Contentful – Content Management for Apps

Manually uploading the same information into multiple content management systems takes time that most busy publishers simply don’t have available. Contentful is a web-based application that streamlines the content management workflow for publishers with both web and mobile applications.

Contentful enables you to publish your content on any platform, with no app store approval required. Because Contentful is completely cloud-based, you won’t have to install any software or complete a complicated setup process to begin. Just load your content into Contentful’s platform, and publish it across all your connected digital properties at once. With Contentful, you can upload images, video, audio, and text files, and you can “localize” your content to better reach global audiences. Contentful’s RESTful JSON API will sync your content with SSL. You can filter content using advanced queries, as well.

What makes Contentful especially useful to publishers is its structured content model. Content is kept flexible, regardless of the presentation layer, and users can create “custom experiences” for their mobile visitors without having to customize any pre-set templates.

Practical Uses:

• Publish your content across multiple digital platforms
• Update your mobile app and website at the same time
• Import content like images and audio files from your own server
• Change the content on your iOS and Android apps simultaneously

Insider Tips:

• Integrate Contentful to other services using webhooks
• Export uploaded content for secure offline backup
• “Locales” are different languages that content can be made available in
• Agencies can white label Contentful’s UI before distributing it to users

What we liked:

• Contentful’s platform is both efficient and scalable
• Contentful functions in a “presentation-independent” format
• Users can have “organizations” without switching to paid plans
• Contentful is frequently adding ways to publish to new platforms and devices

What we didn’t like:

• Nothing

Alternatives:

• Cloud CMS – https://www.cloudcms.com

Company Info:

• Launched: June 2013 (Beta)
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
• Founded by: Sascha Konietzke and Paolo Negri
• Web site: https://www.contentful.com

Costs:

• Starter plan is free
• Plus plan is $99 per month
• Pro plan is $199 per month
• Enterprise plan comes with a custom annual price