Sanity vs Strapi
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Sanity is free tier available, Strapi is free tier available.
- How to start: both are free tier available.
- Where they differ: on what we checked they match — both offer public api, open source / self-hostable and sso (saml).
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Sanity is
What Sanity isSanity is the 'Content Operating System' that treats content as data. Its 'Sanity Studio' is a fully customizable, open-source editor built with React that developers can tailor to their specific needs. It features a 'Content Lake' architecture that allows for real-time collaboration and instant data updates across all platforms. Used by innovators like Nike and Sonos, Sanity is the choice for teams that want to move beyond static CMS limits and build truly dynamic digital experiences.
What Strapi is
What Strapi isStrapi is the most popular open-source 'Headless CMS.' It separates content from design and serves it via an API (REST or GraphQL), making the same content available for web, mobile, and even smartwatches. For developers, designing data models is just a few clicks away. Its fully customizable nature makes it the most flexible solution for corporate content management needs.
Side by side
| Sanity | Strapi | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | Free tiernot a monthly price |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No |
| Open source / self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | Yes |
| Visit | Sanity ↗ | Strapi ↗ |
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What Sanity is built to do
- Sanity Studio
- A fully customizable, React-based editor that you own and host anywhere.
- Content Lake
- A cloud-hosted, real-time database specifically designed for structured content.
- GROQ
- A powerful, open-source query language for filtering and fetching your data.
- Portable Text
- A JSON-based format for rich text that works on any platform, from web to print.
What Strapi is built to do
- Content-Type Builder
- Create complex data models and relationships through a visual interface.
- GraphQL & REST
- Access your content via modern, fast APIs from any device or frontend.
- Media Library
- Advanced media management that auto-resizes and optimizes images.
- Internationalization
- Localize and manage your content in an unlimited number of languages.
Choose Sanity if
- Small teams up to 20 seats that want a structured-content CMS free with 10K documents and 250K API requests a month
- Content teams that need comments, tasks and scheduled drafts: Growth at $15 per seat/month
- Developers who want a customisable Studio and GROQ queries rather than a fixed admin UI
Skip Sanity if
- You need private datasets on the free plan: Free datasets are public only
- Your document count is high — Growth caps at 25K documents before custom pricing
- You need extra datasets on Growth: each is $999/month
Choose Strapi if
- Self-hosting a headless CMS for free — Strapi is MIT licensed
- Teams that want to own the content API and the database behind it
- Projects that will outgrow a hosted CMS's content model
Skip Strapi if
- You want managed hosting — Strapi Cloud has NO free tier; Starter is $35/month per project
- You have several projects: Cloud is priced per project, not per account
- Your API is busy: Starter includes 100,000 requests a month and overage is $1.50 per additional 25,000
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Sanity: pros & cons
- Total Customization: Build the exact admin panel your content team needs.
- Real-time Collab: Multiple editors can work on the same document simultaneously.
- Structured Content: Treats content like a queryable database, not just text blocks.
- Great Developer Experience: Modern tools and a powerful query language (GROQ).
- Dev Required: You absolutely need a developer to set up and configure the Studio.
- Learning Curve: GROQ query language takes time to learn if you are used to GraphQL/REST.
- Pricing: The costs for higher data traffic and advanced features can be high.
Strapi: pros & cons
- Infinite Flexibility: Write your own plugins and change the admin panel as you wish.
- Multi-DB Support: Compatible with SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB.
- Role Management: Offers very detailed user permissions (RBAC) for content teams.
- Top Marketplace: Hundreds of plugins are available to speed up your workflow.
- Maintenance: If not using the Cloud version, you are responsible for servers and updates.
- Resources: Can experience performance issues on underpowered servers.
- Version Updates: Major version migrations can sometimes be technically challenging.
Our verdict on Sanity
The most modern and developer-friendly way to manage complex, multi-platform content.
Our verdict on Strapi
A headless CMS you host yourself, for teams that want to own the content layer end to end.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Sanity
- Free$0/mo
Free $0: 20 seats, 2 public datasets, 10K documents, 100 GB assets and bandwidth, 250K API requests, 1M CDN requests
- Growth$15/user/mo
Growth $15/seat/month: 50 seats, private datasets, 25K documents, comments, tasks, scheduled drafts, 90-day history
Strapi
- Starter$35/mo
Starter $35/month per project with 100,000 API requests, 50 GB asset storage and 50 GB bandwidth
- Pro$90/mo
Pro $90/month with 1M API requests, Business $450/month with 10M
- Business$450/mo
Pro $90/month with 1M API requests, Business $450/month with 10M
Sanity vs Strapi: common questions
- Does Sanity or Strapi have a free plan?
- Both do: Sanity has a free tier with limits, and Strapi has a free tier with limits.
- Which is cheaper once you start paying, Sanity or Strapi?
- The two are not priced the same way: Sanity's cheapest paid step is Growth at $15/user/mo, while Strapi's is Starter at $35/mo. One scales with headcount and the other does not, so the cheaper option depends entirely on team size.
- What is the difference between Sanity and Strapi?
- On the criteria we check, on what we checked they match — both offer public api, open source / self-hostable and sso (saml). The table above lists every criterion side by side.