Sanity vs other headless CMS: why 1367 Studio chose Sanity

The challenge of choosing the right technology

At 1367 Studio, we build modern SaaS applications using Next.js 15+, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Choosing the right headless CMS was a critical decision for our client projects.

Evaluated candidates

Contentful

Strengths:

• Mature and well-documented ecosystem
• High-performance GraphQL API
• Intuitive user interface

Weaknesses:

• Pricing scales quickly
• Limitations on the free plan
• Less flexibility for complex data structures

Strapi

Strengths:

• Open-source and self-hosted
• Full flexibility in data modeling
• Active community

Weaknesses:

• Deployment and maintenance complexity
• Steeper learning curve
• Infrastructure costs to consider

Prismic

Strengths:

• Innovative Slice Machine
• Good developer experience
• Real-time preview

Weaknesses:

• More limited ecosystem
• Specific learning curve
• Less flexibility for relational data

Why Sanity won

1. Outstanding developer experience

Sanity Studio is fully configurable in TypeScript, perfectly aligned with our technical stack. The ability to customize the interface using React was a major advantage.

2. GROQ: a powerful query language

```groq
*[_type == "blogPost" && category._ref == $categoryId] {
title,
slug,
excerpt,
mainImage,
category->{name, slug}
}

3. Native Next.js integration

• Optimized support for ISR and SSG
• Webhooks for on-demand revalidation
• Excellent performance

4. Transparent and scalable pricing

Sanity’s free plan allowed us to test the platform in real-world conditions, with predictable scaling as projects grow.

Our implementation

Here’s how we structured our project:

// Sanity configuration with Next.js 15 export default defineConfig({ basePath: "/studio", projectId, dataset, schema, plugins: [ structureTool({ structure }), visionTool({ defaultApiVersion: apiVersion }), ], });

Feedback after 6 months

Pros:

• Maximum developer productivity
• Clients are autonomous in content management
• Excellent performance and SEO
• Responsive and helpful community

Challenges:

• GROQ learning curve
• More technical initial setup
• Need to carefully design schemas from the start

Conclusion

For 1367 Studio, Sanity represents the perfect balance between technical flexibility and ease of use. It has become our default choice for all projects requiring a headless CMS.