Apollo GraphQL vs Contentful Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Apollo GraphQL | Contentful | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $5/mo | $300/mo |
| Number of plans | 4 | 3 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | — |
| Pricing model | usage-based | hybrid |
Free
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router (limited to 60 requests per minute)
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
Developer
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
Standard
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Schema Proposals - Collaboration and approval workflows
- Single sign-on (SSO)
Enterprise
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Schema Proposals - Collaboration and approval workflows
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Audit logging
- Custom MSA
- (Add-on) Premium Support Packages
- (Add-on) Professional Services Packages
Free
- 10 users
- 2 roles
- 2 locales
- 100K API calls/ month
- 50 GB/ month CDN bandwidth
- Structured content
- Developer tools
- Editorial experience
Lite
- 20 users
- 3 roles
- 3 locales
- 1M API calls/ month
- 100 GB/ month CDN bandwidth
- Comments & task management
- Scheduled publishing
- Live collaboration
Enterprise
- Custom number of users, roles & locales
- Unlimited API calls/ month
- Custom amount of CDN bandwidth
- Dedicated Customer Success & Professional Services with 24/7 customer support
- Enhanced governance, compliance and security features with up to 99.99% uptime SLA
- Unlimited Spaces allowance
- Compatible with Personalization, Studio and new AI Actions
Apollo GraphQL vs Contentful FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Apollo GraphQL starts lower at $5/mo, compared to $300/mo for Contentful.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Apollo GraphQL uses usage-based pricing, while Contentful goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Apollo GraphQL: They're positioned as the accessible entry point into GraphQL federation tooling — $5/mo to start is nearly frictionless compared to enterprise API management suites that require sales calls from day one. The custom-priced tiers exist to compete for platform-level deals against players like Postman or enterprise API gateways once volume and compliance needs escalate. Contentful: Contentful sits at the premium end of the headless CMS market — they're not competing on price with Strapi or Directus. They're going after mid-market and enterprise teams who need a battle-tested, API-first platform and are willing to pay for reliability and ecosystem depth.
Still deciding? See the best Apollo GraphQL alternatives or the best Contentful alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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