Contentful CMS Development LondonContentful websitescontent infrastructure at scale.
WebAnts is a London Contentful agency. We build custom Contentful CMS platforms, Next.js headless frontends, multi-locale setups and content migrations — for enterprise brands that need content at scale. No deposit required.
20+
Contentful projects delivered
4–10 wks
Typical project delivery
4.9★
Average client rating
£0
Deposit — milestone payments only
14
Countries served
What is Contentful
Cloud-native content infrastructure for global brands.
Starting from
£4,000
Flat quote · No prepayment · 4–10 wk delivery
Contentful is a cloud-native headless CMS used by HSBC, Spotify, and Volkswagen. WebAnts is a London Contentful agency building custom platforms for enterprise organisations, SaaS and tech businesses, fintech companies, and media and publishing organisations.
Unlike self-hosted CMS platforms, Contentful delivers content globally via Fastly CDN with no server management, automatic scaling, and enterprise compliance certifications (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001). The Next.js frontend fetches content from the Delivery API or GraphQL API, with Live Preview for editors and on-demand ISR revalidation for instant content updates.
We handle WordPress to Contentful migrations, Drupal to Contentful migrations, multi-locale setups, and Contentful Compose for page building. Flat written quote after a free 30-minute discovery call.
Why Contentful
Six reasons enterprise teams choose Contentful.
Cloud-native, Fastly CDN, multi-locale, Live Preview, Compose, and enterprise compliance — in one SaaS platform.
01
Cloud-native — scales to any traffic without server config
Contentful is a fully managed SaaS — your content is delivered via Fastly CDN at global scale without any server configuration, caching setup, or infrastructure management. It scales automatically with your traffic.
02
Multi-locale for global content teams
Contentful's native localization lets you define locales (en-GB, fr-FR, de-DE), configure locale fallback chains, and deliver locale-specific content via API. Your editorial team manages all markets from one space.
03
GraphQL and Delivery API for any frontend
Contentful provides a Content Delivery API (REST), a Preview API for draft content, and a GraphQL API — all from the same space. Your Next.js frontend fetches exactly the content it needs, nothing more.
04
Contentful Compose for complex page building
Contentful Compose adds a page-builder layer on top of Contentful's structured content model — letting editors assemble pages from reusable content components without involving a developer for every layout change.
05
Live Preview for real-time editor feedback
Contentful Live Preview shows editors exactly how their content renders on the published site as they type — before publishing, in real time. Implemented via the Live Preview SDK with Next.js draft mode.
06
Used by HSBC, Spotify, Volkswagen — proven enterprise reliability
Contentful powers content infrastructure for some of the world's largest brands. Its enterprise SLA, compliance certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001), and organisation-level governance features make it the trusted choice for regulated enterprises.
What we build
12 Contentful services.
From a Contentful space setup to a full enterprise platform, a migration, or a maintenance retainer — all built in-house in London.
01
Contentful Space Setup & Content Modelling
Content types, fields, validation rules, and reference relationships designed for your editorial team — not a developer's convenience. Structured for performance and maintainability before a single Next.js component is written.
02
Contentful + Next.js Headless Frontend
Next.js App Router frontend consuming the Contentful Delivery API and Preview API. ISR with on-demand revalidation via Contentful webhooks. TypeScript types auto-generated from your content model. Lighthouse 90+ as standard.
03
Contentful Multi-locale Configuration
Locales defined, fallback chains configured, and locale-aware API responses wired to a Next.js i18n routing strategy. Every market served the right content — without duplicating content types or editorial workflows.
04
Contentful Rich Text & Embedded Entries
Rich text fields with embedded entry and asset rendering in React. Custom block components for pull quotes, CTAs, code blocks, image with caption, and any embedded content type — rendered consistently across all pages.
05
Contentful GraphQL API Integration
GraphQL Content API queries with projections for exactly the fields needed — no over-fetching. Type-safe query results, efficient nested entry resolution, and full integration with the Next.js data layer.
06
Contentful Live Preview Setup
Contentful Live Preview SDK integrated with Next.js draft mode. Editors see exactly how content renders — including embedded entries, media, and layout — in real time as they edit, without publishing.
07
Contentful Compose for Page Builder
Contentful Compose configured so editorial teams can assemble pages from reusable content components — hero sections, feature blocks, testimonials, CTAs — without developer involvement for every layout change.
08
WordPress to Contentful Migration
Export WordPress posts, pages, and custom post type content via the REST API, map to Contentful content types, migrate assets to Contentful media, and import using the Contentful Management API. 301 redirects configured to protect SEO equity.
