Strapi vs Contentful vs SonicJS: Self-Hosted vs SaaS vs Edge

Strapi and Contentful represent two ends of the headless CMS spectrum: self-hosted open source vs managed enterprise SaaS. SonicJS offers a third path: edge-first architecture with the benefits of both.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Strapi	Contentful	SonicJS
Hosting Model	Self-hosted	Cloud SaaS	Edge (Cloudflare Workers)
Pricing	Free + cloud options	$60k+/year enterprise	$5-20/month typical
Database	PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite	Proprietary	D1 (SQLite at edge)
Data Ownership	Full	Contentful-controlled	Full
Cold starts	500-2000ms	N/A (SaaS)	0-5ms
Global latency	200-500ms	Varies (CDN-cached)	Under 50ms
Content Types Limit	Unlimited	Limited on lower tiers	Unlimited
Open Source	Yes (MIT)	No	Yes (MIT)
GraphQL	Plugin	Yes	Roadmap

The Real Problems

Strapi: Migration Hell

Strapi's major version upgrades have become notorious:

"40+ hours converting our project from v4 to v5. 50+ breaking changes, countless undocumented gotchas."

Documented Performance Issues from GitHub:

Issue	Scenario	Reported Time	Notes
#5374	67 items with relations	9-12s	Complex queries
#13288	populate=*	20s	Deep population
#8553	Large collections	14s	Pagination issues
#21924	PostgreSQL queries	10s	Database specific

Common Strapi frustrations:

• Breaking changes between versions
• Limited to 3 roles on free tier
• Plugin compatibility breaks on upgrades
• Self-hosting complexity in production

Contentful: Enterprise Pricing, Enterprise Problems

Contentful's costs catch teams off guard:

"Premium starts at $60,000/year. Space add-ons can reach $75,000+ each."

Common Contentful frustrations:

• 45% of users report slow performance during peak usage
• Content type limits on non-enterprise plans
• No true relational models (one-to-many, many-to-many)
• Heavy developer dependency—non-technical users struggle
• Publishing affects all environments simultaneously
• 40% faced integration challenges due to API limitations

Real user feedback on content limits:

"If you wish to port an existing design system 1:1 and don't have the enterprise plan, you'll quickly run out of components. The development team had to prioritize which content types were critical—this frustrated both developers and the content team."

SonicJS: Honest Limitations

SonicJS is newer and building rapidly:

• Smaller plugin ecosystem (growing)
• D1 database only (edge-native design)
• GraphQL on roadmap
• Fewer enterprise integrations currently

Architecture Comparison

Strapi: Traditional Self-Hosted

You own and manage everything:

// Strapi requires a server
module.exports = {
  host: '0.0.0.0',
  port: 1337,
  app: { keys: env.array('APP_KEYS') },
}

Responsibilities:

• Server provisioning and scaling
• Database management
• Security updates
• Backup strategies
• CDN configuration

Contentful: Managed SaaS

Everything managed, but at a cost:

// Contentful configuration
const client = createClient({
  space: 'your_space_id',
  accessToken: 'your_access_token',
})

Trade-offs:

• No infrastructure management
• Proprietary data storage
• Vendor lock-in
• Premium pricing

SonicJS: Edge-First

Best of both worlds:

// SonicJS on Cloudflare Workers
import { createSonicJS } from '@sonicjs-cms/core'

const cms = createSonicJS({
  database: env.DB,
  cache: env.CACHE,
  storage: env.STORAGE,
})

export default cms.app

Benefits:

• No server management
• Your data, your control
• Global distribution automatic
• Predictable pricing

Performance Comparison

Scenario	Strapi	Contentful	SonicJS
API response (same region)	50-150ms	30-100ms	15-30ms
API response (cross-region)	200-500ms	50-150ms (CDN)	30-60ms
Cold start	500-2000ms	N/A	0-5ms
Peak traffic performance	Degrades without scaling	Reported slowdowns (45%)	Consistent

The Edge Advantage

Strapi and Contentful serve from centralized locations. Even with Contentful's CDN, dynamic API calls still hit origin servers.

SonicJS runs your entire CMS at the edge:

Request → Nearest Edge Location → Response
         (300+ locations globally)

No origin round-trips for API calls. Consistent under 50ms worldwide.

