How does one Contentful entry become a page?

Create an entry type for a help article, with fields such as title, answer and page address. Your website needs a template that reads those fields and places them on the page. Contentful provides the content. You or your developer still build and host the site.

The website reads published fields through a content API, the service it asks for the latest entries. A preview uses a separate credential to read drafts. Keep that credential on the server and protect the preview page so visitors only see what you have published. Publishing a change makes it available to the website. The visitor may still see the older version until the website refreshes its saved copy or rebuilds.

Can a writer prepare a draft without publishing it?

Choose a role with draft permission and no publishing permission. Contentful lists the Author role on Lite and Premium, while Free offers Administrator and Editor. An Editor can publish in the main environment, which is the workspace most projects use for published entries.

Before handing off a help article, check which role the writer actually has in that Space, the area where the project’s content lives. Set up a separate review step if the available roles do not match your approval process.

When do you need a paid Contentful plan?

Contentful limits Free to testing and learning outside production. It excludes commercial use and caps the plan at 100,000 content service requests and 50 GB of media delivery each month, without extra usage. The pricing page listed Lite at US$300 per month on November 12, 2026.

Lite includes one Starter Space, one million API calls and 100 GB of media delivery each month. It can charge for extra usage. Include separate site hosting in your budget, and estimate image delivery as well as the number of times the site asks for content.

What travels when you export a Space?

The command-line tool can export the content structure, entries and media records. Select the documented options for drafts or media files if you need them. Keep the separate website code and its hosting settings in your migration plan.

Check workflow settings, user access and scheduled releases separately. The import leaves memberships, scheduled releases and workflows behind, and can attribute recreated entries to the importing account. Contentful labels a previously published entry with pending edits as Changed. The CLI guide says import can publish those edits. For the first import, use a separate Space with the same default language or locale and no public site connected. Check which version the public content service would deliver and which files arrived before reconnecting the site.

Can you check the difference between a draft and a public update?

Use a fictional help article and two page sketches. Keep any real Space, preview credential and deployment disconnected.

Keep the public page steady
Write an old title on the public sketch. Put the new title on a draft entry and show it only on the access-restricted preview sketch.
Mark the separate publishing step
Assign the publishing role and mark when the entry becomes available for delivery. Then mark when the website refreshes. The two titles should agree after that refresh.
List what would have to move
Separate entry fields and image files from site code, credentials and approval roles. Mark how you would verify a sample page and its permissions after moving.