How to Optimize Your Contentful Queries for Speed and Cost

Why You Should Optimize Your Contentful Queries

Using Contentful with GraphQL offers incredible flexibility—but that power comes with responsibility. Every time your app or site fetches data, you pay for both the payload size and the speed hit. A bloated query with unnecessary fields not only slows down your site, but it also increases your API usage, which can get expensive on higher-tier plans.

❓FAQ: What does it mean to “optimize” a query in Contentful?

Optimizing a query means asking only for the data you need, reducing nested calls, and limiting payload size to improve performance and reduce costs.

Example: Overfetching vs. Optimized Query (GraphQL)

❌ Overfetching

query GetBlogPosts {
  blogPostCollection {
    items {
      title
      slug
      content
      author {
        name
        bio
        socialLinks
        profilePicture {
          url
        }
      }
      categoriesCollection {
        items {
          title
          description
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

✅ Optimized

query GetBlogPostSummaries {
  blogPostCollection(limit: 5) {
    items {
      title
      slug
    }
  }
}

The optimized version reduces payload, omits deeply nested fields, and limits results to 5 items—ideal for a blog listing page.

❓FAQ: How do I know which fields to exclude?

Start by defining the minimal viable data for the component you're rendering. If you're not displaying it, don't fetch it.

Use Aliases and Fragments Wisely

GraphQL supports fragments and field aliases, which help reuse queries and reduce complexity. Use fragments for repeated structures and aliases when querying multiple entries of the same type in a single request.

fragment AuthorInfo on Author {
  name
  profilePicture {
    url
  }
}

query GetTwoAuthors {
  author1: author(id: "ID1") {
    ...AuthorInfo
  }
  author2: author(id: "ID2") {
    ...AuthorInfo
  }
}

❓FAQ: Are fragments only useful for large queries?

Not necessarily. They're great for DRY code, and helpful when working with reusable UI components.

Paginate Everything

Contentful’s GraphQL API supports pagination with limit and skip. Paginating large collections prevents timeouts and improves perceived speed.

query GetPaginatedPosts($skip: Int!) {
  blogPostCollection(limit: 10, skip: $skip) {
    items {
      title
    }
  }
}

❓FAQ: What’s the best limit for pagination?

A common practice is between 10 and 20 items per request depending on your UI. Test performance with real data to decide