Pricing Deep Dive

Strapi Costs

Software: Free (open source)

Real costs:

• Server hosting: $20-200+/month
• Database: $15-100+/month
• CDN: $20-50+/month
• DevOps time: Ongoing

Total: $100-500+/month for production

Contentful Costs

Published pricing:

• Free: Very limited (5 users, 25K API calls)
• Premium: $60,000/year list
• Premium Plus: $140,000/year list

Space add-ons:

• Medium Space: ~$8,000
• Large Space: $19,000
• Extra Large: $35,000
• 2XL/3XL: $75,000+

Real cost: Most enterprise deals: $40,000-150,000+/year

SonicJS Costs

Cloudflare pricing:

• Free tier: 100,000 requests/day, 10GB D1
• Workers Paid: $5/month flat
• Typical usage: $5-20/month total

No hidden costs:

• No per-seat charges
• No feature gating
• No surprise overages

Content Modeling

Strapi

Code or visual builder, flexible but versions can break schemas:

// strapi content type
{
  "kind": "collectionType",
  "attributes": {
    "title": { "type": "string", "required": true },
    "content": { "type": "richtext" }
  }
}

Contentful

Visual editor primarily, JSON schema under the hood:

Limitations:

• No true relational models
• Content type limits on lower tiers
• Complex localization requires workarounds

SonicJS

TypeScript-native, full type safety:

const posts = defineCollection({
  name: 'posts',
  fields: {
    title: { type: 'string', required: true },
    content: { type: 'richtext' },
    author: { type: 'relation', collection: 'users' },
  },
})

Data Ownership & Lock-in

Strapi: Full Ownership

• Your database, your data
• Export anytime
• Migration between versions is the challenge

Contentful: Vendor Lock-in

• Proprietary data format
• Export available but transformation required
• Content type limits create artificial constraints
• Significant migration effort to leave

SonicJS: Full Ownership

• Standard SQLite in D1
• Export anytime
• No proprietary formats

When to Choose Each

Choose Strapi If:

• You have DevOps capacity
• Full infrastructure control is required
• You're okay managing migrations
• Budget constraints favor self-hosting

Choose Contentful If:

• Enterprise budget is available ($60k+/year)
• No infrastructure team available
• Extensive third-party integrations needed
• Enterprise compliance requirements

Choose SonicJS If:

• Global performance is critical
• Budget is under $100/month
• You want data ownership without DevOps
• Edge-first architecture appeals to you

FAQ

Is Contentful worth the enterprise pricing?

For large enterprises with compliance requirements and existing Contentful expertise, possibly. For most teams, the pricing is difficult to justify when alternatives exist.

Why are Strapi migrations so painful?

Strapi's architecture has evolved significantly between major versions. Database schemas and plugin APIs change substantially, requiring manual intervention.

Can SonicJS match Contentful's features?

Core CMS features, yes. Contentful has more enterprise integrations currently. SonicJS offers edge performance that Contentful can't match.

What about localization?

• Strapi: Built-in localization
• Contentful: Basic localization, no workflow features
• SonicJS: Localization support with flexible implementation

Conclusion

Three philosophies:

• Strapi: Maximum control with operational overhead
• Contentful: Enterprise convenience at enterprise prices
• SonicJS: Edge-first performance with modern simplicity

For teams wanting performance, data ownership, and predictable costs, SonicJS offers a compelling alternative to both extremes.

Key Takeaways

• Strapi's v4→v5 migration required 40+ hours for some teams
• Contentful Premium starts at $60,000/year
• 45% of Contentful users report peak-time performance issues
• SonicJS delivers under 50ms global latency for $5-20/month
• Edge-first architecture eliminates the self-host vs SaaS trade-off

Ready to try edge-first CMS? Get started with SonicJS in under 5 minutes.

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Sources & References

Strapi

• Strapi v5 Migration Issues (Forum)
• Strapi v5 Breaking Changes
• GitHub Issue #5374: Complex Query Performance (9-12s)
• GitHub Issue #13288: Deep Population (20s)
• GitHub Issue #8553: Large Collection Performance (14s)
• GitHub Issue #21924: PostgreSQL Query Performance

Contentful

• Contentful Pricing Analysis (Vendr)
• Contentful Disadvantages (Contentstack)
• Common Contentful Challenges (Net Solutions)