Sanity
The most polished proprietary headless CMS: when editing experience matters as much as the technology.
Sanity is one of the most refined headless CMS on the market. Unlike Strapi which self-hosts, Sanity is a SaaS: your content lives on their infrastructure and you consume the data via API from your frontend (Next.js, Astro, mobile). Its strength is the editorial experience: Sanity Studio is probably the most pleasant back-office on the market, with real-time live preview and polished image management. The downside is usage-based billing: as long as the project stays moderate it's very reasonable; beyond that, it becomes a concern.
My take on Sanity: it's the right choice when your editorial team spends a lot of time in the CMS and you want SaaS to avoid managing infra.
If your editors publish daily, Sanity will make them measurably more efficient than Strapi: its back-office is probably the most polished on the market. Conversely, I prefer to point you to Strapi for projects where data sovereignty matters, where the monthly budget must stay flat, or where your editors are technically comfortable.
The real question before choosing Sanity is business: do you accept your content living with them and the bill varying with your traffic?
- →Demanding editorial team that spends a lot of time in the CMS
- →Need for live preview during writing
- →Desire to fully outsource the back-office infrastructure (no server to maintain)
- →International project with complex structured content (multi-market, advanced multilingual)
- →Accepted upfront budget, and predictable traffic growth
- ×Critical data sovereignty: your content must stay with you
- ×Mandatory flat monthly budget: Sanity bills by usage (API calls, datasets)
- ×Small marketing project: Strapi or Decap do the same thing for less
- ×Project that may grow suddenly: the bill can surprise
- →StrapiOpen source and self-hostable: best cost/control ratio long-termView page
- →ContentfulDirect competitor, more enterprise and more expensive: good for large organizations
- →PayloadTypeScript-first, code-first: for very technical teams
- →StoryblokGood UX for visual editing: valid SaaS alternative
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Content type modeling in TypeScript: one of Sanity Studio's strengths
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Studio customization only when usage requires it (preview, plugins, validations)
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GROQ or GraphQL for queries depending on the frontend team: GROQ is more powerful and expressive
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ISR / on-demand revalidation on the Next.js or Astro side to sync without full rebuild
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Explicit tracking of API and bandwidth consumption: no surprises at month-end
Sanity or Strapi: how to decide?
Sanity if editing experience comes first and you accept SaaS and its billing model. Strapi if data sovereignty and flat cost matter, and your team can tolerate a slightly less polished interface. The real question: can your content live outside your walls? If yes and UX matters to you, Sanity. Otherwise, Strapi.How much does Sanity cost?
The Free plan suits small projects (up to 3 users, limited API quotas). The Growth plan starts at $15/user/month plus usage costs (API calls, bandwidth, assets). For an SMB with a 3-5 person editorial team and moderate traffic, expect $50-150/month. Beyond that, it can rise quickly based on traffic and datasets.Can Sanity be self-hosted?
No, that's one of the fundamental differences with Strapi. The Sanity backend (datastore, API, assets) runs only on their infrastructure. You can export your content at any time (portable data), but operating it independently isn't possible. It's an accepted trade-off of the model.Which frontend stack with Sanity?
Next.js and Astro are the most natural choices: Sanity provides official SDKs for both, plus live preview plugins. You can also consume Sanity from any frontend (mobile, SvelteKit, Vue) via their REST or GraphQL API. Most of my Sanity integrations are with Next.js.What if Sanity disappears or raises prices?
Your data is exportable at any time via their API or via full dataset export. The format is documented and reusable. In case of price hike or shutdown, you can migrate to Strapi or Payload with reasonable effort. Vendor lock-in risk exists but is limited by data portability.
A project involving Sanity?
Describe your context: I'll suggest the right level of investment.
First callLet's talk aboutyour project.
Describe your need in a few lines. Reply within 24h to plan next steps, detailed quote within 48h.
- 24h response
- NDA on request