Payload CMS vs Sanity: pricing, quotas & features (2026)
TypeScript-first open-source headless CMS — code-first, config-driven
vs. Structured content platform — headless CMS with real-time + GROQ
Data sourced from vendor documentation · Last updated June 2026
Summary
Payload CMS and Sanity are both cms platforms, addressing the same core use case with different implementation philosophies and trade-offs. Both offer a free tier, making it easy to prototype without a credit card. Sanity's paid plans start at $15/month, lower than Payload CMS's entry point at $35/month. Payload CMS has a broader documented feature set (18 vs 16 features). Budget-sensitive teams will find Sanity easier to justify early on. All pricing and quota data below is sourced from Payload CMS and Sanity's official documentation — not generated by AI or estimated.
Payload CMS vs Sanity: Comparativa de precios, cuotas y características (2026)
En esta comparativa analizamos Payload CMS y Sanity lado a lado — incluyendo precios mensuales, límites del tier gratuito, características técnicas, cuotas de uso (almacenamiento, transferencia, usuarios activos mensuales) y los interfaces de desarrollo disponibles. Todos los datos proceden de la documentación oficial de cada proveedor, no de respuestas generadas por IA.
Payload CMS es una plataforma de la categoría cms — TypeScript-first open-source headless CMS — code-first, config-driven. Ofrece 4 tiers de precio: Open Source (self-host) gratuito, Cloud — Standard desde $35/mes, Cloud — Pro desde $199/mes, Cloud — Enterprise (personalizado). Su catálogo en Staxly documenta 18 características y 6 interfazes para desarrolladores.
Sanity pertenece a la categoría cms — Structured content platform — headless CMS with real-time + GROQ. Ofrece 3 tiers de precio: Free gratuito, Growth desde $15/mes, Enterprise (personalizado). Su catálogo documenta 16 características y 9 interfazes para desarrolladores.
A continuación encontrarás los tiers de precio completos de ambas plataformas, una matriz de cuotas del tier gratuito (transferencia, almacenamiento, MAU, llamadas a la API y otros límites), el listado completo de características y los interfaces (CLI, SDKs, REST, GraphQL, MCP) disponibles para integrar cada servicio.
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Pricing tiers
Payload CMS
Sanity
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing oss on Payload CMS vs free on Sanity.
| Metric | Payload CMS | Sanity |
|---|---|---|
| No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers. | ||
Features
Payload CMS · 18 features
- @payloadcms/plugin-seo — Built-in SEO meta fields.
- Access Control — Function-based per-collection/field access rules.
- Admin UI — React admin — fully customizable components + views.
- Authentication — Built-in JWT + HTTP-only cookies + API keys.
- Blocks — Flexible page-builder pattern via block field.
- Collections — Schema-defined content types with fields, hooks, access control.
- Drafts & Versions — Version every change. Autosave, drafts, scheduled publish.
- Field Types — Rich field library: text, textarea, richText (Lexical), upload, relation, blocks…
- Form Builder Plugin — Dynamic forms with submissions storage.
- Globals — Single-instance documents (site settings, header, footer).
- GraphQL API (auto) — Full schema auto-generated.
- Hooks — Lifecycle hooks: beforeChange/Read/Delete, afterChange, etc.
- Live Preview — Side-by-side editor + iframe preview of Next.js site.
- Local API (zero latency) — Direct in-process data access. Ideal for Next.js server components.
- Multi-Tenancy Plugin — Multi-tenant content isolation via plugin.
- Plugins — Official + community plugins (SEO, Stripe, Form Builder, multi-tenant, etc.).
- REST API (auto) — Auto-generated REST endpoints for every collection.
- i18n — Multi-locale field values + admin UI translations.
Sanity · 16 features
- Agent Context — Expose your content schema + docs to LLM agents.
- Content Agent (AI) — AI assistant inside Studio for generation + translation.
- Content History — Every change versioned. Rollback + diff.
- Content Lake — Distributed real-time DB for structured content. Multi-region replicas.
- Datasets — Logical content partitions (stage/prod/etc.). Easy cloning.
- GROQ — Graph-Relational Object Queries — JSON-native query language.
- Image CDN — Smart transforms (crop, format, quality) via URL params.
- Internationalization — Multiple locales per document with native i18n plugins.
- Live Previews — Draft previews with stega-encoded content.
- Media Library (Ent) — Org-wide media with DAM features.
- Portable Text — Structured rich text format (JSON). Portable across channels.
- Real-Time Collaboration — Live presence + collaborative editing.
- Sanity Studio — Open-source React editor — customize with your own components + workflow.
- Scheduled Publishing — Schedule content to publish at a future date.
- Visual Editing — Click-to-edit inline on your Next.js/etc. website.
- Webhooks — Events on create/update/delete with GROQ filter.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Payload CMS | Sanity |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | create-payload-app | Sanity CLI |
| SDK | @payloadcms/next (Node) | @sanity/client, @sanity/ui + next-sanity, sanity-python |
| REST | Payload REST API | Image CDN, Sanity HTTP API |
| GRAPHQL | Payload GraphQL API | — |
| MCP | — | Sanity MCP |
| OTHER | Admin UI, Local API (Node.js direct) | GROQ Query Language, Webhooks |
Key takeaways
- Both Payload CMS and Sanity offer a free tier — Payload CMS ("Open Source (self-host)") and Sanity ("Free") — with no credit card required to start.
- The entry-level paid plan is $35/month for Payload CMS (Cloud — Standard) vs. $15/month for Sanity (Growth).
- Payload CMS has a broader documented feature set (18 features) vs. Sanity (16 features) in Staxly's catalog.
- Developer integrations differ: only Payload CMS offers GRAPHQL; only Sanity offers MCP.
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