09
Contentful Content Migration & Import
Structured content migrations from any source — Drupal, Sanity, legacy CMS, or a custom database — using the Contentful Migration CLI and custom transformation scripts. Version-controlled, idempotent, dry-run first.
10
Contentful Webhook & Integration Setup
Contentful webhooks triggering Next.js on-demand ISR revalidation, CRM sync, search index updates, and email automation. Webhook security, retry logic, and dead-letter handling configured correctly from day one.
11
Contentful SEO & Structured Data
Per-content-type metadata fields, canonical URL generation, Open Graph, hreflang for multi-locale, JSON-LD structured data (Article, WebPage, BreadcrumbList), XML sitemap from Contentful entries, and robots.txt configuration.
12
Contentful Maintenance & Retainers
Post-launch retainers covering content type additions, migration scripts, webhook updates, Next.js version upgrades, performance monitoring, and editorial team support. Block-of-hours retainers from £400/month.
How we work
Four phases. No mystery.
Milestone payments — you see progress every week and own every deliverable the moment it lands.
01
Discovery
A free 30-min call to scope your content model, locale requirements, migration complexity, and budget. You leave with a flat written quote and a recommended Contentful space architecture — not an hourly estimate.
02
Content Modelling
Content types, fields, and validation rules designed in a sandbox Contentful space. You review and approve the schema before any Next.js work begins. Multi-locale fallback chains and Rich Text block components confirmed upfront.
03
Build
Weekly staging updates. Contentful space wired to Next.js frontend. Live Preview configured. Multi-locale set up. Webhooks and ISR revalidation tested with real editorial actions. SEO and structured data from the first deploy.
04
Launch & Handover
Launch day, DNS cutover, Search Console submission, 301 redirects verified. Editorial team training session covering Contentful's interface, content types, and Live Preview. Optional maintenance retainer or take the keys.
Transparent pricing
What does Contentful development cost in London?
Every project is scoped individually — but here are real ranges based on scope. All prices are flat fees, not hourly estimates. Written quote after a free 30-min discovery call.
Starter
£4,000 – £8,000
3–5 weeks
Contentful space and Next.js frontend, up to 10 content types.
- ✓Up to 10 content types
- ✓REST Delivery API
- ✓Next.js App Router frontend
- ✓SEO (meta, OG, sitemap)
- ✓Webhook + ISR revalidation
- ✓Editor training session
Best for: Marketing sites, SaaS, small media
Growth
£8,000 – £18,000
5–9 weeks
Full headless platform with multi-locale and Live Preview.
- ✓Unlimited content types
- ✓Multi-locale setup
- ✓Live Preview SDK
- ✓GraphQL API integration
- ✓Content migration (up to 2,000 entries)
- ✓2 weeks post-launch support
Best for: Enterprise brands, media, global orgs
Scale
£18,000 – £35,000
9–15 weeks
Enterprise space with Compose, team governance, and complex migrations.
- ✓Contentful Compose
- ✓Editorial governance setup
- ✓Large content migrations (5k+ entries)
- ✓CRM and DAM integrations
- ✓Custom App Framework extensions
- ✓Dedicated support month
Best for: Large enterprises, multi-brand, regulated
Enterprise
From £35,000
15–24 weeks
Multi-space, multi-brand with governance and CI/CD.
- ✓Multi-space architecture
- ✓Multi-brand governance
- ✓CI/CD pipeline setup
- ✓Compliance documentation
- ✓Organisation-level access control
- ✓Ongoing retainer available
Best for: Global enterprises, regulated industries
Content migrations
Moving to Contentful from another platform?
We migrate WordPress, Drupal, Sanity, and legacy CMS platforms to Contentful — content model design, asset migration, and 301 redirects all handled. You keep your Google rankings and gain enterprise-grade content infrastructure.
WordPress → Contentful
The most common Contentful migration we handle. We export WordPress content via the REST API, map posts and CPTs to Contentful content types, migrate all assets to Contentful media, and configure 301 redirects in Next.js to protect your Google rankings throughout the move.
Drupal → Contentful
Drupal's complex content model requires careful mapping to Contentful content types. We assess entity relationships, migrate taxonomy and referenced content, and configure the Contentful space to mirror Drupal's editorial structure — preserving content hierarchy and metadata.
