Sanity.

Headless CMS with a fully customizable content editor

Sanity is a headless CMS built for developers. The editor, Sanity Studio, is a React app you configure yourself, so a development team can shape the whole editing experience. That flexibility is the draw, and it's also what makes Sanity less of a fit for teams that want something ready out of the box.

What is Sanity?

A headless CMS separates content from presentation and serves it over an API. Sanity goes a step further. Your content lives in the Content Lake, a central store of structured data you query with GROQ, Sanity's own language. And the editor, Sanity Studio, is a React app you adapt to your own workflow and content model.

What makes Sanity different?

GROQ, a query language for content. Instead of GraphQL or REST, Sanity built GROQ (Graph-Relational Object Queries). It handles complex relationships and filtering efficiently, and once you know it, it's quick to work with. GraphQL is supported too, for compatibility with the rest of your stack. The catch: GROQ is new, so even REST and GraphQL developers start over, and the queries are Sanity-specific, so you rewrite them if you ever migrate away.

A Studio you build yourself. Sanity Studio is a React app you configure, with your own components, validation and previews. The editing experience ends up shaped around how your team actually works.

AI (2025). In the spring of 2025 Sanity added Canvas AI Ghostwriter, Agent Actions and an MCP server. The idea is a "Content Operating System" where agents take over parts of the workflow.

Strengths.

GROQ query language: a powerful, Sanity-native way to query complex content relationships

A Studio you configure: a React-based editor you shape entirely around your workflow

Content Lake: a central content store with real-time collaboration and event streaming

AI-first roadmap: Canvas AI Ghostwriter, Agent Actions and MCP integration (2025)

Who uses Sanity?

Plenty of well-known brands run on Sanity, often because they want to own their editing setup:

Figma: documentation and marketing content

National Geographic: editorial content at scale

Nike: product content and campaigns

PUMA: global content operations

Linear: documentation and marketing

Cloudflare: technical documentation and marketing

Our vision.

Sanity is a strong choice for development teams that want full control. GROQ is genuinely capable, the Studio gives you the exact editing experience you design, and the Content Lake handles complex content models well. In our experience it takes a few weeks of work to set up, but you end up with a tool that fits your workflow instead of the other way around. Adoption is growing fast, and not only among smaller teams. Technically Sanity is a mature platform; where it looks less enterprise-ready than Contentful or Contentstack, that sits more in the company around it (sales, support, process) than in the CMS itself.

Suitable for

Development-driven organisations: teams with frontend developers who want to shape the editor

Complex content models: lots of references, relationships and custom validation

AI-forward organisations: Sanity's AI roadmap is among the most ambitious in headless CMS

Agencies: flexible enough to cover a lot of different client requirements

Note upon

Requires developer investment: configuring the Studio needs React and TypeScript; it isn't a fit for non-technical editors

A GROQ learning curve: capable, but a fresh start even for GraphQL or REST teams

Lock-in on two fronts: GROQ queries are Sanity-specific (rewrite on migration) and custom Studio extensions are vendor-bound

Real-time collaboration runs in the cloud: performance can dip past roughly 50 simultaneous editors

Pricing scales with API usage: large content volumes can run up unexpectedly beyond your tier

Less visual: there's no real-time visual editor like Storyblok's

US-registered, Norwegian roots: the legal entity sits in the US (dual HQ with Oslo), though your content data is hosted in the EU (Belgium)

Is Sanity suitable for enterprise?

Yes, with a caveat. Technically it holds up: multi-tenant setups, role-based access, audit logs, GDPR compliance, and it already runs enterprise clients like Nike and Cloudflare. Where it trails Contentful or Contentstack on enterprise-readiness, that's more about the company around it (sales, support, process) than the product. It's a platform to build on rather than a managed service.

Summary: Sanity is a favourite among developers in headless CMS. GROQ, the Studio you configure yourself and the AI roadmap make it one of the more technically advanced options. If your team has the development capacity and wants that level of control and flexibility, Sanity is a strong first choice.

Need help with your choice? We're happy to help with your evaluation and selection process.

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In practice.

Integrations & ecosystem

Sanity plugs into modern frontend stacks through official SDKs: React, Next.js, Vue, Nuxt, Gatsby, Astro, Svelte. For commerce you connect Shopify or commercetools; for search, Algolia; for assets, Cloudinary or Mux; for deployment, Vercel or Netlify. On top of that there are 100+ community plugins.

Implementation

A basic setup runs within one to two weeks. A full marketing site with a custom Studio is more like 3 to 4 months. For developers the learning curve is steep, GROQ especially.

Support & community

Official support comes with every plan. The developer community is active and the forums are lively, and the documentation is extensive and kept up to date.

AI & further development

The AI roadmap is serious. The spring of 2025 brought Canvas AI Ghostwriter, Agent Actions and the MCP integration. The direction is clear: Sanity is moving toward a "Content Operating System" where agents take over chunks of the workflow.

Compare with alternatives.

How does Sanity compare to Contentful?

Sanity leans more developer-first, with GROQ and a Studio you build yourself. Contentful has the larger ecosystem and a more established enterprise operation. If you have development capacity in-house and need maximum flexibility, Sanity; if you want more turnkey enterprise support, Contentful.

See also our analyses of other solutions:

Contentful: market leader with a large ecosystem and mature enterprise support

Storyblok: a visual editor with a marketing-friendly approach

DatoCMS: developer-first, with strong media handling

Frequently asked questions.

Can I try Sanity for free?
Yes. The free plan gives you 5 projects, unlimited collaborators and 500K API requests a month, well beyond the free tiers of the likes of Contentful. Good for evaluating, or for small teams and agencies.
How many developer hours does a custom editor cost?
It depends on the complexity. A basic editor runs 40 to 80 hours; an advanced setup with custom validation and previews climbs to 200 hours or more.
Does Sanity support multi-language content?
Yes, out of the box. You set the languages in your Studio and editors work per language. There are plugins for translation, including AI-based ones.
Which cloud provider hosts Sanity?
Google Cloud Platform, in europe-west1 (Belgium). Your content data stays in the EU; assets and API responses are served worldwide over a CDN.
What if I want to upgrade or change the system later?
The API-first design keeps migrations reasonably smooth. Your content sits apart from the presentation, so moving to another system is doable.
Is Sanity suitable for small teams with little tech knowledge?
Not really. Sanity leans on developers. If you work purely with content and without technical support, a traditional CMS fits better.

Need help with your CMS choice?

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