Sanity vs Strapi: Headless CMS Comparison
IntermediateComparison
TL;DR
Choosing between Strapi and Sanity comes down to a fundamental question: do you want to own and operate your own infrastructure, or hand that responsibility to a managed service? **Strapi** is a fully open-source, self-hosted headless CMS built on Node.js — you pay nothing for the software itself. **Sanity** pairs an open-source editing Studio with a proprietary hosted Content Lake. Both are capable, developer-friendly platforms that suit different teams, budgets, and risk tolerances.
Key Takeaways
- **Strapi is free to self-host** and gives you complete code and data ownership; Sanity's Content Lake is a proprietary hosted service with vendor lock-in implications.
- **Sanity's real-time collaboration** and GROQ query language are standout features for content-heavy teams working simultaneously on the same documents.
- **Strapi's plugin ecosystem and REST/GraphQL APIs** are mature and well-documented, making it a strong fit for teams already comfortable managing Node.js infrastructure.
- **Pricing models differ significantly** — Strapi Cloud starts at $29/month (as of April 2026) for a managed option, while Sanity's Growth plan is $15/seat/month (as of April 2026) with a generous free tier.
- **Neither platform is universally better** — the right choice depends on your hosting preferences, team size, content complexity, and how much you value data portability.