A working developer's comparison of Contentful vs Sanity. Editor UX, pricing, developer experience, and which one to pick for a growing business.
Here is how they actually differ, based on shipping both.
The short version
Pick Sanity if your editors want a great editing experience, your engineers want a real developer environment, and your budget is the price of a Growth plan.
Pick Contentful if you're an enterprise with dedicated content ops, you already run on Contentful across other properties, or you need SLAs and procurement paperwork more than you need speed.
For a growing UK business (£2M-£25M revenue), Sanity is usually the answer. Here is why.
Editor experience
Sanity Studio is a React app you configure with schemas. Custom input components, live preview panes, structure builder, real-time collaboration on the same document. Editors get an interface that fits their content model. Non-technical marketers pick it up in an hour.
Contentful ships a hosted editor. It is polished but generic. You cannot restructure the UI. Live preview requires setup on your side. Real-time collaboration exists but is less refined than Sanity's.
If your team edits weekly and cares about UX, Sanity wins on this axis.
Developer experience
Sanity uses GROQ, a query language purpose-built for structured content. It is powerful, terse, and takes an afternoon to learn. Schemas are TypeScript-typed. Generated types flow through to the front end. Deploy previews work naturally with Next.js.
Contentful exposes REST and GraphQL. Both work. Neither is as expressive as GROQ for the kind of nested content queries that come up in real projects. TypeScript support requires third-party code generators.
For a Next.js codebase, Sanity is the more natural fit.
Content modelling
Sanity models are declarative code files. References, arrays, nested objects, custom validation. Changes are versioned in git.
Contentful models are configured in a web UI. Fields are defined by clicking. Version control of the model requires their CLI or Migrate scripts.
For teams that want their schema in git alongside the front-end code, Sanity is the cleaner setup.
Pricing
Rough shape for a growing business with 5-10 editors and moderate traffic:
Sanity Growth: ~$99 per project per month, includes 20 users, 50GB assets, 500k API requests
Contentful Basic: ~$300 per month for a comparable tier, with tighter limits on API requests
Sanity is materially cheaper at every tier below enterprise. Contentful's pricing catches up at scale but rarely undercuts.
Real-time collaboration
Sanity has real-time collaboration as a first-class feature. Two editors in the same document at the same time work without conflict.
Contentful supports concurrent editing but with a lock model. One editor at a time on a field.
For teams where marketing and comms co-author, Sanity's approach is meaningfully better.
Ecosystem and integrations
Contentful has a larger official app marketplace, deeper Salesforce and enterprise integrations, and more third-party consultancy coverage.
Sanity has a smaller marketplace but a more active plugin ecosystem, and the fact that the Studio is code means you can build integrations natively rather than waiting for an app.
If your integration needs are enterprise SaaS-shaped, Contentful has more off-the-shelf. If your integration needs are custom, Sanity is easier to extend.
When to actually pick Contentful
Three scenarios:
You are already on Contentful across other business units and consolidation matters
You need procurement-friendly paperwork (SOC 2, SLAs, dedicated support) more than you need agility
Your content team is 50+ editors with existing Contentful muscle memory
When to pick Sanity
Almost everyone else. Specifically:
A marketing site plus a product, both needing structured content
A team of 2-15 editors
Engineers on Next.js who care about type safety and DX
A budget where an extra £200/month matters
The stack we default to
For a growing UK business, we default to Sanity plus Next.js on Vercel. Real-time collaboration for editors, typed content for engineers, live previews for both. Sanity's pricing leaves budget for the parts that need it more (design, custom features, SEO).
Next step
If you're also considering Strapi or WordPress, we've written those comparisons too — or see Sanity CMS alternatives for the full shortlist.
If you're deciding between Contentful and Sanity for a new build or a migration, talk to Goodspeed Studio. We've shipped both. We'll tell you which one fits your business, not the one that pays higher affiliate.
Harish Malhi
Founder of Goodspeed
Harish Malhi is the founder of Goodspeed, one of the top-rated Bubble agencies globally and winner of Bubble’s Agency of the Year award in 2024. He left Google to launch his first app, Diaspo, built entirely on Bubble, which gained press coverage from the BBC, ITV and more. Since then, he has helped ship over 200 products using Bubble, Framer, n8n and more - from internal tools to full-scale SaaS platforms. Harish now leads a team that helps founders and operators replace clunky workflows with fast, flexible software without writing a line of code.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which is better, Contentful or Sanity?
Sanity for most growing businesses. Contentful for large enterprise with existing Contentful investments, dedicated content ops, or procurement paperwork needs.
Is Sanity cheaper than Contentful?
Yes, materially. Sanity Growth is around $99 per project per month. Contentful's comparable tier is around $300 per month with tighter API limits.
Does Contentful have a better editor UX than Sanity?
No. Sanity Studio is more customisable and gives editors a better experience. Contentful's editor is polished but generic; you can't restructure the UI.
Is Sanity or Contentful better for developers?
Sanity, for most Next.js codebases. GROQ is more expressive for nested content, TypeScript codegen is first-party, and schemas are git-versioned code.
Can I migrate from Contentful to Sanity?
Yes. Export content from Contentful, transform to Sanity schemas, import via the Sanity CLI. Typical migration takes 2-4 weeks depending on content volume and complexity.
Does Contentful support real-time collaboration?
Only with a lock model (one editor per field at a time). Sanity has proper CRDT-based real-time collaboration where multiple editors can work in the same document.
Which CMS scales better?
Both scale. Contentful has more mature enterprise SLAs and procurement paperwork. Sanity handles high-traffic reads well through its CDN and is materially cheaper at growth-stage scale.
When is Contentful worth the price premium?
When you need SOC 2, dedicated support, procurement-friendly paperwork, or you already run Contentful across other business units and consolidation matters.
