Sanity is one of the most capable headless CMSs available: a fully customizable editing app, real-time collaboration, and a flexible query language. Teams usually look for an alternative for one of four reasons: per-seat pricing as the content team grows, an editing interface that needs a developer for every change, GROQ as one more language to learn, or wanting visual page building out of the box.
This guide covers five alternatives. Every price and plan limit below was read directly from the vendor's own pricing page on November 10, 2026, and each one links to the page it came from. We make Cosmic, so weigh our take on it accordingly. Platforms are listed alphabetically.
Sanity's pricing, for reference
Sanity's Free plan includes 20 seats, 2 public datasets, and 10,000 documents. Growth is $15 per seat per month, so a 20-person team on Growth pays $300/month before any usage overages. Enterprise is priced on request. Source: sanity.io/pricing, read November 10, 2026.
Quick comparison
| CMS | Free tier | Paid plans from | Source, read Nov 10 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmic | $0: 1 Bucket, 2 team members, 1,000 Objects | $99/month (Builder) | cosmicjs.com/pricing |
| Hygraph | Hobby $0: 3 seats, 1,000 entries, 2 locales | From $199/month (Growth) | hygraph.com/pricing |
| Prismic | Free: 1 user, 4M API calls/month, unlimited documents | $10/month (Starter, per repository, paid annually) | prismic.io/pricing |
| Storyblok | Starter: free, 1 seat | $99/month (Growth, 5 seats) | storyblok.com/pricing |
| Strapi | No free tier listed on Strapi Cloud | Cloud from $35/project/month (Starter) | strapi.io/pricing-cloud |
| Sanity (incumbent) | Free: 20 seats, 2 public datasets, 10,000 documents | $15/seat/month (Growth) | sanity.io/pricing |
What to check before switching
Portable Text. Sanity stores rich text as Portable Text, a JSON structure. Alternatives use a different format (HTML, Markdown, or their own JSON), so plan a conversion step and test how embedded objects and custom marks map over.
Customization you rely on. If your Studio has custom input components, document actions, or workflows, list them first. Hosted alternatives configured in a web interface trade that flexibility for not having to maintain an editor codebase.
References and queries. GROQ queries that join documents need rewriting against the new API. Check depth limits on references and how the new API returns nested content.
Real-time collaboration. Sanity's simultaneous editing is a genuine strength. Most alternatives offer drafts and versions with less real-time co-editing.
The alternatives
Cosmic
- Versus Sanity: content models are built in the dashboard rather than in code, so editors and non-developers can add fields. Plans include a set number of team members rather than charging purely per seat, with additional members at $29 each per month.
- Pricing: Free is $0 with 1 Bucket, 2 team members, and 1,000 Objects. Builder is $99/month, Team $299/month, Business $499/month, additional users $29/month. Source: cosmicjs.com/pricing, read November 10, 2026.
- Watch for: less editor customization than Sanity Studio, no real-time co-editing on the same document, and a smaller community.
Hygraph
- Versus Sanity: content federation. The Growth plan includes one remote source for unifying external APIs alongside your content, and Enterprise goes up to ten. Source: hygraph.com/pricing, read November 10, 2026.
- Pricing: Hobby is free with 3 seats, 1,000 entries, 2 locales, and 500,000 API calls. Growth is from $199/month with 10 seats, 10,000 entries, and 3 locales. Enterprise is custom. Same source.
- Watch for: the step from free to $199/month, and SSO sitting on Enterprise only.
Prismic
- Versus Sanity: editors assemble pages from developer-defined slices in a Visual Page Builder, with Slice Machine on the developer side. Source: prismic.io/pricing, read November 10, 2026.
- Pricing: Free includes 1 user, 4M API calls a month, and unlimited documents. Paid plans are per repository, paid annually: Starter $10/month (3 users), Small $25/month (7 users), Medium $150/month (25 users), Platinum $675/month (unlimited users). Same source.
- Watch for: pricing is per repository, so several sites means several subscriptions. Locales are capped per plan (2 on Free, 8 on Platinum).
Storyblok
- Versus Sanity: a visual editing workflow where marketers build pages from components.
- Pricing: Starter is free with 1 seat. Growth is $99/month with 5 seats, Growth Plus $349/month with 15 seats. Source: storyblok.com/pricing, read November 10, 2026.
- Watch for: seat limits per plan. Larger teams move to Growth Plus or a custom tier.
Strapi
- Versus Sanity: open source and self-hosted, with content types built in an admin UI.
- Pricing: Strapi Cloud starts at $35 per project per month (Starter), with Pro at $90 and Business at $450. The Cloud pricing page lists no free Cloud tier, and its FAQ covers migrating from the self-hosted Community and Enterprise editions. Source: strapi.io/pricing-cloud, read November 10, 2026.
- Watch for: Cloud bills per project, so costs scale with the number of sites. Self-hosting means running the server, database, and upgrades.
How to choose
- Your editors want to build pages visually: Storyblok or Prismic.
- You need to federate content from external APIs: Hygraph.
- You want open source with a UI-built schema: Strapi.
- You want plan-based pricing with a set number of included seats: Cosmic.
Moving from Sanity to Cosmic
See the Sanity alternative overview for a side-by-side comparison.
Cosmic's Free plan is $0 with 1 Bucket, 2 team members, and 1,000 Objects, so you can model your Sanity schema and test an import before paying anything. See plans and start free.
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