When it comes to powering digital experiences, content management is no longer just about storing and publishing text. It’s about creating seamless, personalised journeys that meet users where they are—on websites, apps, and every digital touchpoint in between.
That’s why selecting the right platform is critical. Two names that often come up are Optimizely and Contentful. While both are powerful in their own right, they serve different purposes and cater to different teams. If you’re weighing these two platforms, here’s what you need to know before making your choice.
Understanding the Basics: What Are These Platforms?
Optimizely: A Full Digital Experience Platform (DXP)
Optimizely goes beyond the traditional CMS. It’s a full-featured Digital Experience Platform that combines content management, experimentation, personalisation, and commerce capabilities in one solution. It’s designed for brands looking to manage and optimise every part of the customer journey—from initial content delivery to tailored user experiences driven by data.
Contentful: A Flexible, API-First Headless CMS
Contentful is a headless content management system, focused on developer flexibility and omnichannel delivery. It decouples content from presentation, giving developers the freedom to build custom front-ends for any channel using APIs. Contentful is ideal for teams looking for a highly customizable, agile platform that works across digital properties.
Key Differences Between Optimizely and Contentful
1. Content Strategy vs Experience Optimization
Contentful is excellent at structuring and delivering content—particularly when you need to serve it across multiple channels like web, mobile, or even IoT. However, that’s where its feature set ends. You’ll need to integrate third-party tools for things like personalisation or A/B testing.
Optimizely, on the other hand, is built to do more. In addition to content delivery, it allows brands to test, analyse, and personalise content all from within the same platform. That’s a big advantage if you’re aiming to continually optimise user journeys.
2. Developer Flexibility vs Marketing Agility
Contentful offers unparalleled developer control. Teams can use any framework (React, Vue, etc.) to build the front-end experience. But that flexibility comes at a cost—marketers often rely on developers to make changes or launch new pages.
With Optimizely, the balance shifts. The platform provides visual editing tools, drag-and-drop functionality, and built-in workflows that empower marketers to move faster without always needing dev support. For many businesses, that means faster time to market and fewer bottlenecks.
3. Personalisation and Testing
This is where Optimizely shines. Its roots are in experimentation—and it still leads the way. Built-in A/B testing, multivariate testing, and AI-driven personalisation allow brands to constantly refine their experiences.
Contentful doesn’t natively offer these capabilities. While you can integrate platforms like Optimizely’s experimentation tools or other personalisation engines into a Contentful build, this adds complexity and development time.
4. Use Case Fit
Contentful is ideal for:
- Product teams building custom apps or websites
- Developers needing full control over UX and performance
- Businesses with multichannel distribution needs
Optimizely is ideal for:
- Marketing teams focused on conversion, testing, and optimisation
- Enterprises looking for a unified DXP
- Brands wanting personalisation and performance data baked in
5. Pricing and Scalability
Both platforms are enterprise-ready, and pricing reflects that. However, they scale differently.
Contentful’s pricing is modular, based on usage (API calls, environments, etc.), which can be attractive for smaller teams or startups. But as usage grows, so can costs.
Optimizely typically commands a higher entry price due to its broader suite of tools. But for many businesses, the value is in the all-in-one capabilities—reducing the need for multiple vendors and integrations.
How to Choose: Ask These Questions
Before you commit to a platform, consider your team structure, goals, and future plans. Ask:
Do we need built-in testing and personalisation, or just content delivery?
Is developer freedom more important, or do we need a platform marketers can manage?
Are we building for a single website, or multiple channels?
Do we want an out-of-the-box solution, or a system we can build upon with integrations?
If your organisation leans toward agility, optimisation, and marketing performance, Optimizely is likely the better fit. If you’re a development-heavy team building complex, multi-channel applications, Contentful may give you the freedom you need.
Final Thoughts: Optimizely and the Opticentric Advantage
Choosing between Optimizely and Contentful isn’t just about features—it’s about choosing the right digital foundation for your business goals. At Opticentric, we specialise in helping brands unlock the full power of Optimizely’s DXP—from content architecture to real-time personalisation and optimisation strategies that drive ROI.
With our experience, we don’t just implement the platform—we help you make it a core driver of your digital success.
Ready to see what Optimizely can do for your brand?
Get in touch with Opticentric to learn how we can help you build, optimise, and scale digital experiences that convert.