When to choose DatoCMS over Sanity?

Our customers prefer DatoCMS for its convenient scalability, unrivaled developer experience, and clean editing interface.
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DatoCMS editing interface (editor)DatoCMS editing interface (schema)
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DatoCMS vs. Sanity:
How we're different

DatoCMS is the go-to for tech teams that want a speedy switch to headless. Its plug-and-play nature gives developers exactly what they need, with zero overkill.

Sanity is a great option for developers that need full control over every aspect of their headless CMS, even if it means slowing down setup and deploy.

At a glance comparison

DatoCMS
Sanity
Who is it for
DatoCMS...

Designed for tech teams that want to move to headless with a CMS that gets out of the way, so they can get straight to the good part - building.

...vs Sanity

Built for tech teams that don't mind trading some velocity for the luxury of getting full control over every aspect of their CMS.

Setup and maintenance
DatoCMS...

Built for rapid deployments, so your team can hit the ground running with an optimal setup ASAP.

...vs Sanity

Every aspect of the CMS can be tweaked, but needs a certain ramp-up time to get everything setup.

DatoCMS...

Updates and improvements happen automatically, unless they might cause breaking changes - in that case, it's your call.

...vs Sanity

Needs manual work to upgrade to new versions.

Developer experience
DatoCMS...

Lay down the perfect groundwork with ease, thanks to the native GraphQL API.

...vs Sanity

Its native query language, GROQ, is powerful but proprietary and you'll need to learn it. GraphQL is offered only as an alternate option.

DatoCMS...

Native video streaming that's easy on the wallet, with adaptive outputs for any device.

...vs Sanity

You'll have to build video streaming from scratch, or wrangle by integrating a 3rd-party provider.

Content Modeling
DatoCMS...

Visual content modeling lets you quickly assemble and fine-tune models without unnecessary complexity.

...vs Sanity

You'll have to code your schemas from scratch. They're totally customizable, but be ready for the extra developer work that comes with that flexibility.

DatoCMS...

40+ built-in field validations to keep your data in check and make editing a breeze, no setup neeed.

...vs Sanity

Expect to put together your own validations using Sanity's building blocks. These checks are only client-side, which might compromise your data integrity.

DatoCMS...

Validates all existing records with schema changes during migrations, ensuring compliance with the new structure and the validation rules.

...vs Sanity

Doesn’t enforce validation rules for each field during migrations, resulting in breaking changes if a record is not compliant.

Editor Experience
DatoCMS...

Clean and approachable editing interface, where every role can get involved and be productive from the very first day.

...vs Sanity

Comes with a stripped-down editing UI within Content Studio that won't meet all your needs, unless you're willing to put in significant development effort for customization.

DatoCMS...

Set up an intuitive Landing Page Builder with repeatable Blocks, providing editors with a flexible way to mix and match page elements.

...vs Sanity

Building landing pages is doable with the provided object-types, but the excessive usage of modals limits authors from seeing a full-page view at any time.

DatoCMS...

Handle localization with ease thanks to native capabilities like per-field localization settings, locale-based publishing, and translator roles.

...vs Sanity

Lacks built-in localization features - even basic tasks like adding a new locale or localizing a field could disrupt your project.

Integrations
DatoCMS...

Connect to external systems and databases using native plugins, or by developing custom plugins to suit specific needs.

...vs Sanity

Focused on business-wide content centralization through their 'Content Lake' which can be used with sources like ERPs, e-commerce platforms, etc.

Three reasons to consider DatoCMS
  1. Lightning-fast performance

    With a global CDN and optimized media delivery, your projects get an impressive boost in speed, plus improved SEO rankings and user engagement. It’s what your projects need to match the swift pace of today’s web.

  2. Delightful developer experience

    We’ve designed DatoCMS as a flexible platform to build precisely what you need. Our native GraphQL API and visual content modeling give you the freedom to build a content infrastructure that adapts to any scenario.

  3. A perfect blend of easy and powerful

    Our editing interface feels like a friendly wave from Wordpress, but with more power under the hood. Get creative with features like Blocks and Modular Content for a no-fuss, no-code page building experience that still packs a serious punch.