Sanity
Headless CMSReal-time headless CMS with structured content and developer flexibility
Overview
Sanity is a headless CMS built by Norwegian developers who wanted to solve the structural limitations of traditional content management. Unlike WordPress or other monolithic systems, Sanity separates content creation from presentation, giving developers full control over how content appears across websites, apps, and other digital channels. The platform centers around structured content modeling, where you define exactly what fields and data types your content needs rather than working with generic post formats.
What sets Sanity apart from competitors like Contentful or Strapi is its real-time collaborative editing and GROQ query language. Multiple editors can work simultaneously without conflicts, while GROQ lets developers pull precise content slices for dynamic SEO elements. The system treats content as structured data from the ground up, making it particularly strong for sites that need consistent metadata, complex content relationships, or multi-channel publishing.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Oslo, Sanity has gained traction among development teams building performance-focused websites. The company positions itself between developer-heavy solutions like Strapi and marketer-friendly platforms like WordPress, targeting teams that want both technical flexibility and editorial usability.
Key features
Structured Content Modeling
Define custom content schemas with validation rules and relationships that help organize content for better SEO targeting and automated optimization workflows.
Real-time Collaboration
Multiple editors can work simultaneously with live updates and conflict resolution, reducing content bottlenecks in fast-moving SEO campaigns.
GROQ Query Language
Powerful query syntax for retrieving specific content slices, enabling dynamic SEO elements like automated related content and contextual internal linking.
Portable Text Editor
Rich text format that preserves semantic structure across channels while maintaining clean HTML output for search engines.
Asset Pipeline
Automatic image optimization and transformation with built-in CDN delivery for improved Core Web Vitals scores.
Preview Modes
Live preview environments for reviewing content changes before publishing, crucial for SEO testing and QA workflows.
Webhook System
Trigger external SEO tools and workflows when content changes, enabling automated reindexing and performance monitoring.
Version History
Complete audit trail of content changes with rollback capabilities for recovering from SEO-damaging updates.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 users, 10k documents, 1GB bandwidth, community support |
| Growth | $99/month | 5 users, 100k documents, 10GB bandwidth, email support |
| Team | $299/month | 15 users, 1M documents, 50GB bandwidth, priority support, SSO |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited users, unlimited documents, custom bandwidth, SLA, dedicated support |
FAQ
Does Sanity automatically generate SEO metadata?
Sanity doesn't auto-generate SEO metadata but provides structured fields for title tags, meta descriptions, and schema markup. You'll need to configure these fields in your content model and implement the frontend rendering.
Can Sanity handle large content sites for enterprise SEO?
Yes, Sanity scales to millions of documents and includes features like content validation, workflow approvals, and API rate limiting. Enterprise plans include SLA guarantees and dedicated infrastructure.
How does Sanity compare to WordPress for SEO?
Sanity requires more technical setup but offers better performance, structured content modeling, and multi-channel publishing. WordPress has more SEO plugins but Sanity provides cleaner, more controllable HTML output.
Does Sanity work with existing SEO tools?
Sanity integrates with most SEO tools through webhooks and APIs. You can trigger tools like Screaming Frog crawls, update sitemaps automatically, and sync content with platforms like Semrush or Ahrefs.
What's the learning curve for content teams?
Content editors familiar with structured CMSs adapt quickly to Sanity Studio. The interface is more technical than WordPress but less complex than pure headless solutions like Contentful's web app.
Review Sentiment
70 reviews across 2 sources
Bottom line
A free tool that actually delivers: Sanity stands out for extremely flexible structured content modeling enables complex SEO content. The trade-off is requires developer resources to set up, but at zero cost it's a must-have for developers.
People love
- +Extremely flexible structured content modeling enables complex SEO content architectures
- +Real-time collaboration with GROQ query language provides developer-friendly content API
- +Free tier generous enough for most SEO projects — 200K API requests/month
Common complaints
- –Requires developer resources to set up — no visual website builder included
- –Steep learning curve for content teams used to traditional CMS interfaces
- –SEO features must be custom-built — no built-in meta tag management or sitemaps
Last updated Feb 2026