CMS comparison Sanity vs Progress Sitefinity

Sanity vs Progress Sitefinity

Sanity is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Progress Sitefinity is a closed-source enterprise DXP that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 14.

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Sanity Headless · Closed source · 15 of 28 built in
Progress Sitefinity Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 22 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Sanity on 29 Sept 2026, Progress Sitefinity on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.

WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.

Feature comparison

Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available

Sanity vs Progress Sitefinity feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Sanity Headless	Progress Sitefinity Enterprise DXP
Overview
What it is	Headless CMS with an open-source React editor, Sanity Studio, configured in code. Sanity stores content in its hosted Content Lake.	Progress's .NET CMS and DXP for websites, run self-hosted or on the Sitefinity Cloud PaaS, with ASP.NET Core and Next.js renderers.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Sanity hosted Content Lake with Sanity Studio 6 Version 6.16.0, released 22 Sept 2026	Sitefinity CMS 15.4 DX edition, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud Version 15.4.8639, released 29 Sept 2026
Vendor	Sanity sanity.io	Progress Software progress.com
Licence	Closed source MIT for Sanity Studio. The Content Lake backend is proprietary.	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud You can host the Studio anywhere, but content always lives in Sanity's cloud.	Self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	TypeScript, React for Studio. Hosted Content Lake with GROQ and GraphQL APIs	.NET, ASP.NET Core and Next.js renderers
Database	Hosted Sanity Content Lake	Microsoft SQL Server
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Free plan. Growth $15 per seat per month. Enterprise on request.	No free option Pricing on request. DX and DX+Enterprise editions, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud.
Content modelling
Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited.	Built in 3	Built in Export for deployment writes module and field changes to files for source control. 3
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Not available You define schemas only in Studio code. 3	Built in Module Builder.
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Array fields of typed objects act as a page builder. 3	Built in Page editor widgets.
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Plugin or add-on Official document-level and field-level internationalization plugins. 4	Built in Multilingual content per item.
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Image pipeline resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 5	Built in Resize through URL parameters and thumbnail profiles. 4
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in HTTP API queried with GROQ. 1	Built in OData REST web services. 5
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in The Sanity CLI deploys it from the schema. 1	Built in GraphQL on the web services layer. 6
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in GROQ-powered webhooks: 2 on Free, 4 on Growth. 1 6	Built in Service hooks with a webhook action, available on all licences. 7
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Not available	Built in ASP.NET Core, Next.js or legacy MVC renderers. 1
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 1	Built in
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Paid tier Scheduled drafts on Growth and Enterprise. 1	Built in Scheduled publish and unpublish per item. 9
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Limited Draft history kept 3 days on Free, 90 on Growth, 365 on Enterprise. 1	Built in Revision history.
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 1 7	Built in
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Presentation tool with click-to-edit overlays on every plan. 1 7	Built in Page editor with widgets.
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Not available Build with document actions or a community plugin such as Workflow Manager. 9 14	Built in One or two approval levels, or a custom workflow. 8
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Paid tier Content Releases add-on on Enterprise. 1	Not available Publishing and scheduling work per item. 9
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Built in 1	Not available Pages lock while another user edits them. 10
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Paid tier Enterprise. Free has 2 fixed roles, Growth 5. 1 8	Built in 11
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Limited API access rules are per document. Studio can hide or lock fields per role. 8	Limited Module Builder types only, in the classic editing UI. Built-in content types have none. 12
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier SAML SSO on Enterprise. 1	Built in OpenID Connect and external providers such as Azure AD. 13
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Paid tier Full audit trail and History API on Enterprise. 1	Paid tier DX + Enterprise includes Audit Trail. Progress sells it as an add-on for DX. 14 2
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Built in Several projects per organization and Studio workspaces. 11	Built in Multisite with shared content and per-site permissions. 15
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in Custom inputs, tools and document actions in the React Studio. 3 9	Built in Custom fields, widgets and AdminApp extensions.
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Sanity Exchange. 10	Built in Sitefinity integrations directory. 16
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Built in Forms module with a drag-and-drop builder.
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Built in Front-end users with registration and login widgets.
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Built in Content Agent on every plan. In-Studio AI Assist on Growth and Enterprise. 1 13	Plugin or add-on Sitefinity AI subscription for text generation and agents. 17
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in Hosted at mcp.sanity.io with OAuth. 12	Plugin or add-on Sitefinity MCP Server, 15.4.8633 or later, needs a Sitefinity AI subscription. 18

Sanity sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Sanity hosted Content Lake with Sanity Studio 6.

Progress Sitefinity sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Sitefinity CMS 15.4 DX edition, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud.

Considering more platforms? Compare Sanity and Progress Sitefinity with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.

Where they differ

Sanity and Progress Sitefinity get a different status on 14 of the 28 features and the same status on 14. Sanity has 15 built in on its baseline edition, Progress Sitefinity has 22. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Self-hosting: Sanity cannot be self-hosted. Progress Sitefinity can be self-hosted.
Free option: Sanity has a free option. Progress Sitefinity has no free option.

Built in on Sanity, a different answer on Progress Sitefinity 3

Real-time co-editing Sanity: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Not available.
AI writing assistant Sanity: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Plugin or add-on.
Official MCP server Sanity: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Plugin or add-on.

Built in on Progress Sitefinity, a different answer on Sanity 10

Content model in the UI Sanity: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Localization Sanity: Plugin or add-on. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Renders the website Sanity: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Scheduled publishing Sanity: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Version history Sanity: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Approval workflows Sanity: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Custom roles Sanity: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Single sign-on Sanity: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Form builder Sanity: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Site member accounts Sanity: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 1

Content releases Sanity: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Not available.

More comparisons

Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Sanity vs Payload.

Progress Sitefinity against other platforms

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