Sanity → Contentful
For organisations moving from Sanity to Contentful for enterprise tooling or governance reasons. We export Sanity content via the Sanity API, transform GROQ-structured data to Contentful content types, and migrate Portable Text to Contentful Rich Text format.
Legacy CMS → Contentful
Moving from a bespoke CMS or legacy platform to Contentful. We analyse your existing content model, design equivalent Contentful content types, write migration scripts using the Contentful Migration CLI, and run a UAT period before the production cutover.
What you get
Everything included.
No hidden extras.
Every Contentful build ships with the full stack — space configuration, Next.js frontend, Live Preview, SEO, and a proper handover your editorial team can use.
- ✓Contentful space configured
- ✓Content types and validation rules
- ✓Next.js / React frontend
- ✓GraphQL API wired up
- ✓Multi-locale configured (if applicable)
- ✓Live Preview set up
- ✓SEO (meta / schema / sitemap)
- ✓301 redirects (if migrating)
- ✓GA4 + Search Console
- ✓Two weeks post-launch support
- ✓Editor training session
From £4,000 for a Contentful space and Next.js frontend. Full enterprise platform from £8,000. Flat quote after a free 30-min call.
Who we build for
Contentful for
global content teams.
Platform comparison
Contentful vs the alternatives.
We build on multiple CMS platforms. Here is an honest four-way comparison — Sanity, Strapi, WordPress, Prismic — so you can make the right call.
| vs Platform | Contentful wins on | They win on | Choose Contentful when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanity.io | More polished out-of-the-box editorial UI, stronger enterprise compliance certifications, Contentful Compose for page building, more established enterprise ecosystem | More generous free tier, GROQ query language, fully programmable Studio, real-time collaboration, lower cost at scale, Portable Text flexibility | Your organisation needs enterprise compliance certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001), an out-of-the-box polished editorial UI, or already has Contentful investment to build on |
| Strapi | Cloud-native with no server management, global Fastly CDN, enterprise compliance certifications, Contentful Compose, stronger enterprise ecosystem and support | Open source with no per-seat licensing, self-hosted data ownership, visual Content Type Builder for non-developers, no SaaS cost at high seat counts | Your team wants zero infrastructure management, you need enterprise compliance certifications, or you prefer a fully managed SaaS without DevOps overhead |
| WordPress (headless) | Purpose-built API-first architecture, native multi-locale, Live Preview, Contentful Compose, cleaner separation of content and presentation, no plugin maintenance | More familiar for editorial teams, large plugin ecosystem, lower barrier to entry, WooCommerce for ecommerce, no additional SaaS cost | You need a clean API-first content infrastructure that scales globally without WordPress's presentation-layer overhead and plugin maintenance burden |
| Prismic | More powerful content model (nested references, complex relationships), better enterprise tooling, Contentful Compose, stronger compliance certifications | Simpler Slice Machine for component-based page building, lower cost for small teams, easier initial setup, stronger integration with Next.js via the Prismic SDK | Your content model is complex with many reference relationships, or you need enterprise compliance and governance features not available on Prismic |
“WebAnts built something better than I’d ever imagined — shipped faster than any agency I’ve worked with.”
LaTisha Ebanks
Marketing Director, North Pointe Marketing
Start a project
Free 30-min call.
Flat written quote.
No prepayment.
Tell us about your Contentful project — content types needed, locale requirements, migration complexity, and your timeline. We’ll review it and send a flat quote within 24 hours.
★★★★★ 4.9 on Google
★★★★★ 5.0 on Clutch
★★★★★ 5.0 on Upwork
Top Web Designers 2025 — DesignRush
FAQ
Contentful questions, answered directly.
What is Contentful?
Contentful is a cloud-native headless CMS — a SaaS content infrastructure platform used by HSBC, Spotify, Volkswagen, and thousands of enterprise brands. It provides a clean editorial interface for content teams and delivers content via a REST Delivery API, GraphQL API, and Preview API to any frontend. Unlike traditional CMS platforms, Contentful has no opinion about how content is presented — it manages structured content and delivers it via API at global scale through Fastly CDN.
How much does Contentful development cost in London?
A Contentful space setup with a Next.js frontend from WebAnts starts from £4,000 (3–5 weeks). A full headless platform with multi-locale, Live Preview, and content migration costs £8,000–£18,000 (5–9 weeks). Enterprise spaces with Compose, governance, and complex migrations start from £18,000. Every project gets a flat written quote after a free 30-minute discovery call — no hourly estimates, no deposit required. Note: Contentful's own platform pricing starts from around £300/month for production Team plans.
