Compare UnfoldCMS — Side-by-Side and Migration Guides
Side-by-side comparisons and step-by-step migration guides — everything you need to switch CMS.
Choosing a CMS happens in two stages: deciding which platform to move to, and figuring out how to actually move there without breaking SEO. This page covers both.
Below are honest, side-by-side comparisons between UnfoldCMS and the platforms developers most often consider — followed by step-by-step migration guides for moving when you've decided. See also: Migrate from Contentful. See also: Sanity migration guide.
Compare UnfoldCMS to alternatives
Each comparison is written by someone who's used both platforms in production. We're upfront about cases where the competitor wins, and we publish exact pricing — no marketing fog.
| Comparison | What's covered |
|---|---|
| UnfoldCMS vs Contentful | Headless API-first vs self-hosted Laravel. Pricing escalation story, real cost-per-entry breakdown, and when Contentful's CDN edge actually matters. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Sanity | Studio + GROQ vs Inertia + Eloquent. When a customizable studio matters, when it doesn't, and the real cost of Sanity's pay-per-document model. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Payload CMS | Both self-hosted, both code-first. Node + MongoDB vs Laravel + MySQL — and which ecosystem suits your team's stack. |
| UnfoldCMS vs WordPress | The 43% of the web everyone is leaving — plugin sprawl, security, and the real five-year cost compared to a modern self-hosted CMS. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Strapi | OSS Node CMS vs one-time-license Laravel CMS — pricing, the Strapi upgrade tax, and which fits agencies running multiple sites. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Storyblok | SaaS visual editor vs self-hosted one-time license. When the in-context editor is worth €849/month, and when an admin-panel editor is faster anyway. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Ghost | Newsletter-first publishing platform vs full CMS. When Ghost is the right tool, and when its member-count caps and one-site-per-install model push agencies elsewhere. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Directus | Two self-hosted CMS that look similar on paper. Data platform vs marketing CMS — when each one wins, and which fits Laravel vs Node teams. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Webflow | Visual builder SaaS at $23–$235+/month per site vs one-time self-hosted license. The pricing math that ends most agency Webflow relationships at site #4. |
| UnfoldCMS vs Hygraph | GraphQL-first headless SaaS vs self-hosted CMS. When content federation is worth $299–$2,499/month, and when teams pay for it without using it. |
Coming soon
We're working on the following comparisons. If one of these is the platform you're evaluating, drop us a note — we'll prioritize it.
How we write these comparisons
Every comparison follows the same structure:
- Who each platform is genuinely best for — we're upfront about cases where the competitor wins
- Side-by-side feature table — pricing, tech stack, ecosystem, hosting model
- Real-world numbers — page load times, cost-per-month at common tiers, included features
- The honest verdict — when to choose them, when to choose us
If a comparison reads like marketing, we've failed. If you spot something inaccurate, let us know — we update them as products evolve.
Migrating from another CMS?
If you've decided on UnfoldCMS, the migration guides below are step-by-step playbooks. Each one is written by someone who's actually run the migration in production — audit, export, import, redirect, cutover. Skip a step and you risk losing rankings, content, or customer trust.
| Guide | What's covered |
|---|---|
| WordPress → UnfoldCMS | WXR export, plugin metadata extraction, 301 redirect strategy, and the cutover sequence that keeps your Google rankings intact. |
| Contentful → UnfoldCMS | Export with the Contentful CLI, transform JSON, import via REST. Half-day project. Save $300–$5,000/month. |
| Sanity → UnfoldCMS | Export with sanity dataset CLI, transform Portable Text, import via REST. Half-day project. Save $99–$3,000/month. |
| Strapi → UnfoldCMS | From Strapi to a self-hosted Laravel CMS in half a day — without the v5 upgrade headaches. |
| Webflow → UnfoldCMS | Export CMS Collections as CSV, transform, import via REST. Rebuild the design in Aurora theme. 1–2 day project. |
Migration guides coming soon
We're writing migration guides for the platforms developers most often switch from. Tell us yours and we'll prioritize.
- Contentful → UnfoldCMS
- Sanity → UnfoldCMS
- Strapi → UnfoldCMS
- Webflow → UnfoldCMS
What every migration guide covers
Every guide follows the same five-phase structure:
- Audit — inventory of URLs, content types, custom fields, and assets you're moving
- Export — extracting content, media, and metadata from the source platform
- Import — running the UnfoldCMS importer with the right mapping flags
- Preserve SEO — 301 redirects, schema markup, canonical URLs, sitemap submission
- Cutover — DNS, monitoring, rollback plan, and the 30 days after launch
Need help with a migration?
For complex sites — large URL footprints, custom post types, multi-language content, or active SEO traffic you can't risk losing — we offer hands-on migration help. Pricing depends on size and complexity.