Payload CMS vs Sanity

GROQ and Portable Text enable union types, nested arrays, and custom input components, all first-class.

All schemas are TypeScript config files, no GUI limits. Union types, custom components, and hooks all first-class.

Objects and Portable Text blocks are shared across document types and map directly to your design system.

Fields and blocks are shared as named exports. Lexical blocks map cleanly to design system components.

Custom validators work in schema definitions but require developer-written JavaScript, not a no-code option.

Custom TypeScript validators are first-class, the most powerful validation system in any headless CMS.

Studio is highly customizable but needs developer configuration before non-technical editors are comfortable.

Admin UI is developer-oriented. Significant customization needed before non-technical editors can work independently.

The Presentation tool offers click-to-edit live previews but requires developer config to connect your frontend.

Live preview via a configurable preview URL. Requires developer setup to connect your frontend deployment.

Content Releases and versioning built in. Custom workflow states need Studio customization or third-party plugins.

Drafts, versions, and autosave. Scheduling supported. Approval chains and custom stages need custom code.

Imgix-powered CDN with hotspot and crop built in. Asset manager handles images, files, and custom sources.

Media collections handle uploads with basic resizing on ingest. CDN and advanced transforms need Cloudinary or S3.

Presence indicators, cursor tracking, and simultaneous editing are core to Sanity Studio, not a bolt-on.

No simultaneous editing. Concurrent edit locking prevents conflicts, one editor holds a document at a time.

Role-based access per content type on paid plans. Field-level permissions need custom Studio configuration.

Access control is extremely powerful, any async function can gate any operation. Field-level access is first-class.

Field-level localization via @sanity/language-filter, well maintained but requires schema wiring by a developer.

Built-in localization supports field-level variants across all collection and global types, set in schema.

Fallback logic must be implemented in GROQ queries or the frontend, no native CMS fallback configuration.

Fallback configured in Payload config and honored by Local API, REST, and GraphQL, a clean open-source implementation.

GROQ docs, REST reference, GraphQL playground, and schema-generated TypeScript types are all excellent.

Docs are well-written and rapidly improving. Schema-generated TypeScript types. REST and GraphQL auto-generated.

Starters for Next.js, Astro, Nuxt, and SvelteKit. next-sanity is the most polished CMS integration in Next.js.

Runs inside your Next.js app, the deepest CMS integration possible. Astro and other framework adapters coming.

Mutations API, Assets API, and GROQ support any programmatic workflow. Sanity CLI handles migrations and dataset ops.

The Local API gives in-process data access with no HTTP overhead. REST and GraphQL cover external management.

Multiple datasets provide isolation but promotion needs manual scripting. Enterprise adds dataset aliases for hot-swap.

No built-in environment branching, staging requires a separate instance. Payload Cloud adds environments on paid plans.

Edge CDN with Imgix image transforms. Fast globally but slightly behind Fastly-backed competitors on cold-start latency.

Self-hosted with no CDN. Asset delivery via S3, Cloudinary, or local disk, CDN is your responsibility to set up.

Fully managed cloud with zero server config. Studio can be hosted anywhere or embedded in your app.

Requires Node.js and a database. v3 cohabitation removes one service but the database is still your responsibility.

Sanity Exchange has plugins for forms, SEO, and AI. Core integrations are solid but third-party quality varies.

Official Stripe, Cloudinary, and SEO plugins available. Community ecosystem is growing but less mature than others.

One of the most active CMS communities, Slack is genuinely helpful, docs are thorough, and release cadence is high.

Highly active GitHub with fast maintainer response. Discord is engaged and growing since the v3 release.