Quick answer
Sanity is a hosted content backend plus headless CMS Studio you configure in code. Pick it when more than one editor needs a real desk, the records have shape, and a site or app will query them. Do not pick it for a brochure, or for a marketer who wants to drag sections on the homepage. For most marketing sites we still ship Framer development with Framer CMS. This site is Git-backed typed pages, not Sanity.
Key takeaways
- Sanity is two products: Content Lake, and Studio. The Studio is yours to shape. The data is theirs to host.
- Growth is $15 per occupied seat a month on the list we checked in Sep 2026. Viewers are free. Prices move.
- Framer CMS is enough when the records are pages. Sanity is for a graph you will reuse.
- If the job is moving boxes on a homepage, you wanted a canvas. Stay on Framer or Webflow.
What Sanity actually is
A CMS is how a person who cannot deploy changes a page. Sanity splits that job. Content lives on Sanity as structured documents you query with GROQ or GraphQL. The editor UI is Sanity Studio: a React app you configure with a schema. Editors log into a desk you designed. The data stays on Sanity.
That split is the point. You are not stuck with someone else's form for a case study. You write the fields, the references, the validation. If you do not want to write a schema, you do not want Sanity.
When it is the right desk
- More than one editor, and they write in the same document
- Records with references: author, locale, product, related work
- A Next.js, Astro, or native app that needs an API, not a canvas
- Engineers who will generate types from the schema and actually use them
If that is the brief, we treat it as part of a custom SaaS build or a marketing system that has outgrown collections. Read do you still need a CMS first. A desk is still a desk. Sanity is a particular one.
What it costs
Sanity's own pricing page, checked Sep 2026: Free is $0 with two public datasets and administrator/viewer roles. Growth is $15 per occupied seat per month, up to 50 seats, private datasets, comments, scheduled drafts. Viewers do not consume a seat. Enterprise is a contract. Self-serve is monthly. There is no annual discount on Growth.
Older posts still quote a flat “$99 a project” Growth line. That is not the page we opened. Usage overages and add-ons (extra datasets at $999 a month, SSO on Enterprise) are how the bill grows. Do not budget from a 2024 screenshot.
The CMS licence is not the build. We work at $2,000 a week. A Sanity schema plus a front end is a project, not a plugin install.
When it is the wrong desk
A one-pager and a five-post blog. Use Framer. The set-up cost is larger than the benefit.
A marketer who wants to move a section on the homepage without a developer. Sanity stores content. It does not do visual page building. That is a canvas job. See Framer vs Webflow.
A team that will never open a schema file. Then you are paying for a Studio nobody will maintain. WordPress or Framer CMS will hurt less.
FAQ
Is Sanity free?
The Free plan is $0 with limits. Real teams usually land on Growth at $15 per occupied seat a month (Sanity pricing, Sep 2026).Can we self-host Sanity?
Studio can run on your host. The content backend is Sanity-hosted. If you need the database on your metal, look at Payload or Strapi.Does Nuttifox build on Sanity?
When the records need a graph and a real desk, yes, as part of a product or a site that has left Framer CMS. We do not install it for sport.Sanity or Framer CMS?
Framer CMS when the records are pages a marketer publishes. Sanity when many surfaces consume the same typed content.Have something to build? Let’s ship it.
Book a call