CMS comparison Sanity vs Squarespace

Sanity vs Squarespace

Sanity is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Squarespace is a closed-source site builder that runs on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 19.

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Sanity Headless · Closed source · 15 of 28 built in
Squarespace Site builder · Closed source · 9 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Sanity on 29 Sept 2026, Squarespace 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 Squarespace feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Sanity Headless	Squarespace Site builder
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.	Hosted website builder with templates, a visual editor, blogging and commerce. Squarespace runs the hosting.
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	Squarespace website plans on version 7.1 SaaS, continuously updated
Vendor	Sanity sanity.io	Squarespace, Inc. squarespace.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.	No self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	TypeScript, React for Studio. Hosted Content Lake with GROQ and GraphQL APIs	Hosted SaaS, custom CSS and JavaScript on Core and higher plans
Database	Hosted Sanity Content Lake	Managed by Squarespace
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 Basic $19, Core $29, Plus $49, Advanced $99 per month billed annually in the US. 14-day free trial.
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	Limited Custom post types in template.conf, only with Developer Mode on version 7.0. 2 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	Not available Fixed page and collection types. No custom fields in the editor. 2
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 Editors add and reorder sections and blocks.
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	Plugin or add-on Weglot extension. Without it, editors duplicate pages per language. 4 5
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 Squarespace serves uploaded images in generated sizes.
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in HTTP API queried with GROQ. 1	Limited Commerce APIs for products, orders and inventory on Core and up. No API for pages. 1 6
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	Not available
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	Limited Commerce events only, through the Webhook Subscriptions API. 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
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 1	Paid tier Page drafts need a Premium or Enterprise plan. Blog posts can be drafts on any plan. 8
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	Limited Blog posts only. 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	Not available Undo and redo within an editing session only. 10
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 1 7	Built in Editing happens on the rendered page.
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
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	Limited Enterprise Draft editor role drafts pages for an admin to publish. No custom stages. 8 11
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
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
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	Not available Fixed contributor permission types. 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	Not available
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier SAML SSO on Enterprise. 1	Paid tier Premium and Enterprise plans. OpenID Connect through Entra ID, SAML through Google. 17 18
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	Not available
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	Limited Each site needs its own plan. Enterprise teams manage several sites from one account. 11
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	Not available
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Sanity Exchange. 10	Built in Squarespace Extensions, a directory of third-party tools. 12
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Built in Form blocks store submissions. 13
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Built in Customer accounts on all plans. Member sites for gated content. 1 14
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	Built in Squarespace AI writer. Monthly AI credits vary by plan. 1 15
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	Not available The official MCP server covers domain search only. It can't reach site content. 16

Sanity sources

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

Squarespace sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Squarespace website plans on version 7.1.

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

Where they differ

Sanity and Squarespace get a different status on 19 of the 28 features and the same status on 9. Sanity has 15 built in on its baseline edition, Squarespace has 9. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Free option: Sanity has a free option. Squarespace has no free option.

Built in on Sanity, a different answer on Squarespace 9

Content model in code Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Limited.
REST API Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Limited.
GraphQL API Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.
Webhooks Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Limited.
Drafts Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Paid tier.
Real-time co-editing Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.
Multiple sites Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Limited.
Extensible admin UI Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.
Official MCP server Sanity: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.

Built in on Squarespace, a different answer on Sanity 3

Renders the website Sanity: Not available. Squarespace: Built in.
Form builder Sanity: Not available. Squarespace: Built in.
Site member accounts Sanity: Not available. Squarespace: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 7

Scheduled publishing Sanity: Paid tier. Squarespace: Limited.
Version history Sanity: Limited. Squarespace: Not available.
Approval workflows Sanity: Not available. Squarespace: Limited.
Content releases Sanity: Paid tier. Squarespace: Not available.
Custom roles Sanity: Paid tier. Squarespace: Not available.
Field-level permissions Sanity: Limited. Squarespace: Not available.
Audit log Sanity: Paid tier. Squarespace: Not available.

More comparisons

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

Squarespace against other platforms

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