What is the difference between Contentful and WordPress?
WordPress is a traditional CMS that manages and presents content in one system. Contentful is headless and API-first — it manages structured content and serves it via API to any frontend. WordPress can be used headlessly via WPGraphQL, but it was not designed for it. Contentful's native multi-locale, Live Preview, and GraphQL API make it a cleaner choice for global content operations. Choose WordPress for lower cost and simpler editorial experience; choose Contentful for global content infrastructure at scale.
Contentful vs Sanity — which should I choose?
Both are excellent headless CMS platforms. Contentful offers a more polished out-of-the-box editorial UI, stronger enterprise compliance certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001), Contentful Compose for page building, and a more established enterprise ecosystem. Sanity offers a more generous free tier, the GROQ query language for flexible content fetching, a fully programmable Studio, and real-time collaboration. For enterprise organisations with compliance requirements, Contentful typically wins. For developer-led teams wanting code-first flexibility, Sanity typically wins.
Contentful vs Strapi — what is the difference?
The core difference is hosting model. Contentful is a cloud-hosted SaaS — zero infrastructure management, global CDN, enterprise compliance certifications, but costs scale with seats and API usage. Strapi is open source and self-hosted — no per-seat charge, full data ownership, lower cost at scale, but requires server management. Choose Contentful if you want a fully managed SaaS with enterprise compliance. Choose Strapi if you want open-source ownership and no per-seat licensing.
Is Contentful good for enterprise?
Yes. Contentful is purpose-built for enterprise content operations. It holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, provides organisation-level access control, content versioning and audit trails, role-based permissions, and a 99.9% uptime SLA. Contentful Compose and Orchestration add page-building and workflow capabilities for complex editorial teams. Used by HSBC, Spotify, Volkswagen, and many of the world's largest brands.
What is Contentful's Delivery API?
Contentful's Content Delivery API (CDA) is a read-only REST API that delivers published content from a Contentful space. It supports field selection, filtering, sorting, pagination, and deep population of linked entries and assets. Content is served from Fastly CDN with global edge caching. A GraphQL API is also available, offering more precise data fetching with typed schemas. A Preview API delivers draft content for editorial preview workflows.
Can Contentful handle multi-locale content?
Yes. Contentful has native localization built in. You define locales (en-GB, fr-FR, de-DE, es-ES, etc.), enable localization per content type field, configure locale fallback chains for missing translations, and the Delivery API returns locale-specific content based on the locale parameter. We configure the Next.js i18n routing strategy in parallel so each market is served the correct locale automatically.
What is Contentful Compose?
Contentful Compose is an add-on product that adds a page-building layer on top of Contentful's structured content model. Editors can assemble pages from reusable content components (hero sections, feature blocks, testimonial carousels, CTAs) by dragging and dropping — without developer involvement for every layout change. It's available on Contentful Enterprise plans. We configure Compose as part of Scale and Enterprise projects.
What is Contentful Live Preview?
Contentful Live Preview lets editors see exactly how content renders on the published site as they type, before publishing, in real-time. It's implemented via the Contentful Live Preview SDK integrated with Next.js draft mode. When an editor enters preview mode, their browser fetches draft content from the Preview API, and the Live Preview SDK highlights which fields correspond to which rendered elements — so editors see exactly what they're changing, in context.
Can Contentful use GraphQL?
Yes. Contentful provides a GraphQL Content API alongside the REST Delivery API. The GraphQL API offers a fully typed schema that mirrors your Contentful content model — allowing precise data fetching with field-level projections, no over-fetching, and type-safe query results. We use GraphQL for most Next.js builds where content fetching involves complex linked entry resolution.
How many content types can Contentful handle?
Contentful's content type limits depend on your plan. The Community (free) plan allows up to 48 content types. Team and Enterprise plans allow significantly more. For most marketing sites and media platforms, 48 content types is more than sufficient. For large enterprise content operations with many distinct content models, Enterprise plan capacity applies. We advise on the right Contentful plan as part of every project scoping.
Is Contentful good for SEO?
Yes. Contentful itself is SEO-neutral — the SEO quality of your site depends on how the Next.js frontend is built. We configure per-content-type metadata fields in Contentful, generate canonical URLs, Open Graph tags, hreflang for multi-locale, JSON-LD structured data, XML sitemaps from Contentful entries, and robots.txt configuration. On-demand ISR revalidation means edited content goes live within seconds — not requiring a full site rebuild.
Can you migrate from WordPress to Contentful?
