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Contentful vs Sanity
Comparing two headless cms platforms on pricing, features, free tier, and trade-offs.
Quick summary
Contentful — The leading composable content platform. Contentful is an enterprise-grade headless CMS with strong content modeling and localization.
Sanity — The composable content cloud. Sanity is a headless CMS with real-time collaboration, structured content, and the GROQ query language.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Contentful | Sanity |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $300/mo | $15/user/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Free Tier | Community tier | 3 users, 10k docs |
| Image CDN | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time | No | Yes |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Localization | Yes | Yes |
| Visual Editing | Yes | Yes |
| Structured Content | Yes | Yes |
Contentful
The leading composable content platform
Pros
- Enterprise-ready
- Excellent localization
- Big ecosystem
Cons
- Very expensive above free tier
- API call limits
- Slower to innovate
Sanity
The composable content cloud
Pros
- Powerful structured content model
- Real-time collaboration
- Great image pipeline
Cons
- Per-user pricing adds up
- GROQ learning curve
Which should you choose?
Choose Contentful if a free tier is important for your stage. Choose Sanity if you value open source and want the option to self-host, and a free tier is important for your stage.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Contentful or Sanity?
There is no universal “better.” For most teams, Sanity is the safer default because Sanity is open source, which means you can self-host and avoid vendor lock-in. Contentful is proprietary. For edge cases, the comparison table above highlights where each tool wins.
Is Contentful cheaper than Sanity?
Contentful starts at $300/mo, while Sanity starts at $15/user/mo. Exact costs depend on usage — check both vendors' calculators before committing.
Can I migrate from Contentful to Sanity?
Migration difficulty depends on how deeply Contentful-specific features (APIs, SDK conventions, data schemas) are baked into your app. Most headless cms migrations take days to weeks. Both vendors typically publish migration guides — check their docs.
Is Contentful or Sanity open source?
Sanity is open source; Contentful is a proprietary managed service.
Does Contentful or Sanity have a free tier?
Both Contentful and Sanity offer a free tier.
Which is best for startups and indie hackers?
Startups usually optimize for the lowest friction to ship and the cheapest possible free tier. The one with the most generous free tier here is Sanity. For production workloads, revisit the trade-offs in the feature table above.