Strapi vs Sanity(2026)
Strapi is better for teams that need open source. Sanity is the stronger choice if flexible schema. Strapi is freemium (from $29/month (cloud)) and Sanity is freemium (from $15/month).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
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Strapi
Strapi is an open-source headless CMS that is fully customizable and developer-first.
Starting at $29/month (cloud)
Visit StrapiSanity
Sanity is a headless CMS with real-time collaboration, a customizable studio, and a GROQ query language.
Starting at $15/month
Visit SanityHow Do Strapi and Sanity Compare on Features?
| Feature | Strapi | Sanity |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | $29/month (cloud) | $15/month |
| REST and GraphQL APIs | ✓ | — |
| Custom content types | ✓ | — |
| Media library | ✓ | — |
| Role management | ✓ | — |
| Plugins | ✓ | — |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | — |
| Real-time collaboration | — | ✓ |
| Portable Text | — | ✓ |
| GROQ queries | — | ✓ |
| Studio customization | — | ✓ |
| Content Lake | — | ✓ |
| Image CDN | — | ✓ |
Strapi Pros and Cons vs Sanity
S
Strapi
+Open source
+Self-hostable (free)
+Highly customizable
+Good plugin ecosystem
−Heavy resource usage
−Plugin quality varies
−Strapi Cloud pricing
−v4 migration was painful
S
Sanity
+Flexible schema
+Real-time editing
+Powerful GROQ
+Great free tier
+TypeScript-first
−GROQ learning curve
−Costly for large teams
−Complex for simple use cases
Should You Use Strapi or Sanity?
Choose Strapi if…
- •Open source
- •Self-hostable (free)
- •Highly customizable
Choose Sanity if…
- •Flexible schema
- •Real-time editing
- •Powerful GROQ