Yes. WordPress-to-Contentful migration is one of our most common projects. We export WordPress posts, pages, and custom post type content via the REST API, map to Contentful content types, migrate all assets to Contentful's media library, and import using the Contentful Management API. On the Next.js frontend, we configure 301 redirects so your Google rankings are preserved. We scope migrations individually — complexity varies significantly by content volume and custom field structure.
What is the difference between Contentful free and paid plans?
Contentful's Community plan is free with limited content types (48), API calls, and users — suitable for development and small sites. The Team plan (from ~£300/month) adds more content types, API calls, roles and permissions, and localisation. Enterprise plans add SSO, compliance certifications, dedicated support, Contentful Compose, and Orchestration. We factor Contentful's own platform costs into our project recommendations and proposals.
How do you deploy a Contentful + Next.js project?
We deploy the Next.js frontend to Vercel (the recommended platform for Next.js) and connect it to your Contentful space via environment variables. Contentful webhooks trigger Next.js on-demand ISR revalidation — so edited content goes live within seconds without a full site rebuild. The Contentful space is managed separately from the frontend code. CI/CD pipelines are configured via GitHub Actions or Vercel's built-in deployment system.
What is Contentful's CDN?
Contentful delivers content and assets via Fastly — the same global CDN used by enterprise platforms worldwide. Content responses are cached at Fastly edge nodes globally, meaning your Next.js frontend fetches content with extremely low latency regardless of your users' location. Asset transformations (image resizing, format conversion) are also handled by Contentful's image API on the Fastly CDN.
Do you offer Contentful maintenance retainers?
Yes. After launch, you can take full control of your Contentful space and Next.js frontend, or continue with a monthly maintenance retainer. Retainers cover content type additions, migration scripts, webhook updates, Next.js version upgrades, performance monitoring, and editorial team support. Block-of-hours retainers are available from £400/month.
Can Contentful handle large enterprise content operations?
Yes. Contentful is used by HSBC, Spotify, and Volkswagen for enterprise-scale content operations — millions of entries, hundreds of locales, global CDN delivery. Enterprise plans include higher API rate limits, dedicated infrastructure, and compliance certifications required for regulated industries. For very large content operations (millions of entries), we discuss the right Contentful plan and caching strategy during project scoping.
What is Contentful Orchestration?
Contentful Orchestration (available on Enterprise plans) adds workflow orchestration capabilities — multi-step approval workflows, publishing schedules, and content lifecycle management across teams. It's designed for large editorial organisations where content passes through multiple review stages before publishing. We configure Orchestration as part of Enterprise projects for regulated industries and large media organisations.
(Related services)
Content infrastructure built to last. →
Free discovery call. Flat quote. 4–10 week delivery. No prepayment.
About WebAnts — Contentful Development Agency in London
WebAnts is a London web design and development agency specialising in Contentful CMS development. 4.9★ rated on Google, 5.0 on Clutch, 5.0 on Upwork. Named Top Web Design Agency 2025 by DesignRush. Based in London, serving enterprise brands across the UK and 14 countries.
What is Contentful?
Contentful is a cloud-native headless CMS used by HSBC, Spotify, and Volkswagen. It provides a clean editorial interface and delivers structured content via REST Delivery API, GraphQL API, and Preview API to any frontend. Content is served globally via Fastly CDN. Contentful holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications.
What Contentful services does WebAnts offer?
WebAnts offers 12 Contentful services: space setup and content modelling, Contentful and Next.js headless frontend, multi-locale configuration, Rich Text and embedded entries, GraphQL integration, Live Preview setup, Contentful Compose, WordPress to Contentful migration, content migration and import, webhook and integration setup, SEO and structured data, and monthly maintenance retainers from £400/month.
How much does Contentful development cost in London?
A Contentful space with a Next.js frontend from WebAnts starts from £4,000 (3–5 weeks). A full enterprise platform with multi-locale and Live Preview costs £8,000–£18,000 (5–9 weeks). Enterprise spaces with Compose and complex migrations start from £18,000. Flat written quote after a free 30-minute discovery call — no hourly estimates, no deposit required.
What makes WebAnts different from other Contentful agencies?
No offshoring. No prepayment. Milestone payments so you own every deliverable as it lands. Direct access to the developer building your Contentful platform. 20+ Contentful projects delivered. Honest advice on Contentful vs Sanity vs Strapi based on your team and requirements.
Dream Algorithm Ltd, trading as WebAnts · London, UK+44 20 3983 9795hello@webants.io