation without a steep learning curve.
  • Collaborative Tools
    GitBook provides robust collaboration features such as real-time editing, comments, and version control, allowing teams to work together efficiently.
  • Integration with Git
    GitBook integrates seamlessly with Git repositories, enabling users to sync their documentation with their codebase and manage it using Git workflows.
  • Customizable Templates
    The platform offers customizable themes and templates, enabling users to maintain a consistent look and feel for their documentation that aligns with their brand.
  • Web and Markdown Support
    GitBook allows the use of Markdown syntax and supports web-based editing, making it versatile for different types of content creators.
  • Hosting and Deployment
    GitBook hosts the documentation on their servers, providing a reliable and fast server infrastructure to publish and share content instantly.
  • Search and Navigation
    It includes powerful search and navigation features, helping readers to find information quickly and improving the overall accessibility of the documentation.

Possible disadvantages of GitBook

  • Pricing
    While GitBook offers a free tier, advanced features and larger projects may require a subscription, which might be expensive for smaller teams or individual developers.
  • Limited Customization
    Compared to some other documentation tools, GitBook may offer limited customization options beyond pre-defined themes, which might not meet the needs of some users for highly customized documentation.
  • Dependency on Platform
    Users are dependent on GitBook's platform and its availability, meaning any downtime or service issues on GitBook's end can affect access to and editing of documentation.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite being user-friendly, some users might still face a learning curve, especially those who are not familiar with version control or Markdown.
  • Export Options
    Exporting documentation in different formats like PDF, EPUB, or HTML may be limited or require additional steps, which can be inconvenient for users who need these features.
  • Feature Set
    Some users may find that GitBook lacks certain advanced features or integrations that other specialized documentation tools offer, potentially limiting its utility for highly technical documentation needs.

Contentful videos

Bits & Bytes Ep. 1 - What is Contentful?

More videos:

  • Review - A Quick look at contentful | #CodingPhase
  • Review - Gatsby And Contentful - The Headless CMS Approach - Episode 1

GitBook videos

Alex Vieira on Unbiased GitBook Review Perfect for Everyone

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Contentful and GitBook)
CMS
100 100%
0% 0
Documentation
0 0%
100% 100
Blogging
100 100%
0% 0
Documentation As A Service & Tools

User comments

Share your experience with using Contentful and GitBook. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Contentful and GitBook

Contentful Reviews

  1. Eleanor Bennett
    · Digital Marketing Specialist at Logit.io ·
    Very generous free plan

    The free plan of Contentful is generous enough to allow us to run a successful technology blog without having to pay for any overheads to run it. We used them as an alternative to the previously used Ghost. We have experienced a lot of growth since this migration.

    🏁 Competitors: Ghost

21 Headless CMS Platforms That You Should Check Out
Contentful integrates with many tools and helps you create your content quickly. It is mostly used for e-commerce websites.
Source: popupsmart.com
Best Headless CMS in 2022
Contentful is an API-driven headless CMS that focuses on content and the backend. It is considered one of the best systems for small to medium enterprises. You can edit content anywhere by any smart device and integrate it with other services such as Dropbox.
Source: flatlogic.com
Best Headless CMS for 2020
Yes, hosted providers, such as Contentful would be easier to use but it literally comes with a price...
Source: dev.to
11 Headless CMS to Consider for Modern Application
It uses RESTful API development kits for all popular languages. Contentful is welcoming newcomers, so anyone can quickly create data entries.
Source: geekflare.com
34 Headless CMS That Should Be On Your Radar
Founded in 2013, Germany-based Contentful offers an API-driven headless CMS. Contentful’s RESTful API gives developers full programmatic control of content, digital assets, and translations. The platform also takes advantage of caching techniques as well as external CDN integrations to enable the delivery of API payloads in the sub-100ms range.
Source: www.cmswire.com

