Contentful
Large (~1,000)
GitLab
Large (~2,500)
Best For
Contentful
Best for: Backend and full-stack engineers who want to work on developer-facing content infrastructure with remote flexibility and an established product used by major brands
GitLab
Best for: Engineers who want a fully remote, async-first culture with radical transparency
Ratings
ContentfulGitLab
3.4
3.9
Overall
3.8
3.9
Work-Life Balance
3.5
4.0
Culture & Values
3.4
3.8
Comp & Benefits
3.2
3.5
Senior Mgmt
3.2
3.7
Career Opps
👍 68% Recommend
👤 71% CEO Approval (Jaspar Carmichael-Jack)
👍 75% Recommend
👤 70% CEO Approval (Sid Sijbrandij)
Culture Values
Contentful only
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🌱 Learning & Growth🎯 Direct Product Impact
GitLab only
📡 Async-First🪟 Transparent🔓 Open Source⚖️ Work-Life Balance
Shared
🌐 Remote-Friendly
Pros & Cons
Contentful
- Flexible remote/hybrid setup with strong distributed team culture
- Talented and humble engineering team with approachable, responsive leadership
- Stagnating product development with competition overtaking in key areas
- Internal promotions are difficult with pay disparities between long-tenured and new hires
GitLab
- Best-in-class all-remote culture — truly async-first with genuine flexibility
- Radically transparent company with a public handbook and open processes
- Revenue organization has seen quota chaos and low morale
- Some leadership instability at the C-suite level
Bottom Line
Contentful
Pioneer in headless CMS with genuine remote flexibility, but Glassdoor is below average (3.4, 68% recommend) — reviews mention leadership instability and limited career progression.
GitLab
Choose GitLab if you want the gold standard of all-remote work with public handbook and async processes — but expect bureaucracy at scale and comp below top-tier.
Open Roles
Contentful — 111 jobs
💻 Engineering
56
📋 Product
17
💼 Sales / GTM
15
📊 Data
6
📣 Marketing
2
🧠 ML / AI
2
🎨 Design
1
⚖️ Legal
1
🎧 Support
1
GitLab — 195 jobs
💻 Engineering
79
💼 Sales / GTM
67
📋 Product
10
⚖️ Legal
5
📊 Data
4
🎨 Design
4
📣 Marketing
4
👤 HR / People
2
⚙️ Operations
2
Summary
Contentful scores 3.4/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.8 work-life balance rating. GitLab scores 3.9/5.0 overall with a 3.9 WLB. That’s a 0.5-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Remote-Friendly. Contentful also emphasizes Engineering-Driven, Learning & Growth, Direct Product Impact. GitLab also emphasizes Async-First, Transparent, Open Source, Work-Life Balance.
On the hiring front, Contentful has 111 open roles and GitLab has 195 open roles.