GitBook Reviews

Best Gitbook Alternatives You Need to Try in 2023
GitBook can be a good option for internal knowledge bases, as it offers features such as collaboration, version control, and easy customization. However, the suitability of GitBook for your specific use case depends on your organization's size, needs, and preferences.
Source: www.archbee.com
Introduction to Doxygen Alternatives In 2021
It is a standard paperwork system where all products, APIs, and internal understanding bases can be tape-recorded by teams. It’s a platform for users to believe and track concepts. Gitbook is a tool in an innovation stack in the Documentation as a Service & Tools area.
Source: www.webku.net
12 Most Useful Knowledge Management Tools for Your Business
Their doc editor is simple and powerful, allowing you to use Markdown, and code snippets, as well as embed content. Since GitBook doesn’t have a built-in code editor, you’ll have to use the integration with GitHub for coding.
Source: www.archbee.com
Doxygen Alternatives
It is a standard documentation system where all products, APIs, and internal knowledge bases can be recorded by teams. It’s a platform for users to think and track ideas. Gitbook is a tool in a technology stack in the Documentation as a Service & Tools section.
Source: www.educba.com
Doxygen Alternatives
It provides users with a platform on which they can think and keep track of ideas. Gitbook is a piece of software that may be found in the Documentation as a Service and Tools portion of a technology stack.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Contentful should be more popular than GitBook. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Contentful mentions (10)

  • How to connect nextjs app to contenful cms - 2025
    First, you need to register on the Contentful website and create an account. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • My blog post workflow
    Next, I’ll copy and paste the draft text to my CMS. I’ve been using Contentful since working there in 2021. I use Rich Text rather than Markdown for my posts and what’s great about this is that copying and pasting from Notion preserves hyperlinks and formatting. If I’m including anything else like code samples, images and other embedded media, I add those as separate linked entries manually whilst working through... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • How to Style Markdown in Next.JS Using React-Markdown and SASS
    If you have a blog or website with articles or long text documents, markdown is your friend. It makes authoring documents so much easier and more intuitive than straight HTML. Markdown has a far smaller learning curve than HTML and can easily be taught to non-tech-savvy writers. Markdown editors are also built-in to headless CMSs like Contentful. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Looking to Create a Wordpress Style Website with Python / Flask
    It depends on the requirements, but this might actually call for a headless CMS like Forestry.io or Contentful coupled with a Static Site Generator like Hugo. The CMS will manage users/permissions/data hierarchy and provide a simple frontend for users to add content, lay out pages, etc. And then when they save a change, the SSG will re-run and render everything to static HTML/CSS/JS. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • How to Create a Blog Using Next.js and Contentful CMS
    Contentful is a headless content management system (CMS). Headless simply means there is no front-end to display the content to the consumer. It's basically a database, but much easier to setup and maintain than a traditional relational database. Contentful provides a very easy-to-use API for fetching and managing content. They also support GraphQL queries if you're into that. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
View more

GitBook mentions (5)

  • Why GitBook switched from LaunchDarkly to Bucket
    TL,DR: LaunchDarkly is great for B2C companies. Bucket is for B2B SaaS products, like GitBook — a modern, AI-integrated documentation platform. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Bucket vs LaunchDarkly — an alternative for B2B engineers
    Addison Schultz, Developer Relations Lead at GitBook, puts it simply:. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Show HN: We built a FOSS documentation CMS with a pretty GUI
    Good question that led to insightful responses. I would like to bring GitBook (https://gitbook.com) too to the comparison notes (no affiliation). They, too, focus on the collaborative, 'similar-to-git-workflow', and versioned approach towards documentation. Happy to see variety in the 'docs' tools area, and really appreciate it being FOSS. Looking forward to trying out Kalmia on some project soon. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • GitLanding: A beautiful landing page for your Github project in a matter of minutes.
    You can have both a landing page (e.g.: www.your-project.dev) and a documentation website (e.g.: docs.your-project.dev). For creating documentation website GitBook is better fit than Gitlanding. GitBook is free for open source Projects (you just need to issue a request). - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
  • How to Use GitBook for Technical Documentation
    GitBook is a collaborative documentation tool that allows anyone to document anything—such as products and APIs—and share knowledge through a user-friendly online platform. According to GitBook, “GitBook is a flexible platform for all kinds of content and collaboration.” It provides a single unified workspace for different users to create, manage and share content without using multiple tools. For example:. - Source: dev.to / about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Contentful and GitBook, you can also consider the following products

WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Docusaurus - Easy to maintain open source documentation websites

Strapi - Manage any content. Anywhere. The leading open-source headless CMS. 100% JavaScript / TypeScript and fully customizable.

Doxygen - Generate documentation from source code

Drupal - Drupal - the leading open-source CMS for ambitious digital experiences that reach your audience across multiple channels. Because we all have different needs, Drupal allows you to create a unique space in a world of cookie-cutter solutions.

MkDocs - Project documentation with Markdown.